Today's post is written by Carolyn O'Brien, one of our participant composers:After attending the Music10 Festival in Blonay, Switzerland and subsequently displaying that fact on my résumé, it almost feels as if I'm claiming a stay at a spa as a professional accomplishment! The food, wine, view of the alps and Lake Geneva, not to mention the stimulating conversations with the company I keep is so lovely, it's impossible to see my stay as anything other than luxurious. Instead of seeing a masseuse for what ails me, I get my ego stroked by gifted performers at every rehearsal. During each morning presentation with my fellow composers or master class with our esteemed professors, I get multiple solutions to questions I never thought would be answered in my own music.
For example, during my own presentation a few days ago, I announced to the group that I was thinking of removing ostinato from all my music because I felt it was both an easy way to push music forward, it was equally difficult to get out of the groove without cutting it off in a violent way. Today, I was proven wrong by my new colleague Federico Garcia in his piece for guitar, marimba and piano entitled "Bajo el hechizo." Federico's ostinato showed so much nuance with registral and timbral shifts the likes of which I'd never even considered until today.
