There are many ways to collaborate, and mostly the performance avenue is the commonest, i.e. jazz, ornamented performance, and improvisation.  Another way is the actual sharing of music composition.  In RAINFOREST IMAGES, one of the composers would create the collage of live and electronic sounds until a certain point when the other composer would continue the inventing.  Often there were natural pauses and changes of music character at these points.  To create a smooth, coherent style required great skill and not a little hair-raising between husband and wife.  RAINFOREST IMAGES I was the first of these collaborations, and took both composers working every day a year to create the forty-eight minute work.  RAINFOREST IMAGES II excerpted twenty minutes from the original, and video by Hasnul Jamal Saidon was added to create a work for McLean Mix concerts.  The RAINFOREST IMAGES YouTube video uses the same 48 minute music with the McLeans' own images taken from their 20 year rainforest explorations.  JAMBORI RIMBA, NATURAL ENERGY, AND AUTUMN REQUIEM were created by both composers jamming and inventing together in their studio, in line with Priscilla McLean’s video work.  in MILLing in the ENNIUM, the music collage was created by Barton McLean, while Priscilla worked on the collage video. PETER’S PEOPLE was created in the same fashion, with Barton concentrating on the music and Priscilla creating the video. Use this link to explore each collaboration in depth.

​

RAINFOREST IMAGES I  (1993)

RAINFOREST IMAGES II  (1993)

JAMBORI RIMBA  (1998)

MILLing in the ENNIUM  from THE ULTIMATE SYMPHONIUS 2000  (2000)

AUTUMN REQUIEM (from SYMPHONY OF SEASONS)  (2002)

NATURAL ENERGY  (2008)