In Times of Need

It's pretty widely thought that one of the great things about songs (and musical theatre songs probably more so) is that they have meaning to us and to our lives. That's why it makes me so angry when people write off shows either in general or specific works as being "fluffy" - what doesn't have meaning for you, may have meaning for someone else. I often find songs really helpful when coming to terms with various life events. For example, in a previous break up I thought a lot about Back To Before from Ragtime. It just seemed to sum up how I felt; that sense that things had gone too far but that there was still regret or mourning.

When my dad opened up my grandmother's eulogy he quoted a Beatles song which had been going round his head at the time. A particular lyric has stuck out for him and he used it to expand on his thoughts. I must say I have a similar approach.

This topic has been in my mind simply because tomorrow is the funeral of my uncle, Joe who died a couple of weeks ago. The death was expected because he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, but was a very sudden affair and obviously just as painful for all involved. I am comforted that the family got to stay with him for his last moments and that he had time to say goodbye to people and write some farewell notes.

In my 24 years, funerals outweigh the other life celebrations (weddings, christenings etc). In fact I've been to more than all of the other occasions put together. So what songs am I particularly drawn to? Well, I have two. The first is Days of Plenty from Little Women and the second is For Good for WICKED.

You can find either of these full lyrics sets on line but to pick out some really cool parts.

In Days of Plenty my favourite part has to be:

So believe that she mattered
And believe that she always will
You will never forget her
She'll be part of the days you've yet to fill.

I love this because it has such a sense of growth - a growth that comes from loss. I have no particularly fixed thoughts about any kind of afterlife but do take great comfort in thinking about how a person can "go on". There is often a sense that death is the waste of a life. I agree that sometimes it is a waste of potential but this lyric reminds me that we can add value to a life by building upon the way the person enriched our lives.

Also in this song I love:

I have got to learn something
How can I give her any less?

The subtle message in this line is that you have a duty to "go on" for the people that have died and that you owe them your life. I think this is very true. When my best friend from school, Phillip died in Africa there was such a sense of loss but over time I have turned that into a positive reminder that I have a duty to continue living - to battle on when things are tough because, after all, I'm not dead. When I was in my previous job and had to go into London on rough days when I had no energy - I'd snap back and think of Phil because I know that he'd be proud of me or want me to continue. I just feel I have to make the most of it.

In For Good my favourite lines come from the opening;

I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return.
No I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you.

I just find this verse so beautiful. First off, the quote has a sense of fate and I love that despite some doubt in the character's mind about whether this is true, that the result is still acknowledged. Secondly, I really like the idea of a meeting - people coming into each other's lives because it recognises a time before them, a time with them and a time without them. A different state is assigned to each. It is rather like the other song in the sense that it speaks of growth. I also like the idea of mutual aid - that both people bring something to the relationship that they share and that this is a permanent change.

My second favourite bit comes from the second verse (ok I admit, I love the whole song!):

So much of me is what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a hand print on my heart
And now whatever ways our stories end
I know you have rewritten mine by being my friend.

I like this verse because it gets to the heart of shared experience resulting in growth and speaks of how much someone can teach you - exacting a lasting change in you that lives way beyond a life time or a relationship. I believe it goes further too in that you experiences with someone shape you which in turn leads others to be shaped etc etc. For someone who will probably never have children, this is particularly important to me. Like the other song, it speaks of permanence which is obviously very attractive at a time of loss.

Without doubt the best lyric in the song is:

Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
but because I knew you
I have been changed for good.

Stephen Schwartz's use of the word good is very clever throughout the entire show but here it is particularly cool. The lyric speaks of the character's ambivalence about the future but what is not disputed is the lasting impact of a relationship (no matter what that relationship was).

Songs help.

An Updated Biography

Xander Hough is a freelance musician and theatre professional. He is a self taught composer, experienced orchestrator and trained instrumentalist.

Works of Musical Theatre & Drama

Xander co-wrote the musical Dracula with writers Margaret Pritchard and Grace Burson. A demo CD recording of the show features singers Katie Roehl and Jessica Lynne Cromhecke in the roles of Mina Murray-Harker and Lucy Westenra. He is working on a second, the Duchess of Malfi which will hopefully be premiered in 2009 by Curtainraiser Theatre Company in Malta.
Songs he wrote were featured in the 2007 national tour of the London Shakespeare Workout's Black Atlas which was directed by Bruce Wall. The play was described as "gripping", "moving", "powerful" and "intense" moving by BBC reviewer Helen Otter and "a joyous and affirming experience" by Artsweb Wales. Black Atlas will receive it's American premier as part of a double bill with Lifting the Mask off-Broadway in 2008.

Music by Xander was written for Bartholomew Road Production's Alexander which will be premiered at the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe Festival at The Studio at St Augustine's. The verse play about the personal life of Alexander The Great will be feature actors Constance Dalrymple, Ivan Todorov, Ben Reves, Scott McFarlane and Alek Hayes in the title role.

In April 2007, Xander worked as a copyist for the development of the musical Raindogs written by Andrew McBean (Theatreworks, Sunset Boulevard, West Side Story, NINE) which is based on Lanford Wilsoni's play Balm In Gilead. The show was premiered in London's West End afer being developed at the Actor's Centre in May 2007. The showcase featured musical theatre performers Julie Atherton (Avenue Q, Fame, Mamma Mia) and Oliver Tompsett (WICKED, Our House, Mamma Mia). The project was musically directed by Tom Deering (Aspect of Love) and Toby Higgins (Mamma Mia international tour, Little Shop of Horrors West End run). Xander's work on the project was described as "so fast" and "amazing" by the clients.

Film Works

Xander's first major film score, Leon Herbert's (Emotional Backgammon, 9 Dead Gay Guys, Dark Floors) Shoot & Score will be featured at the Pan African Film Festival in 2008. It was premiered in central London in May 2007 and was written by Darren Raymond (Shakespeare in Love, William Poel Festival). Shoot & Score features noted theatre and television actress Cathy Tyson (RSC, Grange Hill, Liverpool Nativity, Emmerdale).

Instrumental Works, Orchestration & Notation

He has also written several short pieces for woodwind instruments, songs and choral works and pieces for solo piano, some of which have won first place in regional competitions. He is currently working on Nexus - a piece for tuned percussion, drum kit and piano as well as his debut piano concerto, Phoenix.

In June 2007, Xander's string orchestra piece Stop All The Clocks (based on WH Auden's poem of the same title) was shortlisted in the Fauxharmonic Orchestra Adagio Competition out of over 160 entries worldwide. It was judged as being an"impressive work that deserve to be recognized" which "stood out in particular for outstanding quality and emotional power" by a panel featuring composer Mason Bates, violinist Laura Frautschi, and Steven Scott Smalley, master film music orchestrator and teacher. Xander has been mentored by one of the finalist's of the competition, celebrated composer Andrew Lowe Watson.

Xander Hough assisted with the set up of new independent London publishing company STAUNCH Music Publishing in August 2007. Set up by Joel Garthwaite, STAUNCH specialises in modern music by composers such as Eric Schwartz, Ashley-John Long and Andrew Keeling. Their publications include commissions by the critically aclaimed Lunar Saxophone Quartet. Xander performed copyist and score setting for many of STAUNCH's debut publications as well as setting the publisher's house style.

Xander's flute work, the Vento Flute Sonata was critically acclaimed by leading flautists Andy Findon (Harry Potter, Michael Nyman Orchestra, Lord of the Rings, WICKED, The Woman In White), Gareth McLearnon (Southbank Sinfonia, Ulster Orchestra, The London Pops Orchestra) and Gareth Hanson (Southbank Sinfonia, Guildford Philharmonic, Boston Symphony).
He has provided orchestrations and arrangements for a variety of organisations over the last three years including Oxford Gospel Choir, Pewsey Vale, Woodhouse Players, Royal Holloway Music Theatre as well as for all his own work.

Instrumentalist

Xander is a trained flautist specialising in the more unusual members of the flute family including the piccolo, alto and bass flute, playing in shows and several ensembles. He has worked on such productions as Jesus Christ Superstar (RHMT), Witches of Eastwick (OBSU Fortune Players), Annie (Pewsey Vale), Nunsense (Binfield Bards) and Stepping Out (Binfield Bards). He is also a first call flautist for Stage Fright Theatre Company performing at their debut cabaret, From West End to Broadway. Xander is one of the principle flautists for Beenham Band and has worked with soloists such as Caroline Woodhouse and conductor Robert Roscoe. He also performs with Reading Flutes which is run by flautist Clare Mellor (Trio Inspiroso). Xander is also trying to learn the saxophone but until he stops making honky noises, will keep this to the confines of his flat in central Reading.

Other Work & Experience In The Field

At Royal Holloway, University of London, Xander conducted research into performance anxiety in West End and professional orchestral musicians in London under supervision of top music psychology Liz Valentine. His work involved interviewing and psychometrically testing musicians from a variety of shows and ensembles.

Xander works at the Barbican Centre and Guildhall School of Music and Drama as an HR advisor providing support to managers and employees for their HR needs. Prior to this, he worked at the Broadway Theatre in East London as an Administration Manager. Xander worked as an executive producer providing administrative support for all in house productions including co-productions with Wishbone Publishing in December 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Xander was Marketing Officer for Beenham Band and managed campaigns for their 2006 and 2007 seasons.

He is currently taking commissions and projects for 2008 and can be contacted at mail@xanderhough.co.uk

Some Project Updates

Not really for my hundreds of blog fans but more for my own memory!

DRACULA

On the back burner really because the creative process has gone as far as it can without development. It is ready to be marketed so later in the year I might look at pitching to some theatre companies in the USA who take submissions. We have the demo music and I am going to look into getting a small number of CDs pressed so that it looks quite tidy and clean.

DUCHESS OF MALFI

Also on the back burner (all is explained below) while I secure a lyricist. I had hoped Margaret Pritchard would take on the project because I thought she would be perfect. She initially accepted and was pretty instrumental in developing the concept and how we would move the story from the 1100s to the 1930s. However, I think she quickly lost interest and just wouldn't return e-mails, text messages, facebook messages and blogpostsing. This was obviously really frustrating because I wanted to get ahead on this project. In the end I got pretty sick of this behaviour and started talking to some other writers. Margaret eventually sent apologies saying she just didn't have time given that she was working on her play, Alexander and that she couldn't get to grips with the characters. I said it was fine, I'd found someone else to replace her and big Margaret strop followed as I knew it would. Such is life in the arts; dealin wiv the divas. Rather ironic considering Margaret and I always joked that if we were ever famous for writing together that we would have public bitch fights for the media outside pretentious West End clubs.

To be honest I had felt that this was coming ever since I categorically wouldn't buy Margaret's plea for sympathy over not having her cake and eating it (i.e. coming to the UK on a conditional visa and then complaining that visa restrictions were stopping her from becoming a successful actress/director). There are many thoughts on this really which were put forward until the topic was done to death so I won't recap them too much but basically my point was that someone saying "if only I had the right visa, I'd be able to make it as an actress" just won't wash with the hundreds of struggling artists out there who understand the realities of the business. Margaret's point was that at least those people have the opportunity to try - fair enough but this "it's not fair" tantrum was basically the result of Margaret wanting it all. She had the choice of staying in the USA and following any career she wanted, but she wanted to come to London which involved a sacrifice. She gets to London, hates the restriction of her visa and then complains. Another friend of mine from the USA who has come to London summed up by saying "oh my god, anyone who can get into this country (England) should go to Leicester Square each day and kiss the pavement". True, I have never had to make the choice between industry and country but I know which one I'd pick.

All this would have been fine because I'm the sort of person who can disagree, have an argument and 10 minutes be friends again because I reject the point, not the person. Margaret obviously works in a different way and I eventually came to a bit of a realisation that, well, Margaret wanted people around her who would tell her that everything was OK and that she was always amazing and funny and that she was on track and basically provide unconditional love and support and agreement. For the record, Margaret is amazing and she is on track and everything is OK and she's very talented.

But I'm not that kind of friend.

I'm the friend that will say "I love you, but you're being unreasonable" or "get real" or "you need to think this through". I felt like I supported her in coming to the UK in the way a friend would rather than a collaborator. I helped her to get all her luggage from Heathrow to Hackney via a one hour wait at Kings Cross underground. I checked out her flat for her and I felt I supporter her in her career by writing music for her play, coming to see her perform in amateur dramatics and offering advice for her Edinburgh production including offering my company's rehearsal space. Those favours weren't repaid (for example, Margaret never came to support any of my freelance projects) and there were very few thank yous. Again, I was fine with this - but it seems that it wasn't possible for Margaret and I to work together unless we were friends (and "friends" wasn't a mutual or two way thing for her). I wasn't prepared to make that compromise so we have pretty much gone our separate ways. Maybe our paths will cross in future professionally. Maybe one day we will be really good friends. I don't know.

Anyway wasn't I supposed to be talking about Duchess of Malfi? Well at the moment I am in talks with a couple of writers and showing them my material to see what they think and they are showing me their stuff to see what I think. I am sitting back on the music side of things because I want my voice to develop a bit more and there are other things in my life right now that need attention.

FREELANCE MUSIC SERVICES

Well the dotcodotuk is finally up and running - it's pretty basic at the moment, but when I have the money I will develop the site a bit more. I am advertising at the moment and seeing what comes my way. I am going to have to be careful to balance my freelance work with my own projects. Towards the end of last year, I was doing so much work that I didn't really do anything on my own shows because I was too busy working on other people's!

OTHER PROJECTS

I am currently in talks with quite an establish writer about a new musical (not my idea this time - he approached me!) and also a film score. On the subject of films, Shoot & Score will be at the Pan African Film Festival in August of this year! I am also in talks with a theatre company about writing music for their next show.

Oh and my Dad wants me to write his ring tone.

UPDATES (10/05/2008)

Well as you can see over at Margaret's blog and the comments that the Margaret protection possee swung into full action and wanted to debate the toss again. Seems I hit a nerve and well, often when you hit a nerve it is because you are a little too close to home. Luckily the discussion that followed did include Margaret acknowledging that she had been or is being a bitch. Not my words, but her's. They say admission is the first step to recovery so let's hope so folks. At the end of the day, protracted arguments aren't going to solve anything. Margaret can return to her cocoon of friends and family who will reassure her that she is amazing, never wrong and that Xander Hough is the big mean nasty monster.... and I will go on safe in the knowledge that I really couldn't give a damn what the Margaret fan club think of me. I'll continue to work on my projects (which Margaret believes will never go anywhere) and see where I end up.

This has got me thinking about DRACULA a bit though. Two school's of thought really. Firstly, I do think that is a very good show and by far the best adaptation I've ever come across and therefore probably worth saving for later or promoting now to see what happens. The second school of thought is that of all the people who have seen the material so far, all said the music was stronger than the writing so I could potentially bottom drawer the lot and use it for other work. I guess I can wait and see what critical reception Margaret's writing gets at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as it will be the first time that Margaret's writing has actually been tested or assessed in the real world. Why should I continue to promote the work of a writer who is not proven like me (despite my faith in her ability) and who believes that the project couldn't go anywhere. Frankly I think I deserve better.