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Holly Mead - Composer, Pianist

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Oct 10 2022

Bright Lights European Tour 2022

In September, I went on tour with the amazing and talented ONIKHO! We performed in NYC, London, and Berlin. Here is a photographic/videographic retrospective of some of the highlights. 

 

We kicked things off at Nicky's Unisex in NYC:

 

Soundcheck…

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Apr 29 2022

Farewell Concert at UMA Gallery - 5/5/22

A musical send-off will take place at UMA Gallery in Oakland this Thursday, May 5th, 2022, 7:30pm. This hour-long program of original solo piano will be my last performance as a Bay Area resident. Thank you for everything. I…

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Nov 3 2021

Awesöme Orchestra's End-of-Year Concert

I will be taking a brief leave of absence from my current residency at the Dorland Artist Colony in Temecula, CA, in order to attend Awesöme Orchestra Collective's EOY concert and fundraiser on Sunday, December 12th at the Freight and…

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Nov 3 2021

Syrinx Symphony

With only two months left on sabbatical before I return home, the time has come to assimilate my newly minted skills and check a few things off of my composerly to-do list. Here is my capstone orchestration project, Syrinx Symphony…

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Aug 20 2021

Elementary Training For Musicians by Paul Hindemith

I have enjoyed sweating my way through "Part One" of Paul Hindemith's bootcamp-esque Elementary Training For Musicians. I was initially dismayed by Hindemith's cosmically grumpy introduction which is rife with abrasive/exclusionary language, but I'm glad I shrugged off his…

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Aug 19 2021

Unknown Tomorrows feat. ONIKHO & Awesöme Orchestra Collective

I had the privilege and pleasure of collaborating with ONIKHO to create an orchestral arrangement of her new song "Love Bold" for Awesöme Orchestra! You can see/hear it (and two other beautiful new works) in this documentary produced by…

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Aug 11 2021

Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 7

Here are exercises 1, 2, 4, and 5 at the end of Chapter Six of Twentieth Century Harmony, pg. 158-159!

 

Holly Mead · 20th Century Harmony Chapter 7 Exercises 1,2,4,5

 

Aug 10 2021

Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 6

Here are exercises 2, 3, 6, and 7 at the end of Chapter Five of Twentieth Century Harmony, pg. 133-134!

 

Holly Mead · 20th Century Harmony Chapter 6 Exercises 2,3,6,7

 

Aug 9 2021

Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 5

Here are exercises 1-7, 9, and 11 at the end of Chapter Five of Twentieth Century Harmony, pg. 119-120!

 

Holly Mead · 20th Century Harmony Chapter 5 Exercises 1 - 7, 9, 11

 

 

Jul 31 2021

Bandersnatch

Here is a combo of Wednesday and Thursday's experiments:

 

Holly Mead · Bandersnatch

 

Jul 29 2021

"Exotic" Tetrachords Reharm

Today, I combined a Phrygian-Major tetrachord with a Lydian-Major tetrachord to create a modified v.2 of yesterday's tune. Tomorrow, I'd like to try combining/lengthening yesterday and today's snippets to create a more substantial piece.

 

Holly Mead · Exotic Tetrachords_Lyd-Min-Phr-Maj

 

Jul 28 2021

Hearing & Writing Music by Ron Gorow

I've been puttering my way through Ron Gorow's Hearing & Writing Music: Professional Training for Today's Musician for quite some time, and I was able to finish it this week. There are already plenty of descriptions/reviews of Gorow's book floating…

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Jul 27 2021

Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 4 (part 2)

Here are exercises 7-10 at the end of Chapter Four of Twentieth Century Harmony, pg. 107-108!

 

Holly Mead · 20th Century Harmony Chapter 4 Exercises 7 - 10

 

Jul 26 2021

Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 4 (part 1)

In Chapter Four of Twentieth Century Harmony, Persichetti discusses quartal harmony.

The chapter concludes with ten compositional prompts. Here are exercises 1-4 and 6!

 

Holly Mead · 20th Century Harmony Chapter 4 Exercises 1 - 4 & 6

 

Jul 22 2021

Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 3 (part 2)

Here are exercises 6, 8-13, 17, and 19 at the end of Chapter Three of Twentieth Century Harmony, pg. 91-92.

 

Holly Mead · 20th Century Harmony Chapter 3 Exercises 6 - 19

 

Jul 21 2021

Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 3 (part 1)

In Chapter Three of Twentieth Century Harmony, Persichetti discusses the cycle of fifths, thirds, and seconds, and sevenths, ninths, fifteenths, seventeenths, and twelve-note chords.

The chapter concludes with twenty compositional prompts. Here are exercises 1-5!

 

Holly Mead · 20th… Read more

Jul 20 2021

Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 2 (part 4)

Here are the remaining five "applications" at the end of Chapter Two of Twentieth Century Harmony, pg. 65!

 

Holly Mead · 20th Century Harmony Chapter 2 Exercises 21 - 25

 

Jul 19 2021

Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 2 (part 3)

Here are exercises 14 and 16-20 on pages 64 of Chapter Two of Twentieth Century Harmony.

 

Holly Mead · 20th Century Harmony Chapter 2 Exercises 14 And 16 - 20

 

 

Jul 16 2021

Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 2 (part 2)

Here are exercises 8-13 on pages 63-64 of Chapter Two of Twentieth Century Harmony.

 

Holly Mead · 20th Century Harmony Chapter 2 Exercises 8 - 13

 

Jul 15 2021

Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 2 (part 1)

In Chapter Two of Twentieth Century Harmony, Persichetti discusses scale materials: modes, synthetic scale formations, pentatonic and hexatonic scales, and the chromatic scale.

The chapter concludes with twenty-five (!) "applications" (i.e. compositional prompts). Here are exercises 1-4 and 6-7.

…

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Jul 9 2021

Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 1 (part 2)

Here are the remaining six "applications" at the end of Chapter One of Twentieth Century Harmony, pg. 30.

 

Holly Mead · 20th Century Harmony_Chapter 1_Exercise 7-12

 

Jul 8 2021

Twentieth Century Harmony: Chapter 1 (part 1)

In Chapter One of Twentieth Century Harmony, Persichetti discusses the overtone series and why we perceive some intervals as consonant and others as dissonant.

The chapter concludes with twelve "applications" (i.e. compositional prompts). Here are the first six!

 

Holly… Read more

Jul 7 2021

Twentieth Century Harmony by Vincent Persichetti & Dorothea Flanagan

In the introduction of his book Twentieth Century Harmony, Vincent Persichetti says:

"This text aims to define harmonic activity and make it available to the student and young composer. A detailed study of the essential harmonic technique of the twentieth-century
…Read more

Jul 6 2021

Composing Music by William Russo: Chapter 16 (part 2)

Kaleidoscopic Ostinatos

Russo uses the term Kaleidoscopic Ostinatos to refer to two or more ostinatos of differing lengths that occur simultaneously.

For this next exercise, I created an accompaniment with four ostinao patterns of different lengths:

  • Pattern a is three…
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