Composer Create: ORA Singers

At the very end of 2018, a brand-new website went live, produced by the award-winning vocal ensemble, ORA Singers. The group is best known for its extensive commissioning programme with a target of 100 new commissions by 100 living composers and now, alongside the recent launch of a mentoring programme as part of its 2019 Young Composer Competition, the vocal ensemble has produced a handy toolkit for the aspiring choral composer.

Composer Create, available worldwide, works a little like a compositional manual. ‘It's like reading a book’, explains ORA's founder and artistic director, Suzi Digby. ‘One can visit the website and be led through the compositional process from start to finish, from each chapter to the next. We set about designing this to target those who had a desire to compose but perhaps didn't quite know where to start. Each section of the website covers a variety of topics that we developed with some of our wonderful composers, musicians and experienced music teachers.

‘We really want each individual to get what they can from the website – it's about a personal response. The best work we commission as a performing choir are those composers who have tuned their own compositional voices and found their own sources of inspiration, and this is often something missing from a textbook or theoretical guide to composition.’

A blank page

Beginning at ‘Where do I start’, the resource opens with musical examples, ways of getting involved in music-making and the cultural significance of choral singing in the UK, moving onto handwritten statements for each voice type from members of ORA's professional choir. The meat of the website is the step-by-step guide, which includes several educational videos from composers such as Richard Allain, Oliver Tarney, Janet Wheeler and Harry Escott. Each of these established composers selected topics from their own personal experience that they felt it was important to share with people first stepping into this field.

Intended to inspire and support young composers, the website can be used both by individuals, but also in the classroom. Ideally pitched for those currently studying at secondary schools who might not have access to private composition lessons, it can assist those wishing to write for voice or vocal ensemble as part of one of their compositional modules.

Positioned across the compositional guide are downloadable music sheets, written explanations and even curated playlists. The ‘Video library’ (located at the bottom of the main menu) collates all the expert industry interviews into one handy place, and the ‘Know your notation’ page allows the user to brush up on their music theory knowledge. There's even a ‘Composer A-Z’ of compositional and musical terminology that can quickly stop a budding composer from feeling out-of-depth.

Users can explore all these topics from the comfort of their own home, with no fees, sign-up costs or subscription notices.

A guiding hand

What perhaps sets ORA Singers’ new compositional tool apart is the direct advice it offers from the group's singers and musical director, meaning composers get to consider the practical performance of their compositions. On the ‘Singers’ hints and director's notes’, ORA's experienced performers give their personal opinions on subjects such as pitching, acoustics, and rehearsal time, with Digby revealing her top tips including specialist advice for young aspiring choral composers.

ORA singers 

Richard Allain is one of the composers involved in the project

Composer and contributor to the new resource, Richard Allain comments: ‘It can often feel easy to write music from the point of view of compositional technique – try this scale, follow that formula, use numerology or note rows, employ extended techniques, and so on, but writing music in an academic vacuum is not the same thing as writing for real people. Having a sense from the get-go about how performers and conductors might respond to a new composition and practical limitations, while being steered away from the common pitfalls, means the composer is considering these things possibly before the notes even fall on the page. Rather like understanding the instruments you are going to write for, it's not just about knowing the instruments’ ranges! It's about speaking to the potential performers and hearing from them how to get the best out of those instruments.’

Alongside the advice from ORA's professional singers and directors, the group has even appointed two bloggers-in-residence specifically for the new website. Currently establishing themselves as choral composers, Rory Johnston and Stephanie Devlin each share fortnightly blog posts on some of their current professional challenges, providing insight into the life of a musical professional in their early career. Regarding these appointments, Digby says: ‘It was important to us to paint a full picture of the profession for those who might be considering the wonderful world of composing. Rory and Steph's contributions to this site mean that young composers can get an idea of “what next?”, as well as looking at advice from the more established composers we have interviewed. What the two have shared has been hugely insightful and personal, including some really crucial bits of advice and wisdom as they step out into what can often be a tricky profession’.

Stephanie Devlin is one of two composers who is blogging their career for the project

Composer Create is designed as a starting point for aspiring composers, a resource to inspire, to encourage and to educate. The hope is that it will evolve and grow along with the students that it encourages, and with the music teachers that it hopes to support.

composercreate.com