The atmosphere of a bustling, growing city of the 1920s radiates from the soul and beat of this piece.  With "Swingtime", I aimed to recreate the feeling of a jazzy, big band song that could've been from that era.

Please do NOT use unless given permission, thank you.

Swingtime in the City

A four-part (SATB) choral piece by Brian Molina.  In the style of the English madrigal, it celebrates the arrival of spring, an archetypal theme in choral and musical literature in the Middle Ages, Renaissance, and beyond.


Lyrics:

Rejoice in the foe of autumn, 'tis spring when the flora blossom!
Her showers a nurt'ring blessing, her flowering bosom rich!

And mirth on this world abounds, plentiful of her mirthful sounds!
The birds in the trees are chirping, while float lillies in the ditch!

And there on the old oak tree, are those rustling leaves I see?
Tree with the greenery, tree with the leaves, greenery, hear the rustling of the leaves.

And here in the tufts of grass watch the centipedes that pass!
Grass with the centipedes, look at them pass in the grass, see the centipedes in the grass.

'Tis time for a wond'rous season, to frolick without a reason! 
The spring heralds lovely nature; sit down and enjoy her art!

Exalt beauty whence it greets thee and springtime will be so pretty! 
Be not very late to see her before thou she shall depart!


Audio from MuseScore.

7/22/2022

Reverdie

A string quartet arrangement of my choral composition "Reverdie".

Audio from MuseScore.

7/22/2022

Reverdie (for String Quartet)

Here's a first (short) attempt at a piece of light music, in this case a jingle for a news segment.  Imagine 1950s-60s era television.

It has lyrics, too:
"You're watching the news
The weeknightly edition of the
news, it's Nightly News for
you, Nightly News for you!"


Audio from MuseScore.

7/26/2022

The Nightly News

A rewrite/revisit of a composition I made in 2021 using counterpoint writing skills I had learned from my musicianship class, now realized as a trio for oboe, clarinet, and bassoon.

Trio For Winds

Here is my orchestral rendition of the classic S4 Skarloey Railway theme. I had a lot of fun making it! I will be uploading more of these orchestral covers, but you can find other songs on my YouTube channel, DoncasterA1Music.

Original theme by Mike O'Donnell & Junior Campbell
Arranged by DoncasterA1Music

The Skarloey Railway (Orchestral; DO NOT USE)

Here is my recreation of the Runaway theme. It isn't exactly perfect, but for my first shot at it, I'm pretty happy with the result. I still don't have good Jupiter-sounding flute or clarinet synths in Ableton Live, the software I use, but I think these instruments are alright for the moment. Hope you enjoy!

Original theme by Mike O'Donnell & Junior Campbell
Arranged by DoncasterA1Music

The Runaway Theme

Here is my recreation of Toby's theme. His song was a nice one to make. I think it really came together well. This was the first theme I made on Ableton Live 10, which has proved to be an invaluable resource for creating music. Hope you enjoy!

Original theme by Mike O'Donnell & Junior Campbell
Arranged by DoncasterA1Music

Toby's Season 1 Theme

Simple but fun orchestral rendition of Duck's theme!
Hope you enjoy!


Original theme by Mike O'Donnell & Junior Campbell
Arranged by DoncasterA1Music

Duck the Great Western Engine

Oliver's theme from Escape was a very fun theme to make. It is one of my favorites in the series. I made it on Ableton Live for Mac.

Hope you enjoy!


Original theme by Mike O'Donnell & Junior Campbell
Arranged by DoncasterA1Music

Oliver's Escape Theme

The Skarloey Railway's theme is one of my favorite in the Thomas series. It's so beautiful to listen to, and it was one of the first themes I learned by ear to play on the piano.

This version of the theme is the most accurate I've ever been. It's been so fun putting everything together and hearing the theme in its finished form.

Hope you enjoy!

The Skarloey Railway Theme

"If you should visit a place that has a lake in the woods and a beautiful waterfall, then you may also find two little engines called Skarloey and Rheneas. The engines know everybody and everybody knows them."

The alternate Skarloey Railway theme, as heard in Four Little Engines and other episodes, was fairly easy to make, as it only required some modification from the regular Skarloey theme.

Hope you enjoy!

Original theme by Mike O'Donnell & Junior Campbell
Arranged by DoncasterA1Music

Skarloey Railway (Alternate)

Here is the short rendition of Jingle Bells I made for the 2020 Christmas video from BToons.

View BToons Cartoons here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6LR5guoA9F8LlQHcJD-L2DGXbheP2xn1

BToons Christmas 2020 Promo

Brian Molina

I have recently ventured into composition and have enjoyed it.  I compose a lot of contrapuntal and classical pieces but also more modern jazz and light music genre pisces at times.  I play the piano and the harp.  Previously I made many covers of the Thomas the Tank Engine themes, many of which are on my YouTube page.

I usually compose in MuseScore.  I previously have used Ableton Live 10 or my old Yamaha Clavinova for most of my older works.

DoncasterA1Music

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