Whilst my more recent works have more developed ideas and processes, I do not believe in hiding my earliest works from my childhood and teenage years. Explore below recordings, scores, and information about my compositions.
Please note that some scores are referenced in my old name of Jason Hodgson. I am happy for you to reference them correctly as such, but please make a note in any reference that I now go by a different name.
Scores coming soon
DIMENSIONAL SHIFT – (OPEN ENSEMBLE)
2019
HELLSCAPE – (ELECTRONIC)
As the gates of hell open one can hear the tortured screams…
thoughts on chance and indeterminacy – a composition – (INTERNALISED SCORE WITH THE OPTION OF BECOMING EXTERNALISED)
score currently unavailable
MUSIKELL – (OPEN INSTRUMENTATION)
2018
ORIGINAL IMITATION – (SOLO FLUTE, SONIC PI, AND ATARI STFM)
An excuse to start to learn how to code, use my AtariST and purchase a Pi, this piece is a demonstration how someone with little-to-no coding skills can create an interesting score. Bonus: I got to play with glitched gameboy games.
the destination is obsolete – (SOLOIST AND ENSEMBLE)
COHERENCY IS FUTILE IN FLUCTUATING FRAGMENTS – (SOLO VIOLA)
N0t4t10n 3xp6r1m6nt5 f0r C1rcu1t-B6nt 70y5 – (MIXED NOTATION)
2017
LIONHEART1189 – (PERCUSSION AND VOCALS)
PLASTIC FACE – (CIRCUIT-BENT TOYS, VOICE, AND ELECTRONICs)
Taken from the audio recording of the Circuit Bending from Scratch project for my MMus Creative Project at Canterbury Christ Church University, I manipulated and edit the sounds to create a piece which I feel best represents the project as a whole.
I have also used samples from poems created by Natalie Perdu about the instruments/toys.
2016
A MUMMER’S FARCE – (SOLO PERCUSSION AND VOICE)
A THOUGHT – (SOLO PIANO AND SPOKEN WORD)
REFLECTION FOR PIANO – (SOLO PIANO)
2015
Contingent extemporisation – (open ensemble)
A WORK OF FICTION: A THRONE OF GAMES – (OPEN/TEXT BASED NOTATION)
THE CONSEQUENCES OF HOLDING ONTO HATE – (CELLO QUARTET)
STRIVING TOWARDS – (VOCAL/GRAPHIC NOTATION)
SUNDAY DRIVE – (SOLO PIANO WITH VOICE)
WHAT IF? THE HANSEL & GRETEL TALE – (GRAPHIC NOTATION)
IT TAKES ALL SORTS – (VOCALS/GRAPHIC NOTATION)
MINE! (ME! ME! ME!) – (OPEN/TEXT BASED NOTATION)
2014
MOTHS IN THE MOONLIGHT – (VIOLA, AND 2 WHISTLERS/RECORDING)
SUITE PI FOR PIANO: DIGITS 1 – 16 (3.141592653589793) – (SOLO PIANO)
BURNING THE BATTLE FIELD – (STRING QUARTET)
MUSIC OF THE UNKNOWN – (OPEN NOTATION/GRAPHIC SCORE)
One day I’ll find or recreate the score for this one. This is my first foray into breaking the fourth-wall and involving the audience as composers/performers.
2013
a work of fiction: language is a ficticious facT – (OPEN INSTRUMENTATION)
I may have taken the task from my lecturer to create a graphic score a bit too literal, that or I couldn’t be bothered to learn to draw or use photoshop. Instead, I went for a good ol’ diorama. Unfortunately, that means I now have this physical object made of cardboard, string, paper (a ripped up dictionary), and glue, slowly deteriorating in my attic. Perhaps I could write here about how that’s a visual metaphor for language over time or something, but really it’s just that I’m clumsy, have moved multiple times since composing it, and have a cat who decided to sit on top of it and then play with the hanging words.
With that being said, there were a couple of starting motives for the piece other than a task on my university course. Firstly, I’ve always been weirded out by the spellings that have lasted in the english language (uk). Secondly, I’ve always found the idea of a ‘correct’ spelling somewhat strange when language is constantly changing anyway. So, I went digging through a dictionary and books for words that had either fallen out of use, had changed spelling over time, or that I simply found interesting because of how they sounded or shaped the mouth when spoken. Later I learnt this may have been down to my echolalia.
I then gave some of these words to dyslexic friends and asked them to spell them. Their spellings were either kept, combined, or with the ‘correct’ spellings and drawn instead of written, and hung them inside underlining the ‘correct’ spelling in red which was something that used to be done on schools when I was growing up.
There are no real instructions for how to perform this. That is the point. Performers can read the words, definitions or fragments of dictionary; explore the shapes of the writing; play with the physical shape their mouth makes when producing a word; translate the shapes into instrumental sounds; or come up with something I hadn’t thought of. I asked for some vocalisation because it is, after all, a text-based score, but otherwise the instrumentation, number of performers and duration are completely open. If performed by more than one person, my main instruction was essentially: talk to each other first and work out what you’re going to do.
CHAOTIc CONTROL – (BRASS QAURTET)
Written for my first-year composition module, Chaotic Control marks my first exploration into aleatory composition, and is constructed using a system of rules for dice to determine musical material, which is then organised across the ensemble.
On reflection, (and post thesis), I can now identify this process as an extreme experiment into Objective Chance-Based Procedures (OCP), a procedure where chance-based systems are used to generate material while minimising direct compositional control.
However, the version of the score presented here is from an early stage in my development, particularly in my approach to notation, where rhythmic groupings and timings are often unclear and not intuitive to perform. I hope to revisit the score one day and tidy it up and humanise the results.
2012
an ode to death as life goes on – (Piano and Clarinet)
Written during my time with Inspiration Theatre Company, this piece was for their production of Charles Dickens’ Nicholas Nickleby and accompanies a dance depicting Spike’s death. Reflective of my early attempts at melody and harmony, the clarinet carries a sombre, lyrical melody, supported by a repeating piano texture, reflective of the emotional atmosphere.
This later version expands slightly on the original material, while maintaining the initial simplicity, and was performed live as part of an anniversary show.
During my time at Inspiration Theatre, I also performed in roles such as Renfield/Voice of Dracula, the Ugly Stepsister, the Duchess of Wonderland.
‘AIR’ – (VOCAL Ensemble and vocal solo)
One of my earliest works, ‘Air’ was composed as part of The Art of Sound project, exploring the element of air through sound. In the piece, the ensemble slowly shift and move gradually between pitches with subtle dynamic shifts, over which a soloist improvises freely, creating a layered and evolving sound world that reflects the freedom of air.
Johanne-Bryce Hodgson 