Last Waltzdays

It is finally sinking in that I am moving out of Boston.  I played my final Waltzdays on Sunday (the monthly waltz event that I have been playing since January) and it was then that I began the process of saying good bye.  It is less than a week away that I will be moving back up to Maine and I will be trying to see as many of my Boston friends as I can before I go.  I am sad to be leaving friendships and the beginnings of friendships behind but I am glad that Boston has become a place that I will miss.  It is really the dance community that I fell in love with--not just contra, but blues, waltz and contact improv.

Warming up in the beginner lesson

I meant for this to be a longer post but I am feeling drained of creativity.  I guess I haven't written too much about Waltzdays in general, which is a shame because it has been such a wonderful musical outlet.  I need to start posting the dozen or so waltzes that I have written/adapted from film scores to my blog but for now I am going to say "good night!"

Performing at NEFFA

 It is the day after one of the most fantastic weekends I have had in a long time and I am slowly drifting out of the clouds (while simultaneously trying and failing to catch up on sleep).  The weekend of NEFFA started with an English Country Dance performance which was a good learning experience but rather rough.  It is a lot of work to learn a new genre of dance music that relies on a different skill-set (sight reading...) and having played upwards of a hundred contra dances (is it really that many?) I felt far less solid than I am used to while playing my third ECD.  The good news is I will be taking lessons with some fantastic ECD pianists once I move down to VT!

My second musical experience of the weekend was the Boston Harmony concert that I went to see the next day.  I could have been part of that concert because I signed up for Boston Harmony this year and participated in three rehearsals but I got too busy and a little frustrated with the slow pace of the group (I was spoiled by the talented and tight-knit Village Harmony Alumni group I sang with this winter).  I went to the concert to see my friends and show some support but the moment I got there they dragged me onto the stage and plopped me in the bass section.  While I had not been anticipating the concert and was not familiar with all of the music, it turned out to be wonderful and fed my singing-starved soul.  Plus, I couldn't stop smiling and winking at my VH friends in the audience who knew I was doing my best to fumble along with the music.

After the Boston Harmony concert I listened to a couple of dear musician friends perform sad Irish ballads and then stumbled across some of my old VH teachers (Will and Lynn) singing with their Windborne quartet.  My heart full of beautiful music, I met with the rest of my band to rehearse for our contra dance later that night.

Sometimes I jam with musicians, have a blast, and the music fits together perfectly.  As the jam winds down we talk about how great it was and how we should play some gigs together sometime.  Most of the time the gig part doesn't happen, except lately, it has been.  I have been playing with multiple configurations of wonderful musician friends this semester in Boston but it came to a peak with this performance at NEFFA.  I finally got a chance to play a gig with the incredible drummer Ness Savedoff and the versatile and unfairly talented (for being 17) Jamie Oshima.  With Kathleen Fownes on fiddle and McKinley James on cello, it was a great mix of talented musicians.  AND WE SOUNDED AWESOME!!!!  Sorry, whew! I have wanted to play with these people for quite some time and even with less than an hour of rehearsal time it was hugely musically satisfying...

I have been playing in a duo for about 3 years (which has been incredibly rewarding and challenging) and this was my first experience playing with a 5-piece band.  One of the most exciting parts about playing with so many musicians is that I didn't have to hold down the rhythm all of the time.  I had more freedom to act as color or as an accent to the rhythmic elements.  It was also fun because Jamie (guitar and mando) and I were constantly communicating about chords and arrangement ideas: shouting things like "hold the four chord!" and "just melody!"

Okay, I could keep going on about this gig but I sorely need to catch up on sleep to finish recovering from this weekend.  To finish up, NEFFA was awesome and I learned a ton and had a great time.  After the dance we had someone offer to record our next album in their studio!  It is tricky to schedule and organize so many musicians but I know this won't be are last gig together and I am looking forward to the next one.

Best,
Clayton

Pop Music?

I recently ventured into new musical territory, playing top 40s pop music for a dance marathon at Emanuel college.  It was my first time playing with a full band (drums, bass, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, violin, keys, and male and female vocalist) and it was interesting how much my role as a musician shrunk compared to when I play in a duo or trio.  It was also interesting to note that what the genre lacks in terms of chord or melodic variation, it makes up for with how the music is arranged.

Here is a pretty sweet video that our bandleader created of one of the sets!

Sample Library Fun Post 3 of 1

I have decided to give updates on my sample library project.  Partially because I really don't know what is going to come of it so even if it turns out to be a dead-end project with nothing impressive to show for it, at least I will have a record of the process and the discoveries and mistakes made along the way.

I had a second recording session with Tom Krumm today on violin.  I realized after our first session that I needed him to hold out the notes a lot longer.  While the recording went well, processing the samples was a nightmare this evening.  I decided to pitch correct everything before cutting up the samples and it was only after putting a ton of time into separating out each note that I noticed a frustrating glitch in Cubase's pitch correct system.  It did a fine job of correcting the notes themselves but did not shift the ringing of the note after the bow leaves the strings, resulting in an awkward (if subtle) pitch-bend at the end of each note.  Super frustrating because it is so time consuming to adjust the pitch manually which is my alternative option.

I will abandon this project for now and resume when I am less exhausted and discouraged.

Best,
Clayton

Planting the Seeds

So many wonderful things are happening in my musical life right now.  After two solid years of being absorbed by online classes I have taken this semester off and it has been amazing the opportunities that have opened up once I began putting my time, energy and enthusiasm into seeking them out.  I used to procrastinate about sending emails and pursuing musical opportunities but I have been spending a chunk of my mornings arranging lessons and jam sessions for the next week and it has all been paying off.

What's Goin' on: 

First off, I have been playing music and gigs with numerous lovely musicians in Boston.  I am playing the JP contra dance this Saturday and am super excited to be playing NEFFA in a week!

I joined a pop band for one gig.  It was a dance marathon and we had a slot at 2:30 in the morning... It was really fun to play in a band setting with lead sheets and a drummer.  And the best part was playing the cool synth patches on my keyboard!

I have taken on the ambitions project of creating a sample library of Celtic instruments... Will explain more about that later.  Short version: many hours recording every single note of an instrument at different velocities and with different articulations.  Then comes the hours of processing all of those recordings and mapping them to a keyboard.  If I want to achieve the next level of realism I will have to delve into advanced scripting...but I haven't decided if that is the best use of my time or not.

There is so much more but I have to go and I know that if I don't publish this post now then I won't get to it later.

Best,
Clayton

The Trials of Designing a New Website

I started dreaming up designs for my own website in high school, creating sketches and making notes of interactive features.  I wanted my website to be a piece of art with a depth to explore.  Since then I have not only dialed back my ambition but I have also realized the errors of that fantasy.  I need to think in simpler terms not only for my sake as an inexperienced web-designer but also for the sake of the audience who will be looking for quick information and a simple.  Still, I want my website to give more than raw information.  I want it to inspire and spark the viewer's curiosity.  I want it not only to represent what I have done but the visions I strive towards as an artist.  Can I accomplish this?  I honestly have no idea.  Maybe I am still reaching too high but I'm not yet ready to back down from the challenge.

Originally I focused too much on design.  Lately I have been focusing too much on content.  I need to focus on saying more with less, and creating content that fits hand-in-hand with the design.  I am not so much worried about that part.  What is stumping me is the kind of vibe to give my website.  What do I choose for a color scheme?  What am I trying to communicate through the background images?  Do I want to use photographs or design backgrounds in Gimp?  Different pages could have unique feel: like the film scoring page versus the solo piano page (epic vs. nature/relaxing/calm).  Then again, I don't want to tug the viewer in too many directions.  They need to get a sense of who I am and I feel like a more unified webdesign would help with that.

How do I display my photography?  It is going to be painfully time consuming to explore the functionality of my theme and discover the best way to organize my photographs.  I have a darn good vision in my head...I want to have thumbnails for each album that expands cleanly into a grid of the album content when clicked.  Alas, figuring out how to make that happen is going to be rough.  It is also going to take quite a bit of time to sort through all of my photos and divide them up into categories.  I could sort them by: Nature, Portraits, Travel, etc.  I got way to hung up on fancy sliders for a couple weeks...I think they are too obnoxious and I am abandoning that route.  I might add a couple...just for fun.

In other, unrelated news...
My cousins at Yoloha, a company that produces sustainable cork yoga mats,  are sending me a sample so I can do sales for them in Boston.  I have done yoga every day (except Saturday) for an entire week, taking full advantage of a $25, two week unlimited pass.  Now I need a class to counteract my sore muscles from all of the yoga I have been doing.

I am interviewing at a bakery tomorrow for a job!  It would be part time (2 or 3 shifts a week) but it seems like a nice place to work and I already know most of the employees.  The people who work there are all friends and I have been playing pick-up soccer with them for a couple weeks. (Yeah, I have been playing soccer...for the first time since I was five.)

Quick Summary of the Rest:
- I just started composition lessons with a professor at NEC.
- I am writing tons of waltzes for the Waltzdays event with Kathleen.
- I will be starting lessons with another composer and pianist, Megan Henderson, who is a Village Harmony teacher
- I have my first violin student... Wait, I play the violin?  Yup, two years of lessons...about 5 years ago.  Totally qualified.
- I will soon be buying plane tickets to Corsica!!!

Yay to life!
Clayton

A New Chapter in Boston

It is 1:30 in the morning and I desperately desire to dive into slumber...but I have had such an exciting past couple days that I need to put it into writing.  Oh, and I had a giant cup of coffee...well, that was about 8 hours ago.  I don't know how long caffeine effects last but that might be part of why I have so much excited energy.

I played three hours of waltzes today!  Well, more like two-and-a-half, because for the last half-hour they put on recorded music so Kathleen and I could join the dancers on the floor.  It was so much fun exploring different waltz feels and moods.  We did not have time to rehears beforehand so I was sight-reading all of the chords but next time we can be more prepared and I'll be able to dig deeper into the music.

Ah, so, connections!  I have met so many cool people the past few days/weeks.  Tonight I met a filmmaker and got contact information for potential film scoring gigs.  Our sound guy this evening works at Berklee gathering musicians for film score recording sessions--I talked to him about finding musicians to record for my World Music class.  I also met Miranda who organized the waltz event and has an awesome organization called Miranda's Hearth.  She organizes community-based art and dance events and her long-term project is to create a hotel filled with awesome people, music, art, food, fun, etc.  Kathleen and I talked with her and the other organizer, Matt, about being the "house band" for their Waltzdays event every month!  There is also potential for future collaboration.  The community Miranda is creating is so much like what I have been thinking about lately.  I want to use music and art as a way to bring community together.  I can't wait to learn more about the projects that Miranda's Hearth is organizing.

Last night I danced at the JP contra and someone I was chatting with at the end, Rip Jackson, turned out to be a Village Harmony leader.  He is also a composer, organist, and leads a church choir.  I am very excited to connect with him and send him my music.

The past couple days I was contacting musicians to record my Celtic set and I messaged about six guitar players with no success.  Max Newman who plays with Nor'Easter was one of the people I contacted and I was honestly a little daunted by reaching out to such an accomplished musician.  But he called me back after I left a message, and not only that, but he sent me a text after our conversation, saying that he wanted to know more about my work and my projects, that he would love to work with me in the future and that we should play an MIT dance together sometime.  It was a huge confidence booster.  The past few weeks have been a huge confidence booster because I am finding so many friends and opportunities in Boston this year.

Let's see, in other news, I will be playing soccer tomorrow night...I haven't really played since I was five so it will be interesting.  Also, I might start working at a bakery but that is a tentative plan so far. I loath to give up my freedom but part of me really wants the experience of a regular job.  Oh, and money would be nice too...

Well, that is all I have for tonight.

Best,
Clayton

It has been a while since I have given this blog any attention.  Over a year!  The last post I wrote covered my introduction to Boston last September.  Now I am back in Boston after a summer spent in Maine and traveling around for gigs.  I am well into my fall semester at SMCC and am back to applying for music schools.

Exciting news!  I just toured Longy, a beautiful, tiny music school with a lovely community and really great teachers.  It only has 250 students and its campus is made up of two converted manor houses complete with full sized, home-style bathrooms and spiraling, wooden staircases.  It has no on-campus housing, no cafeteria, no liberal arts courses and I love it!  It is perfect!

Now that I am done gushing, lets keep in mind that I have only visited once.  I hope to sit in on some classes and meet with more faculty members to get a better sense of it.  Also, there is one pretty scary drawback to such a small school and that is scholarship.  As a small school with a faculty to student ration of 2.5/1, they probably don't have a wealth of scholarship funds.  With that in mind I am definitely going to apply to BU.  BU is my best prospect financially because I will be eligible for financial aid, merit scholarship (because of my strong SAT scores and academic background) and music scholarships.  On top of that, they will probably accept most of the 60 credits I will have earned from SMCC and Berklee Online.  I was impressed by their music program and could see myself taking advantage of the resources of a large university while hanging out in a small music community.

Now the fun begins...applying to schools.  I am pretty darn worn out from going through this process the past couple years but at least I have it down.  I know the questions to ask, I know the information to give.  I have a very strong portfolio and I have a burning passion to make this happen once and for all.  MUSIC SCHOOL HERE I COME!!!!

Okay, enough of the annoying caps.  I have essays, resumes, bios, etc. to write and music to compose!

Best,
Clayton

Life in Boston

The City

 
I am in my third week in Boston and am having a great time.  It took me a few days to adjust to being without my family and community.  I can no longer bike to the coop and see half a dozen or a dozen people that I know.  It was awesome living in a small town full of people that I loved, many of whom had known me since I was a single digit child. (Now I am 20!)  But I have been gradually meeting cool people, finding a good group of friends and becoming more familiar with (and less stressed by) the twists and turns of city life.

I have been spending a lot of time with my girlfriend, Audrey who is attending Berklee this year and I practically feel like a Berklee student already.  I know the class schedule, homework, dorms, students, and hopefully I will get to know the professors.  People assume I am a student at Berklee unless I tell them because why else would I be there?  I am even studying the same material because I bought the Berklee ear training and harmony books. 

I have been devoting a substantial portion of time to studying the Berklee materials, probably more than the average Berklee student.  Hours of harmony and ear training on top of piano practice, jam sessions and being in college (with online liberal arts courses from SMCC) make a job rather unrealistic but I have always been more interested in freelancing anyway.  I really do need to start making money but I think it will benefit me more in the long run to devote my time to building my music career in Boston.

There are so many musical opportunities and cool people to jam with in Boston.  Audrey and I along with our fiddling friend, Kathleen, played for the BIDA contra dance in Cambridge which was a blast (except that Audrey was sick).  After the dance, Mari Black (a national Scottish fiddle champion) contacted me wanting to jam sometime.  I have already started a couple weekly jams (and potlucks) with some fun Berklee and NEC fiddle players but I am excited for more. 

Another set of opportunities I discovered is the abundance of free concerts and events in Boston. New England Conservatory has a ton of master classes, lectures and workshops that are open to the public.  Both NEC and North Eastern are having workshops with film score composers in October which I am super psyched about.

My Home In Boston
I am living in Jamaica Plain with a nice, older woman who is a friend of someone in Belfast.  I am a five minute walk from the Arboretum (where I love to hang out and study) and a three minute walk from a food coop (already a member).  It is a twenty-five minute bike ride along a beautiful tree-lined path to reach Berklee and a forty-five minute cycle to get to Summerville where I have started taking piano lessons with my Fiddle Camp teacher, Neil Pearlman.



College Courses
I am taking Sociology which is interesting but the course is rather dry, Music Appreciation and History which is extremely easy so far, a Freshman Interest Group which is a one credit course required by SMCC, and Documentary Photography which is an awesome course largely because it gives me an excuse to take photographs and edit them.  I took classes this summer so I did not need to take a full course load this fall and I am glad to have the extra time to devote to music while I am in such a hub of music inspiration and opportunity.

Hope this makes up for the months I have neglected this blog.
All the best,
Clayton

Make Berklee Affordable 101

Hello World,

Figuring out my plans for college has been quite an adventure and the work is far from over.

THE PLAN
Ultimate Goals: Attend Berklee College of Music. Study film scoring and composition. Graduate with minimum debt. Find work as a composer!

Making Berklee affordable 101:

Step 1. Take cheap online courses from SMCC this summer/fall/spring to cover all transferable Liberal Arts courses required at Berklee.

Step 2. Study to test out of core music courses at Berklee (ear training, harmony, counterpoint, music history, etc.)

Step 3. Move to Boston this fall. Make connections at Berklee. Work to cover living expenses. Find kindhearted Berklee professors to give me advice, composition lessons and put a good word or two in the ear of higher authorities for me.

Step 4. Work on my musicianship and be awesome at my audition!

Step 5: Apply for scholarships/grants outside of Berklee.  Find people interested in sponsoring my education.

Quite a bit of work ahead of me to make this happen.

Let's do it!
Clayton

Update

Hello All,

Wow, I have been neglecting this blog terribly.  Having a Facebook page now isn't helping.
What have I been up to?  A lot of things have been happening in my musical life.

Violinist Audrey Buddington and I have enjoyed growing success with our musical careers.  We have been finding gigs, working on music videos, invited to play for the Ooh La La dance weekend in Quebec, working on an album of our originals, writing tons of music, and having a lot of fun.

I am currently working on intensive music theory, ear training and piano technique.  I am entering a busy composing stage as I am writing music for a Shakespeare production, composing pieces for a short stop-motion film, an infomercial, and am looking into possible payed work through Compass Light in Camden.

Best,
Clayton

Away With the Wind

Here are two pieces I fixed up for the Berklee Writing and Composition Scholarship application. The First is the piece I composed for my Orchestration Course this summer through Berklee Online.

A Successful Day

I have been having such a wonderful day and I realized it was a perfect opportunity to give my blog some attention.

I started out the day by getting some letters posted in the mail which I had been putting off for no reason. I printed out the three musical scores I already submitted to the Berklee Writing and Composition Scholarship and I burned a CD of the music to drop off at my piano teachers house.  Then I hopped on my bike and delivered the letters to the post office (one was heading to a friend in Ecuador), the scores to Mary Anne's and stopped by the Co.op to hang up a new poster for my concert on the 9th.  I also talked to Sheryl and she agreed to sell my Album there.  In my confidence I was ready to hit every store in Belfast that might be willing to sell my CD but I only had one copy with me so I gave it to Coyote Moon and left for home.

On the way home my head was swirling with inspiration and I stopped a few times, pulling out a notebook, and writing most of the first draft of my college admissions essay (a process I have long been dreading).

When I got home I lay on the couch and read a fantasy novel.  This was a calculated step as I have not been reading enough lately and with all my inspiration that morning I didn't want to push myself too hard as I have a tendency to do and loose my productive streak.

My two hour piano practice was focused and productive.  I could see huge improvements in my playing since last week.  I was also inspired and wrote down a few melody lines I came up with and started an orchestration in Cubase which I will probably never finish.

Checking facebook I discover that the filmmaker I have been working with, Jon Cunningham, has recommended me to a conductor looking to work with young composers.  I have no idea where this might lead but I contacted her and am super excited to hear back.  I also told Jon about the film class I am teaching and suggested we teach some classes together this winter.  I can't express how excited I would be to be collaborating in teaching film.  Film is my hidden passion and teaching has been my excuse to work on a film project that I might otherwise not make the time for.

I have a bunch of gigs lined up for November.  I am working hard on my Berklee audition piece and I'm looking forward to playing Ultimate (indoors, now) and more contra dancing.

Anyway, that is it for now.
Things are shaping up for my music career it seems.
Best,
Clayton

CD Release Concert Nov. 9th

My CD release concert is coming up!

Pianist Clayton Clemetson will be performing at the Belfast Free Library on Saturday, November 9th, 6:30 to 8:00pm. 

A resident of Belfast and world traveler, Clayton Clemetson has been composing and improvising for 11 years and has developed a New Age style influenced by film music and traditional fiddle tunes.  This event kicks off the release of his most recent album, "From the Treetops," a collection of original solo piano compositions.

Listen to his music at:

sound cloud https://soundcloud.com/clayton-clemetson
or his blog: http://claytonclemetsoncomposer.blogspot.com/

Details:

Saturday, November 9th

6:30-8:00pm

Belfast Free Library Gammans Room
light snacks and refreshments!

reetops.

Autumn Excursions

This is a piece that Audrey and I wrote (admittedly more Audrey than me but I'll take credit for providing some inspiration).  After we performed it at Fiddle Camp, Neal Pearlman (one of the piano teachers) asked us to teach it to him which was high praise.

Cloud Pieces Score

It was suggested that I write up the score of a string quartet that I composed a few months ago and I thought I'd post it on my blog.  You can download it from Google Drive here.
The recording is actually a quintet with a double bass but for the sake of the score I rearranged some of the melodic material and pared it down to four instruments.

Orchestration Course update

The orchestration course has been wonderful and we are wrapping it up with week 12.  The last four weeks we have been working on our final project and I will be handing that in tomorrow.

This is a piece I composed for an exercise a couple weeks ago.  We were given some drum loops and were told to craft an orchestration around them.

Book Group/Film Class

I am leading a book discussion group at the library this year.  We will be discussing The Rithmatist and then making a short film about the book.
The last film class I taught was a lot of fun so I'm looking forward to doing another!

I am rather proud of this poster.  Simple yet intriguing.

Clayton

Week 5 Berklee Course

Here is a composition I wrote for my orchestration course through Berklee.  A few different themes in there but the focus this week was on the brass section of the orchestra.

The Storm

Tonight was one of the most magical nights: huge storm heads passing by a hundred or so miles away, each section of the towering clouds flickering in turn with distant lightning. For a long time I stood in the field, fighting away mosquitoes as I took long exposures of the storm, my camera set up on a tripod. Timmy huddled beside me under a blanket, sharing it with me between my fiddlings with the camera to give some protection from the bugs.

I enjoyed sitting there with my younger brother, watching the distant storm.  I'm sure he will remember that all too rare moment spent with his older brother as I have similar memories that have long stayed with me.

The clouds reached across the clear sky above us towards the near-full moon and I reoriented my camera to capture the sweep of the clouds across the stars and moon.

As the sky darkened above us the first raindrops reached us along with a steadily growing roar from the oak trees across the road. 
For a moment the air was perfectly still...
and then it slipped into motion around us,
bringing with it another smattering of rain.

Timmy and I raced for the house as the wind brought the world around us to dancing.  The grass rippled, trees shook in all directions, the tarps on our woodpile shivered and flapped.  I tried to fit through the back door but had to stop and collapse my tripod, a sense of excited urgency bringing speed to my movements.  We grabbed Willy from where he was reading on the couch and pulled him outside where the warm breeze smelled of rain and thunder. For a moment I watched the trees as they danced in the wind

and then I was off.

Across the field I ran, barefoot, not bothering to dodge the thick patches of thistles.  As I climbed up through the branches the moon found a hole in the thinning clouds and leaf shadows rippled across my arms, my hands.  I found a crook in the top of the tree and stood, watching the lighting, now in the northeast, having passed us by.

The Tree
 
I breathed in the night,

my thoughts on the beauty

around me.

I was riding the wind at the top of a tree

the silver moon lighting my back,

a storm showing off its beauty and power before me.

And have I yet mentioned the fireflies?

Or the stars peeking through the clouds?

All of nature seemed to join together
on this magical summer evening
to create this special moment of perfection,

one that will live long in my memory

There will surely be other nights
but I would count myself lucky
to live through another
as perfect as this one.

--Clayton Clemetson