How it All Began......Unexpectedly becoming a Music Composer.

I thought I would take the time to write about how my music composition came about.  I learned the piano from the age of about 5 as well as various other instruments. 

I wanted to learn many instruments, I always complained about never having enough arms to play them all at once.  At high school we had to compose a piece of music as part of our studies.  It was not something I had ever considered doing but my teacher told me right away this was something I had a natural flair for and that I should pursue.  I really felt drawn to it.  So I wrote more and more.

From then on I was to be found at the piano writing piano pieces and pieces for the ocarina and piano that my friends and I would play together.

 

 

I spent the next several years writing and ended up with a huge 2 volume bumper book of piano solos which I had bound.  I would play at birthday parties and events and people would ask for the CDs so I gradually made the piano solos available on CD.

 

 

I upgraded my piano to a Clavinova which opened doors to digital instruments.  I no longer needed all those arms to learn how to play the physical instruments, I could use the piano to play them digitally.  Thus, my piano solo albums became instrumental music albums and I have been writing them ever since.

 

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC CDS

 

I took the piano solos I had written over several years and expanded upon them, adding layers of instruments and harmonies.   This gave me 'Worlds', 'Dreams' and 'Journeys' which were all taken from some of the piano solos. 

 

 

I set the remaining piano solos aside after these 3 albums and began writing new music directly as instrumental music, rather than beginning with piano solo and expanding, this was an amazing experience of writing the instrumental music album 'Lands' which to this day remains my favourite of all my albums. 

 

After 'Lands' I wrote 'Realms' directly over a period of 4 years.  This album has so much in it and is a bit different.  It was at the point of completing 'Realms' that I realized I had gone as far as I could after 10 years of writing and it was time to go to college.

 

MUSIC COMPOSITION FOR PROFESSIONAL MEDIA

 

The title of this degree course caught my attention right away.  I signed up and spent the next 3 years studying hard.  It was on this course that I was introduced to writing music to picture (film).  Until now I had written by taking a title my sister had written, e.g. 'The Valley of the 12 Tombs', imagining the visuals in my mind, and writing what I see interiorly.  I try to capture the mood of the title and dream up a whole story from the title and then try to tell this story through music.  This is what all my albums are - musical stories with real atmosphere and depth.

 

 

Writing music direct to film actually takes this idea further.  Learning this consequently gave birth to Mary's Dowry Productions 3 years later, but it also separated out in my mind my music albums (musical stories from my imagination) and my music film soundtracks (music written to an actual film story).  I now have two musical paths that I work on today.

 

SO WHAT'S AVAILABLE

 

 

The music albums that I have available today have been re-vamped and re-mastered.  The original 'Worlds', 'Dreams', 'Journeys', 'Lands' and 'Realms' use Clavinova sounds but have been re-mastered.  

 

 

 I use VSTs now - virtual instruments - which are incredible and just like live instruments.  I am continuing this series all the time under the heading 'Reflective Ancient English Fusion Music' and it really spans decades, the first pieces being written in the mid-nineties and the latest ones today.   'Kingdoms' was written from 2008-2010 and was part of my personal project for my degree.  It uses new sounds and expands my own style as I am constantly learning and experimenting. 

 

In 2010 I decided to begin a new range of CDs focusing specifically on meditative, contemplative, more peaceful music under the heading 'Holy Spirit Music Series'. 

 

 

Recently I have begun to make available the soundtracks from our Mary's Dowry Productions films under the heading 'Calm Your Spirit with Music'.  I spend a lot of time working on film scores, we have just produced our 70th DVD, so I do not get a lot of time to pursue the albums.  There are a lot of good tunes and very moving moods in the scores so I am gradually making them available as albums in themselves.  3 are available so far.

 

 

 

So that is the story of my music and the different branches of albums, how they came about and what they entail.  This blog takes each individual album and writes about it in more depth so if you want to know more, take a look.  I am also compiling video trailers for the albums which gives you a better chance of hearing examples.  These trailers will be up here and also on our You Tube channel too.  If you would like any more information about the music please write to me through our website www.marysdowryproductions.org