My name is Hamish Ander, I’m 19 and am currently studying music composition at Melbourne University. Music has been a huge part of my life for years now, discovering many different styles and genres of music from an early age, mostly through my father’s own interests. However, my dreams of composing amazing music really arose through my exposure to music in film, namely orchestral music, which is what I’m primarily interested in today. I’ve been thoroughly involved in music groups since I started high school, picking up trumpet at the first opportunity I could and joining the school’s jazz band and choir. I began to take up music theory lessons around the same time, and aside from performing and the likes, this particular part of the discipline drew me in and fascinated me – to me, theory was the study of what made music sound awesome, and ultimately a means of later creating my own. After years of involvement in musicals, concerts, workshops and music exams, I decided I wanted to make my passions in music my career. I was lucky enough to earn a place at Melbourne University’s Bachelor of Music, and a year later, acceptance into the course’s composition major. I feel so privileged to be where I am now and to be working with the people I am, and hope that one day my degree will enable me to travel the world, as well as even lecture in music theory at a university level.
Composition Inspiration
For my fanfare that you will be hearing, Olympus Fanfare, I have chosen to branch off a very familiar style of film score most well-acquainted with veteran composer John Williams, my all-time idol and a musical mind of undefined genius. Like the composer himself, I chose to write the main theme at the piano and later added orchestral details to a larger score. The fanfare, though short in duration, employs the Williams trademark of a simple but identifiable theme in the brass, surrounded by many busy and complex orchestrations in the rest of the orchestra. This type of writing features all sections of the ensemble to contribute to the overall celebratory mood of the piece, which was my intention when ideally opening a concert at the Sydney Opera House. Olympus is essentially just this, like many successful fanfares, an announcement to audiences that a celebration is going to follow… so take to your seats ladies and gentlemen, and allow the magic of the music to consume you.