Orchestral Evolution Part 1

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What is Orchestral Evolution?

A brand new commissioned score for a revolutionary ‘pop up orchestra’….

A piece of music for an infinitely sized orchestra of all instruments and abilities. The piece has been written by The Chris Woods Groove Orchestra in conjunction with Soundstorm, the Music Education Hub for Bournemouth and Poole. The project is for young people of a huge range of ages from schools in and around Bournemouth – Funded through support from Arts Council England.

Students from every type of school ensemble traditional or unusual, from orchestras to jazz bands, an after school ukulele club to the in house rock band are all invited to learn the piece with me and a visiting member of the Chris Woods Groove Orchestra, in a morning or afternoon workshop. (27th Feb: AM or PM 28th Feb: AM or PM 1st March: AM or PM 2nd March: AM or PM)

Further content will be made available for free online, to help students practice and further develop their playing.

All of the groups will then be invited to join a mass pop up orchestra hosted by one of the participating schools ; to perform alongside some of this country’s finest players as part of ‘The Chris Woods Groove Orchestra’ at a one off inspirational concert. Interested?..get in touch by email contact@chriswoodsgroove.co.uk or direct to Soundstorm Rachel.Sene@Bournemouth.gov.uk

The Project was born out of an idea to inspire students, irrespective of their interest in classical or contemporary ensembles, to help all students engage within a modern orchestral setting culminating in a shared finale. A focus on making the orchestra, and orchestral thinking inclusive and exciting. Soundstorm approached the CWGO to bring these aims to life.

Over the coming weeks as I compose the piece I will be writing about my processes, successes, failures and more in this blog. So sign up now to watch it grow.


Why?

As many of you may know who are reading this, in septmember of 2016 I launched a project entitled ‘guitar revolution’. A piece of music for an infinite number of guitars, all ages and abilities. You can find out more here.

After an oversubscribed launch at the london olympia we went on to tour the pop guitar orchestra project across the uk. Bringing together hundreds of guitarists of all ages to perform together. It was an inspirational process. From two angles it has to be one of the most satisfying and exciting things I have done as a musician and composer…and has inspired this next project.

Firstly because of the social element; the idea of bringing together people of all ages and abilities was idyllic in concept and idyllic in practice. To work with people who may not spend every moment of their life playing an instrument is seriously refreshing. There is a genuine passion that hasn’t succumbed to the gigging fatigue that many of us ‘professional’s’ have. There is an almost more pure love for the music, and this pure passion comes out in the playing regardless of physical skill.

Secondly the process was a compositional conundrum. And a compositional challenge is one that feeds creative thinking. In short, composing for a mix of abilities is a challenge. Having boundaries to keep within, though, is often really constructive. I had to compose to be prepared for huge unknowns (how many would turn up to the pop up orchestra) and crucially I had to compose something that was simple enough to be played by the most beginner player and crucially simple enough and intuitive enough to have room to be an expressive performance.

So here I am again in a new compositional scenario, with similar challenges but also very exciting new ones…here’s what Im facing with Orchestral Evolution

1.Composing for all abilities.

In this project whilst it is only open to school children, it is not for one specific age or ability. So within the the parts there must be room for all abilities. And crucially we want it to be an enriching experience for all, so there also needs to be value in it for even the most accomplished player.

2.Composing for an unknown orchestra (unknown instrumentation)

This time, its not just guitars. We are making a truly modern orchestra welcoming all instruments. But it is a pop-up orchestra  so until the day of the workshops I wont know what Im dealing with. Do we have ten violins? three bassoons and a hundred ukuleles? or… well, ultimately it could be anything. So I need to categorise the instruments in a non-traditional orchestral way.

Over the coming weeks, as I compose the piece I will be blogging about the processes and experiences. Ill be sharing audio clips and maybe even a video or two too.

Drop your email in the sign up form to stay up to date.



Four New Compositions – for EP ‘Unfolding’

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‘Unfolding’ is the new EP from The Chris Woods Groove Orchestra. You can listen to a taster here and read more by clicking here You can now listen to the EP on Spotify, Itunes and more


‘Unfolding’ – Coming Soon – The Chris Woods Groove Orchestra

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This is an EP of four compositions. All recorded Live. To be released EARLY DECEMBER

Stolen Lines and Amygdala were recorded live at Real World Studios for Audio-Technica. Splicer and The Chine were recorded and filmed live at Absolute Music in Dorset.

The pieces all feature me (yup!) on guitar with; Ben Taylor (Double Bass), Arthur (Electronics), David Youngs (Hand Pan and Woodpack drum) Harkiret Singh-Bahra (Tabla) and Andy Chapman (Drums).

Its been a long time coming. I’ve been working away with some of these guys for a good two years. I’ve been Particularly spurred on from the Guitar Revolution project and from working with everyone in the orchestra (people are good) its been a creative time. I’ve had an opportunity to leave some of the less creative parts of being a musician behind recently, and I guess I’ve never felt so focused on making music that’s orchestral at heart.

The tracks are undoubtedly dark, the choice of playing them live is very deliberate. I hope these recordings capture us all at our best and most expressive.

On release of the EP and all the full videos I’ll be delving into the tracks in an in-depth way, and how they were recorded sine this was not just about chords, rhythms and harmonies; it was one hell of sonic journey too working with one of the most innovative microphone companies (Audio-Technica) on earth and working in a truly out if this world studio (Real World Studios).

For now, I wanted to leave you with our first video release of Stolen Lines performed Live in the Wood Room at Real World. As well as of course an album taster. (If the video hasn’t loaded CLICK HERE)


Thanks for listening. Before ya go I wanted to extend a massive thank you to lots of wonderful people including, everyone one of the Orchestra members you gentlemen are all true gents, stunning musical beings and an inspiration to me. Tim at Audio-Technica for being one of the most amazing communicators I’ve worked with and of course his team of fantastic people and fantastic mics. Ollie at Real World Studios for being such a great engineer. Dan Henry and Mark Harris for making sound and look great at Absolute Music. Jordan at Red Pepper PR for being so generous and a general legend. Jess for the stunning artwork. Christian and David for amazing mixing and putting up with OCD ears. And David Holder for the epic mastering. Thank you to you for reading this far….

Thank you one and all

more soon
C

Real World Studios – Audio-Technica Live Sessions

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The Chris Woods Groove Orchestra recently recorded a special intimate live show at the famous Real World Studios, for the Audio-rechnica Live Sessions. Here’s Stolen lines.

Chris Woods Groove Orchestra Rehearsals Pt 2

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This extract of the blog delves into how I have been communicating my ideas to the rest of the orchestra…as we work towards recording.

One of the best/worst/most interesting challenges of getting a band together…or ‘Orchestra’ as I like to think of it is communicating your ideas. I come from more of a contemporary/rock/jazz/pop background and the usual way of things is ‘heres the song’ and let players go crazy!

This time things are different, I’ve really tried to approach this project in a more orchestral way, composing with different instruments in mind, at the same time as recognising the strengths of the musicians who join. So how do you go about composing specific parts for other instruments when you cant play that instrument…did someone say notation?

‘Notation?!? oh my god!…you mean dots and all that rubbish!??! – surely without the magical skill of reading music I wont be able to do this?!’

Now, I’m not really a ‘reader’. I have never really had the need, and groove, swing and feel always seem so distant from the score not to mention the whole changing tuning thing. I also have some pretty strong feelings on the teaching of it to children – notation really has got in the way of some good common musical sense… (see my Jimi Hendrix blog).

I admittedly have a good grasp of reading rhythms, but as far as sight reading goes its something I don’t practice so I don’t do well. But it really hasn’t put me off and I don’t think it should put you off either… I use Guitar pro. Its an amazing programme and really helps in creating your ideas. By using the TAB function, writing parts for cello or double bass are easy and importantly you can HEAR what you create… so with a bit of trial and error you can compose something quite stunning with very minimal reading ability! thank you Guitar Pro!!!

I know there are a host of similar options; but I think what is important here is how we can now just intuitively tweak a score with very little knowledge, quite literally play until its what you want it to be  – Giving you the ability to pass on information in a range of ways and bring those stuffy and slightly redundant dots to life with some creative dabling. Interesting…hmmm…

Below is an extract from the score I have for a recent work in progress. Just guitar and double bass. The main theme worked out…and then I let Ben Taylor work his magic.  You can listen to the recording/video here…

2Spooky new track

It works a treat, and once again the abillity to hear what you are creating is mega powerful. As a contemporary acoustic player, writing the melodies and riffs on other instruments is amazingly liberating too. I find the textural difference amongst instruments is so much more exciting than trying to squeeze it all into one guitar part.

Refering back to a far older track Amygdala part two, which you can listen to here, I used the same process. And as you can see from the music below, the TAB function makes it really clear as to what is possible to be played…

cello

Ultimately, this has been a really exciting journey for me as some of you may have seen as the CWGO has grown over the past two years. The main lesson I have learnt here that I’m keen to pass on is how technology really is such an amazing tool when it comes to orchestrating, and also the balance between sticking to written parts and building on what the player has to offer. With regard to technology, I think we can safely say it is facilitating a new inclusiveness, giving people the tools to access worlds that used to be and perhaps are still ‘exclusive’. With regard to other players I have to say so many of the musicians I have worked with in the orchestra always have an amazing idea to offer that I would never have thought of…that balance of ideas is the nirvana of orchestration in my mind, the ability to create an overall piece with a feel, themes and structures but being open to fresh ideas from other creative people….I guess in some ways that’s what is making this orchestra that bit different. I wonder without these new technological aids, would this kind of thinking be possible?

Chris Woods Groove Orchestra Rehearsals Pt1

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So… Rehearsals…I thought it might be interesting to share the process a bit. who knows…ya might just be interested.

With a new group of amazing players together we are working hard, and hurtling towards recording and filming. Today I was working with Ben, just me and him focusing on bringing the best out of ‘us’. Ben Taylor was our double bass player for the Guitar Revolution tour…and this guy is sticking around, we regularly drink together which has undoubtedly helped our playing… He lives locally to me and we’ve been meeting up regularly and really really getting stuck into the details… there is nothing I enjoy more than working on the detail.

Here are two full videos from the rehearsal, a new tune which I would love to hear your thoughts on and ‘Saol’ which anyone who has seen me recently will have heard, we’ve been working on the nuances for this bad boy for a while, it feels like its getting there…

Saol

NEW TUNE IDEA!

Guitar Revolution: Politics Is Not The Only Way

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Politics is not the only vehicle of change…

Just after the brexit vote announcement I launched Guitar Revolution…a project thats aim was simply to form pop-up guitar orchestras around the country to play one of my compositions.

Now, the timing was coincidental really; I’ve always been fascinated by the role of community in music, those of you who know me personally will know that actually the majority of my adult life has been focused around those two things – I also like donuts, walks in the park and John Grisham novels ;). So Brexit wasn’t the driving force, this project did not have any allegiance to leave or remain (and don’t worry this is not a blog about Brexit). But nevertheless, guitar revolution was riding on a wave of Brexitness. 

Since then, as Guitar Revolution jetted (in a white diesel van) around the country forming pop-up guitar orchestras, all manner of political bizarreness has occurred. Of course most recently we are witnessing a whole new level of political insanity….

Now as I said this blog isn’t about Brexit and nor really is it about my political standing, although you can probably take a guess at what I voted for. This blog is instead about how important it is to remember the ‘real’ stuff. How your role in community is even more important than that one vote you have… Crazy, I know! 

This Guitar Revolution project showed me that your real actions really are so much louder than words or Facebook posts.  We engaged with thousand of people across the country and built a collective orchestra of hundreds. These actions are so much louder than Facebook rants and drunken arguments in the pub that result in a hangover of lost friends and upset egos. Continued below….

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plym promo image

Here are three points from that experience, that I believe are worth a read:

Number one, ‘Actions – this is not going to be easy’…

 Ive got plenty of experience of trying to bring people together in a musical context and it never gets any easier, I’m not sure it gets harder, but definitely not easier. The human race are a funny bunch.The general public are majoritively quite resistant to getting together for anything less  in size than a political rally, football match or an adele concert. Something that is mainstream and massively controlled, the idea of venturing out for a socio-musical experiment to play a minimalist piece of music, organised and composed by a scruffy guitarist from the west country is apparently not on the average brits list of priorities. Its seemingly niche, which is a shame because I was hoping the revolution would be relatively mainstream. Disappointing, I know!?!?!…..but hey, it just meant we had to work harder.

Number two ‘ Louder! – there is a reason we are scared of getting together’…

It takes a lot of energy and ultimately bravery to come and join a group of strangers to play music. It takes a lot of energy and bravery to join a group of strangers to do anything. Aside from the usual ego risks that playing music comes with it, it comes as a disruption to a busy schedule, it comes with all manner of social anxieties or pre-conceptions. Ultimately the idea of getting together with strangers to play music is powerful in a positive way but comes with powerful challenges too. As life increases in complexity and difficulty the idea of breaking out of that gets harder…Just like the idea of breaking from your normal comfort zone and views. I gotta be honest, if I was invited to join a pop-up guitar orchestra, I may well be the first to bottle it.

Number three…. ‘Words – The results of actions like this are far more positive than angry Facebook posts’…

There’s a simplicity to all of this, something I touched upon in my first blog. The simplicity of gathering people together to play. In this case it was gathering people together to do something different. Now in these crazy political times, of constant bombardment of ‘facts’ and strong view points the abstract simplicity of playing guitar together might seem like a token act of togetherness, but Im quite convinced that it is actually far more than that. (I would like to point out, I fully support your Facebook rants too)

Im not claiming that after each performance of guitar revolution, people spent hours discussing with others, rationally debating their political views. Im pretty sure no-one mentioned politics once or, in fact, the future of humanity. But! It did this…. and this is something I think we all need to focus on more than ever. 

….It got people out of their comfort zone, it got people out of Rupert Murdochs comfort zone and made people feel welcome and part of something positive, peaceful and original….something that was about being together not attacking others. Something vibrant and inquisitive…its a foundation of confidence to question the world around you.

For everyone on this messed up little island, being open minded, peaceful, and social is key to helping us progress. Whatever your political views, being social, community minded and open is the key to getting along, moving forward and generally not descending into being a country of absolute morons. Getting behind something musical is massively uniting. There are no ‘facts’ or view points, there is only the music. Because really, everyone wants the same thing. Don’t they?…

So, go and create something…  bring people together. Show the world that together is better. Do something! Organise a gig, get some people together to do something creative and pointless…something that is for nothing more than breaking the monotony of modern life and reminding us that we are human and we are here to laugh, dance, sing and share our smiles. 

London Performance With An Ear Bending Line Up

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After an inspirational Guitar Revolution tour, the Chris Woods Groove Orchestra will be performing a special London show with a very special line up…
Tickets from here.

cwgo poster

Building A Guitar Revolution Part 4: We did it!

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So, The Guitar Revolution tour has come to an end. After an over subsribed launch at the London Olympia in september 2016, we took the concept on the road in early 2017. Visiting 7 Cities across the UK, bringing together hundreds of players to form our epic pop-up guitar Orchestra’s to play the piece Guitar Revolution.

A huge and heartfelt thank you to Martin Guitars for powering us and making it possible. All the amazing and world class guest acts who played such inspirational sets and put so much effort into reaching out into the wider community. The players who joined us and ultimately made the magic happen and of course all the audience memebers who helped create such amazing atmospheres at the shows… there is so many more, you know who you are, thank you. 🙂

Below you can enjoy a few live video’s of our performances and more…

 

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