Shane the Music
Composer
Playing now: Pretty Girl. c 1992
In another world and another time, Shane might well have found fame as a music composer by the time he reached his early twenties. Shane auditioned as a choirboy for the Temple Bar Choir in London - a very select choir with only 16 choristers. Aged 10 and a half years old he was late in applying and only those with exceptional voices would get in at such a late age. Despite the odds against him, Shane's voice was considered exceptional and he was offered a coveted place within this elite school. Only the lack of money to pay for his tuition prevented him from a musical education that might well have placed him with contacts in the right musical places. What happened instead can be found in Shane Ward's free autobiographical eBook, 'Walking the Path'.
Back in the Old Days
The partnership of brothers Chris and Shane Ward extends way back into the bedsit of time. A keyboard, a drum machine, a microphone and a four-track. So what could they produce? Click here for some blast from the past.
Music: Pretty Girl c 1992
Big Music - No Orchestra
An orchestra costs thousands of pounds to hire before even thinking about the cost of the venue. From 1990 to 1997, Shane's musical expressions were limited to pop songs of 5 minutes duration or less. In truth his head held music so much bigger and better but to score it would have taken ages and at the end of it, no one would play it - so what was the point?
So when Shane bought his first computer that was capable of writing music it was as if the world of possibilities had suddenly sprung open. Computer sound cards were hardly the same as live instruments but as sound cards improved so Shane's avenues to create truly remarkable classical type works expanded enormously.
The old chestnut about 'who you know' is true enough. Perhaps Shane's only route to fame may lie with the opportunity Internet offers to expand 'who knows him'. At least 3000 visitors on Authors Den have listened to his Symphony - and that figure expands daily.
Nowadays this type of classical music is composed for films. So film makers may want to listen some time to some very powerful music just sitting there, waiting to be discovered by some lucky director.
The Magic Symphony Three movements of sheer power, emotion and imagination. Traditional classical instruments battle for supremacy in what can only be described as 'big music'.
In a strange twist of modern day musical plagiarism, The Magic Symphony got its theme tune from a pop song (also written by Shane Ward) entitled 'Pretty Girl'. That particular song, copywrite 1992, never went far from the 8-track machine it was recorded on but was good enough to feature in Shane's wedding to his wife, Sharon, in 1993. Pretty Girl - copywrite 1992 - Shane Ward - Chris Ward.
The Magic Symphony is now available at Lulu.com |
Planet Suite 3rd Millennium Shane conceived of this idea more than ten years before he had the tools to turn it into a reality.
Planet Suite 3rd Millennium is simply unique in the way it fuses modern and classical instruments and styles with less conventional instruments like rifle shots, anvils
and telephone rings.
Shane had no intention of trying to copy Holst because Shane's interest in Astrology placed him immediately in a different camp to Holst's Roman Gods. Furthermore, Shane had Astrological licence to include both the Sun and the Moon as well as Pluto, which was not discovered until 1930.
Planet Suite 3rd Millennium is now available at Lulu.com |
Only in Your Dreams People are only human and the time we invest has to have some return for it to be worthwhile. This song is part of an album yet to be completed. If one were to think along the lines of Enigma and Oldfield this album would stand well in that sort of company.
The album will be called 'Dreams', and one might be forgiven for prefixing the word 'pipe'
until sufficient time is discovered to complete the idea.
This is a hypertext link to hear 'Only in Your Dreams' |
The Tarot Suite It would be far too big to try writing music for all 22 major arcana cards of the Tarot but a selection is possible.
Shane has started on this and already has at least three tunes completed including 'Devil's Dance', 'The Star' and 'Judgement'.
To date only one of these 'Devil's Dance' can be showcased
but you it is worth a listen to if you like eiree music.
This is a hypertext link to hear 'The Devil's Dance' |
Waltham Forest Serenade Big music is great but sometimes it is worth trying to start small. Shane wrote a couple of string quartet pieces for a local event that eventually never happened.
In the meantime, there are a couple of rather nice quartet pieces for voilins I and II, viola and cello.
Listen to Waltham Forest Serenade (Note: Please stop Pretty Girl on this page first. They sound horrible played together). |
Film Music Shane Ward has written a few pieces of music but there is only so much free time one can invest in pursuits that do not earn money.
Film directors are welcome to approach Shane with a view to writing for their film as long as it is understood that looking after a wife, children, grandchildren, a mortgage, a job and a pension limits how much gratis work can be accomplished. ...and as he also has three books on the go there has got to be a sensible reason to take on more work. |
