Experimental Music

I wanted to make a piece with a gradual build that lifted off into the night sky.
I was curious about what music represents space for people. Star Wars? 2001 a space odyssey?
I used Musescore for the synth and recorded drum and cello drone in audacity where I mixed it. I also collect samples from the Apollo 11 launch to use as white noise.

Playing new compositions alongside short documentaries from the early 20th century. Performed in RNCM Concert Hall 2024

I competed in and won The Eleanor Warren Salon Prize at the Royal Northern College of Music on December 9th 2024. For the competition you have to play short virtuosic encore piece. It also doubles as a costume competition there is an audience voted bonus prize for a bottle of wine (which I also won).

For my piece, I made an arrangement of a groovy percussive guitar piece called ‘Boogie Shred’ by Mike Dawes. The opening of it was a little improvisation around D minor, showing some guitar inspired pizz and strumming techniques. I asked Mike via email if I could use the piece, he said ‘I dig it, do you thing’.

Composed in 2001.

Interesting piece for the cello. The C string is tuned down to a low F and in the 2nd movement the viola and cello are mic’d-up and amplified.

In my spare time, I spend hours arranging and composing music for my electric cello and loop station but equally enjoy picking up new instruments, especially unusual ones.

These were composed by me as a present for my mum. They're short chimes that play when opening cupboard doors.

Playing Tristan Murail’s ‘The Bronze Age’ at Coventry Cathedral with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group in March 2023. Very fun experience and incredible acoustics. It felt as though the music was designed for this location.

This is my attempt at writing math rock.

The 'math' aspect comes from the rhythmic displacements and various odd time signatures (a mixture of 7/8 & 13/8 with a 12/8 chorus).

The 'attempt' aspect comes from my failure to write for drums in these time signatures.

Won’t you fllyyyyyy hiiiighhhhh, freeeeee biiird yeahhh

We had Chinese takeaway. I was like 14?

Felt inspired to make a little improvised nature composition. I recorded myself making some sounds on the cello for about a minute and then edited that into a piece.

Taking samples of my extended family and piecing them together in a minimalist way

For this project we were tasked with composing and recording drone minimalism. The ensemble comprised of 2 cellos, 2 saxophones and a guitar. The title of the piece ‘middle distance’ refers to the difference between the background and the foreground, in terms of the instruments, and finding that middle ground that allows the instruments to blend together.

Credits also go to Will Crawford for guitar and mixing, Matthew Phillips for Cello and score, as well as Max Thomas and Mikey Cooper for saxophone

This is a weird little hobby of mine. Picking out audio and just playing with it - trying to make little sections mix together. I can spend hours playing around on Logic Pro X.

This mashup was inspired by my mum and music she likes. If I were to do it again I'd find a way to fit in Tracy Chapman.

I used samples from Bach, Steve Reich, Jack Johnson, REM, Bag Puss, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Joe Hisaishi, Mongol-Khusugtun, Joe Dolce, Ella Fitzgerald and Top Secret

Follow-up musical mix
Samples/mixes include:
James Brown, Holst Jupiter, Star Wars, Martin Harvey (Leicester Fiesta) + Star Wars, It’s a sin, Gorillaz + James Brown + Chic, Norah Jones + Rebel MC, Pet Shop Boys reversed, Leftfield + Future Sound of London (+ Winnie the Pooh), Beastie Boys + Beastie Boys, Saint Ettiene + Fugees, Scritti Politti, Ghostbusters, Holst + John Williams + Mahler

This mix is inspired by my Dad's eclectic taste in music, although it should've included Prince and Pink Martini

This one is a mix of my favourite instrumental music.

It features:

Vaughan Williams - Flos Campi, Wintergaten - Sommarfågel, Debussy - Rêverie, Berlioz - Symphonie Fantastique, Raymond Scott - Powerhouse, Stephen Sondheim - Sweeney Todd, Hiromi - Kaleidoscope, Prokofiev - String Quartet No. 1, Steve Reich - New York Counterpoint, Delius - Florida Suite, Dvořák - Humoresque

Improvising around chords on my piano at home whilst listening to a metronome. Editing different takes together and making a seemingly impossible piano piece. This music takes place as part of the Marathon section in my film project

Piece written for our contemporary music ensemble by composer and pianist Rob Hao. Performed in Birmingham, June 11th 2023

For this piece, we wanted to recreate a house party/club scenario and the claustrophobic nature of it. It uses elements inspired by Hugo Ball and Dadaism as well as George Maciunas' idea of 'Anti-Art' from his Fluxus Manifesto.

Credits also go to Tristan MacWhirter and Zijing Cheng for their performances. Below you can find the score that we used as reference.

‘They were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, that they didn't stop to think if they should’ - Malcolm in Jurassic Park