AMEB Grade 7/8 equivalent.

Length: approx 6-7 mins.

Reference recording below.

This short improvisation is an expression of joy: it bounces and plays, delighting in the feeling of keys under fingers.

First composed in Melbourne, 2015, I wrote most of this work in my room overlooking the no. 19 tram in Richmond. I loved listening to the metal noises on the tracks, and found myself having improvisatory conversations with the sound.

I have found this piece to be particularly useful for introducing extended techniques and structured improvisations to advanced high school students.

Difficulty: Advanced (Grade 8+)

Length: 5 mins

Sample recording below.

Written for the 2015 Australian Flute Festival, Warble is an ode to early morning bird song. Magpies, butcherbirds and more can be found, chirping and singing as the sun rises.

Alternative arrangements of this work have been made (including an arrangement without bass flute). Please contact leah.blankendaal@gmail.com for these scores.

Difficulty: Advanced (AMEB Grade 8+)

Length: 6:50 approx.

Recording link below for reference.

The smell of salt water saturates my home in Western Australia. It permeates the air, the buildings, the wind. It gets in your hair and your eyes and your mouth.

At a microlevel, the smell of saltwater is caused by a combination of decomposition and chemical reactions. Marine worms and algae produce bromophenols, which give salt air its iodine quality. Bacteria consume dead phytoplankton, which produces the chemical dimethyl sulphide. And at low tide, seaweed eggs release the sex pheromone dictyopterenes to attract sperm.

It amuses me that my nostagia is actually the smell of decomposition and pheromones. This work is a reflection on the macro and the micro. On the macro it sits still: a deep breath in and out. On a micro-level it bubbles, a combination of tiny reactions and movements bouncing.

Written for Duo Alterity in 2019. Recorded by Issie Brown and Matthew Withers for Eliza Shephard’s March of the Women in 2024.

Amongst No. 1 was created in improvisation and developed over many months of re-performance. It layers short phrases with the use of a loop pedal or software. The goal of this work is to create an immersive world in which the audience sits amongst sound. 

In notating this work it is worth mentioning its history and its purpose. Amongst No. 1 is responsive, not prescriptive. The notes on the page are a guide. It is encouraged that the performer takes liberty with time, repeats, dynamics, even where certain phrases are placed in the work. If the performer is comfortable doing so they are welcome to use the material to improvise their own phrases. Amongst No.1 has taken anywhere between 5-25 minutes to perform. Duration can be tailored to the program. 

Reference recordings can be found on Blankendaal’s solo album Alongside, Amongst, Against (2020), recorded with the assistance of the Music Development Office (SA). 

Difficulty: Moderate (use of electronics)

Length: 6-12 mins

Reference recording below.

Alongside was created in improvisation and developed over many months of re-performance. A sister piece to ‘Amongst No. 1’, Alongside was initially an improvisatory response to ‘Good News from Outerspace’, an exhibition by Nicholas Hanisch and Cassie Thring at praxis ARTSPACE. The otherworldly, extraterrestrial characteristics of this exhibition resonates through this piece.

Alongside is responsive, not prescriptive. The notes on the page are a guide. It is encouraged that the performer takes liberty with time, repeats, dynamics, even where certain phrases are placed in the work.

If the performer is comfortable doing so they are welcome to use the material to improvise their own phrases.

Alongside has taken anywhere between 6-12 minutes to perform.