It was great to visit the rehearsal on the 2nd March and apologies for not writing sooner.

The choir’s enthusiasm for the project really is greatly appreciated and it is wonderful for me to hear sections of the piece sung so well. I hope I have not written anything too hard to sing; unnecessary complexity should always be avoided and I do strive to do this. I appreciate that 12/8 compound time looks complex to the eye but I hope that the tunes and thematic ideas are quite intuitive, at least after a while!

Under Steve’s expert direction and Julian’s wonderfully sensitive piano playing I have no doubt the choir will bring the best out of the piece and I really hope it will be enjoyable and rewarding to sing. I do appreciate however one cannot please everyone!

The CD backing tracks I hope will assist with the learning of the piece and I am endeavouring to produce better sounding recordings for the coming weeks. Also I want to improve the layout of the scores so they are easy to read.

The musical material of the piece has changed from the initial ideas. The piece is essentially modal in nature using the Lydian mode which is essentially a C major scale with a raised 4th (F sharp). This gives the music an airy or dreamy quality (to my ear at least), a sound world that is often exploited in film music. It is sometimes called the “flying mode” as it has been used in the Superman films amongst many others. Jazz and progressive rock musicians have also incorporated it into their music.