Welcome to Instrumentality
What Instrumentality is all about and what you can expect to find here.
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Analysed: Bill Preston and Syreeta’s With You I’m Born Again
With You I'm Born Again was a surprise hit from a sountrack of a film which didn't do well. But it's remembered as one of the classic duets of all time. What makes it such a classic? I investigate.
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Five Beats in Baroque
Music with five beats in the bar was almost unheard of in the baroque period of classical music. All the more reason to see whether it would have worked. So I wrote this short piece for harpsichord in 5/4 time to test out the idea. Would Bach have approved?
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Analysed: Carole King’s You’ve Got A Friend
You've Got A Friend was a huge hit for James Taylor and for the writer of the song, Carole KIng. So what ingredients were used to come up with such an enduring favourite? We take a look.
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Doe, a harmonic sequence
Do-Re-Me is a classic children's song from The Sound of Music, which demonstrates the Tonic Sulfa, a simple way of describing the notes in a major scale. But it is also contains a nice harmonic sequence, a common feature of classical music for hundreds of years.
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Is Rubato dead?
Rubato is not something you eat for pudding, it’s an important musical concept that makes a big difference to how music is performed and, consequently, how we respond to that…
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A simple thought, an epigram – music in miniature
An epigram is a short poem that makes a single statement. So why not musical epigrams - musigrams, epitunes? With an old friend, I set about making some just to see.
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Going round in circles – exploring harmonic sequences
The harmonic sequence was a favourite tool of Baroque composers such as Bach but it also finds itself in songs such as I Will Survive and Hotel California. We take a look.
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Fifty years on: re-imagining The Queen Of Love
The Queen of Love is an almost forgotten masterpiece of psychedelic folk music, written by Robin Williamson and recorded by The Incredible String Band in 1970. Back in 2020, during lockdown, I set about arranging an orchestral adaptation of the piece to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Here it is.
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Can cellos play the blues?
Cellos have a pretty serious image. They're seen primarily as classical instruments, whereas the violin gets to play everywhere. So I set out to put this right and give the cello a chance to play the blues.
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Analysed: Yellow by Coldplay
Yellow is perhaps Coldplay's most famous song and its popularity is still strong more than 20 years after it was released. So, what is special about Yellow in a musical sense? Let's look.
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