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Expert in a dying field

  • Writer: Amanda Riddell
    Amanda Riddell
  • Feb 7, 2024
  • 1 min read

There's nothing I hate more than the fact that nobody understands my process, because that's not the process people use these days. Glen took that to another level, though. He handwrote most of his scores and refused to read sheet music on saxophone; that was deliberately old-fashioned. This aesthetic that I've cultivated is very similar to the aesthetic sensibilities of my musician peers. But then there's those Scotch-Irish melodies... that's genetic. I think it's fair to say that New Zealand art music has finally found a sound, and that's what my generation of composers represents. 🎼 -

So, to me, I'm a composer in the same sense that Gershwin or Sondheim or Rodgers or Strouse were composers.

I can demonstrate my own music - that's something that is core to the craft - but I'm not John Raitt or one of those singers. I'm good, but I'm not that good.

I've been encouraged enough by my songs to continue with my 2030 screenplay, and that's the focus that really keeps me going.

More than Chloe, though she's also a good muse. 🥑

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1 Comment


Amanda Riddell
Amanda Riddell
Feb 07, 2024

Basically, my objection goes like this: New Zealand has never had a really famous show composer that was equally as famous as the rock stars (Don switched from one to the other, but that's the main exception). So, hence, people took my demos to be an audition to be a rock star, rather than merely the songs presented with a little flair. I was always writing that 2030 script, and the songs were part of that process, though they weren't initially conceived in specific parts of the story. 👍🏻 - If you like me, that's great, but read my 2030 screenplay if you're curious about how all these random songs that I've advertised fit together as a musical.

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