About This Blog
This blog has been created as part of my MA studies in Music in the Environment at the University of the Highlands and Islands.
The blog begins in Kilmartin, Argyll, at the outset of the the MA course; however, for the bulk of this site I have chosen to reflect and create works based around the landscape and culture of my home country of Caithness. I have always loved the vast open spaces, big skies and dramatic coastline of the Far North, and have found the area's distinct hybrid of Norse and Scottish/Gaelic/Pictish heritage both intriguing and inspiring. Time spent away from Caithness due to work commitments has led to a prior of self-analysis and reflection upon the notions of "home" and "belonging".
The blog follows my creative journey as I use my own peregrinations around the county, and my frequent road trips between Caithness and the Central Belt, to inspire works for performance by myself and my musical collaborators.
About the Creative Process
I am a musician, trained as a classical violist and traditional fiddler. Unsurprisingly, musical compositions and performance lie at the heart of this blog- I am, however, extremely influenced by visual imagery and stimuli in order to create works, therefore there is also a large amount of photography accompanying my compositions (all photographs are my own, unless indicated otherwise). Distinct individual images also inspired some poetic writing, which can be read in the posts The Transforming Tide and The Journey Begins- Ardfern, Kilmartin and Achnabreac.
I have chosen to work in a primarily folk/traditional-based style: this is my main mode of performance at present, and the relative simplicity of the genre allows me to focus upon creating strong melodies to accompany my own visual imagery. I have also tried to bridge the gap between my classical viola training and my current folk leanings by writing for the viola as a traditional instrument (see Turning to the Dark side- Writing for the Viola for further thoughts) - this is very much a developmental process, and I hope to be able to expand this output significantly in the coming months. Soundcloud links are basic home recordings, either made using Garageband or my phone's voice recorder. Grateful thanks must go to the musicians who gave their time to assist, particularly Stuart Taylor, Grant MacFarlane and Andrew Herrington.
The journey so far has proved to be enlightening, challenging and surprising in equal measures : this blog aims to be the starting point of my transformation from a music performer and educator to becoming a creative musician in my own right.
The blog begins in Kilmartin, Argyll, at the outset of the the MA course; however, for the bulk of this site I have chosen to reflect and create works based around the landscape and culture of my home country of Caithness. I have always loved the vast open spaces, big skies and dramatic coastline of the Far North, and have found the area's distinct hybrid of Norse and Scottish/Gaelic/Pictish heritage both intriguing and inspiring. Time spent away from Caithness due to work commitments has led to a prior of self-analysis and reflection upon the notions of "home" and "belonging".
The blog follows my creative journey as I use my own peregrinations around the county, and my frequent road trips between Caithness and the Central Belt, to inspire works for performance by myself and my musical collaborators.
About the Creative Process
I am a musician, trained as a classical violist and traditional fiddler. Unsurprisingly, musical compositions and performance lie at the heart of this blog- I am, however, extremely influenced by visual imagery and stimuli in order to create works, therefore there is also a large amount of photography accompanying my compositions (all photographs are my own, unless indicated otherwise). Distinct individual images also inspired some poetic writing, which can be read in the posts The Transforming Tide and The Journey Begins- Ardfern, Kilmartin and Achnabreac.
I have chosen to work in a primarily folk/traditional-based style: this is my main mode of performance at present, and the relative simplicity of the genre allows me to focus upon creating strong melodies to accompany my own visual imagery. I have also tried to bridge the gap between my classical viola training and my current folk leanings by writing for the viola as a traditional instrument (see Turning to the Dark side- Writing for the Viola for further thoughts) - this is very much a developmental process, and I hope to be able to expand this output significantly in the coming months. Soundcloud links are basic home recordings, either made using Garageband or my phone's voice recorder. Grateful thanks must go to the musicians who gave their time to assist, particularly Stuart Taylor, Grant MacFarlane and Andrew Herrington.
The journey so far has proved to be enlightening, challenging and surprising in equal measures : this blog aims to be the starting point of my transformation from a music performer and educator to becoming a creative musician in my own right.
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