Grant Davidson Ford

I am a musician, composer, producer and academic with a background in art-rock. I now live in Killiney and teach voice, composition, theory and performance practice at colleges around the Dublin area. I perform on voice and keys with classic rock band - Wicklow Rituals. We are playing clubs near you. And on guitar and percussion with meditation ensemble - Global Soul. Look for us at your summer festivals. I am also writing and recording music for a cinematic musical thriller - Code.

I have a PhD in Composition from the Sonic Arts Research Centre of Queen’s University Belfast, where I composed spatial music scores for a variety of hybrid ensembles including - stereo orchestra, divided choir and large chamber ensemble. All the scores incorporate space as a compositional element and many strategies for breaking the conventional separation of performer and audience spaces are explored. Two of the pieces incorporate a studio generated ambient soundtrack. I have a Masters in Composition from Trinity College Dublin, where I created a portfolio of post-minimalist scores, writing my dissertation on the creative practices of Steve Reich, Arvo Pärt and Louis Andriessen.

I was a founding member of Kyai Jati Roso - The National Concert Hall Gamelan Orchestra. As well as repertoire of traditional Javanese forms, we played and composed new music for Gamelan. In 2014, we traveled to Indonesia to perform in the Jogja International Performing Arts Festival. I have worked with urban-music ensembles in Toronto, London and Montreal. I have produced and appeared on numerous original recordings. At one time, I was lead-vocalist and a creative director for: The NDG Modern Orchestra - Notre Dame de Grace, TRUST - The Real Uncut Spiritual Transit and Twilight Rituals. My popular music has been performed and broadcast in North America, Europe, Russia and Japan.

In my compositions, I explore concepts like - expanded song forms, language and musical meaning, phonetic transcription, non-linear and deconstructive practices, polyrhythm and rhythmic composites, poly-metre and polymodality, sound texture and auditory streaming. My research interests include - new music for theatre, music for meditation, sound healing, spatial music composition and performance, ambient soundtrack, found-sounds composition, movement and musical metaphor, creativity and the unconscious mind.