I’ve recently started work as a part-time postman for the Royal Mail in the UK. I’ll be working 25 hours a week which means any other free time can be spent getting my foot in the door of the music industry.
At first, I wanted to get straight into composing and producing for film and TV, however I’m realising this takes time. I need to gradually ease myself into the industry.
To start I will be composing music for smaller projects to get some experience of working for a client. Then after the ball starts rolling with that I’ll try get into composition for TV ads/trailers. This will then hopefully lead into composing for film and TV.
This entire process will take time but I really really want to have a go and see where I end up. So... I better get cracking and get my composition hat on.
This is a fairly recent development. I’d been working on this for some time. Mixed this track using Logic Pro X, and M-Audio BX5 studio speakers. I’m still not quite 100% happy with it but I feared that if I continued I would lose the existing quality.
This website is an opportunity for me to showcase my work. I’m looking to find work in the industry composing music for film and television and/or mixing music for clients. Please see my portfolio page for examples of my own work both in composition and production. Do get in touch for any further enquiries.
For my final year project at university I decided to compose music for three individual clips of film, all containing different on-screen events. This link will take you to the blog that I created alongside the project to inform the steps made and feedback given.
In the introduction a simple harmonised melody is played which focuses around the chords of F7 and Bb7. In bars 1-6 the melody adopts a question and answer technique where bars 1,3 and 5 play a repeating phrase and bars 2,4 and 6 answer the repeating phrase with development each time. The descending notes in bars 1,3 and 5 play in octaves and unisons whereas the other notes harmonise one another according to which chords are being played. The rhythm section plays simple chords and rhythms which back up the melody and harmony. The last two bars play notes on the beat which then leads into the next section, head 1.
Head 1
The main melody begins in this section on the trumpet and needed to be emphasised throughout the section. The other brass and woodwind instruments play an offbeat backing part which is also emphasized by the guitar. The backing parts play the dynamics of piano (p to allow space for the melody to be heard. The backing parts play in unison in the same phrase as the melody which can be seen in bars 10 and 14. In bar 17 when the 9th chords start playing on the piano the saxes and trombone parts begin to harmonise the melody in a four-part harmony. The guitar switches from the same rhythm as the sax and trombone to playing the same rhythm as the piano. The guitar chords are written as 7th’s for the benefit of an amateur guitar player who may struggle to play the 9th notes that can be played on piano.
Head 2
In this section the melody repeats on the trumpet. The sax and trombone parts play a chordal sequence which emphasises the phrase heard in the melody line of bar 26 and 30. The piano part develops further in this section by playing a slightly more interesting rhythm incorporating the use of tritone dominants which allow the previous chord to gel nicely with the current chord. An example of this can be seen in bars 30-31. Instead of Bb7 just going back to F7 the Gm7 and Gb7 chords have been added which allows a better flow into the following chord. In bar 33, the saxes and trombones play the same rhythm as the piano emphasising the fluidity of chords with tritone dominants. Using tritone dominants allowed the arrangement to sound much jazzier.
Solo 1
The clarinet plays a solo in this section which develops from the main melody line. The saxes and trombone play the same harmony parts as in head 2 but this extends for the whole section with a few extra developments which can be seen from bar 49-53. The main development is in the trombone part where additional notes are added. At the end of each bar chromatic triplets lead into the following bar which again allows the chords to flow effectively. The main focus of this section is the clarinet solo which meant the other instruments needed to allow space for this and not take focus off it. The guitar rhythm also develops which is anticipating a similar rhythm played on the saxes and trombone in the next section.
Head 3 Key Change
This section involved a key change from F to C. In order to modulate between these two keys a simple chord progression was used - C9 Gm7 Bb9 Am9 and Gm9. C9, Dm9 and Am9 are found in both F and C. Bb9 and Gm9 help to move this section into the next key of F major. It was difficult to obtain the right chord sequence leading up to the key change as it didn’t really feel as if the key was changing resolving to a C chord as it is the dominant chord in F major. During this section the clarinet and trumpet play the same melody to thicken the dynamics. The guitar and piano play long sustained chords which gives room for the saxophones and trombone to develop into a more complex rhythmic idea. The same rhythmic structure is used for this section similar to the one used for the guitar chords in the solo section (bars 41-53). The rhythmic idea is split across the parts so that not all the instruments are playing the fast semiquavers. In bars 58 and 62 the parts then all play in harmony with the main phrase emphasising the quavers played in the melody section. From bar 65 to the end of the section the saxes and trombone play rhythmic harmonies which emphasis the rhythm played by the piano and guitar. A modulation from C major back to F major is then incorporated in the last bar of this section where the chords F7 Gm9 and C7 are played and the section unfolds back into the original key of F.
Head Outro
In this section the outro blends ideas from head 1 and head 2. The clarinet and trumpet play in unison with each other for the remainder of the piece. For the final 7 bars the wind and brass instruments play the dynamic of forte alongside the harmony and octaves of the melody which concludes the piece with a full and impressive finish.
