Frosty

 

Here's a pic of the Bay tree in the herb bed...We've had a few frosty days here and yesterday there were spikes of frost on all exposed surfaces. More pics soon as the landcape was transformed into an amazing  frosty scene.

 

It's been an exciting week as the new The Essence EP is being mastered at Philosophers Barn Mastering up in the wilds of Norfolk...It's sounding great!!! I'll post Soundcloud links when its uploadeded. There are four tracks in all, Skylon, I Am Forecasting Sun, Côte d'Azur and Goodbye Mr. P.

 

Here are a couple of DVDs of TV series I wrote the music for...

 

The Water Boatman

 

Central Steam

 

 

 



 

Woken by my own music on the radio!!!

A very peculiar thing happened to me the other night...I fell asleep listening to the BBC World Service. I awoke suddenly in the early hours to hear a piece of my music and, weirdly, a man was talking about hallucinating over the top of it. Having been deeply asleep a few seconds before, it took me a few moments to realise that I wasn't hallucinating myself, that, thankfully, the voice wasn't inside my head and I was actually listening to an episode of the science programme, Discovery which dealt with 'researchers who are trying to unlock the mysteries of hallucination.'

My ears had obviously decided to drag me out of a deep sleep to point out that my piece was on the radio!!!

Click to hear Discovery, Hallucinations 2/2 on the BBC iPlayer.

John Rand has died at Ickleford...

They found him in a field,

And said who is this ragged man,

Who has no home or friend?

...So runs the first part of the song which describes how John Rand's body was discovered by the villagers of Ickleford in North Hertfordshire (picture above). Not wanting to be stuck with the cost of burying him, they shoved the body through a hedge into the neigbouring village of Holwell, where he was given a proper burial. Later, it turned out that John Rand was actually very wealthy and had a clause in his will leaving a substantial sum of money to the person/people who buried him...Take that Ickleford!!!

What started out as a pretty mundane task (picking up a cast iron drainage grille for the new patio!!!) turned into a nice little drive around Hertfordshire today. I noticed that on the road to the factory in Bedfordshire, Ickleford and Holwell were a short distance away on either side of the route, so I decided to drop by to see the scenes of the song for myself.

When I was trying to find my own 'voice' as a composer, I studied Hertfordshire folksong to see if it could be part of my musical language. One of the things I found in the local library was a vinyl EP which was a couple singing The Hertfordhire Mayers' Song and John Rand. The former is a folksong and I think that John Rand is too, although I have never found any reference to it since. I found it very inspiring, partly because of the quaver-crotchet rhythm in 6/8 time which is normally a Scottish thing. It has an unusual structure in that it has a verse and chorus and also a short declamatory section. This is what's making me think that it might have been an original song by the performers on the record, rather than a folksong. Anyway, if anyone knows where I can find a copy, please let me know, as I'd love to hear it again. I'm writing an arrangement for string quartet of it which is an ongoing project.

Ickleford is a very pleasant village with lots of timber framed buildings and two pubs literally within staggering distance of each other.

I then drove over to Holwell where the sympathetic villagers gave John Rand a decent burial...

...he could have been put through that very hedge there!!! There there are lots of references to the man himself...

There are also lots of Rand-based road names to show the village's gratefulness to their benefactor.

Here's a .pdf giving the full story of John Rand and the Ickleford website is at www.icklefordpc.com (it's got FIVE pubs!!!)...Here is Holwell's site www.holwellvillage.co.uk

I then drove back through the very pleasant villages and towns of Baldock, Cottred and Puckeridge. It's amazing how wet everywhere is, with standing water in many fields...Hopefully we'll have dry weather for a bit.

TX dates...

Highland Emergency is on C5, 5HD and 5* most weekends at lunchtime and evenings.

Engineering Ancient Egypt is on Discovery and Discovery HD on Thursday 22nd Nov at 9pm and again on Discovery +1 at 10pm.

It's on again on Friday 23rd at 12am (1am on +1) and 3am (4am on +1), Sunday 25th at 6pm (7pm on +1) and Monday 24th at 1pm and 5pm (plus +1 on both).

S0ul Unreal - Change of Mind

Uses a sample from Will O' The Wisp from my album Ambience.

Coal holes

Just back from a trip to Dublin and despite walking miles around the city, I've only just noticed the many coal hole covers in the pavements...That's a pic of one above. Jane and I have been interested in them since we decided to have one in the centre of our brick circle which is under the recalimed gazebo we got some time ago. Ours is from Borough which is near where parts of our families are from (City Of London, Hoxton, Bermondsey and Poplar).

Dublin was great, as usual. I wondered why there were a lot of South Africans in the city and then found out that they were playing Ireland at Rugby on Saturday. My Saturday was spent with my pal Russell at Zappa Plays Zappa at The Roundhouse in London. Fantastic musicians and a great tribute to the great man himself.

At home, earthworks have been completed in the garden so we're tidying up. Unfortunately, we've had a lot of rain which hasn't helped with clearing up mud on the lawn, so we'll have to wait until spring to get the grass oversown.

In music, I'm just putting finishing touches to a couple of albums for Artful and a brand new EP for Chillville.

TX dates...

Highland Emergency is on C5, 5HD and 5* most weekends at lunchtime and evenings.

A double bill of Airline USA is on weekdays at 1pm on Sky 2.

Wasps!!!

A couple of weeks ago, we noticed a wasp nest had formed under the eaves in the roof. Unfortunately, there's nothing that can be done with these apart from having the pest control man round to deal with it. The day before he arrived, I poked at a small crack that had appeared in the front bedroom and my finger went through the plaster...The wasps had eaten the back of the plaster off under the thatch and were about to invade!!! The hole in the picture shows the laths behind the plaster, with the thinnest part of the eaten through plaster removed. This will be patched up soon with hair and lime plaster in the traditional manner.

The chimney sweep is also booked for the end of the week which is also when the major earthworks at the back will be begin to be tackled. The current patio area is about six inches too high which is bad for drainage, so this is all going to be dug out and replaced with more sympathetic stone slabs and reclaimed bricks. We're also having a brick path intersected by a brick circle and reclaimed gazebo through the bed by the pond. We're also adding a drain into the pond from the patio as well as rerouting the electrics directly to the septic tank area where the current inspection hole will be turned into a pumping station to take excess water onto a soakaway on the new piece of land. All very exciting, except the digger and dumper truck will make a mess of the lawn...Should soon start looking good in the spring though!!!.

In music news, Artful have just released my album Pulses 2 and will soon have Atmospherics IV at the manufacturer soon.

I'm also talking to a director about an ITV job and there is a 1 hour documentary in discussion too...More news soon.

I bought Celemony Melodyne a few weeks ago and it's excellent. It can adjust indvidual notes in an already mixed recording...Amazing!!!

TX Dates...

The Water Boatman is showing on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 9pm and 9,30pm on Discovery Shed.

There is a whole two hours of Highland Emergency from 7pm on C5 on Tuesday 16th October

 

British Classic Car Auto-jumble - Music by me.

Some YouTube links...

Special thanks to AJA for the following YouTube links to TV shows I have written music for in the past...

Escape To The Legion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1aJQ487mbw

Airline USA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gjw585ZnJwI

Signs OF Life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWeNWLhf6P0

Fight School: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cshMQB1DIAY

Gladiator: Eubank vs Benn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAIkcHizHus

Highland Emergency: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLJIfqygGWg

 

 

Indian Summer

We're having an Indian Summer here in the UK...A couple of days of blue skies and sun which have driven the Auntumness in the air away. Not for long though...Soon it'll be time to start sweeping up the leaves and lighting the fire in the evenings.

We had an unusual visitor last week. I was sitting by the pond and heard the loud fluttering and splash that announced the arrival of the ducks. I noticed that one of them was a bit smaller than the others and as I watched them clamber out of the pond, I realised that it was moving differently...Although it was very similar in markings to a Mallard, this was something different. I called my neighbour who is a keen bird spotter and he was round in a few minutes. It turned out that the unusual duck was a Garganey, a very secretive and quite rare species. In fact, he reported it to the local RSPB as it was so unusual, particularly as a garden visitor.

The parsnip and the elderflower wines have now all been bottled and a batch of marrow is bubbling away. We also made some blackberry vodka (with fruit from the new land!!!) which is a fine colour and should be ready in a couple of months. Runner beans and courgettes are now cropping nicely.

Finally installed Sibelius 7 and Photoscore Ultimate which I'm experimenting with...More news on that soon. I'm still not sure whether to write Multiple Field Sketches Book II in Sibelius or in a Moleskine. Moleskine is more portable, but Sibelius is easier when parts are needed.

Britain Then & Now

I wrote some stings and breakbumpers for this programme made by Love Productions, and I'm just about to start work on four short information films.

Noticed an Autumnal feeling in the air this morning...It'll soon be time to start sweeping up leaves and getting the logs and kindling under the eaves ready for use. It's been such an unsettled Summer, we've already had to light the fire on a couple of evenings.

The wildlife has been doing very well...The moorhens have produced another batch of chicks on the village pond and we have seven regular ducks in the pond. The water level hs dropped about eighteen inches since the very rainy weather stopped...We're waiting to see what the lowest level is so we can work out where to put the marginal plants so they don't get submerged like the last lot!!!

TX dates...

The Water Boatman is on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 10 and 10.30am on Discovery.

Signs Of Life is still online at www.bbc.co.uk/signsoflife

Multiple Field Sketches and TX

More pages uploaded...Slideshow HERE.

TX Dates...

Giant Octopus will be on NatGeoWild and NatGeoWildHD on Sunday 12th August at 4pm.

Octopus Volcano will be on NatGeoWild and NatGeoWildHD on Sunday 12th August at 9pm.

Giant Octopus will be on NatGeoWild and NatGeoWildHD on Monday 13th August at 4.30am.

Name dropping and Pond

Went to a concert of 80s music at Audley End at the weekend. All performers were great...Particularly Jimmy Somerville who is in great voice and shape. It's hard to believe that Jimmy sang on my track Luna about fifteen years ago at RAK studios with Stephen Hague producing vocals...Great stuff!!!

While I'm name dropping, I was really pleased to see Laura Aikman starring alongside Leigh Francis in Lemon La Vida Loca. Laura plays Keith Lemon's girlfriend, Rosie Parker and was in Signs Of Life, a BBC production which I wrote the music for...It's online here...Signs Of Life

I'm working on a new show for ITV1/Love Productions which is an interesting mix of orchestral and 50s music!!! More news soon.

We're planning the works due to take place soon at Tumbledown which will involve some earthworks and building. These can now be done as we have the new piece of land. We're just sorting out various quotes and dates and hope to fix a start date soon.

There's some moorhen confusion...A new family seem to have moved onto the pond, so we now have four adults and four chicks and it's impossible to tell who's who!!! The Ducks disappeared for a few days but, to our relief, returned safe and sound!!! The pond level has dropped a little despite some heavy downpours...We're hoping to find the normal range of levels so we can plant the right plants in the right place around the edges...A few things we put in were submerged during 'high tide'!!!

The Boxer, Girl Power and more

THE BOXER by Scruffbag Productions was shown to crowds of thousands at King Edward IV Park in Wembley as part of the Olympic Torch tour of London. I wrote the music with Henry Blake, Hannah Assai and Remson...Great fun to do and a wonderful film with powerful performances by Paul Barber and Ashley Chin

...had its first showing on BBC3 at 9pm on Sunday 22nd July and is being repeated regularly. I wrote the original music for this.

I'm currently working on a new show for ITV...More details soon!!!

The wildlife situation has exploded at Tumbledown...The Moorhens and chicks are doing well, several young birds rescued this week and two ducks and seven chicks passed through, watched by our seven young semi-resident ducks.

Tumbledownloads

Another busy week at Tumbledown...

• The new land continues to be cleared and the fence taken down between downpours.
• We harvested our first potatoes, which were very tasty with some mint from the herb garden.
• Parsnip wine fementing happily in its demijohn.
• Elderflower wine about to be put into demijohns.
• Elderflower Champagne waiting for bubbles.

In the studio we had a great vocal session with Henry and Hannah for the theme for the short film, The Boxer and I also provided some music for a BBC documentary about some female weightlifters competing for a place on the British olympic team. Very sporty!!! I also provided some music for a Greek TV commercial.

Looking forward to a vocal session at Tumbledown next week with the hip-hop and grime artist, Remson and I'll also be starting on a very interesting project for ITV1...More news of that soon.

I've written for quite a few short films recently which has been very interesting and taken me to some places I've not been to before...The London Independent Film Festival in Bermondsey the other month to see the first screening of The Limelight, which has been getting some great reviews. Last night I went to The Brickhouse in Brick Lane for part of the East End Film Festival, which was fantastic.

Dublin

Had another lovely stay in Dublin doing the rounds of contacts. We also heard some of my music on a radio commercial as well as spotting Airline USA on TV3.

A highlight was Dublin Taste which is where local restaurants and chefs get together and offer small tasters of their food as well as a food and drink market. The video of the previous year's event looked lovely...People picnicking on the lawns in the afternoon sun. This year was wet and windy...I've never been as wet!!! Despite that it was great fun with some lovely food available.

Details of latest sessions coming soon!!!

P.S. Saw the great Joe Duffy at RTÉ Studios!!!

Land ahoy!!!

The new land has finally been purchased...That's some of it behind the fenceposts there. We're planning a greenhouse and shed, vegetable plot, wildflower meadow and woodland area. Lots of work to do!!!

We've just returned from a promo trip to Dublin and were pleased to hear some of my music on a radio advert and also to see Airline USA showing on TV3. It was also great to see a good amount of my music being used on RTÉ and other Irish programming.

TX dates...

The Water Boatman continues each day on Discovery (times vary).

Airline USA is showing on TV3 in Ireland.

Radio Bialyistock news Bulletins and Czech radio throughout the day.

Jubilee

The alternating downpours and sunshine have made the garden grow like a mad thing!!! Here's our veg plot...We've had leeks, broadbeans and salsify from it already and we picked the rest of the parsnips for wine at the weekend. The house was filled with lovely winemaking smells and the liquor is due to have the yeast added this evening. If it's as good as the last lot we made, we'll be very happy.

The front garden is looking lovely...Plenty of flowers coming out and the foliage is now very impressive. We've returned the verge on the other side of the new fence to a proper grass verge.

The village had its Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations at the weekend...the pub decamped to the green for the evening too. Luckily the weather was fantastic, with some bright evening sun which lasted until it set. The pub was selling Weston's Bounds Brand Scrumpy, which is very nice indeed.

There was also a beer festival in a neighbouring village which I cycled over to one afternoon. Luckily, I wore my waterproofs as it rained stair-rods on the way home!!!

I'm getting some really nice comments about the bass sound I'm getting from the TS124 replica by David Pendrill, which I'm experimenting with. I'm planning on driving it with the 610B section of the UA6176, but I need to make up a couple of cannon to cannon leads when I get a moment.

I'm currently finishing three albums for Artful, as well as writing some music for a short film with a brilliant cast (more news soon).

I'm really getting to grips with Omnisphere which is very versatile and good for rhythms as well as pads and evolving sounds.

TX dates...

Giant Octopus will be showing on NatGeoWild and NatGeoWildHD on Saturday 9th June at 2pm.

The Water Boatman is on at the weekend on Discovery Shed at 7.00 and 7.30pm.

The Water Boatman will be showing on Discovery in Australia and New Zealond...More details coming soon!!!

Mystery chicken incident solved...

It was a Guinea Fowl...Was having a chat about this and it turns out that someone had a fox break into his run and took some chickens and the guinea fowl flew off.

I'm off to brush up on my bird identification!!! :-)

Mysterious chicken incident

Earlier this week, I discovered a strange looking white chicken wandering around the garden at Tumbledown. This, in itself, isn't an unusual thing...We're often shooing chickens back to their owners because a couple of neighbours keep them. This was a funny looking one though...It had a very small head and a long neck. It eyed me cautiously as I crept up on it and bent down to pick it up. To my surprise, it flew upwards and into one of our neighbour's trees. I've seen chickens take to the air before, but it's more of a controlled plummet rather than actual flight. There was something about the way it took off  that seemed familiar.

A little later, I spotted it in the front garden. I tried to approach it more cautiously this time, but it saw me and flew over the road to the village pond. I decided to ask around to see if anyone had lost a chicken, so I went into the pub. As luck would have it, my chicken keeping neighbour was there, but he told me that his white hen had recently been taken by a fox. (There seem to be more foxes in towns and cities than the countryside at the moment. I was waiting for a taxi in Bishops Stortford yesterday and one came trotting quite happily down the high street.I wouldn't fancy its chances if it tried it down the lane here!!!).

Mrs. Judd had a Google and said that she thought that the mystery chicken could, in fact, be an albino pheasant. Suddenly, the familiarity of the thing in flight and its long neck and small head clicked...Yes, it could well be a pheasant!!! We get a lot of them in the garden, but I've never seen a white one before. I'll post a pic if I get a chance to take one.

The picture above is what I think is a hop which is growing down the bottom of the garden. This is potentially exciting because a previous owner of Tumbledown was a chap called Fuggle. He was from the Kentish family famed for producing the Fuggle Hop which was very popular for flavouring beers and is still used today. Our local brewer told me that Mr. Fuggle planted some hops in the garden here in honour of his family name, but the previous Tumbledown owner to us regarded them as weeds and dug them all up. On hearing this, we decided to get some replacements in Mr. Fuggle's honour. However, we discovered the plant in the picture right at the top of the garden at the weekend...We think that it is a hop plant which has been biding its time since the hop removal and have had a few gardening friends agree...If anyone has any more ideas, I'd be grateful to hear them!!!

TX dates...

Giant Octopus  is showing on NatGeoWild and NatGeoWildHD at 6pm on Saturday 26th May.

Octopus Volcano is showing on NatGeoWild and NatGeoWildHD at 12am on Sunday 27th May.

AIRLINE USA continues a run on Sky1 and Sky1 HD tomorrow!!! The schedule changes weekly, but it's on regularly every day except Sunday.

NEW HIGHLAND EMERGENCY is on most days on C5 (+1) and C5HD at 12.15pm.

EMI RS124

We're very lucky to have been lent a replica of the EMI RS124 by David Pendrill. First tests show that it has a lovely warm compression on bass, fretted and fretless...More news soon!!!

Plenty of rain and sunny interludes mean that the garden has really taken off. I'll post a pic in the next post.

TX DATES...

OCTOPUS VOLCANO is on NatGeoWild and NatGeoWildHD on Friday 18th May at 1pm.

AIRLINE USA continues a run on Sky1 and Sky1 HD tomorrow!!!The schedule changes weekly, but it's on regularly every day except Sunday.

NEW HIGHLAND EMERGENCY is on most days on C5 (+1) and C5HD at 12.15pm.

Multiple Field Sketches

Here is a work in progress which I'm doing in my spare time...It's called Multiple Field Sketches and is a series of experiments in modern pastoralism.
There's a larger version HERE. Plenty of rain here so everything is growing nicely...I'll post some pics soon.

TX news...

Aircraft USA is beginning a long run on Sky1...

Mondays - 7.00 and 7.00 am, 1.00 and 1.30pm Wednesdays - 7.00 and 7.30am Thursdays - 1.00, 1.30, 7.00 and 7.30am Fridays - 1.00, 1.30, 7.00 and 7.30am Saturdays - 1.00 and 1.30am.

Aircraft Emergency continued on C5.

London Independent Film Festival

It's been an interesting couple of weeks in Tumbledown and out and about!!! The Limelight, a feature I wrote some music for was premiered at the London Independent Film Festival last Friday. It went really well and it was great to meet some of the cast and crew. I decided to stay over in London that evening as the film started quite late, so we had a great time in Borough food market the next morning.

The day before LIFF, I met with a director to talk about his new project...More news on that soon.

We've had some weather at Tumbledown...Lots of rain and wind. The pond has been filling nicely without the liner and we're looking forward to see it develop over the coming months.

Giant Octopus

Giant Octopus is being shown on Nat Geo Wild and Nat Geo Wild HD on Saturday 21st April at 5pm, Sunday 22nd April at 3pm and Monday 23rd April at 3.45am. The music for this was written in 5.1 and to picture.

The pond is now clear of all liner and decking and has been planted with a selection of native plants. Just in time, as the weather has changed to heavy downpoars with sun inbetween...Ideal for growing!!! The grass on the verge has finally germinated and the front boarder is beginning to take off too.

TX dates etc...

Highland Emergency and New Highland Emergency is showing every weekday evening on 5* (and on 5*+).

The Limelight, a feature I wrote some music for will be shown at the London Independent Film Festival at 9.30 pm on Friday 20th April 2012

New Home DIY is showing all week except Sunday on Discovery and a double showing of Central Steam is on Monday 9am and 9pm on the same channel.

Not Summer yet!!!

This is a double Snake's Head Fritillary we've grown...The petals where they meet are fused together...Very strange!!!

We've had a bit of weather after the lovely warm spell...Things have cooled off, especially at night and we're promised some thundery and rainy weather to come. Not all bad news, as England now has a hosepipe ban because of the drought that has been developing this year. Tumbledown Studio remains quite moist thanks to the clay soil which keeps the water table high, but some rain would still be welcome.

We've been working on the pond now that the front garden has been finished with grass being sown on the verge (still waiting for that to sprout). A lot of the silt and liner has been removed and the banks planted with native Iris. The decking has been taken down and the land revealed will soon be landscaped and planted.

I'm currently working on three albums for Artful while I'm waiting to hear about a couple of new jobs (More news soon) and have been spending my spare time on my experiments in modern pastoralism, which is coming along very nicely...I'll finish the third piece and will post all three on Flickr. I reckon it'll be five or seven movements in all.

TX dates etc...

Highland Emergency and New Highland Emergency is showing every weekday evening on 5* (and on 5*+).

The Limelight, a feature I wrote some music for will be shown at the London Independent Film Festival at 9.30 pm on Friday 20th April 2012.Shortwave is near London Bridge. More details at www.thelimelightmovie.com

Secret Magic Garden

A track I wrote for the album THE ESSENCE has been on rotation on CHILL FM and I've had a few queries about it, so I thought I'd write a bit about how it came about.

It started with the guitar part which has a very seventhy feel. I put the guitar through the Pod and really liked the sound of it through a Leslie (the rotating speaker unit that was part of a Hammond organ...It makes a unique trememlo sound). I then came up with the melody. I was originally thinking of having a vocal singing, "In my secret magic garden" over the 'chorus' part, but after I played it on octave strings, I thought it had a sort of anthemic sound, so I decided to stick with them and add French Horns.

As I wrote on my Facebook page, I got so involved with this piece, that I finished it in about four or five hours and missed lunch...I really didn't notice time passing and sort of came to and it was finished...And no, I hadn't been to the pub!!! It just works like that sometimes.

I remember feeling that the piece needed an ostinato (repeated figure) to bind it all together, so I added the bell-like sound that opens the piece. I think I wrote this on my laptop and I went out into the garden at some point, which made me think of adding the birdsong.

The bass was played in one pass and I also added a palm-muted staccato guitar part to enhance the rhythm of the drums.

It was a really fun piece to write...It's always great when the music seems to write itself and it is a snapshot of how I felt at the time.

You can find it on Spotify and iTunes, or you could wait for it to come around on Chill FM

Spring

Spring has begun here in Hertfordshire...The snowdrops have flowered and now the daffodils are making an appearance as well as plenty of green buds in the shrubs and trees.

We were self-sufficient in kindling for the fire this year and it looks like we've enough for next year too. The tree and shrub trimmings have given us a huge supply and a few logs of our own too. We're planning a woodland section down the bottom of the new garden when we get the new piece of land and so we should be able to keep up supplies from this part of the garden from now on.

Over the past week, the pond has been emptied in preparation for digging out the silt and liner and returning it to its natural state as well as making it a little smaller. As I've mentioned before, it was never really suitable for the Koi Carp that were in it and we're hoping for some more suitable wildlife like frogs and newts as well as continuing to provide a home for the ducks and moorhens. There was a single duck quacking angrily in the centre of the pond as the last of the water drained away...Hopefully, we'll have it back in a habitable state soon!!!

I've got a huge amount of new sounds for the studio which I'm gradually working through to see what's most usable. I also upgraded to Cubase 6.5 which has a few new tricks up its sleeve which I'm discovering as I go along.

I'm expecting some exciting news on a couple of projects soon including a feature I wrote some music for as well as a couple of TV projects.

In other news, here are couple of albums I've contributed to which have recently been released...

Endeavour

Chill Out Lounge Vol. 5

...and I am just putting finishing touches to two albums for Artful...More details soon.

Also, a series I wrote the music for last year has now been issued as a DVD box set. It's called Central Steam which is available HERE.

I started an Amazon eStore which has a lot of my music available which is HERE and on the sidebar over there>>>

Upcoming TX details...

Highland Emergency is showing every weekday at 7.35pm 0n 5* (and on 5*+).
Central Steam is showing every weekday as a double bill at 9am and 9.30am.
Airline USA is still playing on weekday evenings at 8pm and 8.30pm (ET) on Lifetime (LRM) in the US.
Online drama Signs Of Life can be found at Here .

Scores

I was tinkering about at the piano yesterday and started thinking about a piece of music I wrote in 2003 called Across The Meadow. Funnily enough, I'd been sitting on it all along...There was a copy in the piano stool!!!

It's an early taster to the pieces I'm writing now in my Molskine books in its subject matter and approach...A sort of more gritty, modern pastoralism. It's for small orchestra and harp.

HERE is a link to the full score.

Bonnie, Bonnie banks...

I'm writing this from one of my favourite places, The Cellar Bar in The Merrion Hotel, Dublin. I'm over here on a day trip for a few meetings and have had a lovely day walking around the city and enjoying the Spring weather on St Stephens Green.

It's been a busy time...This day last week, Jane and I were married on the banks of Loch Lomond having eloped to Scotland a few days earlier. It was a proper elope in that nobody know we were going...Even Jane didn't really know until the day we left.

In music news, I've been upgrading my sequencer and sound sources and will soon have a whole load of new instruments and sounds to play with.

Please check out my new album, Endeavour which I've written with fellow composer Matt Norman...It's available as a CD from www.chillvillemusic.com ...There are links to iTunes there too and you can also find it on Spotify.

Snow and Ice

Here are some Icicles that formed on the thatch at the back of the house!!! We've had temperatures of -14C which is quite unusual in this part of the UK. Until a few days ago, the ground was covered with about five inches of snow, but it's now nearly all gone...The pond is still frozen over.

Snowdrops and other bulbs have been doing their best to push through and there have been some interesting wildlife tracks left by the many creatures that pass through the garden at night.

A couple of things I've written music for have just gone on sale. ENDEAVOUR is a CD I have written in collaboration with Matt Norman and is available from iTunes HERE.

Also, a series I wrote the music for last year has now been issued as a DVD box set. It's called Central Steam which is available HERE.

I also have an Amazon eStore which has a lot of my music available which is HERE and on the sidebar over there>>>

Garry Judd - Composer reel (audio)

Here's my new audio reel...

Garry Judd - Composer reel (audio)

Tumbledown snowdrops

The recent warm weather has woken some of the plants in the garden. Here are some snowdrops...Other bulbs are on the move and some leaves are already sprouting from some of the shrubs.

We spotted our first Bullfinches since we've been here and the Greater Spotted Woodpecker has made an appearance after being heard tapping away for a few days around the village.

I've been very busy in the studio...A pilot I wrote the music for was filmed at BBC Television Centre last week and I heard yesterday that a feature film I wrote some music for will be shown at the London Independent Film Festival in April.

TX Dates...

Giant Octopus is on Nat Geo Wild (and HD) on 31st Jan at 10pm, 4th Feb at 11pm and 5th Feb at 2pm.

My Cypriot Kitchen is often on Discovery Travel & Living.

The Water Boatman regularly shows on Discovery Shed.

Airline USA is still playing on weekday evenings at 8pm and 8.30pm (ET) on Lifetime (LRM) in the US.

Online drama Signs Of Life can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/signsoflife .

PondLife

Here's a little something I made last week

PondLife

New Signs Of Life Trailer

Trailer for "Signs of Life" from John Dower on Vimeo.

Music by me!!!

2012

The beginning of a very mild new year...Here is a pic of some of our log supplies should the weather get colder!!!

We're going ahead with buying a piece of land next to the cottage...We have various ideas of what to do with it. One of the main plans is to have a woodland section where we'll store and season logs and kindling. We should be able to provide quite a lot of fuel of our own from maintainance of the various trees and shrubs we have.

Xmas was fun in the village with a pub quiz and carol singing taking place as well as some lovely times with family and friends.

So, into 2012 with a couple of interesting film, radio and TV projects on the go as well as a new Chillville release and some Artful releases bubbling along too. I'm also working on an orchestral piece, Harvest Sun (Through Combine Dust) and a string quartet version of the Hertfordshire folksong, 'John Rand.'

I've also set up a website for Tumbledown Studio, where I write and record my music which is HERE.

Plenty of shows with my music are on TV right now...I'll list a few in my next blog.