What now? What next?
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Irish Contemporary Music Centre Brigid Residency 2024
It is a huge honour to be among the first recipients of the BRIGID residency. It comes at a stage of my composition practice that will be of huge benefit to me. I began my musical education in Scoil Bhride Primary School with a wonderful fiddle teacher who introduced me to music and the power of melody to weave a spell.
It feels like a lovely circle to be linked to the resilience and strength of St. Brigid again.
I will have a space to compose and research, mentorship and professional development over two years from the CMC.
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Permission Granted
A new show created for The Dublin Fringe Festival 2023 by Abigail Smith and Lioba Petrie.
What is holding you back creatively? Come along and journey into a landscape of sound with musical duo Lioba Petrie and Abigail Smith as they will provide a meditative space for you to relax and reflect in Dublin Castle’s beautiful chapel.
Tickets and Information here on the Fringe Festival Website
Book tickets and find out more here
Developed at IMC Cooler Space.
Image:
Brid O'Donovan
Dates and Times
PREVIEW
16 September
14:00, €11
PERFORMANCES
16 & 17 September
20:30, €15/€13
OTHER PERFORMANCE
17 September
14:00, €15/€13
VENUE
Dublin Castle - Chapel Royal
DURATION
60mins
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Ficino Ensemble Performance of New Work by Abigail Smith
Abigail was selected to take part in the 2023 Ficino Ensemble Composers workshop series.
This new electro acoustic work will be performed by the Ficino Ensemble along with new works by Owen Spafford, Jackie Fletcher and Andrew Sheeran in early July 2023 by the Ficino Ensemble.
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Kontakt
Improvised Electronics curated by Anna Murray
Unit 44, Prussia Street, Stoney Batter
April 16th, 3pm 2022
Composer Anna Murray curates another afternoon of electronic and improvised music. We each do a solo set and then have an improvised session to finish up.
Latest news...
It is a huge honour to be among the first recipients of the BRIGID residency. It comes at a stage of my composition practice that will be of huge benefit to me. I began my musical education in Scoil Bhride Primary School with a wonderful fiddle teacher who introduced me to music and the power of melody to weave a spell.
It feels like a lovely circle to be linked to the resilience and strength of St. Brigid again..
I have been working away on my new project about home. It has been a blessing to focus on the creation of this new work. I was awarded an Irish Arts Council Music Bursary for this project and it has been wonderful to have the time to compose and experiment with new approaches to my practise. Keep an eye on my instagram where I will be uploading some process videos.
I used some of the new approaches to composition in a new piece I have just completed for the Ficino Ensemble Composers Workshop series. The piece is all about water.
I recorded different sounds of water and water based activities for the electronic track. I asked Mick Kingston, an expert in horticulture, about the his work and the changes he sees with more unpredictability in our weather systems in Ireland. I have incorporated these sounds and his words into the piece.
I loved meeting with the Ficino Ensemble players and it was a real pleasure to hear them workshop this piece. They had thoughtful and helpful feedback. Composer Jonathan Nangle facilitated the workshops and created a very welcoming space. I also really enjoyed hearing the works by the other composers and it was brilliant to chat with them at the sessions. The group recorded the work. Here is a link to the recording Drip Drip Water Flow.
This new work along with works by Owen Spafford, Jackie Fletcher and Andrew Sheeran will be performed in early July by the Ficino Ensemble.
I will share the details about the upcoming performance.
I was delighted to be selected as the 2021 winner of the Finding A Voice and CMC composition prize for emerging female composers. The winning piece I composed is called Certain of Uncertainty. It was performed by Alex Petcu at this years Culture Night Festival. I loved the workshop with Alex and it influenced my approach to the piece I wrote for him. The piece will be performed again as part of the Finding A Voice Concert Series in March 2022. I am very grateful to the Finding a Voice Team and the CMC for their support.
Dialogues and Exchanges Composers Workshop
I have composed a new trio for the Fidelio Trio upcoming composers workshop, Dialogues and Exchanges. The workshop is part of the Winter Festival of chamber music and series of concerts featuring the Fidelio Trio. The piece I composed is called Sea Mist and I look forward to hearing them play it and to their insights. I’ll have my pencil at the ready! I am excited to hear the new music by the other selected composers and to meet them also.
How The World Begins Again
How The World Begins Again is an exciting new radio documentary by Elizabeth Hilliard and produced by Athena Media. I had a lovely conversation with Elizabeth for this evenings episode which airs on Friday November 26th during the interval of the Lyric Concert with Paul Herriot at 7pm. I have really enjoyed the episodes that have been released and you can listen back here. The show focuses on female composers and sound artists from and living in Ireland.
I have become a member of The Screen Composers Guild of Ireland. I was delighted to be accepted as a new member. You can find out more about the Guild and its directory of members here. Working together to raise awareness about the composers working in Ireland and to improve working practise is of the utmost importance particularly after the last two years.
The Mothers In Music Program
What can I say? This program run by the Oh Yeah Music Centre in Belfast was such a positive experience. We had mentoring and workshops (online) from incredible song writers and producers as well as mindfulness classes. Meeting the other participants has been brilliant. I met them in person recently at the Sound of Belfast 2021 Mothers in Music: Live night. I performed some new songs and I got to hear the beautiful performances of the other members of the Mothers in Music group. It was amazing to meet my new friends in person. You can read about this ground breaking program here.
Girls Twiddling Knobs podcast
I was very happy to take part as a panelist in a conversation about being a musician/ composer and working in the music industry as a woman. The show was part of the Oh Yeah Music Centre festival called Women’s Work Festival. The podcast is a brilliant resource for any composer or sound artist and is by Isobel Anderson. Listen back here to the podcast.
Blog- What I am working on at the moment……
Welcome to this blogpost for 2024. I will share some new work and updates below….
I have created a short audio course called ‘Reconnecting to Your Musical Voice.’
It consists of 5 audio lessons with a bonus track. The course can be completed over 5 days or on one sitting. It’s up to you.
The course is an invitation to sing using words you write yourself- a short positive thought/ affirmation or mantra. There is an opportunity to improvise over a drone and simple chordal passages. I will show you simple techniques to warm up your voice and melodic techniques for writing your own melodies. The course is available on Insight Timer.
It’s the first course I’ve created so any feedback is very helpful for the next one I make. I will also make it available on my website.
All children sing and as we grow up many of us stop singing. We can sing for ourselves and for the pure pleasure of it. Singing and making up melodies is the most natural thing to do. Our voices are unique and we do not need anyone’s approval to sing. It is primal and connects us to our inner world. The course will be available in the next coming days. #reconnectingtoyourmusicalvoice #sing #insighttimercourses #abigailsmithcourses
Welcome to my blogpost for 31/08/2021. It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster for us all over the last year and a half but fingers crossed things are starting to open up here in Ireland once again. To hear and play live music is going to be incredible and I know there will be tears shed. Music brings us together and I know I am so looking forward to attending some live events in the coming weeks.
Looking to nature for inspiration
At the moment I am working away on my new project entitled Sunrise, Day, Sunset, Night which is generously funded by the Agility Award from the Irish Arts Council. I have begun to edit the lyrics I have written and have started harmonic sketches for the songs. The themes I am exploring in this new work are nature, womanhood, motherhood, and time. I’ve been enjoying experimenting with the new music technology techniques I learnt during my yearlong CMPG music production course in Windmill and Griffith college. I completed the course during the first lockdown.
This Arts Council funding gives me the time to compose the new songs. I have also been using the production and song writing techniques I learned in the masterclasses with the Oh Yeah Centre Mothers in Music program I took part in over the summer this year. I loved meeting the other participants and it was a wonderful experience at a time where many of us felt isolated as mothers and musicians. You can hear more about the program and challenges mothers face as composers and music makers in this Girls Twiddling Knobs podcast by the wonderful Isobel Anderson. I was a panelist on this live podcast. It was part of the Women’s Work Festival run by the Oh Yeah Centre.
I am very thankful for all of these wonderful opportunities to learn and to compose new music. I kept composing throughout the lockdowns. I have completed a number of new works and projects.. I enjoyed working on some sound art pieces also. I have continued to collaborate with writers and it certainly was a new challenge composing over zoom.
