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There is no charge for downloading this. - It sounds best with headphones. Usual line-up for symphony orchestra including piccolo, 4 trumpets, and 3 percussion players (one of whom should play a drum kit). The 2nd oboe plays cor anglais (English Horn). The bass trombone can be played by tuba if desired. For some of the pieces, one of the string bass section plays a bass guitar in one of the pieces- the other bass players can go for a drink! If you have visited this page before and some of the soundbites or downloads do not work, you may have to refresh the page, which you can do by pressing the Ctrl and letter R.
Part one - INFANCY
To understand this, you may prefer to download the score to see the bar numbers (written to the left of bars).
Bars 1-14 - heavily pregnant woman. Bars 15 - 16 (the loudest chord) - the birth. Bars 17 -18 heart beats.
Bars 19 - 32 - initial impressions of the outside world by the baby. Bars 33 - 48 - things beginning to make more sense with some response (timpani beats).
Bars 49 - 55 passage of time. Bars 56-57 baby cries (had a lot of problems with this). Bars 58 - 61 - mother comforts the baby and the crying eases.
Bars 62 - 65, the first steps. Bar 66 - 67 - baby falls. Bars 68 - 71 - baby starts to walk again. Bars 72-73 baby falls again.
Bars 74 - 77 baby walks again (third time lucky) and doesn't fall so builds up confidence. Bars 78 - 80 - successful walking.
Bars 81 - 82 - baby walks faster but it tires him/her out, so bars 83 -85 baby falls asleep. Bars 86 -88 sweet dreams.
Incidentally, the trombone bits in the walking stages suggest that toilet training has not begun yet, to put it delicately! I don't believe in pretentiousness, even if this is close to classical music.
Part two - CHILDHOOD
You may like to download the score to make sense of the following.
It starts off with just clarinet (although I've used 2 staggered clarinets to enable the players to breathe). The clarinet represents the young child, playing by him/herself until joined gradually by others. At letter E everyone is having fun playing together, although there is no structure to what they are doing. Playing together is very important in learning social skills. At letter F this changes when the child acts as the leader (for 2 bars) and then everyone joins in for the next 2 bars - this is then repeated (call and answer sort of thing.) At letter G, it is more organised like a sport's match. At letter H the brass represents authority, whether it is a school master or parents and they take charge for a while. At I, other children go away leaving the child alone at letter I from bar 3 onwards.
Part three - TEENAGE
Teenagers and pop music seem to go together, so this is my pathetic attempt to write a pop tune (for symphony orchestra, so no electric guitar, organ and so on, but I have added a drum kit to the percussion session and substituted a bass guitar for the double basses). Anyway, apart from pop music, teenagers face puberty, and dating (and often being rejected), rebellion against parents, horrible school exams, and an uncertain future. The prevalence of mobile phones (cell phones) and social media is also highly influential for teenagers (and others), which can have a positive and negative effect. I've tried to reproduce these things in the music. All I can say is that I am very glad I am not going through teenage years again. Incidentally, the polytonal (or rather bitonal) bit at the end is deliberate and not a typo error and represents the conflict between happy times and the anguish caused by so many distressing things - see above.
Part four - ELEGY
This piece refers to the premature death of young people. It combines sadness as well as a celebration of their lives and the happiness which they brought to other people. I was thinking in particular of children and young people who have been killed in Israel. The IDF has no scruples about killing children or even babies and yet governments keep sending arms to Gaza. Words alone cannot describe the utter disgust I feel about the genocide and complicity of so many countries!
Part five - THE TWENTIES (their age)
For people in their 20s, these are very transitional and uncertain years. From going from educational establishments to full time work (if your are lucky to get a job) which means learning about discipline and reliability; finding (or hoping to) find a mate; trying to find somewhere to live, etc. But there is also a lot of interest and participation in sports, dancing and active hobbies, etc. So a mixed bag full of uncertainties. I've tried to reflect this in the time signatures (mainly 5/4 with some 4/4) and in unexpected chord changes and other twists and turns.
Part six - THE THIRTIES TO FORTIES (their age)
It starts with a short fanfare and then the tune starts but with tremelo strings to indicate some apprehensions about reaching that age. But physically, people may still be quite fit and have a lot of energy in their early 30s - as shown by the start of the second chorus. BUT then menopause and the anxiety women have about the clock ticking... The menopause comes in the second chorus with the slow bit, with mood swings , first sadness and depression and then with a bit of annoyance and anger (the brass). I've read that there is such a thing as the male menopause which is more gradual but has some of the same symptoms as the amount of testosterone decreases. (According to the web, this is called "Androgen Deficiency in the Ageing Male (ADAM) or late-onset hypogonadism". I suppose the female version should be called EVE!)
What also happens is that people at this age become less active/fit with busy work schedules and taking care of children, etc. So the final bit of the piece reflects this in the tune slowing down with the passage of time carrying on regardless.
Part seven - THE FIFTIES AND SIXTIES (their age)
This age group is relatively stable. The children have grown up and gone away, leaving grandchildren at another address who can be spoiled rotten without having to be strict with them, which is the parents' responsibility. Many people may have been in the same job for many years and may be bored stiff with it, while others may have reached senior positions. Healthwise, this age is the calm before the storm which makes itself apparant in the 70s. Some of these tendencies are hopefully illustrated in the music. Note that all the comments I've made about age-groups are generalisations and there are many exceptions.
Part eight - THE SEVENTIES AND OLDER
With being old, ie. 70s and over, you slow down and have little energy. The 70s are also a time that serious illnesses and disabilities manifest themselves although they may have been developing for decades prior to this. This may be reflected in the piece (the tempo and the doddery rhythm). They are also a time when you look back and reflect on your life's experiences (and regret some of them) - it probably doesn't happen that you view your previous life after you die as religious people believe, but it does happen when you get older, particularly when you can't sleep. Society in the west does not value older people, unlike in African and some Asian countries. Instead, people look at old people with disdain and even contempt at times. People see an old person in the street with poor-fitting clothes, perhaps on a walking frame and maybe drooling, if they have Parkinson's disease. What the young onlooker doesn't realise is that in former times this person may have done remarkable things, held very important jobs, travelled extensively and been very responsible and creative. I couldn't put all this in the music, but it is something I feel strongly about.
The music is not as I originally intended as I wanted to quote brief excerpts from the other parts of the suite, but I tried it and it didn't work. Never mind, this is what I came up with.
That is the end of this suite. It may also be the last orchestral music I will write...I doubt if any orchestra will ever play any of this music, but hopefully it will have helped me to keep dementia at bay.
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