One of my recorder compositions has recently been published by Peacock Press in the UK, via www.recordermail.co.uk
"In the Margins" is written for alto recorder, viol da gamba and harpsichord. It has six movements with a total duration of around 18 minutes.
The viol part (Pardessus de viole or Treble Viol) could be played by violin.
The piece was commissioned by Andrew Collis of the Stanesby Players and was first performed by that ensemble in 2014.
The subtitles of the movements refer to types of 'doodling' - unconscious or unfocused drawing.
1. Ulam Spiral. The Ulam Spiral is a method for visualizing prime numbers, discovered by the mathematician Stanislaw Ulam in 1963 whilst doodling during a presentation at a scientific meeting. The rhythmic patterns in the music are based on the first five prime numbers - 2, 3, 5, 7, 11.
2. Mandala. A Mandala is a spiritual and ritual symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism, representing the Universe. In his exploration of the unconscious through his own art-making, the Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung observed the motif of the circle spontaneously appearing and adopted the word "mandala" to describe these circle drawings
3. Doodle. The term Doodle in it's modern sense - unfocused drawing - appeared in the 1936 movie 'Mr Deeds Goes to Town' where the title character describes 'doodlers' - "a word we made up back home for people who make foolish designs on paper when they're thinking: it's called doodling. Almost everybody's a doodler."
4. Oekaki - Ekaki Uta. Oekaki is a Japanese term to describe drawing as in a doodle or scribble. In Japan, children's songs that describe how to draw animal or favourite characters are called 'Ekaki Uta'.
5. Klecksograph. Klecksography is the art of making images from inkblots - folding paper over a drop of ink to produce a symetricalpattern. ThetechniquewaspioneeredbytheGermanpoetJustinusKerner,whoincludedklecksographsinhis books of poetry. Since the 1890s, psychologists have used it as a tool for studying the subconscious, most famously Hermann Rorschach in his Rorschach inkblot test.
6. Scribillare. The Medieval Latin verb scribillare - 'to write' - evolved into the English word 'Scriblen', and into modern English as 'scribble' - a drawing of random and abstract lines, most often associated with young children.