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When your poet collaborator gives you more than words.

Tuesday, 10 th of March 2026 #composing #composernotebook #Splash #SeaSymphony   It’s a great moment, finishing a piece. But scary too. Is it OK? I don’t know. I need to pluck up the courage to listen to the MP3 playback. Ready? I’m listening now and really enjoying it! It’s full of expectation and surprises. Just like the splash from the sea. Regular irregularity. Or, irregular regularity. I’ll ask a couple of friends to do quality control.   Then, I’ll get to work tidying

Wednesday, the 4 th  of March 2026 #composing #composernotebook #Tide #Splash #Tube #Oliver #MyHolyPlace  I’m halfway through my notebook – three months of ideas, sketches, doodles.  Tide, 3 rd movement of my Sea Symphony. For full orchestra (2222 4331). The big theme. Outline of modes. Counterpoint in the finale. Tide was played in private by London Repertoire Orchestra a couple of weeks ago.  Tube, for Percussion Orchestra of the City Lit. Flexible scoring and voices. Sket

Monday, the 16 th  of February 2026  #SeaSymphony #Splash #orchestra #  I am composing. Without my notebook. Without my laptop. Just letting the sounds in my head gestate, fester, morph. Who knows where this will go.     Most of the second movement, Splash (from Sea Symphony), is written. It's there, in notation, even orchestrated. But there's a big hole. In fact, two big holes. Right now, I don't know how to fill them. I have some ideas in my notebook. I have even worked up

Sunday, the 25th of January 2026  #Mokafe #Brussels #Splash #SeaSymphony #BrusselsCathedral #GuntherVanDeven #LaurentFobelets #GalerieDuRoi #notebook #composing #gestation #orchestra #symphony #violin #flute #brass   I am in my favourite café in Brussels, Mokafe. It’s a wonderful old style café brasserie in the glorious Galerie du Roi, an indoor shopping arcade built in 1846. It has no background music so it is perfect for the gestation process in composing.   I have just com