Tag: look what I made

Up-Hill — recording

Byartsyhonker May 27, 2014 0 Comments
The recital at St Andrew's last weekend went well, but noise and so on meant the live recording didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped. So, I've done a home recording of Up-Hill, to give a better idea of what it sounds like. I think it actually sounds better with Joanna singing than with the "just me" version but unfortunately, she is not here, so you just get two of me instead! – Does the road...

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...

Postcard 1

Byartsyhonker May 23, 2014 0 Comments
Over at my Patreon page I have a few different "rewards" for different levels of funding. The idea is to thank my patrons for their support, while also doing things that are musically useful or relevant. For pledges of $3/work or more, if patrons disclose their postal address, I send a hand-drawn postcard with a short, unique melody by me on it. Here's the first one: It looked better in person:...

Up-Hill

Byartsyhonker May 15, 2014 0 Comments
This is another piece written for Song Cycle, a big project of mine this summer. The text was suggested by the Revd Canon Kathryn Fleming, due to be installed at Coventry Cathedral on 31st May, and I'm very pleased with how it has turned out. – Does the road wind up-hill all the way? – Yes, to the very end. – Will the day’s journey take the whole long day? – From morn to night, my...

Give me my scallop-shell of quiet

Byartsyhonker April 26, 2014 0 Comments
This summer, some friends and I are cycling from London to Norwich and back on a musical bicycle pilgrimage, Song Cycle. I'm looking forward to it very much and have been gradually increasing the amount of cycling I do so that I'm not completely knackered by the journeys. I've also been looking at repertoire, which is proving to be a bit more tricky. I will be limited in the number of instruments...

Work in Progress: Song of Easter

Byartsyhonker April 20, 2014 0 Comments
This was my contribution to the Online Praise service for Easter Day earlier today. You can view the whole service here. I didn't have time this week to do a lot with it, so just recorded the melody line; I have plans to expand on this, though I'm not sure yet whether to SATB or to S(A)-organ. There is plenty of more urgent work in the queue now so it will have to wait, but here is a taste,...

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...

To Sail Beyond the Sunset

Byartsyhonker March 25, 2014 0 Comments
Here's one I made earlier! I wrote this in autumn 2006; I'd asked for texts to set, and my then-sweetheart suggested these lines by Tennyson: Come, my friends, 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world. Push off, and sitting well in order smite The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths Of all the western stars, until I die. It may be that the gulfs will...

Thaw

Byartsyhonker March 23, 2014 0 Comments
I wrote this for the Sing for Our Planet songbook -- but it was just too short, one minute instead of five, and I didn't like any of the things I tried to lengthen it. So, I submitted something else instead. In the meantime, this piece might make a good encore piece for a small community choir, or fit well with other pieces about spring or awakening. Thaw Over the land freckled with snow...

Trinitie Sunday

Byartsyhonker March 2, 2014 0 Comments
A few weeks ago when Fr Duncan and I were discussing hymn lists, he said he'd like to have a lot of George Herbert this Sunday. It seemed like as good a reason as any to write an anthem. I launched into a setting of "Love (III)" but it didn't quite "sit" right, wasn't working out, and was perhaps a little long. So instead I decided to set the poem "Trinitie Sunday" as an anthem. It isn't Trinity...