Music

Cover photography by Prof. Hugh Robertson. Used with permission.

Origin

Born in North Ayrshire, Scotland.

Musical Education

A short series of piano lessons while at secondary school in the Garnock Valley.

Musical Influences

Debussy, Chopin, J.S. Bach and Richard Harvey.

Main Keyboard Instruments

Yamaha CP33 stage piano, Broadwood & Sons upright piano and Yamaha DX7 digital synthesizer.

Audio Recordings

Albums

Keyboard Works

Track List
  1. Introduction
  2. The Road Goes on Forever
  3. Sleaze
  4. Gymnastic Floor Exercise No. 1
  5. Scottish Wedding
  6. Sycamore
  7. Two-part Invention in A Minor
  8. Wedding March No. 1
  9. The Waters of Oblivion
  10. Twelve-tone Motif
  11. Fanfare
  12. Dead Leaves
  13. Northern European Love
  14. So Beautiful

Singles and EPs

The Road Goes on Forever (Single) [2008]

Compositions

The Waters of Oblivion

For piano in D Minor.  Opus 1, originally composed in 1974. Inspired by the oil painting entitled ‘Sadak in Search of the Waters of Oblivion‘ created by John Martin in England in 1812.

That’s What They Told Me to Do

For tonewheel organ, synthesizer, drum machine and electric bass guitar in Eb Minor.  Opus 2 composed in 1974.

Sleaze

For piano in F minor.  Opus 3 composed in 1975.

Dead Leaves

For piano in G Major.  Opus 4 composed in 1975. Intended for beginner pianists at ‘Elementary’ level.

Fanfare

For two trumpets in G Major.  Opus 5 composed in 1975.

Twelve-tone Motif

For piano in G Major.  Opus 6 composed in 1975.

Two Part Invention in A Minor

For piano in A Minor.  Opus 7 composed 1975.  Inspired by J. S. Bach’s Two Part Invention in C Major.

Gymnastic Floor Exercise No. 1

For piano in D Minor.  Opus 8, originally composed in 1976 and intended to be used as the accompanying music to a gymnastic floor exercise. Inspired by a performance by Elvira Saadi at the 1976 Summer Olympics.  

So Beautiful

For piano in A Minor.  Opus 9 composed in 1977.

Northern European Love

For piano in D Major.  Opus 10 composed in 1978.

Introduction

For piano in C Major.  Opus 11 composed in 1980.  Intended to be played as an introduction to ‘The Road Goes on Forever’ (Opus 12).

The Road Goes on Forever

For piano in F Minor.  Opus 12 composed in 1980.

Song for Alison

For piano in A Minor.  Opus 13 composed in 1980.

Sycamore

For piano in G Major.  Opus 14 composed in 1984.  

Wedding March No. 1

For church pipe organ in G Major.  Opus 15 composed in 1985.  Created for the wedding of one of my sisters.

Scottish Wedding

For piano in G Major.  Opus 16 composed in 2006.  Created for the fiftieth wedding anniversary of my parents.

Improvisations

Loch Ard Suite

Four short, improvised piano pieces entitled ‘The Ben’, ‘The Narrows’, ‘Duke Murdoch’s Island’ and ‘The Pass‘ inspired by locations around Loch Ard and The Pass of Aberfoyle in Stirlingshire, Scotland.

Collaborations

‘Looking After Number One’ and ‘Angels Don’t Talk That Way’

Music and lyrics created by ‘Big Gordon’

  • Vocals and acoustic guitar : ‘Big Gordon’
  • Synthesizer, drum machine programming, multi-track tape recording and mixing : Richard Murray