Ken Davies Music

Words

I’m still learning, so my musical style is restricted by my limited musical knowledge and ability.

But you may be interested to know where I get my ideas from.

Many of the pieces in Arrangements and Compositions have a similar, simple form.

They start with a solo melody on an instrument or voice, then repeat this, adding more instruments, leading up to a climactic tutti.

I first remember noticing the effectiveness of this style when hearing Judy Collin’s arrangement of “Amazing Grace” around Christmas 1970. She sings the first verse solo, the a capella choir comes in on the second word of the second verse. So the beginning has the purity of monody, then the repeats are harmonised, except for one that is sung in bare octaves.

I later found that this practice was used by the English composer Thomas Tallis (1505-1585), who would first present a Gregorian chant in its original free form, then repeat it with the rhythm regularised and harmony added. This was common practice with later composers, for example Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), but Tallis did it beautifully. I have arranged one or two of these for modern orchestra without changing the harmonies, as I am not a professional musician nor so impertinent as to imagine that I could improve on them.

Johann Sebastian Bach also harmonised many plain chant melodies in his chorales. I have taken some of these from a keyboard reduction and arranged them for modern orchestra with the addition of a solo melodic introduction.

Two of the pieces here use tunes based on note names. The OECD Overture was written for a concert at the OECD, where I work, organised by the ALORA (Association de Loisirs, Rencontres et Ateliers) Music Group. Just for fun, the first section is my attempt at a rather stately “OECD anthem”, whose first four notes are OECD (O is derived by starting again after G, try it). Using the same system, you can work out the name of the pianist for whom I wrote Variations on A, which is on the Compositions page.