If I had A Brain I'd Be Dangerous

My first song which was apparently 'a hit' in 2010 when I was in Year 8, when I penned the song for a composition project. In my opinion, it was the most annoying song I have ever heard, but it does hold a place dear to my heart, as the song was the beginning of a very very long journey

Perfect

A ballad which I wrote earlier last year, taking influences from other 'ballad' style songs. The song is written as a letter really, explaining to a woman or a man why the person really loves them,and throughout the song, the singer picks out key things that stands out for them in which why the other person is perfect for them. This song was released into the world at my debut show in 2017, bringing the lighter side to the song and bringing some comedy into the song, therefore I am looking into bringing it out for a recording later next year.

Ode to George

Memories of Old was an idea for a first composition for our compositions module, in which I was influenced by the passing of my great granddad last December. I thought I would cover this topic or losing a loved one or somebody leaving because I think it's a very emotive subject and I wanted to start by playing something very close to my heart, and personal. As a musician, I started by playing the chords on the piano, and figuring out the melody later. In the first tutorial with Mike Rofe, it was suggested that I worked on my pedalling for piano, as I was not clearing the pedal quick enough and was getting a muddy sound. I was also advised that I make my singing a bit looser, as I felt that I was singing in time, but was sticking to the time, and I felt like there was more that I could do for it. Over the semester, the song has had multiple lyrics for a second verse, as I was struggling to find lyrics that fit with a topic so moving. Eventually I found such lyrics, which I felt showed my feelings through the meaning of song. During the semester, I was finding it harder and harder to score the vocal part with the lyrics and to get the lyrics nicely lined up with the parts. Although I feel that the song was working in many ways, I felt that the song needed much more work than we were given, and the decision was made to continue work on the piece after the deadline for an official release.

Valse française No 45 in C major 

This most recent piece I have written was a collaboration with Jonathan Maskell who plays Violin. We started this piece 5 weeks late, as we were both unsure what to do for our second compositions which would help us reach the c6 minutes. This song has taken lots of different routes to get to the piece in which we are performing, as initially taking influence from Look Mummy No Hands by Dillie Keane, I wrote some lyrics about moving on from a place and people in which are dear to your hearts and the title of the piece was originally 'How Careless we are when we're young'. We decided to make the change to instrumental in week 8, as we felt that we could showcase our talents on our instruments more when not focusing on what lyrics were coming up, as sometimes, the lyrics had to be rushed at certain points which would throw us off and out of time.

We realised that the song had a waltz style feel about it (the song being in 6/8), which we really liked and we played around with different ways we could interpret that particular style, for example playing a slow waltz for the verses and speeding up for a quicker waltz in the chorus. I chose to do this because I feel that the verses will be able to show emotions such as sadness, despair and anger that can overpower life whereas the verse can show the brighter side showing happiness and joy that can enter somebody's life. I took my influences for my instrumental from Johnny Cash and reading about his lifestyle as a musician and watching Walk the Line. In particular, I played around with the chords for Hurt, which was his final song. This thought came about when I decided not to go further with my first performance because if felt that I could still show my pain through the way that I play the instrumental, I also show the pain through getting louder and faster during the 'chorus' of my instrumental showing the anger of the pain shining through, and when we go back into the chorus, I wanted it to feel like the sun coming out after a heavy rain shower, and a rainbow shining through the clouds.

Song of the Hormonal Teen

This song is the debut of myself as a musical comedian (yet to be released though! which says a lot about my last show!). Influenced by a comedy poem, this song talks about everything a boy goes through when he hits puberty. It talks about how feelings for girls have changed, and how he is now trying to learn how to flirt with girls. This song is looking to be released into the world in early 2018

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My Secret Love

Now this song is the latest addition into my ever growing song collection, taking big inspiration from 'My Dream Man' by Fascinating Aida in 1983. The song starts off as a slow love ballad, like 'Perfect', and slowly builds to each chorus in which I divulge into a different love I have! The song is being released on my new album 'Returning to the scene of the crime' late 2017/ early 2018.

50 Shades of Old

This song is a personal favourite of mine to perform, and Harry has told me that he thought it was written by Victoria Wood, so it surprised him when I told him that it was penned by me! Again inspired by a poem I had read, the song talks about hating getting older, which is the one thing I suppose I fear the most! (Track 2 on Returning to the Scene of the Crime)

Politically Correct Christmas

I think that this is Harry's most favourite song ever of mine. This is very Tom Lehrer-esque and a very wry sense of humour is needed to perform it to success!