I intended for Tankards & Tiaras to be written as a pub style sing-a-long song like Roll Out The Barrel, but it slowly started drifting into an instrumental piece.  

When I'm writing I have very strong visions, like scenes from a film and they live repetitively rent free in my head ... sometimes very annoying!  For this piece my vision began in an Edwardian-era working man's pub where folks have gathered at the end of a hard days work, joyous with each others company, raising their tankards to each friend's health.  When I sent it off to Oliver Lodge (composer) I knew I wanted it to transition from working man's pub to an upper-class party at a ballroom; two extremes of the British Edwardian era.

You will hear that the first half of the piece is simply a clunky piano (like you'd find in the corner of a pub) and violins are added to help build the track.  I then wrote a bridge to help lead into the next segment.  I kept the bridge pretty because I am a romantic and I also had visions of the two worlds crossing over romantically, like Romeo and Julia, or a Jane Austen story.  The second half of this track then builds to a full crescendo, as you would expect to hear at an oppulent dance in a ballroom, with Edwardian ladies and gentlemen dressed in full regalia.

How did I do?  Does this track give you any visions?  Could you hear it being played in a ballroom scene in an Edwardian-era film?  Or maybe as background music in a pub?  Or perhaps a music hall?

I haven't release this track as a single but it's on my Moments In Time album being released on Jan 5th, 2024.  Thank you for listening!

Moments In Time

Tankards & Tiaras

Tankards & Tiaras | Joanna Finnis

Journey's End is probably, to date, my favorite instrumental piece I've ever written.  I'm not sure why??  I love the melodies, the 6/8 rhythm and overall this piece, to me, feels very polished.

The first half of the piece came quite quickly but then I started to struggle trying write a continuing melody that flowed prettily into the next section.  I wanted to avoid the piece having too many looping, repeating melodies.  Usually with my songs, if I'm struggling, I keep at it.  I work on a segment, over and over, until something starts to work. However, for this piece I would sit at the piano for say a half hour and if nothing came I would leave it until the next day.  I think I was trying to avoid the piece feeling like a chore, like  "I gotta get this done!".  How do you work at your songwriting?

Anyway, I am sooo happy how it turned out.  Orchestration is by Oliver Lodge.  Journey's End is on the MOMENTS IN TIME album, streaming Jan 5th.  I hope you enjoy it, and thank you for listening!

Moments in Time

Journey' End

Journey's End | Joanna Finnis

Song name: Confidence And Hope 
Authors: Mauricio Berg
Performers: Mauricio Berg - Guitar played by Torben Fugger
Producer: FRESHTRACKS MUSIC LTD.
Released: 2024
Total footage: 2:32
ISRC code: CZ-D52-24-03119
Track: Confidence And Hope 
Label: Sprint
Album code: SPRT131
Album title: Driven By Emotions - Cinematic Orchestral Score
Track order: 19
Publisher: FRESHTRACKS MUSIC LTD.
HB code: SPRT131#19

Veröffentlicht von:
Sprint Music ISRC Code: CZ-D52-24-03119
Erscheinungsdatum :
15 January 2024

Driven By Emotions - Cinematic Orchestral Score

Confidence And Hope

Sérénité No. 05
Artwork: AI Image Generator (free, no sign-up, unlimited) ― Perchance License: Public Domain.
William Butler Keats Public Domain

Sérénité No. 05

A short trip on the boat Demeter..with a pair of extra teeth

The Demeter

Inspiration No. 06
Here's another little short tune for your enjoyment.

Inspiration

Inspiration No. 06

Original Song
by Phil Dutton & Les Corlett

Lyrics

Rain, thunder and ocean waves,
A moon so full I feel lost.
I thought of crossing to the other side,
And I didn't mind the cost.
I hope that there's somewhere out there,
It kept me awake last night,
All that have are the memories,
I swear that I'm feeling alright.

I made a decision to put somethings right,
Some others were left where they lay,
There's nothing else there but the sad vacant stare,
And I've seen enough today.
You called me a liar and I must admit,
The sense of elation as I took the hit,
Was worth it I fear,
As one single tear rolled down.

I'm mad at myself,
I know I did wrong,
I simply lost sight of,
You keeping me strong.
In spite of you needing,
To kick me when I'm down,
I kept on believing,
Anyway anyhow.
That it's all for nothing,
Because nobody cares,
But I'm open to dreaming,
Of a place over there.

OPEN TO DREAMING

nr24

Chapter Four

Mist still clung to the earth as the father and daughter descended from the ridge, the gleaming city now behind a veil of soft cloud. This valley was unlike the haunted one they had crossed—no growls, no flickering eyes. Here, silence reigned, not with menace, but with mystery.

A sound floated through the mist. It was delicate and searching—its voice rising and falling like wind over dunes. The girl paused. “What is that?”

“An old sound. It means someone is here.”

They followed the music deeper into the valley. The path was overgrown but not wild. Vines embraced ancient stone walls etched with symbols. Towering sculptures stood half-buried in earth and time—guardians of something long forgotten.

Soft rhythms joined the mysterious melody, barely more than a pulse beneath their feet. It was as though the valley itself breathed, alive with memory.

The girl reached out, brushing her fingers across a mural carved into the side of a sloped stone. It depicted travelers like themselves, standing before a radiant figure with arms outstretched. Her eyes widened. “Do you think… they came here too?”

Her father nodded slowly. “Long ago, perhaps. Or maybe this place remembers everyone who passes through.”

They walked on in reverent silence.

Still wrapped in the valley’s quiet awe, they moved forward, the melody guiding them toward whatever lay ahead.

Chapter Five

The first tremor came through the ground—a low thrum that rolled through the soles of their feet like the heartbeat of the earth. Then came another, stronger. The girl stopped mid-step. “Do you feel that?”

Before the father could answer, the sky filled with sound: thunderous drums, layered and immense, beating in rhythm like giants marching across the heavens. The air itself pulsed with it. They climbed a low rise of stone and brush, and then they saw it.

An army.

It marched in perfect formation, stretching like a living river across the open plain below. Rows upon rows of armored warriors moved with synchronized grace. Their weapons shimmered gold in the diffused light—long spears, curved blades, massive shields engraved with symbols that echoed those carved in the valley walls.

Banners fluttered in the rising wind, each marked with a sigil neither of them had seen before but which seemed ancient and absolute. At the head of the force rode figures mounted on towering beasts, their armor impossibly ornate—gilded and dark, reflecting both sun and shadow.

The drums continued, unrelenting and vast, their beat not one of chaos, but of discipline and intention. The girl’s eyes widened, not with fear but awe. “They’re protecting the city.”

“Yes,” her father said, his voice hushed. “This is no army of conquest. This is a wall of living honor.”

He watched the formation, noting the way each soldier held themselves—upright, steady, eyes forward. There was strength here, but not reckless strength. It was the strength of guardianship, of quiet, deliberate power.

The girl leaned into him. “They don’t look like they want to fight.”

“They don’t,” he replied. “But they will, if they must.”

The wind shifted, carrying the scent of the city once more—spiced air, warm stone, something older still. And through the towering sound of the drums, a single, higher note sang faintly in the distance, threading the thunder like a voice in a storm.

Together, the father and daughter watched the golden army pass, silent witnesses to a force both fearsome and noble, standing between the world and something sacred.



There and back again Part 4_5

Where Sadness Smiles

Flowers #extraepicverse

Thank you for listening to my music. If you want to support me head over to bandcamp.com https://toregthomassen.bandcamp.com/follow_me
tore.thomassen@gmail.com

Where Sadness Smiles

Tore G Thomassen

Recent comments

Sturle Strauss Lisaeth-Composer

Related tracks