I wanted to share my orchestral sheet music here for the Ukrainian National Anthem in pdf form. Here it is along with my recording with the London Philharmonic Orchestra
Please feel free to download and share and perform under Creative Commons free licence. Philip x
Chosen Road from Fall From Earth – by Philip Sheppard – Clio Gould Violinist
For Clio Gould
This track was written in a single afternoon just before our Abbey Road Sessions for my album Fall From Earth.
I had just had confirmation that Clio Gould would be leading the orchestra for my recordings. I knew I had to write something special for her.
I’ve known Clio’s playing for most of my life – in fact, we first played together when we were 15 years old.
Even then, her sound was utterly and totally breathtaking and I’ve been in love with her playing ever since. Her sound is effortless, silken, chocolatey and quite unlike anybody else.
Chosen Road is about the paths that you take and the routes that you choose through life. Sometimes the going is hard, but the views can take your breath away.
Clio is the greatest violinist in the world. This is my way of saying thank you to her.
Order from Bandcamp
[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=75147650 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 artwork=small tracklist=false tracks=4061886354 esig=009513d550468b4c06c10eaa8d787d62]
Featuring Clio Gould (solo violin), conducted by Philip Sheppard
The album has just been nominated for two Grammy Awards! I’m stoked about this as I’m a huge fan of what Harrison and Clay create and they’re constantly on rotation on my playlists despite the fact there are some noises by me in their tracks!
1971 scored by Philip Sheppard is streaming on PBS here.
In 1971, long before Edward Snowden’s revelations of NSA surveillance, a group of citizens broke into a small FBI office in Pennsylvania, took every file, and shared them with the public. Their actions exposed the FBI’s illegal surveillance program of law-abiding Americans. Now for the first time, these anonymous Americans who risked everything share their story publicly.
In the past several decades, whistleblowers have helped shape the nation’s history, from Deep Throat exposing President Nixon’s Watergate scandal to Edward Snowden’s revelations about the NSA’s surveillance. But long before the dawning of the digital age, one group of citizens risked everything when they uncovered illegal government spying programs.
The FBI, established in 1908, was for 60 years held unaccountable and untouchable until March 8, 1971, when The Citizens’ Commission to Investigate the FBI, as they called themselves, broke into a small FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania, took every file, and shared them with the American public.
After the break-in, the group sent the files to journalists at the Washington Post, which published them and shed light on the FBI’s widespread abuse of power. These actions exposed COINTELPRO, the FBI’s illegal surveillance program that involved the intimidation of law-abiding Americans, and helped lead to the country’s first congressional investigation of U.S. intelligence agencies.
The activist-burglars then disappeared into anonymity for forty years. Until now. Never caught, these previously anonymous Americans — parents, teachers and citizens — publicly reveal themselves for the first time and share their story in the documentary 1971. Using a mix of dramatic re-enactments and candid interviews with all involved, the film vividly brings to life one of the more important, yet relatively unexplored, chapters in modern American history.
Soundtrack/ score by Philip Sheppard.
Stream 1971 on PBS Independent Lens.
A Film by
Johanna Hamilton
Directed and Produced by
Johanna Hamilton
Edited by
Gabriel Rhodes
Produced by
Marilyn Ness
Katy Chevigny
Executive Producers
Julie Goldman
Abigail E. Disney
Gini Reticker
Laura Poitras
Cinematographer (Interviews)
Kirsten Johnson
Cinematographer (Recreations)
Andreas Burgess
Original Music
Philip Sheppard
Written by
Johanna Hamilton
Gabriel Rhodes
Associate Producer
Danielle Varga
Animation and Motion Graphics
Dave Tecson
Additional Photography
Neil Barrett
Nicholas Blair
Sound
Judy Karp
Mark Maloof
John Zecca
Nejc Poberaj
Recreations Unit
Recreations Producer
Maureen A. Ryan
Production Designer
Markus Kirschner
First Assistant Director
Sara Neuffer
Production Manager
Brian Birch
Art Director
Shawn Anabel
Casting Director
Adine Duron
CAST
Peter Gregus: Bill
Lauren A. Kennedy: Bonnie
Jonathan Joel Brennan: Bob
Rich Graff: John
Daniel S. Taylor: Keith
Dennis Brito: FBI Agent
John Isgro: Custodian
Kerry Malloy: FBI Agent
Brian P. McCarthy: #9
Matthew Smith: Citizens’ Commission
Marilyn Ness: Citizens’ Commission
Danielle Varga: Citizens’ Commission
Paul Darren: Security Guard
The filmmakers do not know the three unidentified burglars or the ninth person who withdrew from the break-in team.
Any similarities that may exist between any of them and the actors in the reenactments are purely coincidental.
Costume Designer
Eniola Dawodu
Key Hair/Makeup Artist
Vera Stromsted
Gaffer
Nicola Guarneri
First Assistant Camera
Alex Peterson George Alvarez
Production Coordinator
Jacey Heldrich
Assistant Editors
Eric Rockey
Nora Ballard
Michael Peterson
Archival Clearances
Nan Wakefield
Legal Services
Karen Shatzkin
Post Production Services
Final Frame
Digital Intermediate Online Editor
Owen Rucker
Digital Intermediate Colorist
Will Cox
Digital Intermediate Producer
Caitlin Tartaro
Audio Post Provided by
Gigantic Post, NYC
Sound Designer and Re-Recording Mixer
Tom Paul
Dialogue Editor
Sam Edelstein
Sound Effects Editor
Andrea Bella
Foley Artist
Les Bloom
Foley Mixer
Carl Shillito
Bookkeepers
Phil Lane
Kelley A. Trotter
Archival Materials
All in the Family ©1972 Tandem Productions, Inc.
Episode “Archie and the FBI.”
Fight of the Champions © 1971
Director: Art Fisher Producers: Neal Marshall & Art Fischer
Interview with former FBI agent Terry Neist by Sam Green
© The Free History Project
ABCNEWS VideoSource and WPVI
Critical Past
FBI ©1965 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Historic Films
KPIX-TV
KRON-TV
KYW-TV
Pat McGrath
National Archives and Records Administration
NBC Universal Archives
Nixon Library
Oddball Film & Video
San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive
T3Media
Temple Urban Archives
UCLA Film & Television Archive
WHAM-TV
WPA Film Library
Anne Flitcraft
Associated Press
Baltimore Sun Media Group
Chicago Tribune
Courier Post, Cherry Hill
Carl Stern
Delaware County Times
Democrat & Chronicle, Rochester, NY
The Raines Family
Keith Forsyth
Sarah Davidon
Corbis
David Kairys
Delaware County History
Getty Images
Greg Moore
Haverford College
Life Magazine
Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
LSUS Archives and Special Collections
New York Times
Newsday
Philadelphia Inquirer
Saint Joseph’s University Archives
Theodore Hetzel Photograph Collection
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
Anthony Giacchino Camden 28 [Motion Picture] Collection
Swarthmore College Peace Collection
Temple Urban Archives
University of Arkansas Libraries Special Collections
Washington Post
Washington Star
Music
“I Spy (For the F.B.I.) / Foxy Devil”
Luther Ingram & The G-Men
Smash Records Re-released in 1971 following the revelations of the Media Burglary
“A Whole New You”
Written by Enion Pelta-Tiller
Arranged and Recorded by David Tiller and Enion Pelta-Tiller
Taarka, 2012
Special Thanks
The Citizens’ Commission to Investigate the FBI
Sarah Davidon
James Kirkpatrick Davis
Paco de Onis
Kate Doyle
Henry Dunn
Mike German
David Kairys
Betty Medsger
Laura Poitras
Thom Powers, Ian Olds, and Rachel Rakes
Max, Theo and Layla van Zyl
Paul van Zyl
Ben Wizner
Pam Yates
Fiscal Sponsor
Women Make Movies, Inc.
Executive Producer for ITVS
Sally Jo Fifer
Funding provided by
The Ford Foundation JustFilms
Candescent Films
Fork Films
Open Society Foundations
Sundance Documentary Film Program
New York State Council on the Arts
The Fledgling Fund
San Francisco Film Society
Richard and Marianne Hamilton
The Fund For Constitutional Government
Vital Projects Fund
Steward R. Mott Foundation
Michael Hirschhorn and Jimena Martinez
AMJ Foundation
Susan Parker and Alan Belzer
Keating Hawkins Gift Fund
Puffin Foundation
David Rudovsky
Dr. Edward Herman
Rick Cummings
Josh Markel and Eva Gold
1971 is a co-production of Maximum Pictures LLC and the Independent Television Service (ITVS) in association with Big Mouth Productions, Motto Pictures, and Fork Films, with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB)
This film was produced by Maximum Pictures, LLC, which is solely responsible for its content.
This weekend saw the premiere of Greg Barker’s new documentary ‘The Final year’ at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
The movie charts the astoundingly exhaustive efforts by Barak Obama’s diplomatic team to manage complex international problems. The unfettered access to Obama, John Kerry, Samantha Powers, Ben Rhodes and Susan Rice has created an incredible witness document to the often unseen and unappreciated efforts that operate below the surface of a successful administration.
We recorded the string score in Abbey Road Studio One with an orchestra after not many weeks of writing. The soundtrack for this movie was one of the hardest challenges I’ve ever faced as a composer. Putting music under political figures is fraught with ethical and artistic problems. In documentary, the role of the composer is to frame the action, NOT tell the audience what to feel. I wrote entire soundtrack three times until I found a way in, that didn’t feel biased or dramatic.
The reviews from the Hollywood Reporter and Variety are here and I feel reflect the importance and peculiarity of this movie.
Here’s Ben Rhodes – Obama’s speechwriter – speaking after the premiere.
Here’s a track from the movie:
From the official blurb:
It’s not about you. Sure, you want to use your wit, agility, Dynatron Shield and Cyberite Chopsticks to survive The Chef’s Deathtrap Dinner Theater. You’d do anything not to become the cuisine du jour, Feline Nigiri.
But it’s not about you. It’s about saving thousands of other hastily evolved cats, enslaved in gladiatorial games aboard the 1950’s leisure cruiser, the Starliner Fairbrother, a generation ship overdue for the promised land of Alpha Centauri. More importantly, it’s about saving the one you love, LeChat, held hostage to rein in your rebellious tendencies. Today is the day Kitty steps up, the day Kitty flips the script, the day Kitty rises as a champion, a hero, and a savior.
Kitty nigiri is a VR Danger room puzzler that challenges your wits and dexterity in its trials.
Hours of training that will stretch your mind, tickle your senses and get your heart racing. You play as kitty the engineered hybrid cat thrown into a life or death battle of will and cunning.
Here’s a track from my recent album ‘Somewhere along the edge’
My friend the photographer Trey Ratcliff is a master of making poetry from light. His images are a constant source of inspiration for me. See his work here.
This track is dedicated to him.
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[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/281054113″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
This is a track from my new album – Somewhere Along The Edge. The album was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in September 2016 and is my first studio album away from a specific movies soundtrack for some time.
Each track is dedicated to someone who lives fully at the edge of life— whether explorers, artists, travellers, thinkers…
This is dedicated to the amazing artist, technologist, fellow cellist, drone pilot, underwater photographer and more importantly, great friend, Eric Cheng.
His photography is exquisite – echengphoto.com/index
If you would like a free review copy then please comment below and I’ll send you a code by return.
Philip Sheppard October 2016
Somewhere Along The Edge on iTunes
https://exit.sc/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fitun.es%2Fus%2F1S4Teb
Somewhere Along The Edge on Bandcamp
http://philipsheppard.bandcamp.com/…/somewhere-along-the-ed…
Somewhere Along The Edge On Spotify
Here’s a performance of Kashmir by Led Zeppelin I did the other week in San Jose at the premiere of The Human Face of Big data – a film I scored for Sandy & Rick Smolan.
It’s using a cello (leant by the amazing Eric Cheng) and a Boss Loop Pedal.
I worked with Jimmy Page back in 2008 – but that’s a whole lotta other story. We were both younger back then…
That’s Harry Perry. The world’s boldest musician.
He’s the one on the left.
I’m the pasty looking Brit on the right, giving him a few tips on how to be less introverted. *ahem*
Well actually, I’m getting an important life lesson right there.
Here’s a guy who earns a (damn good) living, playing guitar, in the sunshine, whilst keeping phenomenally fit.
He’s not a particularly shy chap.
In fact, he’s the definition of bold.
And it works.
And I always need more of that.
As a musician, it’s all too easy to be conventional, not stick your head above the parapet and toe a conventional line.
Despite having been a performer for years I was always terrified of standing out, being different or not knowing exactly what I was going to do on stage in a performance.
In short I had absolutely zero boldness. Nada. Nothing. Whilst a student at the Royal Academy of Music, I put the conservative into conservatoire.
I was obscenely square even in classical music terms.
The breakthrough for me came from meeting an insanely great jazz pianist, Keith Tippett. He encouraged me to improvise entire concerts.
(Side note: Improvisation is a word with many negative connotations so Keith’s neat trick is to re-label it Spontaneous Composition).
Now this is a terribly un-British thing to do. But it has been at the root of everything interesting that’s happened to me since then.
The feeling of walking onstage and not knowing what I’m about to play gives me a bigger high than any drug (even coffee), and, once you realise that the audience are more nervous than you are, is remarkably enjoyable (so long as you’ve practiced an insane amount).
My rules now are simple:
Those split seconds of bravery will open the doors to your dreams…
So Be Bold Like Harry.
This morning I’ve been playing some Paganini from an early edition, viewing through an Avegant Glyph driven by an Amazon Kindle Fire.
So far, it’s pretty thrilling experience and somewhat exciting to consider the possibilities of accessing archive material without expensive printing, using music stands, and having a truly focussed environment whilst working.
My normal day job is composing and recording film soundtracks. This is where such technology will fly, especially once reduced into a lens. The software I use to sequence, record and mix will all be effectively projected at a low level into the eye and will occupy no real estate in my studio.
Now if you’ll excuse me I have to get back to mastering those octaves – technology won’t do that for me…
Sending this to JJ Abrams as thanks for using my track for promoting Star Wars.
I always write graphic scores for directors I like working with, and to work in some small way on on this franchise was beyond a dream.
Hope he likes it…
Here’s a cover of ‘Crazy’ by Gnarls Barkley that I performed recently at the COP21 Summit in Paris. Just recorded this to get warmed up for a busy set of film sessions.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/240349424″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
I love performing and speaking at C2 Montreal.
This year I was about to lead into introducing Andre Agassi onstage when I spotted a lady playing with her phone. I decided to make her a bit of a star for the day.
I recently invented a game concerned with creative music play called Compose Yourself, and I’m really excited to share it with you.
I’m pretty sure that given the right tools, anybody can become a composer. It’s an easy thing to say, but actually I’m sure It’s true!
Some of the greatest musicians I’ve worked with, from the classical world, the film music world & the rock music world haven’t been able to read a note of music. It hasn’t stopped them from having full, successful and exciting musical lives.
When I was very young I really wanted to make music.
Actually, to be very honest with you, I just wanted to make lots of noise, and music seemed the best way to do this without getting into too much trouble.
At the age of three, I decided I was going to play the cello. It sounds like a cliche, but I heard a cello on the radio and fell in love with it. I actually remember the moment very clearly. It was the Elgar cello concerto played by Jacqueline Du Pré.
When I saw pictures of a cello and realised that it was much much bigger than a violin I was in love. That was it. I was going to play the cello…
That photo above is me on the day I had my first lesson. Looking back on it now I realise I was so lucky that my teacher also happened to be a kindergarten headteacher. She really knew how to make learning fun, and more importantly she knew how to play with music. Believe me, in the UK in the 70s, classical music was very very serious.
Not for fun. Nope…
The photo shows me playing a piece of music that she wrote and taught me in my first lesson. The piece was called Charlie and Fred and it was a simple thing that she’d written about her two pet Cavies. Most importantly, it was a piece of music about something I cared about, and it was written by someone I knew. Looking back on it now I realise that this was a really unusual way to teach music at the time, and it totally worked for me.
I loved playing her piece. It sounded amazing to me. I would play it for as many hours as I could. At no point didn’t occur to me that I was practising…
(Actually the way I played it at the time, it probably sounded horrible, but it’s still one of the most exciting moments of my life!).
I remember being so excited that I could make abstract noises that painted pictures in my mind, and to be honest, I still get very excited about this.
I’m now a film composer with more than 30 movie scores to my name, and I now get to paint pictures with music all day. I can’t begin to explain how much fun this is, but I can share the feeling a little bit.
This is the reason I invented Compose Yourself, so kids can make their own music – music that paints wonderful, colourful pictures in their minds.
Music can take kids on wild and exciting musical journeys, and they can make music about absolutely anything. One of the children I was teaching in Harlem number of years ago wrote to me after the composition project we were running.
I’ll never forget what he said,
‘… I like writing music. Music makes me feel important…’
Remember:
Kids have no idea that writing music is difficult (until adults point it out), so let’s keep it easy for them! This game is a powerful set of musical building blocks. The moment children make up their very first tune, they become Composers.
Here’s a little film about the game:
.Being a composer is like having a special power. A power that can make people dance, sing and cry (in a good way).
Now, that’s a real superpower….
Here’s what I did after a long day of recording in Abbey Road one night last week. I’d been conducting the orchestra all day, and my brain was in another place.
I was speaking a language far from English, and things were swimming in front of my eyes. Rather than start heading home, I decided to decompress a bit.
There’s a deeply unusual documentary I’m writing at the moment, so I put the film on, Gordon, my fantastic engineer set everything to record and I got ready to play along. In the end, I ended up doing a 59 minute solo take on my cello – which is something of a record for me… It was a bit surprising seeing as my arms were really aching from conducting all day.
Anyway, here’s the result. (Don’t worry, it’s not 59 minutes).
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/127153238″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
I’ve always loved Star Wars, so was rather delighted when Disney & JJ Abrams requested to use some music I’d composed for the new Star Wars Force Awakens trailer/ teaser (behind the scenes) film as revealed at Comic Con in San Diego last night.
The piece they used is a reworking of a track I wrote called ‘Epiphany’. It’s now called The Force Epiphany, and it’s on an EP I’m releasing called Strange News from Another Star. The wonderful images with the tracks are by my friend Trey Ratcliff.
[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=3723737049 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=63b2cc tracklist=false artwork=small]
Here’s the trailer:
Philip Sheppard 2015
No, that is not my normal cello…
Last month I travelled to Vegas to join Cirque Du Soleil for a special One-off show as a featured musician along with the wonderful John Legend.
The whole show was in aid of One Drop, and amazing charity established by Cirque to help those in need find water supplies.
It was a once-in-a-lifetime adventure and I’m writing more about this very soon.
Here’s one of the pieces I played.[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/204219833″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
Here’s a version of Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen that I played at C2MTL at the end of my talk there. I hope you like it.
The full talk is here http://c2m.tl/1BU3KGH
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/53995543″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]Here’s a preview of my score for Human Universe featuring Professor Brian Cox, which debuts tonight on BBC2.
We’re going to release the soundtrack on iTunes, Spotify and many other digital music platforms shortly.
If you’d like to receive a one-off email when this is released, just leave us a short message below naming your favourite track.
You’ll get a free download of one of my other film scores by way of thanks.
And, you’ll really be helping us, as the most popular track will become the first track on the album.
Inspired by one of my friend Trey Ratcliff’s images, here’s ‘A Boat to Nowhere’ to be heard soon on the BBC ‘Human Universe’ soundtrack.
This was recorded at Abbey Road in August. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/164243601″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
One of my tracks from the forthcoming series ‘Human Universe’ presented by Brian Cox, Featuring Evelyn Glennie with the ESO & Philip Sheppard. The image is another stunner by my dear friend Trey Ratcliff (who’s probably in the desert at Burning Man right now…).[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/164089022″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
The title track of Le Grand Depart show, launching The 2014 Tour de France at Leeds Arena. Track by Philip Sheppard. Free download here.
Image courtesy of Trey Ratcliff. More of Trey’s amazing work here.[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/156825373″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]More news & tracks here…
Press release:
British conductor and composer Philip Sheppard will lead the orchestra and chorus ofOpera North at the opening ceremony of the 2014 Tour de France.
The ceremony will take place at the Leeds Arena this Thursday, and will precede the Yorkshire Grand Départ.
Sheppard, who has previously arranged and composed music for both the London 2012 and Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, will perform new work inspired by the sounds of cycling.
The orchestra will also accompany Yorkshire band Embrace, who is headlining the event.
Sheppard has scored 25 feature films, and as a cellist, has worked with the likes of David Bowie, Jarvis Cocker and Jeff Buckley. He is widely-known for using electronics in conjunction with classical music.
The ceremony takes place on 3 July.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/150891804″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]This is my closing piece from my set at the NNFest on 22nd may 2014 playing support for Toumani Diabaté. It’s recorded using an 18th Century cello and a Boss RC300 loop pedal with a DPA cello mic. Hope you like it…
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/169148725″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]The Voyager Golden Discs are gramophone records which were attached to both Voyager spacecrafts, which were launched in 1977.
The discs contain a huge array of music and noises from Earth, as well as biometric information and scientific knowledge.
Inscribed on the discs are the words; ‘To the makers of music – all worlds, all times…’
Everything in my track is built from manipulated sounds from the gold discs attached to the Voyager space probes.
Hope you like it.
Very very excited to announce that I’ve been invited to perform a solo set to kick off James Lavelle’s Meltdown 2014.
It’ll be a solo cello looping set in the Royal Festival Hall before I join the UNKLE line-up (my long-time conspirators) in the second half.
Nice article re the other artists here.
Hope you can come. It’s going to be different. In the meantime let me share a previous Meltdown experience with Jeff Buckley that changed my life entirely…
I’ve just finished mixing the soundtrack for We Are The Giant, my latest score composed for Greg Barker. The film is premiering at the Sundance Film Festival next week. Our other films together, Sergio and Manhunt also received their first outings in Park City Utah. (Update – there’s a free track to download in this post)
I saw the rough cut of the film only fairly recently and knew I had to be involved.
I was going to say that this film is a call to arms, but, the overwhelming modus operandi of the Arab Spring protagonists portrayed is more of a call to militant peace.
A few years ago I was in Sundance when Banksy was premiering his Exit through the Gift Shop, and taking the opportunity to add some serious value to the walls of certain businesses along Main Street, Park City. I was excited when I spotted this early one morning:
He springs to mind as his now infamous image of a rioter hurling a bouquet would be an appropriate logo for the film. In one extraordinary sequence of Greg Barker’s movie, a tidal wave of protesters brandish long stem flowers, not batons or guns unlike the brutal thugs sent to disperse them.
The Arab Spring is a collective, rather misleading term for a groundswell of national protests that have emerged since 2010. It’s no coincidence that this time period correlates to the emergence of direct social messaging, a truly efficient way of negating the deathly hand of state propaganda.
This capacity to network peer-to-peer has also developed in tandem with phones becoming powerful recording devices, meaning that atrocities are now documented at a mere arm’s length, making them harder to suppress and easier to disseminate.
This means that some of the stories portrayed in We Are The Giant make for difficult viewing. In fact, this is a score I’ve had to compose when my kids are far from my studio. I want them to know that this is happening, but they’re just too young to see it in such graphic detail. Unfortunately many of the young people in the film have no such luxury of choice.
This isn’t a film about politics, it’s a film about us.
People like you and me.
People with kids, with friends to see, with school runs, with household bills, with exams, with mobiles, with meals to cook, with to-do lists, with all the pressures and joys of normal life – except the prospect of imprisonment, torture and death are just as normal and domesticated.
I urge you to see this film. It’ll probably make you angry, but will leave you with hope in the fact that some good people do great things.
I’ve gone for a radically different approach to building music for this movie, it just didn’t seem appropriate to use a conventional orchestra for such raw, real footage. I built lots of new instruments from found sounds, and approached the whole score as a single piece of audio design which morphs from harmony and melody into cascading walls of noise.
This a riot sequence:[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/128478525″ params=”color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
This is a sequence describing the historic standoff between the Māori Parihaka people and a huge armed militia in the mid 19th Century. The soldiers were dumbfounded by a children’s choir being the only line of defence that confronted them.[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/128478131″ params=”color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
This is a sequence about exile – loneliness & separation (You can download this track if you click through):[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/128478762″ params=”color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
Sometimes music & flowers are the best weapons…
People who made this film happen:
Director: Greg Barker
Producers: John Battsek, Julie Goldman, Greg Barker
Co, Producer: Razan Ghalayini
Line Producer: Diane Becker
Cinematographers: Muhammad Hamdy, Frank-Peter Lehmann
Editor: Joshua Altman
Sound Mix: Monkeyland Audio
Composer: Philip Sheppard
Plus: major support from PrettyBird.
Philip Sheppard – new tracks available from here.
This Sunday is Remembrance Day here in the UK. Here’s a piece I wrote last week.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/118816851″ width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
Here’s a graphic score for a dear friend of mine whose name is Dr Wave…
[With apologies to Hiroshige!]
My writing & recording studio is a library. This is not only because I draw great inspiration & solace from books – I mean you’ve never seen so many wartime Penguin Orangebacks in a row – but also because a wall full of books has great acoustic properties – it dampens the sound and (to my ear at least) bounces back a lovely diffuse quality in the instrument being recorded.[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/102458411″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]I have a shelf in front of my music stand which has stacks of everything I’m currently reading.
I’ve recently become somewhat obsessed with the work of Chris Ware, and a copy of his Acme Novelty Yearbook is permanently open for inspiration.
Whilst much of his work deals with melancholia & failure, there’s a healthy dose of influence from the adverts in early American magazines, as well as repeated references to Ragtime
.
This piece is a concerto for a single chord on a ukelele written after reading a chunk of this amazing book. Hope you like it…
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/99216818″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]Study of Life – a new track by Philip Sheppard. (solo clarinet by Pete Furniss)
I’m rather obsessed with other people’s notebooks. This image is an extract from Darwin’s notes concerning the variations in evolution of finches – core research upon the way to his extraordinary theories of evolution.
I’d like to think that if he’d had a computer (maybe something crafted by Mr Babbage…) he would still have laid everything out in ink, on fine paper first.
It’s so much easier to think in ink. Do you have a favourite journal?
I love Darwin’s ‘I think’ at the top of the page…
It’s been a busy couple of weeks chez Sheppard with some new releases…
I wrote & recorded the string parts for Queens of the Stone Age album title track, Like Clockwork. This track also featured my mate James Lavelle. The album went straight in at number 1 in the charts (which was gratifying).
I’d also written for a very left field band called These New Puritans who I rate really highly. They divide critics as they’ve an uncompromising approach to music & performance. Their new album Field of Reeds came out last week. One of my heroes, Michael Van der Aa also worked on the album – great company to keep…
In the world of moving pictures I’ve been finishing composing the score to a film I can’t talk about as it’s horribly secret, but it’s involved creating a sound world involving glitchy electronica and paranoid soundscapes (no change there then..!).
I’m also featured as a soloist on the forthcoming Jason Statham film, Hummingbird, scored by my friend – the genius Dario Marianelli. It’s a violent yet sensitive film – and I’m providing some disturbed noises on electric cello for some of the more psychotic sequences. I drank a lot of Earl Grey in the studio that day…
Monday June 17th at 9pm on HBO sees the network premiere broadcast of Love, Marilyn. I wrote the soundtrack for this lovely film, and have compiled a playlist of some of the tracks:
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/playlists/6612291″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
More about the broadcast here.
Featuring F. Murray Abraham, Elizabeth Banks, Adrien Brody, Ellen Burstyn, Glenn Close, Hope Davis, Viola Davis, Jennifer Ehle, Ben Foster, Paul Giamatti, Jack Huston, Stephen Lang, Lindsay Lohan, Janet McTeer, Jeremy Piven, Oliver Platt, David Strathairn, Lili Taylor, Uma Thurman, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood. Written and directed by Liz Garbus; produced by Stanley Buchthal, Liz Garbus and Amy Hobby; executive producer, Anne Carey; executive producers, Olivier Courson, Harold Van Lier and Enrique Steiger; edited by Azin Samari; cinematography by Maryse Alberti; music by Philip Sheppard; co-producer, Julie Gaither.[wpvideo RcSINxwA]
This Sunday sees the broadcast of Chris Riley’s wonderful account of the life of one of the great thinkers & polymaths of our time, Richard Feynman. I’ve written the music for the film. Here’s are a couple of tracks from the score;[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/91542152″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /][soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/91544836″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
Feynman brilliantly embraced the concept of playing – playing with ideas until they resolved into simple models of extraordinary concepts.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyqleIxXTpw&feature=youtu.be]“But when it came time to do some research. I couldn’t get to work. I was a little tired; I was not interested; I couldn’t do research!… And then I thought to myself, “You know, what they think of you is so fantastic, it’s impossible to live up to it. You have no responsibility to live up to it!”… Then I had another thought; Physics disgusts me a little bit now, but I used to enjoy doing physics. Why did I enjoy it? I used to play with it. I used to do whatever I felt like doing – it didn’t have to do with whether it was important for the development of nuclear physics…. So I get this new attitude… I’m going to play with physics, whenever I want to, without worrying about any importance whatsoever. Withing a week I was in the cafeteria and some guy, fooling around, throws a plate in the air…. I had nothing to do, so I start to figure out the motion of the rotating plate… And before I knew it (it was a very short time) I was ‘playing’ – working, really – with the same old problem that I loved so much, that I had stopped working on when I went to Los Alamos; my thesis-type problems; all those old-fashioned wonderful things. It was effortless. It was easy to play with these things. It was like uncorking a bottle: Everything flowed out effortlessly…. There was no importance to what I was doing, but ultimately there was. The diagrams and the whole business that I got the Nobel Prize for came from that piddling around with the wobbling plate.” –
Richard Feynman, excerpts from Surely You’re Joking, Mr Feynman
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/89153591″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
I’ve just returned from a blast of pure inspiration & friendships courtesy of the e.g., hosted in Monterey.
It’s very hard to articulate how much this annual get together means to me. Suffice to say, I’ve tried to put it into the music. Hope you like it.
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/89153591″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
I’ve just returned from a blast of pure inspiration & friendships courtesy of the e.g., hosted in Monterey.
It’s very hard to articulate how much this annual get together means to me. Suffice to say, I’ve tried to put it into the music. Hope you like it.
A piece of music dedicated to Trey Ratcliff whose work I’ve loved for years.[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/87240788″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
He is a master of HDR Photography and I met him for the first time last year in Monterey.
This piece is recorded using tuned glass instruments and is an attempt to play with refraction, colour and shade in music.
I’ve no idea if it’s successful but it’s a new direction for me…
Here’s a piece I’ve just written inspired by a fabulous photographer I know called Cole Rise. I love his air of magical realism… hyper-dreamy landscapes where gravity doesn’t quite work in the way it should…[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/86053920″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/85212033″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]It’s hard to believe it’s nearly Easter. I love the biting cold thaw in the sunshine. The best light in the world…
Here’s a piece called ‘The Melt’. I hope you like it.
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/84887312″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/83960778″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
The Wind across the Downs by Philip Sheppard
I’m very happy to announce that Talvin Singh has invited my group, Not So Silent Movies… to perform with him at the Royal Festival Hall on April 14th at 7pm, as part of the Alchemy Festival at the SouthBank Centre.
Not so Silent Movies… is my project which accompanies classic silent film comedies at monthly events at Kings Place. The musicians are extraordinary, as they improvise with no rehearsal, no sheet music, and no previewing of the films.
The Festival Hall group will include, Elspeth Hanson – violin, Pete Furniss – reeds, Mark Neary – bass, Hami – drums, Julia Thornton – harp and me – cello, all performing with Talvin Singh.
We’ll be accompanying a classic of silent Indian Cinema, which none of us will see until the performance itself…
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/82907257″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
Here’s a cue from a film I wrote earlier in the year.
I’m using Pinterest to collate images to help me write and the above, haunting picture is on a board I’ve made to combat writer’s block (not something I’ve suffered from.. yet!). It seemed to chime with the mood of a piece I was remixing…
Or does it? Let me know what you think!
The more I rely on computers to mix and master my music, the more I’m drawn back to pens, pencils, thick bonded paper, Moleskine notebooks, graphite pencils and watercolour blocks. As Marilyn Monroe said; ‘To think in ink..’.
There’s nothing like taking a line for a walk and feeling the resistance of the paper and the give of the pen to swerve you off into a more interesting place than you would have gone in the world of Qwerty.
I was cleaning my desk and I pulled out a copy of a piece I’d transcribed for a friend’s 40th. He’s a Geordie, so it’s an arrangement of ‘Oh Come ye from Newcastle’. He always wears strong glasses and a a cap, and as I was writing, my pen started to veer off into a picture of him..
From there it was a slippery slope
The more I rely on computers to mix and master my music, the more I’m drawn back to pens, pencils, thick bonded paper, Moleskine notebooks, graphite pencils and watercolour blocks. As Marilyn Monroe said; ‘To think in ink..’.
There’s nothing like taking a line for a walk and feeling the resistance of the paper and the give of the pen to swerve you off into a more interesting place than you would have gone in the world of Qwerty.
I was cleaning my desk and I pulled out a copy of a piece I’d transcribed for a friend’s 40th. He’s a Geordie, so it’s an arrangement of ‘Oh Come ye from Newcastle’. He always wears strong glasses and a a cap, and as I was writing, my pen started to veer off into a picture of him..
From there it was a slippery slope to writing in terrible puns in the directions, Da Capo for the return to the baseball cap, the tricky bit along the chin is marked rather hairy, the chords on the mouth are marked as a drone…
I think the medieval calligraphers would have made a better fist of this, but it made him laugh…
[Let me know of any other picture scores in the comments & I can add them in]
© Philip Sheppard 2013
My solo performing setup generally includes loop pedals, pitch shifters and reverb units.
I’m doing a lot of experimentation at the moment with my live setup, using acoustic & electric cellos, new custom built units as well as some exciting new effects pedals from Boss, Boomerang & Line 6. Before I plan a programme I always draw a new circuit/ wiring plan and however much I try to simplify things around my feet, they always end up verging on the complex..!
The sketch above is the setup I have in my studio at the moment… Looking a little tangled for my liking…
Here’s a short improvisation from a set I performed in Mexico a couple of months ago. The guest speakers prior to me had mentioned whale songs, volcanos and one of my favourite pieces, La Folia. Needless to say, all of them found their way in.
It’s been great to see Andrew Bird storming Sundance with a live set where he built songs up from live loops on violin using a parallel setup of Line 6 delay modellers, one tightly locked, the other more for floating ambient lines. You can watch it here.
The great thing is that the gadgetry he’s using is rendered unimportant by the emotional punch of the songs. It’s easy to get hung up on gear for its own sake, but if you’re not making someone laugh, cry or get the chills, it ain’t worth it…
TDNRE5PHSP2N
Here’s a track I wrote formerly for a programme called ‘Inside the Milky Way’. I’m gradually reworking the soundtrack for this series into fully developed pieces and releasing them on Bandcamp. Click here for more!
The image above is taken from a photo I took of a bowl my dear friend Josh Simpson made for me. He’s a total genius, and by coincidence has a strong space connection as his wife is Cmdr Cady Coleman, the astronaut!
This is my notebook for the score of the forthcoming documentary film ‘Manhunt’ directed by Greg Barker. The film premieres at Sundance 2013 this coming week and tells the story of the CIA’s hunt for Bin Laden. It’s a great counterpoint to Zero Dark Thirty as it shows the frustrations, errors and dangers faced by the largely female intelligence officers, aka ‘the Sisterhood’.
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/74934172″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/74933090″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
Here’s a track or two from the soundtrack I’ve written.
c 2013 Philip Sheppard
This December I wrote & directed the music for the 2013 New Years Eve celebrations at the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The event was enormous & featured full symphony orchestra, orchestrated fountains, dancers, flame blasts and the most enormous pyrotechnic display I’ve ever seen.
The fireworks were timed to a piece I wrote which you can hear below called Play with Fire. You can see the pyro display at the youtube link below. Hope you like it…
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/74414559″ params=”color=5f00ff&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9kRCUny7RU]
I’m on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row tonight to talk about music & journeys.
I’m with a total hero of mine – Adrian Utley from Portishead – both of us being interviewed by Mark Lawson.
Here’s a free track for you if you’d like to download it – click through to Soundcloud & it’s free.[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/5680720″ iframe=”true” /]
Last night saw the first ever collaboration between Impropera & Not so Silent Movies… at the wonderful Kings Place. We improvised a new score, and new operatic narrative to Nosferatu… well, it is nearly Halloween.
Our next event is on Sunday afternoon. Click here for more details.
Last month was great fun too – Jarvis Cocker, Dario Marianelli and John Etheridge joined our fabulous house band.
Here’s Gramophone magazine’s blog about it.
If you’d like to get more free tracks, or news of gigs – click here.
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/63156732″ params=”auto_play=false&show_artwork=true&color=ff7700″ width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]Here’s a new track called ‘The Peak’. Hope you like it.
[youtube=http://youtu.be/O3Zldg4j88A]I’ve just launched a new project with my friends The Milk and dubstep pioneer Benga. It’s a soundtrack to your journey if you’re travelling from Victoria to Gatwick. It’s called Espressivo.
It’s a free download with a ticket for the train (if you book online). There’s rather a clever site for it here. Benga and The Milk took my 35 minute track and re-imagined it in a totally new fashion…
I’ve always wanted to do something like this, ever since I first heard Night Mail, the early experimental film featuring Benjamin Britten and W.H.Auden. If you haven’t heard it recently, take a look here. [youtube=http://youtu.be/FkLoDg7e_ns]
I’ve always loved John Betjeman’s love letter to the Metropolitan Line, Metroland[youtube=http://youtu.be/LhIZlJgFgWk]
This film, Let’s go to Birmingham makes me laugh too… especially as I can glimpse my village at 960mph at one point! [youtube=http://youtu.be/NmPzB0qTy4M]
Hope you like it…!
There’s a lovely article here about the shipping forecast, which features contributions from BBC Radio 4 friends Zeb Soanes and Kathy Clugston. Here’s a snippet;
“It’s part of the fabric of this intangible thing called Britishness,” says Soanes.
“Just like red telephone boxes, Wimbledon, the chimes of Big Ben, the smell of cut grass, scones and jam.”
And it is probably not something that would make it onto air in every country of the world.
“It is eccentric, though you only realise when people come from other countries – they are completely baffled by it,” says Clugston.
They mention the fact that the forecast made its way into the Beijing Olympics closing ceremony within a piece I wrote called ‘This is London’.
Here’s Zeb featured in that track along with Elspeth Hanson and the London Symphony Orchestra.[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/36930051″ iframe=”true” /]
[youtube=http://youtu.be/ika6W9BEbzI]
Here’s the trailer for the 2012 Bafta Awards. I composed the music for it.
Here’s another track from The new album I wrote with Evelyn Glennie – it’s called ice drive and features some insanely good toy piano playing!!
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/27735194″]
Winter Wonderland is a new album I’ve recorded with my friend the brilliant percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie.
It’s released today on iTunes and it’s rather Christmassy…! Here’s a track called Dalbergia…[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/27473216″ params=”show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=4975ff” width=”100%” height=”81″ ]This one features an amazing Halo Drum[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/27474905″ params=”show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=4975ff” width=”100%” height=”81″ ]Here’s just one more for now called Frost Flowers…[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/27473068″ params=”show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=4975ff” width=”100%” height=”81″ ]
Hope you like the tracks. They’re all on iTunes here.
By the way, the photo above was taken at the weekend when we performed together at my Not So Silent Movies… series at Kings Place.
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:
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).
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
There are few places in the world more beautiful than Cornwall, early in the morning, far out at sea…
[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/uppm-uk/tr18-m-glistening-angels-main”]
Today is the last day of mixing all 205 of the Olympic Anthems for the London 2012 Games.
The London Philharmonic Orchestra are incredible, and having spent 50 hours locked away with them in Studio 2 at Abbey Road, we all know one another that bit better, and I’m totally in love with their sound. If you want proof of how good they are, just listen to some of their live recordings on their own label.
We’ve gone from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe via the Faroes and Tajikistan, and it’s been something I’m not going to forget in a hurry. Jake Jackson, my rather extraordinary producer, had the bright idea of keeping a record of what we’d done on a wallchart… Dr Strangelove would approve…
The press attention’s been odd and an interesting element to deal with, some of the papers were looking for an angle – eg, ‘what’s the worst anthem?’, ‘What could go horribly wrong?’, and ‘Why do you look like Nick Clegg?’. For the record, I DO NOT LOOK LIKE NICK CLEGG. At all. Really.
On our last day we asked Jonathan Edwards – the world’s favourite triple jumper – to come and join us for the recording of God save the Queen. You’ll have to watch this space to see if he made it onto the final cut of the recording… all I’ll say is that it was the loudest note we recorded across all 974 takes!
Just to show what a good setup we have here at Air Studios.. here’s a snapshot for you:
Note; a very busy Jake Jackson (two keyboards at the same time a la Rick Wakeman), our spreadsheet of anthems projected, too many apple computers, live streamed football match (ahem)…
Here’s an Easter present… for a little while only, these tracks are free downloads. All I ask is that you click the stumble button below, or retweet and recommend them to others if you like them!
[tweetmeme source= ‘@PhilipSheppard’ only_single=false]
[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/sets/easter-radiomovies”]
Stumble It!
Happy and peaceful Easter to you.
Philip Sheppard
Here are a couple of Christmas tracks to download by way of thanks for all the great support this year!
Here’s a track called ‘Look Up’ (download using the down button on the right):
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/5942212″ params=”show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=3585be” width=”100%” height=”81″ ]
This is all about the happiness of flying down a mountain when your heart is full to bursting… Cady Coleman the wonderful astronaut is taking this track up into orbit on the International Space Station this week.
Think of her as she makes her incredible commute on the Soyuz rocket.
I’ve had a great month writing music in Oman as I worked on the sound design of the 40th anniversary celebrations, and have just completed my first album with Evelyn Glennie the percussion virtuoso. There’s a huge project next year which is very very hush hush but it involves being locked in a studio for two weeks conducting a symphony orchestra… more soon!
If you’re going to the Sundance Film Festival – here are two films I’ve got showing there:
http://sundance.bside.com/2011/films/bobbyfischeragainsttheworld_sundance2011
http://sundance.bside.com/2011/films/theflaw_sundance2011
And if you follow the Oscars, the Tillman Story has been shortlisted for the best Documentary!
http://indiegeniusprod.com/BestMoviesEver/tillman-story-trailer/
And… Here’s a carol I wrote called ‘the Orange Tree’… please download if you like.
[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/orange-tree-in-winter”]
Stumble It!
The robin laughed in the orange-tree:
“Ho, windy North, a fig for thee:
While breasts are red and wings are bold
And green trees wave us globes of gold,
Time’s scythe shall reap but bliss for me
Sunlight, song, and the orange-tree.
Have a peaceful, wonderful Christmas and stay in touch!
Today, 15:45 on BBC Radio 4 (FM only) UK
In this second series of Key Matters, presenter Ivan Hewett explores the question of why certain musical keys have become associated with particular moods. For example, why is A major almost always employed by composers to write optimistic, even ecstatic music? And how has E minor become the key of choice for portraying menace and tragedy?
Cellist and composer Philip Sheppard defines the qualities of E minor on Wednesday with music ranging from Brahms, Elgar and Shostakovich to The Clash.
Produced in Birmingham by Rosie Boulton.
To mark the 70th anniversary of the ‘miracle of Dunkirk’, 50 of the surviving ‘little ships’ which made the original perilous cross-channel voyage returned to France. Dan Snow presents the programme on BBC2 and BBC1.
Original music score by Philip Sheppard.
[tweetmeme source= ‘@PhilipSheppard’ only_single=false]
If you would like to download some of this soundtrack, join my mailing list here and I’ll send you the link.
[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/sets/little-ships” params=”show_comments=true&auto_play=false&show_playcount=true&show_artwork=true&color=4d3d7a” width=”100%” height=”185″ ]
Here’s the wonderful JB Priestly talking about the Little Ships
Here’s a new track called Kinderszenen. Hope you like it.
[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/kinderszenen” params=”show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=846d11″ width=”100%” height=”81″ ]
Here’s a new track called The Soldiers’ Prayer. If you like this you might like this too…
[tweetmeme source= ‘@PhilipSheppard’ only_single=false]
This is going to feature on a BBC film called ‘Little Ships’. I’ve written the soundtrack for this beautiful, moving film. I only hope it gets somewhere near the quality of the film!
To mark the 70th anniversary of the ‘miracle of Dunkirk’, 50 of the surviving little ships which made the original perilous cross-channel voyage are returning to France.
The brilliant historian Dan Snow tells their extraordinary story: their role in the evacuation and the people who struggled to keep them afloat during those fateful days in 1940, when the future of Europe hung in the balance.
[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/the-soldiers-prayer” params=”show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=846d11″ width=”100%” height=”81″ ]
Online music promotion & why musicians should make their own record deals…
[This is a section of a talk I gave at the Royal Academy of Music]
[If you like this… then read the supporting article CLICK HERE]
During my lecture a student asked if they should send a huge dossier of references, biographies, programmes and recordings to prospective venues/employers.
Err.. nope!
A CD with a handwritten note – all nicely designed & personally directed is much better, especially if solicited via an initial email.
(The former package would in all likelihood end up in a recycling bin)
Harsh maybe.. but true!
Here are some simple steps to:
You want people to hear you, join you, and get excited about what you produce next (and hopefully turn up in droves to your next recital).
Getting it out there…
Let’s assume you’ve already recorded a really well thought-through programme of pieces/ songs… (This is a whole other massive subject, and something that classical musicians can often get very wrong…)
The obvious place to start a web presence is myspace, but it seems (at best) an inelegant way to present yourself as an artist, especially when there are so many other free hosted sites with beautiful templates out there.
I have a myspace page, (it’s so very ugly.. I won’t even link to it here) but its primary purpose is to redirect traffic to my own sites!
WordPress
I love WordPress (where you’re reading this).
It’s free – it has excellent templates, so even a klutz like me can make something look half – decent…
I can place a track like this
by entering a piece of simple code, and it looks professional.
It’s designed as a piece of blogging software, but rather than using it purely as an online diary, I find it is a great place to host your biography and showreel.
More importantly, it’s a great place to engage in regular chats with people who might like what you do.
The more people that comment and link to you, the higher you page goes in Google’s rankings, so make sure it’s appealing!!
Also, when people leave comments, good or bad, try to respond as soon as you can! This can be difficult if you’re busy, but shows that what you’re doing is artist led, not just a facade by a record company to ‘get down with the kids’…
You can get a WordPress blog here – highly recommended.
Mailing list
If you want to link with people who like what you do, then maybe use a company to administer a mailing list for you. I use Constant Contact and find them very effective. They have a good policy against spam and there are lots of safeguards in place to ensure you communicate properly in your (hopefully) mass emails.
I link my site to my signup page which is here.
Obviously Twitter links into this whole pattern very neatly too!
Getting a great look for your album
Sometimes technology creates more niggling work for us and leaves a big creative void in the heart of your soul… and then sometimes, it proves itself to be a thing of simple beauty.
I love Flikr.
I am a massive fan of specific photographers like Lucy Martin, Trey Radcliffe, TonTon Copte and many others. Something in their imagery and artistic sensitivities links with my music.
I found all of them through the site, and in fact recently licenced an image from Lucy Martin which was a perfect fit for my Henry VIII album. Have a look here and you can see why!
SoundCloud
A different way of grouping/ hosting your music for free is presented by SoundCloud.
What is neat about this is the way people can place comments along the timeline, and even better, anyone (if you like) can stream it to their own blog/site.
Here’s a recent piece of mine which is being streamed from the SoundCloud website.
[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/close-your-eyes-6″]
Listeners can add comments at specific points in the track – you can see them by hovering over the pictures.
I use SoundCloud to determine whether a track has ‘legs’ or not.
It’s very meritocratic – if something’s good – it’ll get lots of plays!
Now, if you’re feeling generous, you can make the tracks downloadable (although you should tag them in iTunes first so the mp3 has your web address in its code – google ‘iTunes metadata’ if you want to know more).
This track is a download track – again, it’s being streamed via a simple bit of code from SoundCloud:
[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/in-i-the-apotheosis-akram-khan-juliette-binoche”]
The downwards arrow on the right is a download link.
Here’s a site where someone’s placed a block of my tracks leading to free downloads.
Here’s my site hosted by SoundCloud.
Lastfm
A well-established streaming music service is lastfm.com. This is a curious amalgam of fansite and radio station. Personally I find it a bit disjointed, and also it concerns me that unreleased tracks often appear there from dubious sources. There are tracks of mine on there that I’ve never released!
The Sixty one
A completely different approach to new music streaming and downloads can be found at thesixtyone.com.
This is a really hard site to describe as it is as much about gameplay as it is about streaming music. There are two types of (free) account. Artists or Listeners. The Listeners get a higher ranking depending upon how they scout for new songs that the Artists place on there. They give ‘hearts’ to tracks they like, a little like buying shares in a stock that looks like it’s going to perform well.
Frankly, no-one really knows how it works.
Also, as with SoundCloud, you can tell pretty quickly if a track has merit as it will get voted onto the front page!
Players also give ‘tips’ which I hadn’t realized translate into Paypal dollars.
From my page here, I have enough for two cappuccinos already… hurrah!
However – it was a superb place to place your music, but following a recent makeover, users have expressed dismay at the frankly confusing navigation…
Setting up a label and generating paid downloads
Setting up a label appears at first to be an onerous and difficult task. This certainly used to be the case, when there was a baffling array of requirements; barcodes, encoding, registration and so forth.
This is no longer the case thanks to intermediary companies that have sprung up to help us confused and frustrated independent players and composers.
CDbaby
CDBaby was established by the very brilliant Derek Sivers (whose blog is essential reading). They distribute to a huge number of digital outlets, and have excellent accounting procedures for small labels. They started as a physical distributor of CDs but seem to have made a smooth transition to digital marketing. You can read about joining here.
Ditto Music
One of the most impressive of these new services is Ditto Music.
They have created a brilliant service where the tasks of creating a label for your releases is streamlined and organized for a one-off fee.
They also take 0% of your royalties when tracks are sold online, and they can distribute to 700 digital outlets.
The real icing on the cake is that they have created a means by which independent musicians can get their tracks loaded onto Spotify, and iTunes.
Whenever I have a soundtrack album for a film or concert project, they are my first port of call.
Here’s an album of mine they managed to get onto iTunes within a day and a half…
Spotify
There’s a widely held belief that as an independent artist, getting your tracks onto Spotify and iTunes is nigh on impossible unless you’re with a major label. This is happily untrue as discussed above. Spotify is an exciting way of streaming (and now temporarily downloading) tracks which has begun a seamless integration with phones and mp3 players.
Spotify are themselves trying to approach smaller, independent labels, and you can register interest as a future partner here.
What’s next..?
I’m going to write about physical CD production, as well as other merchandise… But I need a big mug of coffee first! Let me know if this is useful…
In the meantime, here’s an article I wrote about being a composer whilst keeping your head!
Whilst our politicians in the UK struggle to create a government, I started thinking an ideal society.
Music can sometimes describe the impossible. I love the escapist potential of music and sound design, and my constant struggle is to write pieces that act as soundscapes to imaginary places. This piece is called ‘If there is a Heaven’.[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/if-there-is-a-heaven” params=”show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=1b5a7a” width=”100%” height=”81″ ]
If you enjoy this kind of thing, then feel free to download it (right downward arrow) and subscribe here for more like this.
Philip Sheppard
My Soundtrack to Sergio which premiered on HBO last night has been released on iTunes. Click here for the link, or preview some of the tracks below.
[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/sets/sergio-soundtrack-from-the-motion-picture” params=”show_comments=true&auto_play=false&show_playcount=true&show_artwork=true&color=ab741e” width=”100%” height=”225″ ]
This Thursday, Sergio premieres on HBO.
[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/always-just-sergio” params=”auto_play=false&player_type=artwork&color=ab741e” width=”425″ height=”425″ ]
(Soundtrack by Philip Sheppard)
From his birth in Rio de Janeiro in 1948 to his untimely and tragic death in Baghdad in 2003, Sergio Vieira de Mello led an extraordinary life.
Vieira de Mello joined the United Nations in 1969 and would devote his life to the organization and its ideals. Known to most as simply ‘Sergio’, Vieira de Mello worked in some of the world’s most volatile and distressed regions. His career spanned assignments in Lebanon, Peru, Bosnia, Sudan, Cambodia, Cyprus, Mozambique, East Timor and Iraq. Working mostly for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sergio achieved some astonishing successes. These achievements were not easily won. Sergio grew up with the UN, developing several guiding principles along the way.
When Sergio died he was serving as the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General to Iraq. He had managed to find a balance between pragmatism and idealism, principles and compromise. He was the UN’s ‘go to guy’, having spent decades refining his approach. In the words of his friend and colleague Dennis McNamara, Sergio was, “one of the bright stars, maybe the brightest. He was the master magician, mediator, manager, massager of egos.” This was the tragedy of August 19.
[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/how-deep-is-deep” params=”show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=3785de” width=”100%” height=”81″ ]
Here’s an extract of a track for solo cello, prepared piano and strings called close your eyes. This is my most played track on SoundCloud at the moment.[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/close-your-eyes-6″]If you like this then join my mailing list. (Details at top right)
Stumble It!
I play music for the sense of solace, and sometimes the texture of a sound is enough to make you feel everything could be ok.
Layers of sound can define an architectural place in your head through suggestion and perception. The bass note in this piece is more of a feeling than a real note – try and listen with headphones if you get the chance.
[tweetmeme source= ‘@PhilipSheppard’ only_single=false]
Download tracks like this for free when you join my mailing list:
Click the picture!
His Masters Voice
[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/his-masters-voice” params=”show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=322b8d” width=”100%” height=”81″ ]
Thought I’d revive this track as it’s had a lot of plays on SoundCloud.. and it’s a free download too. Try this tune too…
Just heard the news that there’s a volcanic cloud heading this way from Iceland. Here’s what I think it might sound like… (this may be a bit rough as I’ve written it fast!)
[soundcloud width=”100%” height=”81″ params=”show_comments=true&auto_play=false&color=5a4811″ url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/ls32-morse-dynamo”] CLOUD MORSE by Radiomovies
Don’t forget you can get this and other free downloads when you subscribe here!
If you’re kind enough to sponsor a wonderful charity, I’ll send you a free album download!
In 2005 I ran the London Marathon with my friends Andy and Rob in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital.
This year, we’re running it again in aid of the Anthony Nolan Trust (an incredible Leukemia charity).
26.2 miles is a jolly long way, and as many of you know I’m not a sporting chap (but I seem to be able to run for hours, which is just as well…).
I’m now up to 15 miles on my training runs. This normally involves going out fairly late at night with a headtorch, GPS and a playlist of scary music on my iPod(makes me run faster in the dark between villages!). I also have to drink lucozade Sport drinks on the way which are deeply unpleasant but do the job…
Here’s my deal with you;
If you sponsor me £1 / $1 or €1, (or more), then I will send you a special one-off album of my most popular tracks as featured on iTunes – ie tracks from, ‘In the Shadow of the Moon’, ‘Henry Mind of a Tyrant’ and pieces from my forthcoming Piano album, (examples below)
In the Shadow of the Moon[Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/22-re-entry.mp3]The Haunted Salon[Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/04-moon-over-meadow.mp3]
Go to this page here to leave however much or little you want, then drop me a message in the comments below (this can stay private), and I’ll send you a download code by return.
Thankyou lovely people….
Violin track featuring Elspeth Hanson.
[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/b-o-r-d-e-r-l-a-n-d”]
This is a section of a talk I gave at the Royal Academy of Music for music students
One of the sections was centered around some specific information concerning how simple it is to produce and circulate a debut recording. These days, a record deal maybe the last thing you need as a musician!!
One student asked if they should send a huge dossier of references, biographies, programmes and recordings to prospective venues/employers. Err.. nope! A CD with a handwritten note, nicely designed, personally directed is much better, especially if solicited via an initial email. The former package would in all likelihood end up in a recycling bin.
Harsh maybe.. but true!
Here are some simple steps to releasing tracks online and (even) getting income through sales (though this may not be the primary aim at this stage). You want people to hear you, join you, and get excited about what you produce next (and hopefully turn up in droves to your next recital).
Getting it out there…
Let’s assume you’ve already recorded a really well thought-through programme.
The obvious place to start a web presence is myspace, but it seems (at best) an inelegant way to present yourself as an artist, especially when there are so many other free hosted sites with beautiful templates out there. I have a myspace page, but its primary purpose is to redirect traffic to my own sites!
WordPress
I love WordPress (where you’re reading this). It’s free – I can place a track like this
by entering a piece of simple code, and it looks professional. It’s designed as a piece of blogging software, but rather than using it purely as an online diary, I find it is a great place to host your biography and showreel. Also, it’s a great place to engage in regular chats with people who might like what you do.
The more people comment and link to you, the higher you page goes in Google’s rankings, so make sure it’s appealing!!
You can get a WordPress blog here – highly recommended.
SoundCloud
A different way of grouping/ hosting your music for free is presented by SoundCloud. What is neat about this is the way people can place comments along the timeline, and even better, anyone (if you like) can stream it to their own blog/site. Here’s a recent piece of mine which is being streamed from the SoundCloud website.
[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/close-your-eyes-6″]
Listeners can add comments at specific points in the track – you can see them by hovering over the pictures. I use SoundCloud to determine whether a track has ‘legs’ or not. It’s very meritocratic – if something’s good – it’ll get lots of plays!
Now, if you’re feeling generous, you can make the tracks downloadable (although I would tag them in iTunes first so the mp3 has your web address in its code).
This track is a download track – again, being streamed via a simple bit of code from SoundCloud:
[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/in-i-the-apotheosis-akram-khan-juliette-binoche”]
The downwards arrow on the right is a download link. Here’s a site where someone’s placed a block of my tracks leading to free downloads.
Here’s my site hosted by SoundCloud.
Lastfm
A well-established streaming music service is lastfm.com. This is a curious amalgam of fansite and radio station. Personally I find it a bit disjointed, and also it concerns me that unreleased tracks often appear there from dubious sources. There are tracks of mine on there that I’ve never released!
The Sixty one
A completely different approach to new music streaming and downloads can be found at thesixtyone.com.
This is a really hard site to describe as it is as much about gameplay as it is about streaming music. There are two types of (free) account. Artists or Listeners. The Listeners get a higher ranking depending upon how they scout for new songs that the Artists place on there. They give ‘hearts’ to tracks they like, a little like buying shares in a stock that looks like it’s going to perform well.
Frankly, no-one really knows how it works but it’s a superb place to find new music in a quirky and vibrant community.
Also, as with SoundCloud, you can tell pretty quickly if a track has merit as it will get voted onto the front page!
Players also give ‘tips’ which I hadn’t realized translate into Paypal dollars.
From my page here, I have enough for two cappuccinos already… hurrah!
Setting up a label and generating paid downloads
Setting up a label appears at first to be an onerous and difficult task. This certainly used to be the case, when there was a baffling array of requirements,; barcodes, encoding, registration and so forth. This is no longer the case thanks to intermediary companies that have sprung up to help us confused and frustrated independent players and composers.
CDbaby
CDBaby was established by the very brilliant Derek Sivers (whose blog is essential reading). They distribute to a huge number of digital outlets, and have excellent accounting procedures for small labels. They started as a physical distributor of CDs but seem to have made a smooth transition to digital marketing. You can read about joining here.
Ditto Music
One of the most impressive of these new services is Ditto Music.
They have created a brilliant service where the tasks of creating a label for your releases is streamlined and organized for a one-off fee. They also take 0% of your royalties when tracks are sold online, and they can distribute to 700 digital outlets. The real icing on the cake is that they have created a means by which independent musicians can get their tracks loaded onto Spotify, and iTunes.
Spotify
There’s a widely held belief that as an independent artist, getting your tracks onto Spotify and iTunes is nigh on impossible unless you’re with a major label. This is happily untrue as discussed above. Spotify is an exciting way of streaming (and now temporarily downloading) tracks which has begun a seamless integration with phones and mp3 players.
Spotify are themselves trying to approach smaller, independent labels, and you can register interest as a future partner here.
What’s next..?
I’m going to write about physical CD production, as well as other merchandise… But I need a big mug of coffee first! Let me know if this is useful…
In the meantime, here’s an article I wrote about being a composer whilst keeping your head!
Here’s a track called The Touch
[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/t-h-e-t-o-u-c-h”]
If it gets enough thumbs up it becomes a download!
Awesome skiing skills.[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa5T4lLJP_Y]
The Tune at the beginning is by me – it’s called Nearly Zero G
Here’s a piece I recently recorded for Piano and string orchestra called Remember me this way [Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/14-the-tomb-of-glenn-gould.mp3]
If you’d like a copy click here for simple instructions!
I wanted to write something optimistic and melancholy at the same time – playful, but with an undercurrent of an elegy. Not sure if I got there!
I heard a lovely eulogy the other day, where someone I’d been very fortunate to know was described as ‘a man with no corners’. What a great way to be remembered!
I had a picture pop into my head of a ballroom which, for no reason other than decay, rising water levels and magical realism, has slipped underwater.
This is the music they play there…
Prize for the first person who guesses the relevance of the title! Mrs Weston’s Waltz[Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/reform-waltz.mp3]This one’s self explanatory… The fortepiano sinks [Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/the-fortepiano-sinks.mp3]
Great photo by bulletproofsoul
Stumble it if you like it..: 
Well.. after lots and lots of talking and negotiating.. it looks like we can get the piano pieces released!! Initially on itunes, emusic and spotify.. as well as a nice coffee table version.
Please let me know with your comments which ones definitely make the cut!
Here
Exciting times ahead. Very close to coming up with a way to issue tracks in digital and physical formats with a twist.
I’ve just added this track that I wrote called Sink Below[Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/aqua-voce.mp3]
Here’s a track called Not Coming Back[Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/not-coming-back.mp3]
Hope you like it! The awesome photo below is by Trey Ratcliff. SLR genius…
PS. Follow me on Instagram for updates on other tracks: https://www.instagram.com/philipsheppard/ – also if you leave me a message below, you may find an mp3 or two on its way..! Thanks for the continued support from Jane Austen fans – click here to know more…
Here’s an extract of a new track for solo cello, prepared piano and strings called close your eyes. If you like it you might like these tracks too[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/close-your-eyes-6″]Drop me a comment below if you want to buy the single!
[digg=http://digg.com/music/Close_your_eyes_r_a_d_i_o_m_o_v_i_e_s]
Stumble It!
I play music for the sense of solace, and sometimes the texture of a sound is enough to make you feel everything could be ok.
Layers of sound can define an architectural place in your head through suggestion and perception. The bass note in this piece is more of a feeling than a real note – try and listen with headphones if you get the chance.
If you like this kind of thing then try The Glass Cathedral, or The Diver in the Crypt… they’re coming from a similar place!
Would love to know what you think. If you like this try these:
[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/adieu-madame” params=”auto_play=false&player_type=artwork&color=c48c1e” width=”300″ height=”300″ ]
[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/sets/venetian-underground”]
[soundcloud url=”http://soundcloud.com/radiomovies/sets/henry-mind-of-a-tyrant”]
Sorry for the recent radio silence! I’ve been very busy with a film and a stage show… plus there’s a really big film project in the pipeline that I wish I could tell you more about…
To all who’ve asked for Crystallised Beauty… it’s just been sent – and I’ve had a brainwave about how to release tracks more easily. Watch this space!
Also coming soon – a schedule of all forthcoming performances and film broadcasts/premieres plus dance shows too.
Here’s a new piano track that goes with the above image – a memory for water [Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/a-memory-of-water.mp3]
Just a reminder that Henry Mind of a tyrant part 3 – Lover – is on Channel 4 tonight at 9pm.
I got a nice write up in the Radio Times today… very nice of them. I won’t quote it here.
There’s a video over at C4 here:
Looking forward to the Henry exhibit at the British Library – hope to have a sneak preview this week as my music’s being used for the launch party.
Here’s a free Easter gift for the first 100 of you who click this link. It’s a free mp3 of a piece I wrote called Penitential Psalm – hear it here:[Audio http://radiomovies.wordpress.com/files/2009/04/02-penitential-psalm.mp3]
As I’ve mentioned many times in previous posts I’m a great believer in mp3s being legally free to download where the artist/writer/publisher can give their consent, particularly where the recording is of an event for which concert/theatre/film-goers have already paid an admission charge.
This secondary exploitation is often exploited in the true sense of the word with charges being levied for something which has technically never left the digital domain.
I think a rebroadcasting of material can be free in many cases without exploitation, and can act as a way of spreading the word about a great performer, group or writer. I love it when authors upload some of their books as free pdfs in the fairly certain knowledge that (if the material is great) people will go and buy physical copies of their other work. In the case of performers, it’s a great way of getting people to come to gigs.
Here are a couple of great sites for interesting classical mp3s – all free:
The European archive of classical recordings has over 8oo pages of LPs in mp3 format on its site as free downloads. These are extraordinary recordings featuring some of the world’s most historic performers.
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum has a really high quality concert series which it condenses into a regular podcast. The whole concert series is archived, and it shows great foresight on the part of the performers and the museum itself to make this available to anyone.
This week’s events/broadcasts:
David Starkey’s Henry Mind of a Tyrant is on this Easter on Channel 4 in the UK.
11th April: 7pm – Channel 4. Episode 1 Prince
13th April: 9pm – Channel 4. Episode 2 Warrior
You can hear my soundtrack for the series here for free, and a free Henry VIII download here!
Hope you have a happy and peaceful Easter.
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 Instagram for mp3 and sheet music updates
Sheet music for Crystallised Beauty
Here’s a track called Watermark for solo piano[Audio http://radiomovies.wordpress.com/files/2009/04/watermark.mp3]
Glenn Gould [Audio http://radiomovies.wordpress.com/files/2009/03/15-glenn-gould.mp3]
After the Moonlight (Piano Trio)[Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/13-fast-gathering-tears.mp3]And… This is new too The Daguerreotype [Audio http://radiomovies.wordpress.com/files/2009/03/jb2-old-photos.mp3]Here’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]
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]
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]Added 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]
This is a piece (with strings) called keep walking[Audio http://radiomovies.wordpress.com/files/2009/03/pssst.mp3]
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 Instagram for mp3 and sheet music updates too!
I’ve just been finishing the soundtrack for the new David Starkey series for Channel 4, entitled Henry VIII: The Mind of a Tyrant . The music features the viol consort Fretwork and vocal consort
An extract from my video diary from the day of the Beijing Olympics closing ceremony.[wpvideo Xm981dzk]
The Chinese rehearsal was extraordinary. I was able to talk to many of the performers, and filmed them from up close as they hurtled towards the stadium roof. This was shot on a very small HD camera – I’d drunk a lot of coffee so excuse the odd shake. (Also I’m a better musician than film maker – so please excuse any bad edits etc).
The most striking image was the silken volcano – really simple but very classy.
The music is a piece I wrote for string orchestra – as yet untitled…
Meanwhile our handover cast were getting ready in the compound for the very brief bus rehearsal.
More about the handover here.
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!
[wpvideo AWtyQOwh]listen to the full length track here:[Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/pssst.mp3]
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.
I 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..
The dance project In-I starring Akram Khan and Juliette Binoche continues its world tour – taking in venues from Beijing to Sydney. I’ve worked with Akram for a number of years now, as a cellist and writer. Our previous project together was Sacred Monsters in which he partnered Sylvie Guillem.
My score for In-I uses lots of multitracked cello, prepared piano and electric cello as well as samples of Juliette’s voice which is, to say the least highly lyrical.
I promised I’d put the score online – so here it is!
Casanova to steps to love[Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/aj1-casanova-sep-51.mp3]
Skin solo[Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/aj8-skin-solo.mp3]
The apotheosis[Audio http://radiomovies.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/the-apotheosis.mp3]
I may make these files downloadable if possible – let me know if that’s preferred.
The show has a truly exceptional design team in artist Anish Kapoor and lighting designer, Michael Hulls.
Michael has recently been working with the genius Robert LePage and is (to my mind) the Howard Hodgkin of the illumination world.
Other links:
Here are some highlights from the show presently on youtube:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw-4BXwS7q8&hl=en&fs=1]
Excerpts from an interview with Juliette here:
http://cinematicpassions.wordpress.com/2009/01/11/juliette-binoche-dances/
David Starkey is to produce a four-part “psychological profile” of Henry VIII for Channel 4. The as-yet-untitled series will go beyond the facts of Henry’s six wives and his split with the Catholic church to piece together a sense of his character and motivations. Soundtrack available here.
The series will be broadcast in April, to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII’s accession to the throne and a major British Library exhibition on the monarch.
The soundtrack has been composed by Philip Sheppard and is based on music written by Henry himself, as well as themes drawn from Tudor contemporary composers such as Philippe Verdelot and Robert Fayrfax. The score is being performed by Philip Sheppard, together with the superb vocal consort Alamire (directed by Dr David Skinner) and viol consort Fretwork.
Click the play button below to hear a preview of one of the tracks to be featured in the programme – ‘O Dolce Nocte’ by Philip Sheppard after Philippe Verdelot, featuring Alamire:
The first 60-minute episode will show Henry as a highly intelligent child, while subsequent episodes will paint him as a brilliant “A-list celebrity” character with an over-developed ego and “solipsistic sense of self”.
David Sington, who will direct the series for Red House Dox Productions, said:
“[David Starkey] will ask which events changed Henry, and in changing him, changed the British character. He was convinced of his own destiny and shaped us as an island nation, cut off from the continent…. He’s not a Bluebeard character, however. He emerges as a sympathetic character even though he does terrible things.”
Indeed, the Daily Mail has just run a story, resulting from one of Starkey’s more surprising discoveries; Henry’s possible use of a stairlift towards the end of his life.
Tips for breaking into the covert world of composition for new media, such as film soundtracks, TV, adverts, arranging and games.
[digg=http://digg.com/music/How_to_be_a_composer_for_new_media_tips]
How get on the path to becoming a film, television, web or games composer
Music technology tips by Philip Sheppard February 2009
(These are key points from lectures I’ve given recently, and a recent article for Classroom Music Magazine)
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
Pathetically excited to hear the track I worked on with UNKLE – James, Aiden Lavelle and Pablo Clements being used in Top Gear for the race across Japan. It originally appeared as an advert for BMW – see below. The brief was to rework elements from Beethoven 9 into something suitable.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfE90BrM-qU&hl=en&fs=1]
The track features on our latest album End Titles Redux on the SurrenderAll label. Having trained as a classical player and composer, it’s incredible to meet musicians with such sonic awareness. ‘Sound design’ is a casually used term, but UNKLE have an ability to cross the threshold between sound and that which is tactile.
I’ve heard people say that architecture is frozen music, I’d argue that music can be melted architecture.
Here’s Bernstein conducting Beethoven 9 in probably the greatest performance of the work at the Freedom Concert in Berlin:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imv2M64t_og&hl=en&fs=1]