Hi, it's me, Claire here. Instead of writing something about myself in third person and pretending someone else wrote it, I'm going to go for the fresh approach of just rambling a little bit about myself and what I do.
I did all the stuff you'd expect a composer to do - studied at University, got a certificate, won some awards. I gravitated towards big orchestral stuff for a while, and now more recently have been getting more into film scores and television soundtracks.
I work in a studio with my mac, some microphones and a mixer, and a varied array of stringed instruments around me. I've got some percussion and keys too. My favourite instrument to play is my concert soprano ukulele. I take it to the beach.
I studied cello and piano growing up, but never took it very seriously. I always enjoyed writing my own tunes and playing by ear much more than reading music. When I was at uni I was a bit obsessed with rhythm and percussion, and even played timpani at the town hall (after one lesson) in one of the worst concert music experiences of my life. I also found myself heavily attracted to minimalism in music in my later years of study.
I went to live and play music in New York city for a while a few years ago. I learnt quickly how different the culture is in the states, and while I loved my time there, it made me appreciate what a great community spirit we have as artists living in Aotearoa. When I returned from New York I helped establish The Society of Brilliant Ideas with my friend Rachelle Pedersen. This is an artist's collective based in high st. It is a place to come to work as freelancers and feed off each other for inspiration and motivation.
In 2008 Native Tongue Publishing signed me up as a represented writer. This just means they take care of my paperwork and promote me to clients. Which is nice.
I consider myself pretty lucky to be able to make a living out of composing and performing music in this country. My attitude towards life is one of working hard and playing hard. I like to collaborate in creating music for other artforms. Not only can I feed off other people for inspiration and direction, it also gives me great satisfaction to produce music for other people which heightens the effectiveness of their artform. Film music is a great example of this. If a piece of music doesn't make you feel anything, it is worthless. I like the fact that my job is to move people with music, the intangible mysterious quality of this artform is constantly intriguing.
Ok, that's enough rambling. If you want a proper programmey bio, I suggest you check out my sounz profile, or email me.
View my sounz profile: http://sounz.org.nz/contributor/composer/1264
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