Category Archives: movies

Not So Silent Movies!

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I’m hugely excited to announce the launch of Not so Silent Movies…

This monthly event takes place at the wonderful Kings Place in London. First gig is Sunday October 2nd at 3pm. Tickets from here.

The photo of Harold Lloyd is appropriate, as what we’re going to be doing is risky, thrilling and often hilarious.

Here’s the pitch:

  • Great silent film comedies,
  • Great musicians together on stage,
  • No sheet music,
  • No rehearsing,
  • No plan,
  • & No watching the films in advance…

Yes… it’s totally improvised (spontaneously composed if you want to be pretentious..!), utterly great when it all clicks, and unintentionally hilarious when it goes awry.

Our band is amazing… we have Guy Pratt on Bass (he’s been in Pink Floyd & Roxy Music for starters), Geoff Dugmore’s playing drums (He’s an incredible drummer – one of the greatest session players in the world), Pip Eastop on Horn (he’s a stalwart of the London Sinfonietta, a Professor, stunning soloist and one of the wittiest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing), Elspeth Hanson (violinist currently wowing audiences in Bond, was also glimpsed by about two billion people on a bus with David Beckham & Jimmy Page), Mark Neary (Pedal steel player and alchemist of weird and wondrous noises – last time I saw him he was laying down some lines for Flood!), Me (I play the cello a bit), and some amazing surprise guests too (not Jimmy Page… yet… but we’re working on it! see photo).

Geoff Dugmore, Jimmy Page, Me & Guy Pratt at a recording session

Future Not so Silent Movies are featuring Dame Evelyn Glennie (world famous percussion soloist), Robin Millar (Sade’s producer), Steve Mackey (Pulp’s bassist), Julia Thornton (wizard harpist & percussionist), Pete Furniss (Reeds – a mainstay of the extraordinary Impropera), Roger Eno (maverick keyboardist), Stephen Warbeck (composer, Oscar winner), Cherisse Osei (Mika’s drummer), David Le Page (former Menuhin pupil, Subway Pirhanas, Orchestra of the Swan) and many, many more…

You can probably tell I’m a bit excited about this…

Come and join us for the greatest comedies ever made – (featuring Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Joe Keaton, Fatty Arbuckle & co), and to see a group of musos having a busman’s holiday. We may even get you up on stage to take part!

Let me know who else we should invite, and which films you’d like to see us tackle!

Philip

Philip Sheppard

NSSM article

radiomovies roundup

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Moon Machines is on the Science Channel this week – the companion series to In the Shadow of the Moon. I wrote the music for the series last year which aired on the Discovery Channel.

Henry Mind of a Tyrant continues its run on Channel 4 this evening at 9pm with the second episode – Warrior. Channel 4 have put a series of short films, images and even (oh no…) an interview with yours truly at this site. Don’t forget the soundtrack is a free listen on this site.

Sergio is going to be shown at HotDocs in Ontario – click here for more details.

Lots of people (hundreds in fact!) have downloaded the sheet music for Crystallised Beauty this week, and I’m asking for suggestions for the next piece to be made available. Let me know at this page!

On this site, I’ve put up a couple more archive album tracks; Aqua Voce now online, together with Penitential Psalm.

Thanks for all the messages and comments – it’s great to hear from you…

fiddlewiddle.com

radiomovies roundup

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sergio1

Latest show news. As you can see there’s a beautiful poster for the forthcoming Sergio directed by Greg Barker – due to be shown on HBO in June. This recently won Karen Schmeer the editing award at Sundance.I hope to put a number of the tracks online soon as a free stream.

Looking at the above I realise I’m lucky to work on projects where the PR material seems to be thought through…

In-I, my project with Juliette Binoche, Anish Kapoor and Akram Khan is in Beijing this week, having transferred from Shanghai. You can hear the score here.

It’s going to have a break before opening at BAM (Harvey Theatre), New York, for the latter part of September.

Recent pieces for piano

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I can’t play it well, but I love it all the same… Which other pieces would you like free sheet music for? Please let me know!

I’ve written quite a few pieces for piano recently, for various films and as concert works. (NB free download at the end)

Join me on Twitter for mp3 and sheet music updates

Sheet music for Crystallised Beauty

Here’s a track called Watermark for solo piano[Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/watermark.mp3%5D

Limited edition download here

Glenn Gould [Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/15-glenn-gould.mp3%5D

After the Moonlight (Piano Trio)[Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/13-fast-gathering-tears.mp3%5DAnd… This is new too The Daguerreotype [Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/jb2-old-photos.mp3%5DHere’s another recorded in Finchcocks, a stately home and piano museum. The instrument used is a Viennese double strung piano – a very rare and extremely fragile instrument. [Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/04-moon-over-meadow.mp3%5D

The piece is (as yet) unnamed, but is based on the idea of an empty drawing room at night – except, that is, for the piano. It holds within its wood and strings snatches of music, harmonics and melodies that others have played on it… Any ideas for names gratefully accepted – the more literary the better!

Here’s a second piece recorded on a Steinway – a slow ballade waltz [Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/jb3-ballade.mp3%5D

Here’s a third piece called The Long Letter[Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/07-10-long-letter.mp3%5D

Here’s the obvious one (of Jane Austen fame)… Crystallised Beauty - the (not often heard) full-length version of the track:[Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/01-crystallised-beauty.mp3%5DAdded today – Sheet music for Crystallised Beauty!

And here’s one called for Elena[Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/22-9-for-elena.mp3%5D

This is a piece (with strings)  called keep walking[Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/pssst.mp3%5D

Here’s the mp3 if you’d rather download it and hear it on your personal gramophone (!): keep walking by Philip Sheppard

If you like any of these pieces, check out Aqua Voce too, and remember to Join me on Twitter for mp3 and sheet music updates too!

alphainventions.com

Condron.us

Pssst! pass it on….

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This animation is pretty gory.. but cool. When it gets to the more gothic 3rd section you can hear a piece of mine called keep walking…

If you like it – the full track is below plus the link to the mp3 if you’d rather hear it on your personal gramophone!

listen to the full length track here:[Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/pssst.mp3%5D

This from BoingBoing:

In “Legends of Exos” we are launched into a psychedelic land of stained glass, tracking a warrior on his way to battle. His attack segues into a lovable world of fuzzy woodland creatures but concludes with a finale that Burton fans will find comforting.

PSST!3 Pass It On is collaborative film project is composed of 17 films made by 51 teams of directors and animators from around the globe. Each film is broken into three parts — beginning, middle, and end — and each part is created by a different team.

download mp3

PSST PASS IT ON WEBSITE

Harrison’s Chronometer online

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New tracks added!chron1

There are some new tracks added this week from past albums including Harrison’s Chronometer which I released as the other track on the EP length Glass Cathedral album, way back in 1999.

You’ll find them all in the sidebar to the right under Pages, including The Diver in the Crypt and In-I stage show.

Soon to come… the score of Sacred Monsters, (the Sylvie Guillem Akram Khan dance piece) and a very weird piece I wrote about the Venetian Underground System…

Tracks and albums go online

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112I like sites with long streamed mp3s where I can listen to music while I work – kind of webpage radio stations for each album, show or film project (where I own the tracks or have permission from the publishers). I’ve had lots of nice requests for the scores to recent stage shows, and I don’t want to charge people for the music – especially if they’ve already paid for a ticket!

I’ve had a really encouraging response from posts such as this.

So..  I’ll post tracks along with all their associated images and artwork.

So far, lead tracks from The Glass Cathedral and Diver in the Crypt are up. Their B sides, and other album tracks will get posted soon, but I’ll also be adding the full sets of Jane Austen piano pieces, more electric cello works,  string pieces and recent stage shows.

Sacred Monsters which starred Sylvie Guillem and Akram Khan will be put here soon, as a partner to In-I which is getting nice reviews for the score – it’s playing this week at the Sydney Opera House.

Transmission dates for the new David Starkey series on Channel 4 are to be announced soon, as well as news about Moon Machines, Shadow of the Moon and a recent project, Dream with Korean Director Kim Ki-Duk.

In the meantime here’s a string orchestra piece (written in Suffolk..!) called Primary Colours:[Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/01-primary-colours.mp3%5D

radiomovies latest round-up

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Carceri III The round tower - Piranesi

Carceri III The round tower - Piranesi

radiomovies latest round-up

So… The Jane Austen lovers have come out in force behind a certain piece of piano music, In-I has opened at the Sydney Opera House – and the score / soundtrack is now online here and Channel 4 are to shortly announce the transmission dates of David Starkey’s new series on Henry VIII -  the Mind of a Tyrant.

Excitingly.. for me anyway, I found the one Jeff Buckley bootleg recording I’ve been looking for for years.

Meanwhile I’ve started to put my albums online. I realised that it was ten years since I recorded The Glass Cathedral, and so I’ve decided to release it as a one tune radio station.. okay, so it’s actually a webpage with a Piranesi engraving and a tune… but, as with the dance scores, i like the idea of people being able to dial it up and listen. A lot of people have paid to see concerts, films, shows – for which I’m really grateful… why should I ask people for more money, and anyway, what’s wrong with giving the odd tune away?

How to be a composer for new media

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Tips for breaking into the covert world of composition for new media, such as film soundtracks, TV, adverts, arranging and games.

How get on the path to becoming a film, television, web or games composer

Music technology tips by Philip Sheppard February 2009cimg05732

(These are key points from lectures I’ve given recently, and a recent article for Classroom Music Magazine)

  1. WORK really hard. Work harder than anyone else you’ve ever met.
  2. If you don’t love working really hard you won’t enjoy being a composer (and believe me, it’s a great job)
  3. Ask people to show you how they do what they do. No composer minds being asked how they put a track together
  4. Learn how sound works – if you study the physics of sound, you’ll be more likely to be able to shape it into agreeable forms
  5. Make a portfolio of what you do. A showreel can be virtual – myspace is a start but can look fairly horrible. WordPress is excellent as a shop window
  6. Specialize in something unique. A small business advisor will call this your USP – Unique Selling Point. (I got into the business by doing leftfield  things with string instruments)
  7. Always work with people who are better than you. I do, and I hope they can’t tell. this keeps me on my toes, and I learn from every job
  8. Network network network… but in a cool way. If a player writes to you asking for work, it’s less appealing than if they write to invite you to a gig isn’t it? A mailing list/website with news and forthcoming events is a surefire way for people to see how busy you are. Once you’re seen to be terribly busy, this will attract more work. this sounds like a catch 22 – but it isn’t. You are likely to be self-employed, so employ yourself now!
  9. Listen emotionally, analytically and critically to everything. If you love a piece you hear, try to work out why you love it. Dissect it into its elements. Equally if music doesn’t move you or grab you, try to work out exactly why.
  10. Always carry a bit of manuscript paper with you (or a dictaphone if you don’t read music). Moleskine do really nice pocket manuscript books. Your best tunes will always hit you when you’re not looking for them
  11. see point number one…
  12. Coffee is your friend and enemy. Keep it close, but use it wisely.

How I got into it all…

I trained as a cellist at the Royal Academy of Music where I have been a cello Professor since about ’94. I had several composition lessons there as a second study, studying with Melanie Daiken, before second studies were abolished! However, by that point I was heavily ensconced in the Contemporary Music scene.

Luckily the RAM had a policy of drawing in great living composers, so I was able to play under Berio, Tippett, Messaien and many other truly inspiring musicians. At the same time I felt compelled to start improvising, and joined a quintet with Keith Tippett which specialised in ‘spontaneous composition’. At this point I learnt the value of knowing when not to play…

I’m motivated to write music that I’d like to hear – which sounds obvious and a bit selfish, but, it’s a pretty good filter.

My ‘break’ into composition came when I tried to multitrack some pieces on the cello, was encouraged to put them on a CD, that sold well and found its way onto the desk of an ad agency who threw me in at the deep end to devise the ident music for a major broadcaster… which was a learning curve, and a great break.

Pros and Cons:
Pros – I love my job. Every day is different. I can be based at home and still write and record (very different from my former touring existence). I meet really exciting people – last year it was 5 moonwalkers in one day.
I’m my own boss. I can be creative and still be working.
Cons not many.. Very late nights – but, I love working late. Oh yes – developing a studio tan (that’s very very pale) and having a habit of buying a new Mac every year and convincing myself I really need it.

Good luck…

©Philip Sheppard 2009