Keep your fingers crossed for me, as I have recently sent off an entry for Skallsjö International Composing Competition. The brief for this competition was to write a piece for string orchestra of around 10 minutes. I can't say any more at this stage as my entry has to be judged as anonymous and I don't want to give anything away that might spoil that. I'll let you all know what happens…

My third published composition has just been launched in their new catalogue by Portus Press: https://portuspress.com/.../dorrell-ralf-flying-over-cuba/

Flying Over Cuba is a piece written for wind quintet (flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon.)

I was delighted to get this review of the solo bassoon suite by Graham Sheen - principal bassoonist of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

It's official! My piece 'Jigsaw Jig' for baroque string quartet has won the Prima La Musica prize in the Ruzickova Composition Competition 2021. 

It will be published in the near future. 

Please contact me for further information if you are in a string quartet (baroque or modern) interested in performing it. A computer sketch of it can be heard on the composer section of this website.

When it is difficult in times of COVID and lockdown to get any live performances (or commissions) of new works, I have found another unlikely outlet for my composing - the website of the ecological group Sustainable Warminster.

This organisation has made several recordings of local bats to highlight the variety of local bat species (some very rare), the number of colonies, and the plight of these colonies in the 21st century. The recordings have been slowed down considerably to bring them with the range of human hearing, and several sympathetic local musicians and composers have used them as the basis for new works in a variety of genres. 

To hear my piece, The Last Pipistrelle, and the other pieces in this series please go to https://sustainablewarminster.co.uk/2020/10/31/bat-music/

In case you are interested, I plan to tell the story of the composition of my piece and explain some of the compositional techniques used in my upcoming vlog: Musician at Work.

Stay safe,

Ralf

Obviously, the global Covid-19 pandemic has had a major effect on my work as a musician. 

This has affected both my work as a performer - as 100% of gigs have been cancelled and many venues have closed (temporarily or permanently) - and also as a community musician. When only groups of no more than 6 people are allowed to meet indoors, running a community big band of 30+ players is not possible. This is even more impossible when taking into account the fact that being in a room with brass and woodwind players is as serious a cause of infection spreading as being in a room full of coughing people. As of today, I have not rehearsed or performed in public for just over seven months. All of the things that were meant to happen since the middle of March 2020 (see events section) and a European Tour with College students have been cancelled, and no new events have been booked in their place.

My work as a college music teacher has continued in term-time but all teaching is now online, teaching from home, and this newly revamped timetable has resulted in a drop in teaching hours this academic year. As a part-time hourly-paid teacher this has hit my monthly pay-check hard.

But, I have been working hard on many other aspects of this job and this is the subject of my new Vlog Musician at Work.

I am also expanding my business teaching online one-to-one lessons covering various areas of music and musical skills.

Please investigate both of these new areas of this website... I welcome enquiries and comments.

Cheers,

Stay safe.

Ralf

This Summer has been a busy one with various musical projects happening. The highlight was recording the first CD with Dr. Zebo's Wheezy Club in August, but time was also spent playing with Graham Dent either in a trio with Rob Brian or various jazz singers. This group also has a CD recording projected for the near future. The Bath Community Big Band has also rehearsed every week over the summer.

I have invested in Logic software and have bought various microphones and interfaces to create a small home composing studio. A lot of time has been spent trying to learn my way around the complex software this Summer. Tricky, but great fun. Also good to actually get down to some composing (rather than just writing about it) now that the PhD is submitted. Just the viva exam to deal with in September...

With the start of term looming, my upcoming weekly timetable looks like:

Monday - Kingswood School, Bath and St Laurence School, Bradford on Avon (both instrumental teaching) - Monday evening - Jazz Factory at Wiltshire Music Centre.

Tuesday - Bath College (lecturing on a pop course) - Tuesday evening - Jazz gigs with Graham Dent Trio and Duo.

Wednesday - Corsham School and Malmesbury School (both instrumental teaching) - Wednesday evening - Bath Community Big Band rehearsal, Bath Spa University 

Thursday - afternoon and evening - Bath College (lecturing on a pop course - at A-level equivalent and degree level)

This year I have added more hours (including some degree level evening lecturing) at Bath College and a new school - Malmesbury - to my weekly work load. The timetable above isn't completely finalised yet, but it looks likely at the moment.

I'm shortly off to Shrewsbury Folk Festival (as a punter, not performer) for a few days of relaxation before this timetable all starts up in September. The end of the Summer!

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g209965-d4602814-Reviews-Sebastien_s_Bistro-Bradford_on_Avon_Wiltshire_England.html
http://www.grahamdent.com/
 

http://composerday.blogspot.co.uk/

I would be fascinated to get your comments, etc...

Cheers
Ralf