Thank you
All the stuff here is my own work. Don't be mean and steal it. Mail me for info on: [email protected]
This piece is in the Ground Bass style, based on the slightly hypnotic Baroque pieces that rely on an ever present 'continuo' to provide harmony and reinforce structure. It is for a pair of Oboes, Cello, a pair of Violins, and a pair of French horns. All of these instruments form a typical 'consort' orchestra similar to those of the late 17th century. I submitted it for one of my GCSE
Helices
And now for something completely different. This avant garde piece was based on a (quite frankly appaling) piece that I heard which had been written by one of my piano tutors ex-students, recently graduated from Oxford with a B.A in Music. His composition, entitled 'Spirals' was a hideous cacophony of water sounds combined for very little musical effect. I complained to my piano tutor, "For goodness sake! Even a fool like me could make something like that!" 'Helices' was the result, and it turned out far better than I'd expected it to.
Act II Overture to 'Revolution'
This is the overture to the second act of 'Revolution', a musical which I wrote based on the life and times of the late Louis XVI. The musical follows Louis during his few months in Paris prior to his execution, culminating in his capture at the Palais at Tuleries and his execution. This overture to the second act gives the audience a taster of both the King's final song (Which I ended up recording and submitting for my GCSE) and the them of triumph, which the leaders of the Revolution sing along with, I hope to upload the recording I made of the King's song in due course, with me on the piano and assistant head of our school singing the part of Louis XVI.
Cacophony of Melsipbarr
I expect perfectly well for most people to find this piano solo hideous, but rest assured that there is structure behind the mass of seemingly random notes. The basis for this piece is Serialism, a method of writing music wherein all notes of the chromatic scale are equal and must be used at least once in every phrase of notes. You can transpose your original ordering of twelve notes, change the lengths of each note, play them in reverse and play them upside-down, but all must be done so with perfect precision. The result is a piece of serial music generated 'from the ether'. I actually quite like it.
Progression (Tribute to Johann Sebastian Bach)
This was my token offering in tribute to one of the composers who, in my opinion, was one of the greatest ever to live. His incredible use of modulation, articulation and incredible style put his pieces ahead of composers who often dwarf him, such as Mozart (*groan*). His work for the Harpsichord and Organ is in some places so complicated that only a select few pianist ever attain the skill required to play them as Bach intended. I almost feel that this piece is an unworthy tribute- but heh. I tried.
The Art of Copy and Paste
I wrote this piece in ten minutes to explain to someone what minimalism was. Hence it sounds OK, but not fantastic. The title was suggested to me by Si-Amun, and I added the semitone modulation in the middle to annoy my music teacher, because she hates lame upward modulations that try to make the piece sound more exciting (think Andrew Lloyd Webber). Much to my annoyance she actually liked it. Grrr.
Re-em-Re (Utterance to Ra)
This was a piece that I wrote for an Egyptain 'orchestra' of sistrum bearers, drummers and horn players. It is my interpretation of how a hymn accompanying the arrival of the Barque at Heliopolis may have sounded. All the fifths made it sound to Roman, so I got carried away and added a silly Egyptian motif on the coda. You'll just have to imagine the priests chanting. Heh
Tuneless Venetian Organ Solo
Pretty ghastly, but it may be of interest to note that I wrote it with the original scale temperings used in the 1600s. Also note that although it gets very tedious it never actually repeats a phrase twice.
