Event date: 27 February, 2020 · Putney High School, Elgar

PIE at Lunchtime: From Dixieland to the Baltic Sea

Events, General, Guests, Music, News, PIE, PIE talk, Senior School

On 27 February 2020, we were delighted to have composer, performer and writer David Hackbridge Johnson as our PIE at Lunchtime speaker. The main focus of the PIE talk was music digression.

David gave a delightful opening to the PIE talk with one of his own musical numbers played on the piano. Being partially sighted meant that he found music lessons hard however he didn’t let this stop his passion for music. As David reached his teenage years he started playing in Jazz clubs and bars, having learnt to play instruments by ear, thus overcoming his sight loss.

David gave out his score book for students to look at and follow as he played, explaining how he had worked with the British Orchestra Association to help create tracks for the CD.

After this he talked about his musical experimentation during his doctorate degree. Taking instruments that he had never played before to make sound effects, then using digital software to create a sound bank. Once the sound bank had been constructed David added his own vocals which were in the Star Trek language of Klingon, creating a Sci-fi masterpiece.

Lastly David spoke about his experience of living in Latvia while working with the Liepāja Symphony Orchestra.

You can listen to David’s Spotify here.

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