I always wanted to compose music, but I allowed two
things to discourage me. One was that nobody played what I wrote,
so what was the point of writing it?
Secondly, when I was
in my twenties, compositions had to be avant-garde to be
acceptable, it seemed, and as I did not feel comfortable writing
grunts and whistles, I felt that disqualified me. So I wrote
virtually nothing for thirty years.
A few years ago, I unexpectedly became a trustee
for the Robin Milford Trust. Robin was elder brother to my aunt's
husband. He has left around 180 compositions, which is remarkable,
since at the time of writing (1920s to 1950s), his traditional
style was mercilessly slated by the critics. However, he kept at
it despite the discouragement, and now his music is being rescued
from library vaults and revived. The moral of that is, never give
up!
So I started writing again. In 2010 I set myself to
write 250 pieces for piano over a ten year period in the hope
that one of them might be a good one. I managed 170 pieces,
ranging from easy to difficult, and from very short up to twenty-two
minutes in length. Fun! The one I am most pleased with is Cycling (video) (
audio) from On the Move for Piano.
Various other pieces for instruments and voices have emerged
along the way. Meanwhile, I give piano lessons in Woking although
lockdown nearly killed it.
Sir John Stainer, who composed The Crucifixion was
my great-grandfather. Somebody said that because his piece ends
with Jesus on the cross, there should be a sequel, so I composed
The Resurrection.
Recently I created
Wokingmusic.net to encourage music across our borough.
Instruments for sale, lists of local teachers, diary, news etc.
Thank you for your interest.