The Third Movement of the Clarinet Quintet is complete and has been published to the website here.  It is an Andante dance movement.  The Fourth and final movement will be started soon.

My latest composition, a Clarinet Quintet 'For Sam' is coming along well.  The first two movements are published to the website here and the third is being composed now.  I've been working on it this morning and it is taking shape.

I've finished the String Quartet today.  I've called it 'For Denise' in honour of my wonderful wife.  You can listen to it at http://bit.ly/1orRI

I'm not yet sure what to move on to.  Perhaps another Chamber piece.

I've completed the first movement of the String Quartet.  I've yet to decide whether to publish it to the website now, or wait until the other movements have been completed.  I've really enjoyed doing it and it may lead me to write for other chamber groups.

My new piece 'In The Court Of Tsar Peter' has been completed and has been published to the website here.  It portrays a day in the life of the Tsar, dealing with important sections of Russian society.  I hope you like it.

I'll be starting a new piece soon - I can't stop the creative juices flowing yet!

I've started another new piece that as yet doesn't have a name.  It's going to be quite rhythmic and punchy, using Garritan Personal Orchestra.  Looking forward to working on it.

'Hopes And Fears' has been published to the website today.  It's a larger piece than those that make up 'Requiem Without Words' and I hope you enjoy it.

I've started putting down ideas for a new piece, provisionally called 'Hopes And Fears'.  It's an orchestral piece using Garritan.  It's my intention to work on it in a more concentrated form than the 'Requiem Without Words'.  We'll see how it goes.  I certainly learned a lot from the Requiem.

I'm re-orchestrating 'Requiem Without Words' with Garritan and having great fun.  The difference in sound is amazing.  I'll post the new Requiem to the website when it's completed, which should be soon.

Great birthday today.  Garritan Personal Orchestra V4, a jacket, a bbq wok.... and it looks like a new preamp for the microphone tomorrow.  GPO is very different sounding to Halion Symphonic Orchestra which I have been using.  Much more detailed sounds and control.

Denise has her range of wedding jewellery on the website now.  You can take a look here.  She has everything from bespoke wedding accessories, tiaras, clips and combs and jewellery for bridesmaids.  If you have a wedding coming up, please take a look at Denise's range.

The video of In Paradisum has been published today on the music page of the web site.  It shows a section of the score and some of the images that portray some of my paradise on earth.  I hope you like it.

The video can also be found on YouTube here.

Please comment on what you think to it.

I'm working on a video for 'In Paradisum' that will eventually find itself on YouTube.  I hope to publish it in the next day or so.

Having a barbecue this afternoon since the weather is so good and the garden has been worked on.

I've had no problems with Firefox 3.5 playing the music from the music page on the site, but it wouldn't play in IE8.

I've re-coded the page and now IE8 works.  Frankly, IE8 stinks and doesn't come close to Firefox.  If you don't use Firefox, do yourself a huge favour and get it from here. 

'Requiem Without Words' is now complete - finished this afternoon.  The 'Dies Irae' was the last movement to be worked on, even though it's the fourth movement of seven.  Have a listen on the music page of the website here.

It's Denise's birthday today - 21 again.  She's more beautiful than ever.

You can now comment on the blog without having to sign in or sign up to an account.  Hope that helps.

The 'In Paradisum' has been completed and can be heard on the web site.  I've decided that the Requiem will have seven movements, with the final movement to be completed being 'Dies Irae'. 

Denise and I had a great time at the Sutton Centre Reunion last night.  It was wonderful to see my students again and catch up with people.

There's two new pieces on the website - 'Offertorium' and 'Pie Jesu'.  I'm aiming to have seven to eight pieces in the Requiem, which I'm really enjoying working on.

The first movement of 'Requiem Without Words', 'Requiem Aeternam' has been completed and is posted to the website.  It isn't a sad sounding piece at all, but quite rhythmic and powerful in places.

I'm loving working on this project and really enjoy the orchestration aspects.

I have always used backup software - it's helped me out of difficulties so many times.  I've gone to using Acronis True Image Home 2009 on one of my computers today, upgrading from a previous version.  I'll see if it's worth doing the other computer after running a backup.

If you don't have backup software, you are asking for trouble.  You will need it in due course.  I've ordered a new hard drive and will restore to that when it arrives.  That will tell me if it's worth upgrading the laptop.

I've started the composition of a 'Requiem Without Words'.  The first two sections completed, 'Sanctus' and 'Agnus Dei' are on the website.  Take a listen, what do you think?

I'm not a religious person, yet religious music can be great. 

My collection of flute music is now complete with the publication of the final track called 'Friday'.  Again, it uses some of the new features found in Cubase 5.

I've really enjoyed composing for flute in a variety of different styles.  It's made me think out of my comfort zone.  I'm now going to move on to an orchestral piece, but that will need a lot of preparatory work and may take a significant time to develop.

There's a new track on the web site called 'Mash', which is in a very different style than my usual one.  I'm finding the Cubase 5 really helps creativity with it's new features.  Great!

I've posted a new music track today called 'You Know Where I've Been'.  It uses two of Cubase 5's new features - Loopmash and Reverence.  It's a little experiment to work out a few things about them.  Take a listen here.

There's a new track on the website called 'There's No Reason'.  It's a short track with Cubase 5 and for the first time I've worked with a vocal sample.  Cubase 5 is wonderful with audio, having limitless possibilities.  I'm going to love working with it.

You can hear 'There's No Reason' here.

I've bought Cubase 5 today, the latest and greatest Digital Audio Workstation.  I've been using Cubase since it first appeared in 1989, so I've grown up with it so to speak.  Cubase 5 is a monster and will take a while to learn, but that's half the fun!

I've also been thinking about composing an orchestral work and I have HALion Symphonic Orchestra to use.  So when I've learnt a bit more about Cubase 5 with its wonders, I'll have to start coming up with ideas.

I've posted a new music track today called 'Sequence'.  It's a bit dark and moody, but I enjoyed doing it all the same.  Listen to it here.

Denise and I had a stall at a craft fair in Retford this morning.  The problem was that no-one seemed to know anything about it and there were few customers.  Can't say that we were impressed with the organisation.

On a happier note, I've been playing with the Arturia Moog Modular synth this afternoon, which is wonderful.  Very moody and dark at times.

Well, it seems that the problem with Delta was a faulty hard drive.  It was a Western Digital 500 gb unit.  I'll never again buy WD.  I've got a Samsung Spinpoint in there now and it's great.

Are you just loving the grunts at Wimbledon?  There's one woman, I forget her name, who really ought to be disqualified for the amount of noise she makes.  I haven't heard a sound like that since I left College!

The new Yamaha is great.  I'm getting used to the new action and I'm looking forward to getting down to some serious music making soon.

What a day Friday was.

Michael Jackson dead - very sad, especially for our generation who grew up with his music.

We then decided to get a new keyboard controller and after a visit to Nottingham came back with a Yamaha KX8.  A large, 88 note controller, it should be a great improvement over the previous Yamaha.  It's meant that our music room has had to be re-arranged.  The only problem is that the computer that it will be attached to - Delta - has developed a really annoying fault, which after much work seems to be because of a Windows Update altering files.  At least that is what it looks like at the moment.  Very frustrating.

I had my lapband operation in November 2007 in Derby.  I was obese and needed help.  Part of that help came from the wonderful staff at Derby who not only performed the operation, but cared for me afterwards.

They run a support group for people who want information, both pre and post operation.

The group will be based at the City hospital (soon to be called The Royal Derby Hospital) from July onwards in Room 2, The Education Centre  (which is near to A +E). Best accessed from car park 4.

Last Wednesday of the month 7-9pm remains the same.

If you are thinking about weight loss surgery and want information, and you live in the East Midlands, get in touch or go along to a meeting.  You will be made very welcome.  Tell them Steve sent you!

I've just sold some computer memory - RAM -on eBay.  Nothing special in that as such, except it sold in just a couple of hours.  I just hope that the buyer didn't make the same mistake as I did and assume that the motherboard manual is correct.

On the subject of memory, I find myself forgetting names more now I'm getting a bit older.  I don't know if there is a direct link between age and memory but I do know that subjectively my memory isn't what it once was.  I wish I didn't remember so much rubbish though!