Zoom Meeting came about from an exercise we were given as part of the Ngarra-Burria program to write a piece in a limited pitch scale. I haven’t written anything before along these lines and it was a challenge to my usual diatonic tendencies. Writing music is more enjoyable for me when I can be guided by my instincts, but this can lead to old habits. These exercises have encouraged me to take advantage of the challenges with mentorship support through the program to help me grow as a composer. The Zoom workshops we have undertaken with Ensemble Offspring, while challenging (during the first one I attended in a carpark in New Zealand), have been a really interesting process and I feel that my music has grown in ways I perhaps didn’t expect, thanks to this unusual way of working with an ensemble.

James HenryJames Henry

I used the limited pitch scale for one long melodic line and then delegated certain phrases to certain instruments. There is a question and answer feel that comes from a well-balanced melody, so it was nice to play with the different timbres going back and forth in dialogue....