My Mission
My mission is to write music that is beautiful and lifts people up.
Secondly, I believe I am called to help other creatives succeed by getting their material out there and maybe even make an income from their work.
How am I Different?
In terms of music I wish to create, I don't want to do what everybody else is doing. I have no desire to write New Age music that is mainly based on simple harmony with little melody and hardly any rhythm. I like music that is truly classical. I like music that is longer than 3 minutes. Music where there is a distinct melody, a variety of styles and pace, changes of key, and drama and suspense. I'm really fascinated by one of the greatest inventions of classical music - sonata form.
Lastly I want to create music that people can play! I'm a fairly proficient pianist but certainly not a virtuoso. In fact, I'm probably a better improviser than a sight reader.
My Journey as a Composer
I have been composing music seriously from 2017 after reading the book the Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. This book really convinced me that I was supposed to write music. So I rewrote a Piano piece I had written in 2009 called Winter and haven't stopped since. This piece became my signature style.
I live in Gosport UK and am married with two grown up children.
Early Years
From around the age of 16 I became interested in music especially classical music and my favourite hobby was discovering the classical repertoire by buying records or vinyl! In fact, you can learn allot by reading the program notes on the record sleeves! The only other music that influenced me in this period, was the music of the Swedish pop group Abba, whose melodies and arrangements I have always admired.
Additionally, I enthusiastically took up the Violin because I decided that I wanted to be a composer and this instrument would really help me. By my early twenties could play the Violin to quite a high standard.
University
However, rather than music, my career went in the direction of qualifying as electronics engineer and then a software engineer. Some of these technical and creative skills though, have actually come in quite useful.
In the nineties I was made redundant, so I decided to take the plunge and study for a degree in Related Arts and Music. Again, the related arts part of the degree has proved quite useful in my work with artists. It was at University that I seriously decided to learn the Piano seriously.
After graduating, I tried to make a go of it as a peripatetic music teacher of violin and piano. I even recorded a piano album of improvisations called “Atmosphere”. You can purchase and download the Album here (click the image on the left) . It is only available on this website:
What Inspires Me?
Most of what I create starts when I'm improvising at the Piano. If I get an idea I like I may roughly jot it down on paper and I just keep working on it every day. I never stress about it. Eventually, it just keeps taking shape and I try to keep it in my head until it's at a point that I start to notate it in a computer program. When that's finished I will record the piece. It feels like I'm improvising slowly or hearing the music and just writing it down.
I do listen to a vast range of music in all genres - which I believe is a key to being original and not sounding likes someone else. Maybe that's how composing works? You listen to lots of music and then what comes out of my brain is a mix of everything I've ever heard?
For me, I want to write the music I want to listen to myself. I don't care what critics think. I'm always looking for a good melody. I want music that is interesting in structure with highs and lows and a contrast. I particularly love Haydn and Mozart, so I'm looking for music that is beautiful and has an architecture and a form that is refined and balanced. It has a clarity and quality. I’m trying to express order and meaning without being too repetitive. Hopefully, the music takes you on a journey experiencing different moods. I try to achieve this through the musical technique of tension and release.”
I suppose as a christian, the music has a certain prophetic message: God is in control and He shaping the narrative and the journey of our lives life. Like music, you don’t necessarily know what comes next, whether it’s tension or release, but, like life, everything has a purpose and it always resolves in a satisfactory way in the end. There is hope!
My Dream
So where am I heading? I my present rate I release a Piano album every year and I don't see that stopping in the near future. I just love composing - even if nobody pays me. My dream though, would be to be supported by a rich benefactor or become really popular and earn lots of cash! I would love to also have the resources to write some orchestral pieces
However, this year my mission to help other Christian creatives, seems to be developing as well. I am aiming to start a membership with a potential membership of at least 100 creatives.
