THE WAY I BECAME A COMPOSER
The family I grew up in in Holland where not music minded. My dear mother had noticed that from an early age her daughter had a feel for rhythm. It became `piano lessons` at the age of 10. I did not enjoy those years as the teachers were quite stodgy and sometimes right unpleasant.. So mum had to push me into continuing which I did for 10 years ending with a Grade 8+. The music I heard on the radio became my escape and I trained myself to play by memorising.
We lived next door to a large cinema and I wallowed in the screen music that was audible from the projection cabin during the summer months. A friend of my parents played piano with an ensemble and when he visited us he `needed` to play on our 1880s Parlour Grand as it had such a warm sound. His `DREAM of OLWEN was my favourite and a while later I was able to copy this melody. and I have loved good melodies ever since
Later on I moved to the UK and married an Englishman but the piano had to stay behind. I did not play for 28 years until I retired from business. I bought a digital piano and I have never looked back since.
One year of private lessons helped me to get back to reading music again. When I heard the orchestral and strings sound on this wonderful piano I was very impressed and this became the spark into composing.I needed to learn more about composing and I attended a College with a wonderful tutor where I followed the course for 5 years. After that I felt I was fully fledged. This culminated into playing my own compositions on stage in Oxford and London.
Finding a Music Recording Studio with a Producer made my musical life complete.
Since then we have compiled 5 music albums which are all available from my new website and also from on-line stores. My advice to budding composers : Just listen to the music you like best. Get yourself a simple digital keyboard to practice on.
Start with some chords playing with your left hand and be brave. Try and memorise these chords until it sounds right. Later on you can `weave` a simple melody over it. This might also be the spark for you to become a composer. Just follow your feelings as that is how it happened to me.
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