Michael’s orchestral and contemporary music has been included in the Targeted Speech Intervention Speech Boost music collection produced by the National Association for Child Development. The CDs are targeted at children with learning disabilities, and use music to enhance cognitive and attentional processing.
This week I’m breaking from my usual stream of music for films, video games, and the like. Today’s selection is an instrumental excerpt from Gideon and the Blundersnorp, a concert piece for orchestra and narrator. As you might guess from the title, this is a fantasy story aimed at younger audiences. In performance, the music and story interweave in a way that’s reminiscent of Peter and the Wolf.
There’s no narration in this excerpt, but the music will give you a sense of the tale’s quasi-medieval storybook setting.
(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)
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Gideon’s Ride | |
This week’s selection combines contemporary drums and guitar, orchestral strings, and the ubiquitous french horn section. The overall flavor is a mix of heroism with a touch of modernistic moodiness.
(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)
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The Last Highway | |
This week’s cue is melancholy, but a jaunty sort of melancholy. Piano and strings create a mood that’s both wry and wistful.
(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)
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One Absent Friend | |
This week’s supernaturally-themed music selection features the dusky tone of a relatively uncommon instrument, the baritone violin.
(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)
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Laying on Hands | |
This week’s selection is a rhythmically-driven piano and orchestra texture that gradually builds to a crescendo.
(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)
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Morning on the Highway | |
This choral/orchestral piece accompanies a cut-scene in Empire Earth 2 wherein the historical Knights Templar are cast in an ominous light. The lyrics are a twisted take on Kyrie Eleison; while the chorus starts with the conventional words, the basses and tenors, singing in counterpoint, switch to Ohi Eleison – “No Mercy”.
Performance by the Budapest Film Orchestra and Chorus.
(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)
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Chant of War | |
There’s nothing quite as self-indulgent as a self-mashup. Here I remixed music from two different film scores, then added strings and a bit of ethnic percussion for rhythmic impulse. I can’t really do anything with this music (other than share it with you), but it was fun to put together.
Vocals courtesy of Hilary Hearty.
(Click on the play button to stream, or the cue title to download.)
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Shores of Jakarta | |
