A Chat with Composer Shelby Hills
Shelby Hills
As part of our series of world premieres, we are performing Shelby Hill’s piece ‘Kaleidoscope’ at our second concert of 2024 – Atmospheric Shifts. Ahead of our concert, we spoke to Shelby about her music. Transcripts from our conversation were generated with Otter.ai and then amended for accuracy.
Interviewer:
Yeah, could you tell me a little bit about your inspiration for Kaleidoscope?
Shelby:
Kaleidoscope was one of those pieces whose identity had made itself clear into the process of actually writing it. There was a lot of me trying different things and trying to tell it what it was, and it was defying me each time. A lot of creating and destroying. Once I allowed it to tell me what it was, that's when it really took its form. The piece is very playful and explorative and became a tribute to the chaos of the creative process itself. I was never sure what the next bit was going to be, and it was very assertive as to exactly what direction it felt like going in. It was a lot of fun to write, and I hope that is felt by both the musicians and the audience.
Interviewer:
Was there anything different about your typical process for composing when you were writing specifically for the VYSO?
Shelby:
I had never written for an orchestra before, so almost everything about it was different to my usual approach. I had a lot of different instruments to consider, most of which I have never written for. At first, I was quite overwhelmed, but I tried to just see it as any piece I would create - usually on a Digital Audio Workstation - and replace those sounds with real instruments; each of which having their own unique texture and colour and all of them being available in my palette to serve the piece. I really enjoyed sinking my teeth into the challenge of considering dynamics, volume and idiosyncratic qualities of each instrument and section, both sonic and practical, to ensure the piece is cohesive and works together as a unit.
Interviewer:
This concert is all about how music connects to atmosphere, and sometimes it's quite literal, sometimes it's more metaphorical. How do you see your piece fitting into this?
Shelby:
I feel like the piece itself is mostly atmospheric. That was what I was really experimenting with, was textures and how to create certain moods and feelings as the piece flows into each section. I really focused on the way parts will blossom or erupt into moments and then dissipate. I really enjoyed exploring extended techniques as a means to create atmosphere, like brass players blowing into their instruments and percussive sounds created on the strings.
Interviewer:
And then lastly, just could you tell me a little bit about yourself as an artist or and composer?
Shelby:
I have been singing for most of my life and I also play the harp. I started experimenting with composing on my DAW and I fell completely in love with creating music. I'm now crossing over into writing for acoustic instruments rather than electronics which I hope to get more opportunity to do. Whether it's film scoring, songwriting or writing for classical musicians, I just love to create sounds and tell stories through it and every opportunity I get to do so is such a blessing!
--
Join VYSO at Atmospheric Shifts, featuring Shelby’s piece - ‘Kaleidoscope’.