Saturday 20 September 2014

Reflections

Paul and I spoke during the week and agreed that we should post some of our thoughts and musings on this project as well as our daily piece (Paul got there first). So here goes.

What really interests me about this project is the historical aspect of it. We didn't exploit this much the first time around (2002) except for a couple of pieces as I recall - Paul's piece on the first anniversary of 9/11 (referenced here) for example, or one that I wrote on 13th September 2002 which used extracts from the newspaper from that day. But the idea that this set of pieces is a record of our lives and the wider society which we live in fascinates me. My only regret of the project so far is that I missed the chance to write something in response to the Scottish referendum two days ago, probably the most historic event in this country of the month we have chosen (hope I am not speaking too soon there...).

The other great aspect of this challenge as a composer is having to write something every day. We did run a version of this project 12 years ago but it was a very different affair, and I didn't have things like a job or a daughter back then. Its amazing how one's perspective on everything changes over time. It is so easy for the demands of everyday life to disrupt any sort of creativity. It so easy to sit down at the end of day and think that whatever is sitting is your subconscious is a good idea, but that you're just a bit too tired to do anything with it. The rigours of having to post something by midnight have been invigorating - and both of us, I think, have had some pretty last-minute postings over the last 20 days!

That brings me onto the last great thing about 30 Days from a composer's point of view. The internet. In 2002 we all had email accounts (and had done for at least 2 or 3 years!!) but the internet was something that you accessed only in order to find something specific. It is now everywhere. I can connect to the internet on my laptop, my tablet, my phone - and before too long, my glasses and my watch will no doubt be added to the list. As I write this, we've had 1250 page views on this blog, in just 20 days. It has been read by people in 10 different countries in 3 continents. Apart from the fact that that is pretty humbling, it would have been just unimaginable 12 years ago. It occurs to me actually that with the technology I had available to me in 2002, then in order to upload a picture of the piece I write today, I would have had to take a photo of it, send the camera film off to be developed, pick it up three days later, scan it, and upload it to the blog. Not that I would have known what a blog was, probably.

So that's the end of my Saturday musings (remember what I was saying earlier about having a job? The world should be grateful, it means I can only wax lyrical like this on weekends). It has been an immense challenge and a great privilege to be a part of 30 Days. We have some very exciting ideas about where we are going to take this, and rest assured our plans extend far beyond the end of September. We've got the performance to plan later in the year, and much more exciting stuff to come.

Thanks for reading and thanks for all the support we've been given. 20 out of 30 today, we're on the home stretch.

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