Philip Sheppard From the Road

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Download the sheet music here!

Breaking news… New piano page with tracks here
Funnily enough, I can’t play the piano as I’m a cellist by trade, so one hand carrying a melody is more than enough for me. In fact my piano reports from junior school were so bad that I still have them.

They are paper reports as, back then, the only computer in school ran floppy disks the size of a pancake (same consistency too) and could achieve the incredible task of generating a row of ten prime numbers whilst making a noise like your granny clearing her throat.

Sorry, not your granny, one’s own granny.

So they were lovingly crafted from postcard sized sheets of paper stapled together with a whole page per subject, including instrumental lessons. Most of the sheets were marked with crabbed, bitter scratchings of frustrated first world war veterans sent to the darkest parts of Essex to teach us, which goes some way to explaining why they were illustrated with fag ash burns and beer stains.

Not so my piano report pages .. oh no. Elegant beautiful writing like (the then) to be Lady Di’s.

They read:

• Year one: Trying
• Year two: Still trying
• Year three: Very trying

Obviously a treasured possession now…

Anyway – A little while back I wrote a piece for solo piano called Crystallised Beauty (Crystallized if you’re American) which was recorded on an album for Chappell. For some reason, some people like it – for which I’m very grateful, as I’m an imposter in the world of the keyboard…

Here’s the not often heard full-length version of the track:

Here’s a Jane Austen trailer using it. The sheet music is finally coming soon and will be a free download from this page…

Other Keyboard pieces

The are a number of other keyboard pieces in this set.

Here’s one of them, which was recorded in Finchcocks, a stately home and piano museum. The instrument used is a Viennese double strung piano – very rare and extremely fragile instrument. [Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/04-moon-over-meadow.mp3]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]

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