“ … a very sensitive and effective motet that was well suited to compline … “
Praise for my anthem, ‘Nox’, performed by the choir of Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon
Composition was the aspect of my music and education degree that I enjoyed the most. Each term, we were set a challenge to write a piece of music in a day, based on a choice of prompts. I think I was the only student in my group who looked forward to the activity.
After university, I did very little composing for many years but, just before Christmas 2023, I suddenly decided to have a go at writing some Christmas Carols. Using the score writing software MuseScore, I discovered not only that I could assemble reasonable-sounding choral pieces but that I seemed to be able to do it quickly.
I then had the idea of setting myself a slightly crazy challenge – to write a complete sacred choral piece every week for a year. I did indeed manage to complete 52 anthems in 2024. Since then, I have been editing and improving the best 15 of these and starting to write other sacred works such as the evening service below.
During my ‘Anthem 52’ project, I was frustrated by the low quality of the choral synthesis software available. The main options could only produce ‘ahh’ and ‘ooo’ sounds so I couldn’t hear what my compositions sounded like. There were a few applications that could handle words but these were very difficult and time-consuming to use. About a year ago, the AI revolution reached music synthesis and a programme called ACE Studio appeared. Although the initial versions were buggy and difficult to use, the application continues to be developed and is now capable of producing remarkably lifelike choral sounds with lyrics, almost instantaneously. It still has a long way to go in terms of usability, but I am now able to hear a reasonable approximation of what my music would sound like performed by a real choir.
The demonstration versions below show what ACE Studio can now do, as well as giving a rough idea of what I have managed to write in the past couple of years.