CMRC Workshop: Writing for non-professional/young musicians with Kirsty Devaney
Event details
In this workshop for composers, Kirsty Devaney gives guidance on student compositions written for violin and viola duo with non-professional/young musicians in mind. Kirsty writes:
"A lot of my professional commissioned work as a composer has centred on composing with and for non-professional groups. I love this sort of work as it allows me to work closely with a group in a much more collaborative way. You get to know the personalities of the group and compose music tailored to their strengths. This work requires composers to develop several important skills such as creative problem solving as well as communication skills. This will be a practical workshop where we will explore, discuss and try out different composing approaches."
About the speaker
Kirsty Devaney
Kirsty Devaney is a Birmingham based composer. She graduated from Birmingham Conservatoire in 2013 with a BMus(Hons) in composition having studied with Joe Cutler, Howard Skempton and Ed Bennett. Now working as a professional composer and practitioner she is passionate and committed about promoting creative music making as something we all have the capacity to do. Her composing work ranges from composing for professional contemporary music ensembles across Europe, for amateur and youth ensembles, to working with film and electronics. Her music has been aired on Radio 3 and in 2011, aged 20, she was shortlisted for a British Composer award for her work for CoMA London.
As a music practitioner Kirsty has worked with organisations including Town Hall Symphony Hall, Stratford-upon-Avon Literary Festival, and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group. In 2013 Kirsty founded the ‘Young Composers Project’, which has since worked with over 200 young people and trained local emerging composers to work in educational settings. Kirsty also works as an education consultant with Music Education Solutions delivering CPD to primary and secondary teachers across the UK. She is currently completing her PhD at Birmingham City University investigating the assessment of composing in schools and was recently awarded the prestigious Anna Craft Award for research into ‘Creativity in Education’ from the British Education Research Association.