Composition has become an enjoyable part of my working life over the last few years.

Many musicians working in contemporary music are broadening into the old idea of a musical life of performing, composing, teaching and improvising.

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Etudes and Exercises is a book of 8 etudes with associated exercises.

As well as work on low articulation, high pianissimo, embouchure flexibility, and rhythmic subdivision, it introduces some extended techniques, such and singing and playing, air sounds, whistle tones, glissandi and includes work on harmonics. All of the techniques are fully explained.

Neon Flicker was my first piece in quite a while, made possible by funding from Creative Scotland over the covid lockdown. It plays with the idea of wondering what normal might be. When the world was so confusing and surreal at times it was difficult to tell what normal was, or might be in the future.

The sounds are deliberately ambiguous, and the title comes from the movie trope of the flickering motel sign telling us that all is not well…

Neon Flicker was shortlisted for the 2023 Scottish New Music Awards, Small Scale Composition Award.

Interlaced is a trio for 2 flutes and alto flute which I wrote for my sister’s wedding. It is fun to play, and deliberately fairly easy to put together as we only had a quick half hour to put it together before the ceremony!

Whisper is my most recent solo flute piece, and plays with the idea that maybe if enough kind, generous people begin whispering, we can overwhelm the divisive and negative shouting that seems to be part of our world at the moment. Whisper was shortlisted for the Alpine Foundation Music Prize 2024