Tag: choral music

Sweet Spirit, Comfort Me

Byartsyhonker September 1, 2014 0 Comments
I wrote this in 2012 for a competition at St Paul's. Clerical error on my part meant I wasn't even in with a chance! But I am happy with what I wrote. Thanks to Matthew Curtis I now have a recording on YouTube: You can download the audio from Soundcloud and the sheet music from the Choral Public Domain Library. In the hour of my distress, When temptations me oppress, And when I my sins confess,...

Pied Beauty — recording

Byartsyhonker August 17, 2014 0 Comments
@pmphillips suggested this text to me when I was looking for something a bit creation-y for a unison/2-part community songbook. I didn't set it for that project, but instead in SATB. It's short and sweet, and might be suitable for an introit at a Harvest Evensong or similar. I'm pleased to be able to offer a demo recording of this, both at Soundcloud (where you can download the recording) and,...

Love (III)

Byartsyhonker July 27, 2014 0 Comments
At St Andrew's Leytonstone we had the final service of our much-loved parish priest, Fr Duncan, this morning. I've interrupted the Song Cycle pilgrimage to come back and play. He is retiring and we will all miss him loads. I wanted to do something special for this service, so I asked him for a favourite poem. When he said "Love bade me welcome" by George Herbert, I was delighted; and I had...

I Am

Byartsyhonker June 29, 2014 0 Comments
I wrote this, like "The Message of the Wind", for the Nicola Dando Choral Composition Prize. The judges didn't choose it but I still like it. The poem, written by John Clare, seems to have a few different versions of the fifth line in the first stanza. I set the one that I was given for the competition: "Like shades in love and death's oblivion lost", which rhymes with the final line of the poem;...

O come hither

Byartsyhonker June 5, 2014 1 Comment
One of the pleasures of singing and playing in the London Gallery Quire is being allowed to spring my music on them from time to time. A greater joy is the privilege of performing, from time to time, the work of our musical director, Dr Francis Roads. I like his work enough that I asked him to write a piece for my wedding; he did, and "Set me as a seal" was just the right thing for the context,...

Benedictus

Byartsyhonker May 24, 2014 0 Comments
Some of my favourite words in the New Testament are from the Benedictus: said or sung at Morning Prayer in the Anglican tradition, this canticle is the song of Zechariah at the birth of his son, John the Baptist. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel : for he hath visited, and redeemed his people; And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us : in the house of his servant David; As he spoke by the...

How I write songs

Byartsyhonker May 18, 2014 0 Comments
This is a description of how I go about composing choral works. I sometimes skip steps, sometimes take a lot longer over one step than other times. And of course, this is only what I do -- others may have very different approaches. 1) Choose a text. Nowadays this is a bit easier than it was when I was a teenager; there is an entire internet out there including many websites with poetry and quotes...

Art is not a democracy.

Byartsyhonker April 28, 2014 3 Comments
A friend and I have been e-mailing back and forth about some issues at her church -- the usual sort of thing, some members of the congregation being unhappy with the style of music chosen by the organist, others being unhappy about it in the other direction, trying to keep everyone happy. Harsh words have been exchanged, and the organist has been accused of undermining the church by "driving...

The Message of the Wind

Byartsyhonker April 15, 2014 0 Comments
I have a new choral work up on the Choral Public Domain Library: The Message of the Wind. This was written for the Nicola Dando Choral Composition Prize, which this year had five set texts; in the end, I thought my setting of another of the texts was a stronger piece, and submitted it for the competition instead. The words are by Harriet Monroe, a poet whose work I hope to explore more. The wind...