And now for something ... piratey! Feel free to associate this here little composition of mine with Hans Zimmer, Geoffrey Rush, Johnny Depp et.al. Arr, me hearties!

Treasure Hunting

A miniature composition for piano and violin. My daughter came up with the title, when I asked her what the melody reminded her of.

The Secret Garden

A nice little song in Dutch about Autumn. Sung by the wonderful singer (and my lovely spouse) Bertina Grijpstra. We posted it on YouTube in the Fall of 2017 and it got a lot of positive reactions. I had made some mistakes with Garageband, though (still learning!), so I decided to make a remix for Soundcloud, also including a bass part (albeit played on an acoustic guitar).

Herfstliedje

This is my first try to compose a bigger piece for an orchestra. I think it is safe to say that I made some interesting choices, for example by using a rather odd meter (5/8) and by giving a prominent role to the timpani and contrabasses. The whole capriccio is inspired by my cute and cheerful little niece Lauren and particularly based on some of her sing-song chatter. I hope I managed to turn it into a recognizable musical theme or motif, or whatever you want to call it.

Lauren's Theme - Orchestral Capriccio I

I made this composition for my lovely wife. She grew up in a small Frisian village called Kollumerzwaag and she speaks a linguistic variety of Frisian and Dutch with her family. One of these days I'll come up with some lyrics for this romantic ballad. Obviously, they will have to be in Kollumers, to honour my spouse's mother tongue.

Kollumer Ballade - Dou bist myn liëfste

Years ago I came up with this merry tune. I used to play it on the acoustic guitar and it made me feel all Irishy. And … it still does!

Tap Yer Toes

Seit September 2019 studiere ich Deutsch als Fremdsprache in Leeuwarden. Für das Schulfach Kultur (Landeskunde Österreich) durfte ich den Wiener Walzer nachforschen. Um die Musik besser zu verstehen, habe ich versucht selbst einen kleinen Wiener Walzer zu komponieren. Dies ist das Resultat. Bitte sehr.

Kleiner Wiener Walzer

Baking with my daughter … is a very joyous thing.
Baking with my daughter … is a wondrous happening!

Baking with My Daughter

I have come to the tentative conclusion that I'm a sucker for Christmas and that I tend to take the melodious approach as far as my composing is concerned ...

Lullaby

Surrounded by Idiots

My name is Ate Grijpstra and I am a language teacher, a published author and script writer for videogames. Moreover, I am a  performing musician, a songwriter and a composer of sorts. Thanks for visiting my SoundCloud-page!

Ate Grijpstra

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