With the first workshop weekend in Amsterdam fast approaching, the PhD writing up is officially ‘on hold' (my decision: what a brilliant excuse!) and I'm having a go at a few sketches to take with me instead. After weeks of writing words it's such a relief to be working with sound again and I'm particularly looking forward to experimenting with the huge range of colours available within the Nieuw Ensemble. Of course, I do have to get over my guitar ‘thing'... It will be good to meet the ensemble next week and to start the collaboration, and to meet the other composers too. I hope to be inspired and educated, and to come back armed with ideas and a better working knowledge of the guitar and mandolin. And, of course, going to Amsterdam can't be bad... Wahey!!

Jenny Jackson (b. 1971) is currently studying part-time for a PhD in composition with George Nicholson at the University of Sheffield. She is one of four composers selected to join this year's HCMF & Nieuw Ensemble Composers' Professional Development Programme, which sees emerging composers spending two weekends of workshops in Amsterdam working alongside the Nieuw Ensemble, trying out new ideas with the ensemble and receiving advice and guidance from the tutors. Each composer will have their piece performed by the Nieuw Ensemble at HCMF 2009. The first set of workshops runs from 20-22 February and the second set from 24-26 April.

 

The first weekend workshops were excellent and provided me with a catalogue of live sounds and colour combinations which I can now go and play with. The microtones on the cor anglais sounded wonderful and just how I'd imagined, although a couple of them were impossible to play - just what I needed to find out! The challenge now (before the next workshop weekend in April) is to tackle the pluckers (the harp, mandolin and guitar). They can so easily be lost within the texture of the larger ensemble but also offer a real delicacy and lightness. The guitar is out of the cupboard, so this is serious!

Having recently returned from the second workshop weekend, for which I prepared a further four sketches, I am in the process of listening back to recordings and evaluating the results. The eight sketches I have written overall enabled a familiarisation with the distinctive sound of the Nieuw Ensemble and it has been a fun and informative process. Somehow I persuaded myself that the sketches were just for the workshops and found them easy to produce as they carried no value beyond the purpose of discovery and experimentation. Now, however, I am faced with the reality of writing the final piece and the thought of the first perfomance is making the task appear both exciting and daunting, possibly to the point of immobilisation. I'll try not to project too much...

Jenny Jackson

With the workshop weekends fading into the distance and the impending first performance looming dangerously in the not so distant future I am, officially, starting to write the piece for the Nieuw Ensemble. Soon...

I'm currently in the throes of pre PhD viva panic (preparation) and feel (hope) that the floodgates will open once this has happened (14th July - all goodwill messages gratefully received). At the moment I can't remember how you start... Eek.

Jenny Jackson

The experience of working with the Nieuw Ensemble this year has been very positive for me. I feel I have developed as a composer through participating in the programme and I was pleased with the performance of my piece. I enjoyed the weekend workshops earlier in the year and relished the opportunity to write short sketches without the immediate pressure of creating a final piece. The final performance fulfilled a lifelong ambition - to have a piece performed in the festival - and I am happy to say that the guitar is still out of the cupboard...

Jenny Jackson