Road Test

Road Test was born out of my favourite part of the composing process. Despite my initial planning, I often reach a stage of the process where I like to entertain other possibilities and functions for the musical material that I have created. I make malleable musical maps of manuscript paper spread across the floor, moving the sketches of each section from one place to another, re-contextualising an introduction into a transitory idea, displacing a climax, or dispersing energy in a place where momentum was once built.

In this piece, I wanted the performers to be able to experience the delight of this part of the composing process; imagining and re- imagining the musical possibilities in front of them. Whilst contemplating how I could make this work, I started thinking about the series of Choose Your Own Adventure books that I had read as a child. In these books, the reader takes an active role in determining the narrative. At the end of each chapter, the reader faces a number of options and chooses which section to read next. Each chapter leads to new narrative possibilities and a range of different endings. When I read these books as a child, I would often be paralysed by choice. It was not uncommon for me to keep my options open, with objects marking the pages so that I could return and explore all the potential possibilities. A similar process is used in Road Test, inviting the performers to ‘road test’ different contextual possibilities for the musical material.
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Road Test was commissioned by the Queensland Conservatorium Wind Orchestra, with the intention of contributing a work to the Grade 4-5 Australian wind band repertoire. The piece premiered at the 2018 Australian National Band and Orchestra Conference (ANBOC) in Brisbane, Australia.