The Biography of Cecelia Mcdowall and The Personal Attitude to Her Activity

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Mr.Neisen Choir

December 13 2018

Cecilia McDowall

She was born in London in 1951. She went to school at Edinburgh and London Universities and was a prize-winning student at Trinity College of Music. Her music has been commissioned and performed by leading choirs, including the BBC Singers, ensembles, and at festivals worldwide. She has won many awards and has been close to winning four times for the British Composer Awards. She has won many awards and been eight times short-listed for the British Composer Awards.

In 2014 she won the British Composer Award for Choral Music. Much of McDowall’s choral music is performed worldwide as well as her orchestral music. She seems to be known for all sorts of music there isn’t one that is the most famous they all are. She has produced over a hundred pieces. When she was a student she won a number of awards and competitions. After she graduated she decided to work at a college and become a teacher. Her father was a major influence he was a principle but was also a flautist. She is married with two kids. Her son is a doctor and her daughter is a radio producer. After she had her kids she still wrote and composed music but it was hard because she was a stay at home mother. She taught them until Kindergarten and then she went back part time to her job.

I chose the song Magnificat. It was published in 2003. Its very short but I really liked it because the people that are singing it reminds me of like a beginning of a movie. I think it sounds super cool. The women start out sort of high and then boom they go really high and it sounds glorious. I really like how the men come in in the middle and adds a nice sound to it. It is made for Soprano solo, mezzo soprano solo, mixed chorus, orchestra.

I chose the song New Moon and it sounds really good. I like all the parts that are sung in this piece.I feel like I can pick apart the song more because I seem to understand it. It gives a sense of flying high over the sea in the light of the silver moon the repeated phrase to the words. You can like be thrown off balance brings a forward moving urgency to it. The song was so good that she won an award for it. It won the choral category of the British Composer Awards on December 2, 2014. It is for SATB and cello. For my third piece I chose Deus, portus pacis.

In the beginning it starts out high and then fades away which I really like. It then stays very low and quiet. It sounds really cool because they sing loud then soft and then fade out only to go loud again. It is capella SATB. It talks you about how God is the port of peace and that’s what the name means.. The song is meant to be encouraging and uplifting nature. The song is trying to be reassuring in difficult times. When she made this song she made it so people would want to listen. I think that Cecelia has ranged from many different types of music. I think that she is actually really good. When listening to her songs I found it easy to listen to because the harmony was soothing. I like when the vocalist went from high to low and make the excitement in their voices. I think that her songs were all different in their own way. Between the singing and the instruments they each seemed to have something special about them which I really liked. I was skeptical at first about her music. I was surprised to see that she has gotten so many awards for her pieces. When researching I noticed that so many people said nice things about her music and her. I also find it interesting that on her website it tells you choir in which places people will be singing her songs. I think it would be interesting to go to a performance where one of her songs are being sung.

I have gotten a hold of Cecilia Mcdowall via email and to my surprise she emailed me back. I asked her to just tell me a little about herself because when I was googling her I was having a hard time find stuff about her past. I could find stuff about her since she became a composer. She responded to me and told me about. By her emailing me it showed me that she cares about her fans and questions and takes the time out of her day to answer you. That something I have never experienced before.

I think of her as a celebrity and you couldn’t get ahold of famous people here unless you met them. She also currently resides in London, UK. In 2015 she lived in Madison, WI. I think that is so cool we lived not that far away from her. I think that she is an inspiring women that can teach my moms that you can have holdren and still follow your dream.

Works Cited

Magnificat, www.ceciliamcdowall.co.uk/works/choral/magnificat.

Choral Programme Notes from Cecilia McDowall, British Composer, www.ceciliamcdowall.co.uk/programme-notes/choral.

“Boardroom Mum - Mixing Business with Motherhood.” BoardroomMum Cecilia McDowall Comments, www.boardroommum.com/interviews-archive/cecilia-mcdowall/.

“Cecilia McDowall.” Cecilia McDowall - Oxford University Press, global.oup.com/academic/category/arts-and-humanities/sheet-music/composers/mcdowallc/?cc=us&lang=en&.

“Cecilia McDowall.” Cecilia McDowall - Oxford University Press, global.oup.com/academic/category/arts-and-humanities/sheet-music/composers/mcdowallc/?cc=us&lang=en&.

“Cecilia McDowall.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Nov. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecilia_McDowall.