Holly Mead
Farewell Concert at UMA Gallery - 5/5/22
A musical send-off will take place at UMA Gallery in Oakland this Thursday, May 5th, 2022, 7:30pm. This hour-long program of original...
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Holly Mead
- Nov 3, 2021
Awesöme Orchestra's End-of-Year Concert
I will be taking a brief leave of absence from my current residency at the Dorland Artist Colony in Temecula, CA, in order to attend...
Holly Mead
- Nov 3, 2021
Syrinx Symphony
With only two months left on sabbatical before I return home, the time has come to assimilate my newly minted skills and check a few...
Holly Mead
- Aug 20, 2021
Elementary Training For Musicians by Paul Hindemith / Blog update
I have enjoyed sweating my way through "Part One" of Paul Hindemith's bootcamp-esque Elementary Training For Musicians. I was initially...
Holly Mead
- Aug 19, 2021
Unknown Tomorrows feat. ONIKHO & Awesöme Orchestra Collective
I had the privilege and pleasure of collaborating with ONIKHO to create an orchestral arrangement of her new song "Love Bold" for Awesöme...
Holly Mead
- Aug 11, 2021
Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 7
Here are exercises 1, 2, 4, and 5 at the end of Chapter Six of Twentieth Century Harmony, pg. 158-159!
Holly Mead
- Aug 10, 2021
Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 6
Here are exercises 2, 3, 6, and 7 at the end of Chapter Five of Twentieth Century Harmony, pg. 133-134!
Holly Mead
- Aug 9, 2021
Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 5
Here are exercises 1-7, 9, and 11 at the end of Chapter Five of Twentieth Century Harmony, pg. 119-120!
Holly Mead
- Jul 31, 2021
Bandersnatch
Here is a combo of Wednesday and Thursday's experiments:
Holly Mead
- Jul 29, 2021
"Exotic" Tetrachords Reharm
Today, I combined a Phrygian-Major tetrachord with a Lydian-Major tetrachord to create a modified v.2 of yesterday's tune. Tomorrow, I'd...
Holly Mead
- Jul 28, 2021
Hearing & Writing Music by Ron Gorow
I've been puttering my way through Ron Gorow's Hearing & Writing Music: Professional Training for Today's Musician for quite some time,...
Holly Mead
- Jul 27, 2021
Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 4 (part 2)
Here are exercises 7-10 at the end of Chapter Four of Twentieth Century Harmony, pg. 107-108!
Holly Mead
- Jul 26, 2021
Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 4 (part 1)
In Chapter Four of Twentieth Century Harmony, Persichetti discusses quartal harmony. The chapter concludes with ten compositional...
Holly Mead
- Jul 22, 2021
Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 3 (part 2)
Here are exercises 6, 8-13, 17, and 19 at the end of Chapter Three of Twentieth Century Harmony, pg. 91-92.
Holly Mead
- Jul 21, 2021
Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 3 (part 1)
In Chapter Three of Twentieth Century Harmony, Persichetti discusses the cycle of fifths, thirds, and seconds, and sevenths, ninths,...
Holly Mead
- Jul 20, 2021
Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 2 (part 4)
Here are the remaining five "applications" at the end of Chapter Two of Twentieth Century Harmony, pg. 65!
Holly Mead
- Jul 19, 2021
Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 2 (part 3)
Here are exercises 14 and 16-20 on pages 64 of Chapter Two of Twentieth Century Harmony.
Holly Mead
- Jul 16, 2021
Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 2 (part 2)
Here are exercises 8-13 on pages 63-64 of Chapter Two of Twentieth Century Harmony.
Holly Mead
- Jul 15, 2021
Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 2 (part 1)
In Chapter Two of Twentieth Century Harmony, Persichetti discusses scale materials: modes, synthetic scale formations, pentatonic and...
Holly Mead
- Jul 9, 2021
Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 1 (part 2)
Here are the remaining six "applications" at the end of Chapter One of Twentieth Century Harmony, pg. 30.
Holly Mead
- Jul 8, 2021
Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 1 (part 1)
In Chapter One of Twentieth Century Harmony, Persichetti discusses the overtone series and why we perceive some intervals as consonant...
Holly Mead
- Jul 7, 2021
Twentieth Century Harmony by Vincent Persichetti & Dorothea Flanagan
In the introduction of his book Twentieth Century Harmony, Vincent Persichetti says: "This text aims to define harmonic activity and make...
Holly Mead
- Jul 6, 2021
Composing Music by William Russo: Chapter 16 (part 2)
Kaleidoscopic Ostinatos Russo uses the term Kaleidoscopic Ostinatos to refer to two or more ostinatos of differing lengths that occur...
Holly Mead
- Jul 5, 2021
Composing Music by William Russo: Chapter 16 (part 1)
Minimalism "Minimalism means using less to achieve more." - Russo, Composing Music, pg. 199 In the final chapter of Composing Music, we...
Holly Mead
- Jun 24, 2021
Awesöme Orchestra To Perform World Premiere of "Ceridwen"
During quarantimes last fall, I composed a piece of music for Bay Area's Awesöme Orchestra featuring a full compliment of strings and...
Holly Mead
- Jun 22, 2021
New music for Viola
I was inspired by Ernest Bloch's Suite Hébraïque and my friends at String Assembly to compose something new for viola. Here is "Lithia."
Holly Mead
- May 24, 2021
Ernest Bloch - Suite Hébraïque
I'll be taking a short break from Russo's textbook while I prepare for my first in person recital since the pandemic. I have missed...
Holly Mead
- May 20, 2021
Composing Music by William Russo: Chapter 12
Imitation Imitation is the repetition of a musical figuration. The figuration can be varied with fragmentation, transposition and/or...
Holly Mead
- May 18, 2021
Composing Music by William Russo: Chapter 11
Organum Organum is the name for two or more voices that share the same rhythm and move by the same interval. I modeled this next piece...
Holly Mead
- May 15, 2021
Composing Music by William Russo: Chapter 10 (cont.)
Second-Species Counterpoint Second-species counterpoint (i.e. two-to-one counterpoint) involves two tones in one part to one tone in the...
Holly Mead
- May 12, 2021
Composing Music by William Russo: Chapter 10
Counterpoint Counterpoint is the relationship between two or more melody lines that are played simultaneously, and the study of...
Holly Mead
- Apr 28, 2021
Composing Music by William Russo: Chapter 9 (Cont.)
Changing Tones Changing tones are two non-chord tones that are on either side of a chord tone, to which they resolve. Reverse Neighboring...
Holly Mead
- Apr 26, 2021
Composing Music by William Russo: Chapter 8 & 9
Chapter 8 is a great primer on the various types of accompaniment: Oom-pah, Alberti Bass, etc. Chapter 9 is another chapter about harmony...
Holly Mead
- Apr 23, 2021
Composing Music by William Russo: Chapter 7
Ostinato When an isomelody and an isorhythm are in sync and repeated persistently, they create an ostinato. "Ostinato" is the Italian...
Holly Mead
- Apr 21, 2021
Composing Music by William Russo: Chapter 6
Isomelody and Isorhythm An isomelody is a series of pitches that differs from a standard row and a 12-tone row in the following ways;...
Holly Mead
- Apr 19, 2021
Composing Music by William Russo: Chapter 5
12 Tone Row The development of the 12-tone row is associated with Arnold Schoenberg and 20th century contemporary music. To construct our...
Holly Mead
- Apr 18, 2021
Magik*Magik
A brief interlude from all the Russo posts: In March, I had the pleasure of assisting Minna Choi and the Magik*Magik crew with a...
Holly Mead
- Apr 17, 2021
Composing Music by William Russo: Chapter 4
In Chapter 4, we explore small and large themes! First, we will start with a motive (also called a motif, cell, or figure): a series of...
Holly Mead
- Apr 12, 2021
Composing Music by William Russo: Chapter 3 / Part 3
In the last part of Chapter 3, we learn about musical addition, subtraction, context, and subfigurations! Addition & Subtraction When you...
Holly Mead
- Apr 11, 2021
Composing Music by William Russo: Chapter 3 / Part 2
In the next part of chapter 3, we learn about different kinds of rhythmic transformation! Rhythmic Transformation Rhythmic...
Holly Mead
- Apr 8, 2021
Composing Music by William Russo: Chapter 3 / Part 1
Chapter 3 is all about transformation! It details the different types of melodic transformation and rhythmic transformation - more tools...
Holly Mead
- Apr 7, 2021
Composing Music by William Russo: Chapter 2 / Exercise 15-18
Passing Tones Passing tones move by major or minor seconds between two chord tones that are a third apart. Neighboring Tones According to...
Holly Mead
- Apr 6, 2021
Composing Music by William Russo: Chapter 2 / Exercise 10
Mixed Progression As a warm up for sabbatical times, I’ve decided to finish working my way through William Russo’s book Composing Music...
Holly Mead
- Apr 5, 2021
Twilight Fox
A wintertime collaboration retrospective Before I wholly dedicate myself to sabbatical prep, I wanted to share the fruits of a fun side...
Holly Mead
- Apr 4, 2021
Sabbatical Syllabus
For those of you who expressed interest in the nuts and bolts of my learning journey, I've provided a general outline for the current...
Holly Mead
- Apr 3, 2021
Blog Goals for April-Dec 2021
In lieu of grad school, I have decided to embark on a DIY deep dive into the study of composition and orchestration. In order to carve...
Holly Mead
- Jun 2, 2020
Composing Music by William Russo: Chapter 2 / Exercise 3-5
Diatonic Triads King Edrevol is so moved by your musical performance with Ceridwen that he has to wipe away a tear before clapping. You...
Holly Mead
- May 20, 2020
Hildegard of Bingen
O Ignee Spiritus (O Fiery Spirit) In May of 2019, I gave a talk/performance at Pixar Animation Studios about nine extraordinary women...
Holly Mead
- May 16, 2020
Composer Talk
This week, I gave a talk about composing music to the 6th graders at the Julia Morgan School for Girls. A big thank you to Phil Gorman...
Holly Mead
- May 15, 2020
Composing Music by William Russo: Chapter 2 / Exercise 2
Ceridwen Chapter 2 begins with an explanation of major and minor triads, diatonic chords, chord symbol notation, and a preliminary...
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