ROBERT HANSON
rfhanson@btinternet.com
Composer – Conductor – Lecturer – Musicologist
SUMMARY
I am a composer, conductor, lecturer and writer who has spent a significant period working in music education teaching undergraduates, postgraduates, Access students and adult amateurs. In 2007 decided to leave full-time salaried employment in order to devote more time to composition, conducting and writing, and less to management and administration, but I continue to teach as I value the human contact and have a strong urge to share my knowledge and enthusiasms.
QUALIFICATIONS
Ph. D. Anton Webern's Atonal Style (Southampton University 1976)
B. A. Single Hons. Music Class IIi (Southampton University 1970)
A.R.C.O. (Royal College of Organists 1967)
'A' levels: Music, Physics, Mathematics (1966)
Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (2001)
C & G 7407 part 1: Teaching in Further Education (2007)
OTHER TRAINING
Private singing lessons with David Francis, 2000-2002
SPECIAL INTERESTS
Composer
I have been composing since the age of seven or eight. As a teenager I composed large quantities of music in a post-Vaughan Williams style but also widened my horizons through voracious listening. As an undergraduate I encountered the Second Viennese School and contemporary composers such as Maxwell Davies, Birtwistle, Messiaen, Stockhausen, Boulez etc. and this changed my perspective radically, to the extent that I then embarked upon a PhD in the music of Webern – because as a composer I wanted to find out how such beautiful, right-sounding but apparently rule-less music was structured in such a way as to make aural sense.
The discoveries which I made in the course of this study affected my development as a composer profoundly, but only briefly was the surface style of my music directly influenced. Since completing my PhD I have made a long and gradual journey back towards the modal and quasi-tonal sound world of my earlier years, but with a much wider set of emotional, structural and stylistic possibilities at my command, plus the added sensibility of the possibilities of more static and contemplative rather than goal-oriented music. I do not in any way reject the great European tradition of the Baroque, Classical, Romantic and early twentieth century periods, but my own music is now more akin to that of the Renaissance and later twentieth/early twenty-first centuries in feeling. Specific influences which are still consciously in the background of my work are Ligeti, Lutoslawski, Reich and Pärt as well as aspects of Jazz, Early and non-European music, but I have also been told that my music retains a hard-to-define English quality.
I have written music for both professionals and amateurs covering orchestral, chamber and choral music, including a string quartet for the Allegri Quartet, a clarinet concerto for David Campbell and a song cycle for Sarah Leonard. The latter is my largest work to date, a 45-minute work called Thanksgiving Music which was premiered in an arrangement for soprano, chorus, string sextet and harp in March 2006 and in the original soprano and piano version in 2007. The latter version has been recorded professionally with a view to commercial release.
One of my most striking works to date is a 40-part motet, for the same vocal forces as Tallis’s, but with the addition of a brass quintet and organ. This work has been given 5 times since its composition in 2002, always receiving an enthusiastic reception, and has been recorded in Dolby 5.1 surround sound.
Conductor
I have been conducting choirs, orchestras and ensembles, both amateur and professional, since the age of 16, starting at school and then moving on to Marston Green parish church in Birmingham, which had a proficient adult choir and plus a small boys’ section. By the time I left this position to go to university we had performed a Bach cantata and works of my own as well as a great deal of the standard repertoire from the Renaissance through to the twentieth century. In my youthful naivety it scarcely occurred to me that there might be resistance to some of the heavy-weight material we tackled; but I did learn a valuable lesson – amateurs can achieve far more than they think they can if their conductor has energy, enthusiasm, commitment to the emotional life of the music and faith in his musicians. This lesson has stood me in good stead ever since in helping amateurs to achieve what initially seemed to them impossible. Needless to say, such things won’t be achieved without enjoyment, a disciplined rehearsal technique and the ability to draw people into the expressive content.
On moving to Southampton I moved up a level in the musicians with whom I was dealing, becoming assistant organist and choirmaster at Southampton Parish Church then founding and conducting Southampton University Chamber Orchestra – a professionally-led group drawing on local professionals as well as students.
My career next took me to Devon where I conducted Dartington College Orchestra, Dartington College Choir and the Devon Centre Orchestra as well as the Dartington Contemporary Music group and the (professional) Dartington Contemporary Music Group, formed from the Dartington Ensemble to play new works in competitive events. Works which I conducted during these years included Lutoslawski’s Mi-Parti for orchestra and Trois Poèmes d’Henri Michaut for chorus and orchestra, Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and Mass, Ligeti’s Ten Pieces for Wind Quintet, Shostakovich’s 5th Symphony and Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire as well as many pieces of ‘standard’ repertoire (Purcell anthems, Beethoven symphonies, etc.). I also founded a local choir, the Harcombe Singers, bringing the experience of singing Monteverdi, Purcell, Haydn etc. to rural Devon. The choir continues to flourish now that I have left Devon for London and satisfies an important local musical and social need.
On moving to London I founded Morley Chamber Choir, following in the footsteps of my distinguished predecessors as Director of Music at Morley College, Gustav Holst and Michael Tippett, which I still conduct today. I have also worked with Morley Orchestra and Morley Chamber Orchestra from time to time and various ad hoc groups. Morley Chamber Choir always works with professional players whom I sometimes conduct in purely instrumental items. The choir’s website can be visited at www.morleychamberchoir.org.uk and the singers’ enjoyment is evidenced in such quotations as ‘exacting, exhilarating, frustrating, funny, daunting, moving, worth it’, and ‘Bob performs a weekly miracle of being relaxed and encouraging while improving standards’. I try to ensure that choristers really understand what they are singing rather than merely negotiate the notes, and I have the skills to explain relevant points both verbally and at the piano.
Since moving to London my reputation as a choral conductor has grown and I have been asked to help singers on a one-off workshop basis.
Lecturer/Music Theorist
Communicating about music is a passion of mine, as well as communicating through it. I played music of the central classical repertoire, such as Beethoven symphonies, by ear at the piano by the age of 10 and subsequently acquired the score reading ability to illustrate lectures and workshops fluently in a wide range of the ‘art music’ repertoire – a skill I value as there is no substitute for immediate, relevant illustration in musical sound to make a point comprehensible and memorable for a student, no matter what level he or she is working at. During my career I have taught undergraduates, postgraduates, Access students, FE students and interested amateurs with an enormous range of prior knowledge, skill and ability. Having spent most of the preceding period teaching undergraduates, when I came to Morley College I regarded teaching ‘Music Appreciation’, as it is generally known, as a particularly interesting challenge. I was not interested in simply playing records with some anecdotal and historical background. I was interested in whether sophisticated concepts of musical form, processes and aesthetics could be conveyed to an audience with little theoretical musical training, and whether one could, over a period of time, train such people into more focused and critical listening habits.
Having devoted considerable time and thought to these questions, trying out possible methods in practice, I have concluded that both undertakings are indeed possible and highly rewarding both for the teacher and the student. I always insist on theoretical musical discussion referring back constantly to the sound and subjective effect of the music, believing as I do that the most interesting insights occur at the interface, as one tests the objective against the subjective and vice-versa. The effectiveness and popularity of my approach is witnessed by the success of my classes at Morley. When I took over such classes numbers were typically between 10 and 14. Now my “Music in Time’ series runs to the room capacity of 45 and has a long waiting list. Students willingly sign up for a year-long course on music on the challenging period from 1890 to the present day, for instance, and stay on board for the full 30 weeks. Drop-outs are rare and almost always down to changes in personal circumstances. I regard this as a vindication of my approach of sharing my enthusiasm and knowledge but refusing to talk down to people. Those attending my classes are expected to think! I therefore do not regard my detailed analytical research as being at odds with this work but as being entirely symbiotic with it.
As well as regular weekly sessions in Music History and Form and Analysis I also run one-day events on a variety of topics, most notably with the Allegri String Quartet examining a single masterpiece of the string quartet repertoire.
PUBLICATIONS AND RESEARCH
I have continued to develop the underlying principles of analytical method, form, rhythmic articulation and perception first explored in my thesis on the music of Webern. I have particularly focussed on making this work relevant to practitioners, composers and listeners, and have taught jointly with a psychologist a course on musical perception.
This activity has stimulated published analytical work, teaching across a wide historical range and a paper on the approach to teaching composition delivered at the Good Practice in Music in Higher Education conference. I am also working on a book drawing on my work and am planning two more.
Author:
Lutoslawski's "Mi-Parti", Tempo no.124, March 1978
Webern's Chromatic Organisation, Music Analysis vol.2 no.2, July 1983
Books in preparation:
Ten String Quartets (drawing on work with the Allegri String Quartet)
Webern’s Musical Language
How Music Works
(working titles only)
PRESENT POSITION
Freelance, including part-time lecturing at Morley College
PREVIOUS FULL-TIME EMPLOYMENT
Director of Music, Morley College 1991-2007
61 Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7HT
At Dartington College of Arts (Music Department), Totnes, Devon:
Acting Head of Music 1990-91
B.A. Course Leader & Deputy Head of Department 1983-90
Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Music 1974-83
Hockley C. of E. Primary School, Birmingham: Teaching Assistant 1967
OTHER EMPLOYMENT
Examining:
External Examiner, B.A. Hons. & Graduate Diploma, 1988-91
Music Department, Colchester Institute
External Examiner, B.A. Humanities, Music Department, 1981
College of St. Mark & St. John, Plymouth
Visiting Lecturer:
Oxford University (with the Allegri String Quartet) 1993
Plymouth Arts Centre (with the Allegri String Quartet) 1992
Exeter University 1985-86
Lecturer, Devon Centre for Adult Education 1980
Goldsmiths’ College 1980
Liberal Studies Lecturer, Southampton Technical College 1974
Lecturer, Southampton University Dept. of Extra-Mural Studies 1971
CONDUCTING
Musical Director, The Hythe Singers, 2008-
Conductor/founder, Morley Chamber Choir 1991- present
Conductor, Morley College Choir 2005
Visiting Conductor, Morley Chamber Orchestra 1998
Visiting Conductor, Morley College Orchestra 1996-7
Conductor/founder, Harcombe Singers 1990-91
Dartington College Orchestra 1976-91
Dartington College Choir 1974-88
Dartington New Music Ensemble c.1985-88
Dartington Contemporary Music Ensemble c.1980-84
Orchestral conductor, Devon Centre for Continuing Education 1978-83
Conductor/founder, Southampton University Chamber Orch. 1970-73
Assistant Organist/Choirmaster, Southampton Parish Church 1967-69
Organist and Choirmaster, Marston Green Parish Church 1964-67
OTHER ACTIVITIES
Composition (see separate list)
Composition teaching 1971-
Chamber Music/Song recital accompanist 1979-
Choral coach 2003-
EDUCATION
Southampton University, full-time research (with Jonathan Harvey) 1970-73
Southampton University, undergraduate 1967-70
Birmingham School of Music (now Conservatoire), Junior pupil 1960-62
King Edward's School, Birmingham 1959-67
LEISURE INTERESTS
Walking, architecture, cooking, photography
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