Nan's song.mp3

A little pastiche of a 50's Rock n Roll ballad - written (tune and words) and scored in a day; learnt by the very intoxicated singer on arriving home, and culminating with this very demanding raw performance (me on keys) at 5 in the morning.  Just a thank you to that someone who never really knew how much he meant to me.  Thanks for being my rock. Happy times!

In my dreams

Excerpt from a demo recording for a musical that was never produced.  Performed by Gary Albert Hughes (E4s 'Playing It Straight'), Adrienne Stiefel ('Little Boxes' from o2's advert), Luke Barron

Conversations With Myself

Excerpt from a demo recording for a musical that was never produced.  Performed by Paul Monaghan (lead) and Jamie Anderson.

Henry Wilson

Excerpt from a demo recording for a musical that was never produced.  Performed by Gary Albert Hughes (E4s Playing It Straight), Luke Barron, Adrienne Stiefel (hit single 'Little Boxes' from o2's advert.

Here I Stand

Excerpt from a demo recording for a musical that was never produced.  Performed by Paul Monaghan and chorus. 

Smoke and Mirrors

Excerpt from a demo recording for a musical that was never produced.  Performed by Brendan Mathew Murphy and chorus.  David Christmas on Steinway piano.

Surrender To Me

Back To The Old School

David Christmas is a freelance composer of all genres of music.  Only a small selection of my talents in writing for musical theatre is to be heard here on this profile.
Except for the last (a very mock recording for something completely different) these were all recorded at Abbey Road Studios in 2010 for a concept CD to promote a new musical destined for the West End. Abbey Road provided free recording time and their incomparable expertise for my music, but the musical’s theme was such to be an insult to the public’s taste that I removed it immediately to save me from embarrassment.
All music was written by myself, David Christmas, but the accompanying lyrics are not my work and for that reason this music remains mine.
Please get in touch if you wish to use this music or any other music that was written for the musical.  There is a full musical worth of scores written over 3 years just existing through existence. Of course, it’s available for use in its entirety or parts thereof but not all the material has been orchestrated.  Lyricists are free to re-write the whole libretto or parts thereof and adaptations to melody and rhythm remain at the discretion of the composer but open to change, but essentially remaining as my copyright.

David began his career as a teacher of modern languages for eight years.  His musical education extended to only an A level in music and grade 8 in piano and theory.  His passion for music had to remain a separate activity.  Fortunately, his piano skills had been heard by the proprietor of a West End restaurant and he immediately became their resident pianist for 6 years, while still working in education. 
A need to change career path was on the horizon and this happened when a West End theatre producer prompted him to try to write a few melodies around some lyrics taken from a script for a new musical.  So began a 3 year journey of musical development that saw my song writing and orchestral writing skills pushed to their limits.  Meanwhile, a demo of 8 recordings from the early stages of writing (sampled here) was sent to EMI, who listened to them and liked them!  EMI offered to record the much needed concept CD to promote the musical at their own considerable expense, at Abbey Road Studios.  The subject matter of the script was a little controversial.  The composer should like to acknowledge that the sound recordings were the property of EMI but are now outside of any contractual binding with the producers of the musical.  The music can be re-recorded with the composer's consent.  All intellectual property is that of the composer.  The 'Abbey' recording days were during the Summer of 2010 and saw the voluntary offerings of a full orchestra and singers/actors from the world of stage and TV.  I should like to acknowledge their vocal input to these recordings, and I can provide any interested party with their names, that I cannot list here.  Two of the tracks, 'Anthem' and 'Bridie's Song' were performed by the cast of the musical at West End Live 2010 in Leicester Square, during the Summer of that year and in front of a few thousand spectators. You can view the odd live performance recordings of these songs on YouTube! Just hit its search engine! 

David is essentially a ballad writer but can turn his hand to all styles. His thirst is for melody and creative chord developments, believing that to be a good tune, it needs to have a memorable melodic line or riff. He can work in collaboration with song writers and has recently worked on the soundtrack to a historical documentary and collaborates with producers of engineered music for creating those catchy little riffs in club music. David can also offer song writing and piano lessons to any interested party.  He is available for all writing requirements; samples can be heard from his other catalogue of work upon request.  I am also keen to work with
lyricists, songwriters and engineers requiring melodic, chordal or structural input.

davchri

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