Repertoire

From an early age, I have always written music and usually it has been when it was needed for a specific occasion. Such occasions have included musicals for schools, family weddings and celebrations and many pieces for pupils and choirs in schools where I have been teaching.

When asked to compose a piece for the North Downs Community Orchestra 1st Anniversary concert, I first went along to meet the members at a rehearsal in the Scout Headquarters, Endeavour, on Godstone Green. Upon getting out of my car I was immediately greeted by some stirring music drifting across the the quintessentially English Green. It was Eric Coates Dam Busters March, and I guess that initial impression largely determined the formation of my ideas for the commission!

The piece starts off with dawn breaking over a misty Godstone Green and gradually builds to a fairly sharp, incisive rhythm played by the whole orchestra, a sort of alarm call, after which the very British sounding day unfolds. The main melody and a counter melody are shared around the orchestra, the different characteristics of the various instruments representing imaginary village characters and the hustle and bustle of everyday day life around the Green. After a dramatic pause towards the end of the piece, a more stately rendition of the main theme is followed with a brief and faster coda, based on the opening material, which brings the piece to a triumphant close.