DAC member Cheryl Beer has released Part 4, the final part in a four-part bi-lingual blog series about Inclusive Orchestration. Cheryl applied to Creative Steps to explore the possibilities for an inclusive way to arrange Cân y Coed Rainforest Symphony.
Gosh, what a journey this process of professional development has been! That's the thing about having the space to explore and grow, you never quite know where it is going to take you.
Last night, we had our final Inclusive Orchestration Quintet session, making our way through the blustering wind and rain to People Speak Up who very kindly supported my Arts Council of Wales Creative Steps research with the inkind provision of their beautiful chapel venue, the staff to manage the space for us and even refreshments.
First, it is important to say that I've learnt exactly what I thought I would, how to completely nurture my hearing loss, tinnitus and hyperacusis in the orchestration and arrangement of my compositions, but it is how that has permeated into all aspects of my creative practice that has been the surprise.
After the initial stages of working with Delyth on the new arrangement of Lifecycle of an Acorn, I realised that if I could listen to bass recorder without it being painful to my hyperacusis, then maybe I could play recorder myself. This has led to a joyous daily practice, relearning the very first instrument I ever got my hands on, only this time, a tenor and not a descant.
It is almost impossible to describe the level of joy it gives me to be playing an instrument again. It is a humble comparison to my lifetime as a singer/songwriter, composing and arranging and recording albums, but it is about something so much deeper than that trajectory. I am reconnecting with a Self that has been missing since my hearing loss. When I play, I feel like I am 5 years old again, in the first throws of falling in love with performing music. So much so, that I have brought tenor into all areas of my work - For instance, my Future Wales Fellowship Artist Research Trail and now, into a commission with Natur am Byth, where I have notated the sonar readings of bats, performed and recorded the sheet music myself as a baseline for a lullaby about the endangered lesser horseshoe. Now, who on earth could have expected that outcome!
And what's more, Delyth and I have developed a really beautiful way of collaborating. In fact, she is part of my Natur am Byth project, but this time as a choir leader. Thankyou so much, Delyth.
That brings me neatly to Sibelius. Working alongside Delyth on a composition workspace, has given me the confidence to work completely independently on new compositions - I do not need to freelance out to session musicians anymore. I can compose, notate, play and record in house.
As I reflect on what is next, I feel as if I have almost outgrown my original thoughts on where to take my work. I was thinking of reaching out in broad terms, but now that I have developed the skills, I want to reach more deeply into being part of the positive interventions for climate justice, for my work to be part of the change, not just raising awareness of fragile ecologies, but being part of the action to protect them. More on this once it has all brewed and settled with me, because right now, I'm still floating from last night's Quintet session.
Heartfelt thanks to the Qunitet, Linda Healy, Colin Fielder, Tim Soar, Bill & Llewellyn Gannon, not least for their patience as we arranged and re-arranged the piece to avoid painful spikes in my hyperacusis - which meant they had to learn and re-learn.
Big thanks to People Speak Up & to Fusion Carmarthenshire for funding the Welsh translation of my blogs. Also big thanks to Ty Cerdd & Disability Arts Cymru for distributing my Inclusive Orchestration blogs across Wales.
Deepest gratitude to the Arts Council of Wales for funding my professional development in this way & supporting me to find & share new pathways forward.
As we go through life, our lived experience can change without warning & I hope by sharing my story with you, it gives someone who needs it, the courage to try another way.
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