‘Nura’ Ross Edwards for Flute & Piano

Ross Edwards, born December 23, 1943. Edwards was born in and studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Edwards studied with well known Australian , and also worked as assistant for Sir .

Ross Edwards output is substantial including symphonies, concertos, chamber and vocal works, film scores, and operas. Edwards has a handful of very famous compositions including his Piano Concerto, a violin Concerto ‘Maninyas’. His oboe concerto has probably received the most high acclaim, it was performed by oboe sensation under the baton of and the .

Edwards has also received many APRA Art Music Awards, his oboe concerto being one of the winners. Edwards works often require the performer to undertake special movements, sometimes dancing, and also often special lighting and costumes are used during the performance.

Nura was composed in 2004 as apart of the Six Continents project that was commissioned by two Dutch musicians, flutist Eleonore Pameijer and pianist Marcel Worms. The Six Continents was a project where from six different continents were invited to compose pieces that portrayed their feelings about their own cultural identity in an age of receding borders and globalisation.

Ross Edwards music in general always came from inspiration that he found around himself, the environment. This made him the perfect choice as composer for this project and he was able to portray (and especially the Blue Mountains where he lives) in this piece for flute and piano.

Nura translates to ‘place’ or ‘country’ in the language that was once spoken by the people living in the area that we now know as Sydney. These aboriginals had lived here for many thousands of years before the British settlers dispossessed them during the late 1700s.

Edwards states “In Nura i’ve tried to capture the stillness of mountains, arresting birdsong, mysterious insect drones and sensuous water sounds”.

During the years surrounding 2004 there were many important and monumental events that took place, probably most notably in the year 2004 was the Tsunami in indonesia that killed over 250,000 people, with more that are still missing. In music the early 21st century saw the Jazz at Lincoln Centre performance venue open in , Stockhausen completed his cycle of seven operas ‘Licht’. Other notable composers that were/are living around the time ‘Nura’ was composed are Michael Tilson Thomas, John Adams, Henri Dutilleux and Michael Nyman. And the years surrounding 2004, Tilson Thomas composed a Nocturne for Flute, Harp & Strings, John Adams composed a piece to commemorate the victims of the September 11 terror attacks in New York City titled ‘On The Transmigration of Souls’, whilst Nyman was busy composing a Violin Concerto, a Marimba Concerto and two operas.

Nura was first performed at the Royal Institute for the Tropics in Amsterdam on April 2, 2004. The flutist was Eleonore Pameijer and the flute she played was a Jack Moore with gold Burkhart head joint.

Jack Moore flute + Burkhart headjoint 4. Conclusion

This piece is quite typical for it’s time, especially within the Australian classical music scene. And this work is especially typical for the compositions of Ross Edwards. It was quite common for Australian composers to take inspiration from their surroundings (including the Australian landscape and wildlife) which is what we see with Ross Edwards ‘Nura’. Just like ‘Nura’ there are other pieces that have been composed with the inspiration from Australian landscape and wildlife including works by Miriam Hyde, ‘Small Town’ ‘Kakadu’ & ‘Earth Cry’ by Peter Sculthorpe, ‘Tracks and Traces’ by Brett Dean. A lot of these works like Ross Edwards ‘Nura’ contain small motifs that we hear repeated and embellished throughout the work. Another common theme throughout Australian compositions is the use of bird imitations, usually performed by instruments such as flute or oboe, and sometimes violin.

Ross Edwards generally likes to use the same motifs and themes throughout 99% of his compositions, you can hear below in his Marimba Dances, Clarinet Concerto, Ulpirra and Piano Trio, and oboe concerto (to name a few) the use of the same motifs in all these compositions. Another thing that makes Edwards compositions so distinct is his use of his changing meters, very commonly used 3/4, 5/8 and 7/8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOo2DtPPyFs - Marimba Dances https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83kXzjnjQrM - Clarinet Concerto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAHYsEFu_vE - Ulpirra (adapted for flute, oboe, clarinet, saxophone) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJg61W6u1SM - Piano Trio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7bmdaUmuA4 - Oboe Concerto

Some pieces by Peter Sculthorpe where you can see he uses similar compositional techniques to Edwards. Including, motifs that repeats throughout whole pieces, developing slightly. Use of bird imitations and multi meter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2qqj1_ILyA&list=PLndxATuOkauUsqSorPLBQQzpEdCRLE_FS Kakadu - Peter Sculthorpe https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=g0MhMmO9jvw&index=2&list=PLndxATuOkauUsqSorPLBQQzpEdCRLE_FS Earth Cry - Peter Sculthorpe https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=QWyjqhYAmwg&index=14&list=PLndxATuOkauUsqSorPLBQQzpEdCRLE_FS Small Town - Peter Sculthorpe Fragment for student: Bar 59-71

Step 1. Firstly with a piece like this (newer more contemporary pieces) I would like to have the student take a listen to a recording, as this piece has many time changes and strange rhythms it can sometimes be helpful to have an over view of the entire piece and to listen to a recording.

Step 2. I would have the student separate this fragment into sections, A, B & C this helps learning the piece to be less daunting with the complex rhythms. Take each section at a time and go over the rhythm with the student. This can be in the form of either clapping, or singing the rhythm, whist the teacher claps the beat constantly. Once section A is comfortable then move onto section B.

Step 3. Whilst the teacher is continuing to clap the beat for the student (or a metronome can also be used) have the student play the melody on their instrument small sections at a time. For now eliminating all the grace notes as they may make things too complicated for now.

Step 4. If the student can now play the rhythms perfectly then re introduce the grace notes. If the student is still having trouble with the rhythm you can take it back a notch and add i a step where the student plays, either repeated notes or scales using some of the little rhythmic motives (see attached fragment circled in red for the little fragments that can be used in scales or repeated notes to help really confirm the rhythm). Sources: http://www.rossedwards.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross_Edwards_(composer) http://www.hindson.com.au/ross/biography.htm https://www.flutes4sale.com http://www.australianmusiccentre.com.au http://www.portrait.gov.au/people/ross-edwards-1943 http://www.reedmusic.com/composers/edwards-ross/ http://www.rossedwards.com/nura-2004/ http://eduardvanbeinumstichting.nl/2015/03/23/ross-edwards/