Composition Commissions

After several months of working on projects for other people, it has been a lovely change to write some original music of my own.

My brother’s film company were hired to make a trailer for the local am-dram production of The Importance of Being Earnest. Due to its amateur status, a temp track could be used for their short-term promotion. But the performances, locations, costumes and filming were so good that a responsive score was desirable. Earlier this month I submitted my entry to the Zurich Film Festival Scoring Competition. I am still in the habit of writing for symphony orchestra and so I have written a lavish and racing soundtrack for the trailer. Film to follow!

Screen Shot 2019-04-22 at 21.06.54.png

Released: "Rhuddlan Castle: Gateway to Wales"

Rhuddlan Castle DVD Cover.jpg

New from Lost in Castles:

Rhuddlan Castle: Gateway to Wales

This is my fourth Lost in Castles score. We started with Middleham Castle in Wensleydale, when I was a new music graduate. Next came Sandal Castle & the Battle of Wakefield, which featured the popular song Edward's Lament. Some years later, work completed on the mammoth documentary "Conwy Castle: Medieval Masterpiece", requiring a 90 minute score. Rhuddlan Castle: Gateway to Wales is the follow-up to Conwy, the second in the series Castles of the Conquest.

These scores are always very special to me. The films require more music than a drama, because the combination of real on-site footage and animated reconstructions requires "bedding in". Also, the historical aspect is always present but often has to be subordinated to focus on the castle, so the music serves to invigorate the pleasure that can be found in touring a castle site, even remotely. All the Lost in Castles scores are available to hear and buy online.

Find out more about the DVD here: http://www.lostincastles.com/rhuddlan-castle/


Dyserth Castle: Lost in Time

The special feature from Rhuddlan Castle: Gateway to Wales. Music by Abigail J. Fox.

Composing for Commissions

In the last few weeks I have had a series of commissions to fulfil, most of which cannot be shared here as musical examples due to permission and rights:

  • 4 and 1/2 minute score for an animation, which shows an old dam being converted to provide hydroelectric power. This was used for a presentation within days of completion and I hear it went extremely well.
  • Three short promo film scores for an existing client. 
  • Six instructional videos to demonstrate bespoke cleaning products, to be used at an internal company event next Wednesday. 
  • A welcome song for a play group age 0-3 years, still in development. 
  • Three minute track in preparation for a montage edit of a live event next week.
  • Stings for the start/end of videos for an existing corporate client.

Scoring is always a challenge because you have to subordinate the musical idea to the needs of the images, without it appearing to be compromise. You can learn how to do it better, but you still have to face unique corners in every film. In some ways, dramatic scoring is much easier than corporate because in drama the composer has licence to impose and make grand gestures. The best corporate scoring is only felt and never heard. It has to be very tight and to the point, without any scope for so-called "artistic" temperament. 

The song has been an enjoyable counterpoint to these scores and a great opportunity to spend an hour or two recording again. It's 15 years since I was handing in my A Level composition coursework, including a multi-tracked musical number I had written for The Little Princess. 

Mail Boxes Etc. and the happy track

One of the challenges in meeting the needs of corporate clients is the request for happy music. This was the case for Mail Boxes Etc. The solution to compose "happy music" is not as simple as choosing a major key signature because the resulting composition can be hideously cheesy and undermine the branding of the company.

Through experience, I have observed that when clients request happy music they do not mean music that sounds happy but music that makes people feel happy. It is surprising that there is a difference and it is that difference that makes the composer's job difficult. 

People perceive that popular music makes them feel happy, even if it is in a minor key, in the same way that people may listen to a sad love song and come away feeling uplifted. Is that happiness? This personal wedding edit was done to the track "Happy":

Compose a similar piece with the same ingredients and juxtapose it with a corporate promo and you will not necessarily produce the feeling of happiness. Much of the feel good quality of popular music comes from familiarity, unbroken rhythm and association with a famous artist. Take away the celebrity and the notoriety and you are left with music. And - more often than not - in isolation to those factors, it will not produce happy feelings.

It is not possible to write a piece of faux popular music for a corporate video because it will still lack the celebrity identity of the musician and the track's pre-existing place in culture. So how to solve the problem?

When a popular work is used by big business as soundtrack to adverts, the music plays, regardless of the images. And so I apply the same technique to corporate needs. It is not as much scoring as writing a piece of music that runs as though on tracks. It does not hit points as score should. It maintains a continuous rhythm and exploits tiny variations to avoid becoming tedious. This is not about optimum scoring, as though a composer is commissioned to be an artiste. This is about accommodating to a client's perception. And the one problem every composer faces in corporate work is that most clients like music, perhaps play music and regard themselves as expert enough to be far more critical than they would in another sphere of production.

The end result in this case is wallpaper music that is hardly perceived at all, but fills a gap with a warm and positive vibe.

Made for web video series with Dan Solin

As US Financial Expert, Daniel Solin, launches his web video series, I'm pleased to share his YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/danielsolin

The music combines strong original features of brand identity with scoring techniques, to keep each video fresh and engaging. Every video uses solo clarinet, performed by the composer, with development time spent improvising on the main themes. Occasional use of voice and live percussion are also employed.