Irene - 13 minutes 49 seconds

Piano and dramatic strings, written for Irene

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I love writing music about people; I find it to be one of the most stimulating approaches to composition. People touch me in so many different ways, they create emotions and memories, they are complex and my perception of them unique. Tapping into that part of my brain when I’m playing has always been a rich creative vein.

This track was written as a thank you to my Aunt Irene for looking after us when we were in Paris. My Uncle Dominic had passed away the previous year and it was the first time we had seen her since the funeral. The piece starts off incredibly sadly and yet by the midway has become dramatic and full of life – just like my wonderful Parisian Aunt.

The melody that comes in around 9 ½ minutes is possibly one of my favorite string passes in the entire music2work2 catalog to date.

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Charlotte - 10 minutes 9 seconds

Strings and Piano - written for Charlotte.

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So this is Charlotte's session - who knows how this music comes out but I do think of her and smile when I listen to this piece

Two strings based upon three distinct piano themes. I particularly like the third one in 5 / 4 time. The piece could come across as pretty melancholic and dark - when you look at what she has been through - I guess that's appropriate - but there is a certain hope to the piece - lots of positive resolution.

I think for me, one of the things I learned at EDNF and through my friendship with Charlotte is that you can either sit there and complain or you can get up off your butt (if that's physically possible!) and do something. Charlotte and I try to do something every day and together we have taken music2work2 from an idea to a reality. I could not have done it without her and for that I thank her with all my heart.

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Identification - 14 Minutes 13 Seconds

Soothing Strings & Piano, written to assist information assimilation

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This was written to accompany a particular event concerned with identification.

Here is the reasoning:

Objective: Enhance the delivery of visual and verbal information through the creation of an auditory environment that stimulates the receiver's awareness without distracting them from the core message.

Target audience: Corporate / Government professionals

Environment: Tradeshow, busy exhibition hall, display booth

Having looked at the nature of the project, my instinct was to deliver something very calming. Having worked booths at trade shows, I know how busy and frenetic the environment can be; the very nature of a trade show means that attendees are receiving huge amounts of information in a short space of time.

The whole point of "background" music is that it is not the primary information, when reviewing the efficacy of a piece, it is important to be undertaking the kind of behavior that the piece was produced for. That's a long way of saying - be looking at the slides and think about what you will be doing when this is playing!

The piece is predominately string based which allows for longer continuous tones which in turn reduces the need for constant change and therefore potential distraction. Considered change is necessary however, to signal that new information is coming; say a change in a slide, or a verbal discourse, etc etc. To reflect this kind of behavior I adopted a piano 'motif" that appears throughout the piece.

The underlying construction of the piece is a gently ascending movement in a major key. Western ears associate this with positive, hopeful and uplifting outcomes.

At 14 minutes long, it should cover the amount of time that one individual will spend at the booth - also - it shouldn't be too annoying for the people who have to work the booth and hear it again, and again, and again......!!! I have a fear of coming back as an Ice Cream Van man and being sentenced to listen to Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer" for a living eternity!

The piece is written at 61 beats per minute - "heartbeat" rate - calming. I wondered about this a lot - having a more up-tempo and dynamic piece can actually add to the energy of the environment and facilitate the information delivery.

I used a Korg Triton that has excellent piano tones and relatively good string tones - please note that there is a definite difference in quality between digitally produced and real strings. For music that has to stand alone - I would not use "synthesized" strings - however, for this kind of music I think it is very appropriate (let alone economically expedient!)

Identification is part of The Reader's Playlist.