Holy Spirit of Love Music CD Album Update

Since April I have been working on my next instrumental album "Holy Spirit of Love".  For this album I took a different approach; for each track I thought about various people's stories and used their stories to inspire me.  It was interesting to focus on different aspects of love.  For example for track 1 I thought about two characters, a mother and daughter and the bond of love between them.  I also drew upon ancient instruments such as Tenor viola de Gamba, harps and soundscapes with subtle pianos, my usual choice of instruments but with added Celtic and ancient instruments.  

Other stories I used for inspiration were Tungdil and Balyndis from the Dwarves novel I am reading, capturing their story of adventure and then not being able to be together because Tungdil was from the wrong clan.  Also, Captain Lance and his daughter Laurel from the series Arrow, how he loved his daughters so much but Laurel died.  In this album there are all types of love; between father and daughter, friends, friends in hardship, mother and son.  It's been a really interesting journey. 

The past few days I have worked on track 9 for this album and I really made it difficult for myself by using a Bodhran drum rhythm which was very complicated.  I can usually write a track pretty quickly but this was rather difficult and took me longer to get everything in time with the beat.  In the end I was so pleased with the result! Because of this I decided that track 10 would be much simpler so this morning I have written track 10 with simple piano, harp, cello and strings, with a bit of a Celtic soundscape for atmosphere.  

Here are my current notes for working out the titles of each track.  The notebook is all I had to go on for this album and I've been adding names of people's stories as I write them as a reminder of what each track is based on.  Now I am taking these simple names and matching up a suitable title.

I am so pleased to have finished this album!  I am currently working out the titles.  I like to use titles from scripture but it's been a challenge to encapsulate the stories of each track with a simple line.  I have however pulled together some relevant simple titles such as "Love Never Gives Up" to represent the first track.  My next job will be to design the artwork for this next album.  

The previous album in this series is "Spirit of Solitude" which was very different and possibly my favourite one, although this new one might top it.  I will keep updating this blog with the progress and release of Spirit of Love.  All of my albums are available on CD through Amazon or from our website www.marysdowryproductions.org.  Many of them are available through Spotify, iTunes etc too.  Just search for "Bernadette Bevans". 

Saint John Kemble Film Music Score

 I recently worked on the music score for Mary's Dowry Productions latest release - St. John Kemble.  We had not had a film release for a while and it was great to work on something from the era of the English Martyrs again.  I was able to use my lovely base of instruments from ERA and ERA II as well as some beautiful old wind instruments from CELTIC ERA.  I am always so inspired by the stories of the martyrs and was particularly inspired by St. John Kemble because he was martyred at age 80.

St. John Kemble in Prison

Because I am halfway through Holy Spirit of Love album I decided to incorporate one of the tracks from this album into this film so towards the end of the film I dropped in a track which uses a lot of Tenor Viola da Gamba and the sound of this old stringed instrument was immediately atmospheric and moving.  I was able to repeat this tune for St. John Kemble's time in prison.  

I've said it before, it's not until I work on a music score that I really "meet" a saint and I felt that I met St. John Kemble, connected with him when working on this score.  I used a lot of sound effects throughout this production which really lifted the film up, horses galloping, battles, crackling fires.  I think it's one of our best productions on an English Martyr.  The film is now available in all territories on DVD and instant download and I am back to trying to finish Holy Spirit of Love album.

Here is the finished DVD cover and you can watch the trailer above to hear some of the music and watch some of the film.  You can purchase the film from our website https://www.marysdowryproductions.org/

Holy Spirit of Solitude Digital Distribution Update

This weekend I have started the process for "Holy Spirit of Solitude" album, my latest album in the Holy Spirit music series, to be available for Digital Distribution.  This completes the Holy Spirit series making them available in both digital and audio CD formats.  I have also submitted "Journeys" for digital distribution.  I'm not sure how this will go as these first albums are quite old and were all performed and recorded using a Clavinova system.  I have since re-mastered them so it should be okay, I'm not sure how fussy they are with the submission process.  It will be great to have my Ancient Fusion Music albums available online.  I was just listening to JOURNEYS and it's so different!  I remember taking a theme for each track like "The Ice Vessel" and using the limited instruments to capture the feel and create an entire atmosphere and story.  Switching to my current album "Holy Spirit of Love" I see now why I feel so spoiled for choice with my delicious soundscapes not to mention the lead instruments I have now.  What makes JOURNEYS so great though is the feel of the clavinova, I love playing the clavinova.  Amazing the different compositions 20 years apart.

I have now written 7 tracks for Holy Spirit of Love and this album too has it's own unique atmosphere.  I have been enjoying contemplating characters and stories for each track, usually I focus on landscapes and peoples and imagine all kinds of stories, but for this I have taken just one or two people in my mind and composed pieces representing their love.  This is not something I've done before and it's been quite fun and new.  I hope to finish this album soon, I began round about April 2020 so not too bad so far. 

Holy Spirit of Love - Music Album Update

Being at home during the lockdown I thought that I would be able to write a tonne of music, however I just have not been able to for some reason, granted we have still been popping in to work each day and now that the schools are open we are going in extra to clean so have had even less time.  I also have been suffering from scar tissue pain in my side from surgery I had almost 7 years ago.  If I sit at the computer for too long it takes its toll.  Therefore, my upcoming album "Holy Spirit of Love" is taking a while!

I have to date written 6 tracks which is great, only 4 more to write, but they have been written over time.  This album has no titles as yet but for it I have allowed myself to sit and think, be inspired, by particular characters from series, films and books and then write and improvise and really feel a piece of music based on this.  For example track 5 focuses on the love for a particular mother and her son, track 2 the kinship and love between a group of friends in trouble, it's been a very interesting approach!  I'm really pleased with it so far and a couple of tracks have been used for trailers for Mary's Dowry Productions, sparking interest in the album and its release date.  It should not take me too long to write the remaining 4 tracks and it will be great to have a new album release.  I am still drawing upon my new sound samples, the Nyckelharpa from Soniccouture and the Eduardo Tarilonte's Celtic Era beautiful leading instruments like Irish Flute.

We are currently at the "end credits" stage for upcoming film "St. John Kemble" so I am looking forward to writing a score about an English Martyr again, if I have not written for Holy Spirit of Love before then this will hopefully get me back in the mood.  Until then, check out GOOGLE PLAY as I am making more and more albums available digitally there as well as of course Spotify, Napster, iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon etc.

Screenshot from upcoming film "St. John Kemble"

Holy Spirit of Calm - Album Now Digitally Available

I'm very pleased to announce that I've added another of my albums digitally, Holy Spirit of Calm is now available to purchase individual tracks or as an entire album on MP3, through CD BABY or through outlets such as YouTube, Spotify, Pandora, iTunes, Napster and tonnes more.  Also available for FREE through Amazon Music Unlimited.  

Here is a NEW trailer for the Album:

Click here to visit the Holy Spirit of Calm page for CD or Digital Information, tracks etc.

Saint Alban Roe, English Martyr

At long last I have been able to immerse myself in the life of another English Martyr with our upcoming latest film "Saint Alban Roe: High Stakes".  We filmed for this in March 2018, almost two years ago, when we shot imagery for St. Gemma Galgani, Our Lady of Knock, St. Francis de Sales and St. Alban Roe.  The other three films have gradually been put together and released but poor St. Alban Roe was left behind for a while.  Until now!

St. Alban Roe Screenshot, filmed in March 2018

I love the English Martyrs, I am also a big fan of Eduardo Tarilonte, he seems to release sound sample packages right up my alley.  He brought out Era Medieval and then Era II, both of which I have.  Then he released the Vocal Codex which has the most beautiful voices!  

In my early days of college I acquired some soundfonts which my friend kindly converted into Kontakt samples for me to use more easily.  In our first films, St. Edmund Campion, St. Philip Howard and other martyrs I used a lot of Koblikzek, like a very old recorder.  Now I have access to so many more as well with the Era Medieval sounds. 

Saint Philip Howard film, released 2008

 It's been a while since we focused on this era so I have been itching to use them once more to their potential.  I love all the clothes, props, backgrounds, candles from this era that we include in our films and I used the visuals to inspire my music.

Saint Alban Roe Film Screenshot

A couple of weeks ago I finished my album "Holy Spirit of Serenity" and I have 10 tracks there to draw upon if needed.  As it happened I managed to work in my favourite track - track 3, into the St. Alban Roe film and it became part of the theme, particularly for his whole arrest.  There is a moving scene in the film where people touch the hands of the priests as they are led to the gallows, then gather up the bloodied straw.  

People gathering straw at the gallows, Screenshot

We captured these moments and the emotional track from Holy Spirit of Serenity was very moving for this part of the film. It's always a good sign when I am emotionally moved by the music I am writing as I know that the film has struck a chord with me and should hopefully strike a chord with others too.  Our aim has always been to bring the martyrs to life, the take their unknown stories and help people today connect with them.  We all share the same faith and these priests, these martyrs, sacrificed all for the same faith.

Everything else in the music score I wrote directly to picture and I was also using my new Celtic Era which I have fallen in love with.  

Celtic Era - new Sounds by Eduardo Tarilonte

I used "Burial Ground" soundscape to start the film which has a nice old bell sound; this immediately created the atmosphere of the past and tension.  I briefly used soundscapes from Cantus, the voices of monks as St. Alban Roe was a Benedictine.  I have now finished the score having spent the whole day yesterday adding SFX and levelling everything out.  I have passed it over to my sister and we now have a created master for the PAL version of the film for DVD.  This film will be released next week!

Alongside this I am making more of my CD albums available digitally and have been working on converting Holy Spirit of Calm album for digital download.

Holy Spirit of Solitude - New CD!

Last week I wrote several tracks and completed my latest CD album "Holy Spirit of Solitude" I have been working on it since November.  I am very pleased with this album, it has several varying moods and was inspired by several different things such as Japan, Jesus in the Wilderness, Celtic Era sounds, the Irish Flute and so many more!  It might be up there with one of my favourite albums.

Holy Spirit of Solitude CD

This CD is available now through our website www.marysdowryproductions.org. I have been taking samples from the various tracks and sharing them so as to give explanations of the pieces and the inspiration behind them.  So far I have shared track 1 and track 9 in video through my YouTube channel.  Track 1 starts the whole album off and you can listen to part of it here:

For Track 1 I based the mood on similar track styles from my album "Spirit of Gentleness" keep the guitar with a simple rhythmic play, adding strings, bass and the piano with gentle soundscapes.  It's quite catchy and peaceful, I really like it.  It changes slightly but is a good way to open the album up.  I have tried to keep this album quite spacious but it does have a lot of different moods, some of the pieces I have really fallen in love with!

This album is number 7 in my Holy Spirit music series.

Holy Spirit of Solitude

Just before Christmas, we managed to complete our 2019 work on "England: The Dowry of Mary" and release this new film on DVD and Instant Video.  After writing the music score for this I was still inspired so I immediately began work on a new instrumental album entitled "Holy Spirit of Solitude".  In the Black Friday sale "CELTIC ERA" came out and I was able to use this to complete my album "VALLEYS" which I had been working on since about 2014.

I have realized that I draw a lot upon the atmosphere of what I am currently watching or reading when I write my music.  Over Christmas we managed to finish "The Man in the High Castle" and I was so inspired by the sounds, the instruments but it seems even more so the drama and the story that I was able to write several tracks for this new album.  

Unfortunately I then had a lot of time away from the computer and went on to different things.  I find myself now without inspiration once more but wishing to write more tracks for Holy Spirit of Solitude.

This morning I wrote track 5 and I realize now that it is completely Japanese themed.  This is probably because for the past week and especially over the weekend we watched "James May: Our Man in Japan" so my mind was filled with the snow, the scenery, the beauty and the culture of this place and I subconsciously represented this in my music.  

As I write my music over time the tracks are representative it seems of various moods and it makes it very interesting.  I like that I experiment and do not allow my music to be restricted.  I used an Irish Flute today from Celtic Era but with a Japanese style, the result is something very original.

I hope to finish Holy Spirit of Solitude soon.  We are currently working on St. Alban Roe, English Martyr so I know I will be embarking on the music score for this probably this week.  

St. Alban Roe - our first 2020 production

Our 2020 goal is to release one film a month.  Too long we have filmed for a new production only to have it delayed sometimes for up to 2 years!!  St. Alban Roe was actually started and filmed for in March 2018 so we are going to finish it this January come rain or shine.  Music projects this year will also include St. Dominic Barberi and also Edel Quin.  

Screenshot from Edel Quin, representing her time in Africa

I am looking forward to writing the music for Edel Quin and the Legion of Mary film as she spent time in Africa so this will give me an opportunity to write African themed music too.