Hello Musicos! Before spring gets here, here is some Winter Music inspo for you.
Recently, I wrote and composed five original songs for a KS2 stage adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and took inspiration from a wide range of genres – from Film Music, to Pop, to Musical Theatre. Can you hear the inspiration behind each song?
These songs were so much fun to write!
The play is full of magic, mystery and intrigue. It also deals with good verses evil, anger verses forgiveness, darkness verses light.
The Island Won’t Forget. This is an introduction song, hinting at something sinister on the horizon coming to invade the tranquil, magical island where Prospero, his daughter and lots of other magical beings live.
Where Is Everybody. This song depicts the mounting chaos and confusion that ensues after the royal shipwreck.
Though Liest. The song is all about the darkness now descending on the island and everyone on it, due to past evils resurfacing.
Pray You Now. This song is about Prospero’s internal contemplations, the thoughts inside his mind. He considered whether he should forgive and forget the past wrongs made against him. The music is inspired by the Elizabethan style of music, which was the contemporary popular music during Shakespeare’s lifetime.
Lastly, Epilogue. This song is a retelling of all the lessons learnt throughout the play. There are many Shakespearian paraphrases as well as quotes from the original Epilogue from The Tempest. It also includes one of my favourite Shakespeare quotes (taken from a different play, but still!). The quote goes: And If Music Be The Food Of Love – Play On!
Next, winter music – some old instrumental compositions of mine:
While training for my Dalcroze Eurhythmics Certificate (dalcroze), over 10 years ago now, I composed Icy Snow 2. This is an instrumental piece to go with Plastique Anime choreography, where each instrumental part is followed, interpreted and depicted by a different performer through creative movement.
Creative Challenge: You can choose a part and try to follow it while dancing or moving creatively!
Soon after that, I wrote two more compositions: Rain and Bronzalactic. These pieces were inspired by a compositional tool called ostinato (and in plural ostinati), that uses short repeated patterns.
Creative Challenge: Compose a piece of music and use repeated musical patterns (ostinati) throughout your piece.
See you soon and keep warm!
Want to hear more? For some spooky tunes, check out our Halloween post.
