Composition / Arrangement

Advice and help on creating your own music

Link to my composition site.

Composition is part of the GCSE and A’ level syllabus and is something with which I am able to help pupils. There is no right or wrong answer to composition, but there are various styles and devices that people can use in their own works.

As well as teaching for music qualifications I also encourage students to attempt to write their own material. Many teachers focus only on performance, but you’d be surprised at how creative children as young as six can be when asked to make up their own music.

Here is a recording of a former pupil’s A’ level composition:  Cello Sonata by Ben Bland

Improvisation is defined as ‘created without prior preparation’. In music it can cover anything from adding a few notes to a piece, right through to creating different versions of existing music. Not all students are able to improvise, below is a recording of an improvised version of Beethoven’s Fur Elise: Jazzy Fur Elise

As well as teaching composition, improvisation and arrangement I have also written and arranged music for a local ballet group and short films. The following film EAT by American animator Michal Finegold was shortlisted for the Haydenfilms Online Film Festival in 2008

eat – sheet music download .pdf

Click on the icons below to listen to some of the Piano Preludes I have written. Downloads of the .mp3 files are free, the sheet music is available at £1.50 per piece.

Prelude in C minor – Sheet music .pdf
Click to play
Prelude in C major – Sheet music .pdf
Click to play
Prelude in C# minor – Sheet music .pdf
Click to play
Prelude in E major – Sheet music .pdf
Click to play
Prelude in B minor – Sheet music .pdf
Click to play
Prelude in F major- Sheet music .pdf
Click to play