George Marshall - Composer
This is the page of composer George Marshall. In 2017 he has already completed three short film scores for the City of Culture programme.
George is a composer, sound-designer, producer, arranger and orchestrator of Film, Game and Concert Music. He is currently based in the UK’s City of Culture 2017, Kingston Upon Hull, where he is currently studying for a PhD, in Music Composition, at the City’s University under their scholarship system. The Bowhead films, currently being shown at the Hull Maritime Museum, have already boasted 30’00
Embark on a journey into the bygone era of silent cinema with Adolf Minot's Western Rodeo. Experience the untamed spirit of the Wild West as this composition, originally orchestrated by Sol Paul Levy, comes to life once again. In this enchanting rendition, witness my arrangement of Minot's evocative score, harmoniously synchronised with the original sheet music. Immerse yourself in the nostalgia and cinematic allure of this timeless piece.
Marigold Waltz: a piece I composed for fun, for a friend's project. The friend was doing a creative writing course and needed to find/source media inspired by a short story that he was collaborating on for a seminar.
The story was about a widow and the decaying co**se/skeleton of her husband. Mistaken for a trick or treater, the co**se is brought back to life by the widow's dog. Tugging at the husband's tasty ribcage the co**se-husband has to go to the old widow's home to retrieve his bones. Realising at that this lady was his wife, due to a bunch of marigold flowers that stoke his memories, the story ends.
I did not have time to create something like a tone poem based on the story, though I did consider it. Instead, I just tried to create a piece that I felt encapsulated the style, dark-humorous and romantic story line. The result os a piece that I call the Marigold Waltz, but isn't really intended to be a waltz. It is at moments a flowing piece, with dance like qualities, but really that's where the waltzy-ness ends.
Originally, I gave myself a smaller orchestra than this, with single winds. In re-orchestrating the piece recently, I thought I'd give myself double winds instead. I mainly used orchestra as I felt it would give me an easy means of varying ides... simply changing the colours!
A fully orchestrated and arranged version of the sketches I was composing the other night and last week.
The video image is the prompt for the competition.
08/10/2022
Had the sniffles this last week, which has made me weirdly focussed on writing a short composition for a competition. Here’s a page of initial sketches. The top theme is abandoned because it was rubbish, but the one below is several iterations of an idea being tested out.
18/08/2022
Just found this very recent (and marvellous) performance of my arrangement of Patrick Doyle's "Hogwarts March", from the fourth film, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by The Regional Brass Band Bern.
I had hoped to publish more Brass Band arrangements, prior to covid, but copyright has got in the way of about 4-5 pieces. Darn intellectual property rights, protecting composers and their intellectual property (lol). This being said, Hal Leonard have recently added British Brass Band to their ArrangeMe system, so I am hoping to get, at the very least, my "Skyrim Theme" arrangement self-published in the near future.
https://youtu.be/SGM5n_zam2M
Hogwart's March from Harry Potter (Patrick Doyle, arr. George Marshall) - Regional Brass Band Bern The Regional Brass Band Bern plays the Hogwart's March from "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" (Patrick Doyle, arr. George Marshall) live at the Brass Nig...
28/07/2022
Over the last few weeks I have been chipping away at a few new video game cues. Today, I happened to stumble upon some older cues from a very different project that was called Forgotten Sea.
I've always enjoyed composing for media, since I was fortunate enough to have a crack at some short films about a decade ago. However, since 2015 I have loved video-game projects, as they typically afford creative freedoms in areas where I want, maybe even need, them. Moreover, I love how the creators and the projects themselves force you down tunnels and passages that you wouldn't have otherwise gone. Working as part of a team while the actual thing is being made, it is incredibly difficult to articulate what exactly a game is going to be. There's a great deal of ambiguity and its in the ambiguity that the creative opportunity lies.
Forgotten Sea was a remarkable project for me as it was predominantly led by narrative and art, which meant the music could respond to those aspects as they were being created. Pictures not only speak a thousand words, but the good one's articulate the seemingly inarticulate ambiguously precisely.
Responding to the art and narrative, I was able to go on one of those rare musical journeys that I don't think I would be able to traverse again. I listen to the musical fragments of Forgotten Sea, and while I see myself, I do not recognise myself. And, while that could seem a haunting phrase in different contexts, I think there's something quite magical and pleasing about that in this instance.
Forgotten Sea (Unpublished Video-game Cues) A selection of cues from a video-game project I worked on a couple of years ago.Solo Violin, Viola and Cello lines were recorded by Severn Duo.MIDI was seque...
![Haunted Emotions - Ensemble Tracks [Score Video]](https://img5.findglocal.com/058/503/2195533240585030.jpg)
14/03/2022
Earlier today I uploaded the complete ensemble tracks from a score I composed and produced in 2018.
I was only able to compose and produce it, in the way I did, thanks to the generosity of Hull University Music Students, and some friends, who volunteered to perform and help record the music.
Unfortunately, the video-game project, which they were composed for, has never been published. However, thanks to the narrative and game idea facilitating more expansive writing, I think the music stands on its own two feet.
Haunted Emotions - Ensemble Tracks [Score Video] This music is from a video-game soundtrack that I composed in 2018 and recorded at the University of Hull using a group of volunteer students. The game (init...
I've not posted on here for a while. Over the last couple of months, I have taken on a handful of private composition students. This piece is my own composition/arrangement and is an effort to test/demonstrate a task I set for one of those students.
It is an arrangement of an English Folk Tune called "Little Sir Hugh" for Woodwind Quintet.
10/10/2021
Facebook said I needed to create a post for all my fans, but that seems superfluous given I’ve just passed them all on the landing.
23/08/2021
I have been working on a composition for Any Old Music. It is for a "composition lesson", where I usually take one of my "composition technique" analyses and use them as a basis for a composition. This composition takes my analysis of John Williams's Flag Parade. The video demonstrates the finale section, prefaced by the opening introductory fanfare--which Williams does in Flag Parade.
Giving mine an additional "twist", I recapitulate the "A-theme" (heard twice, in the trumpets with bones in counterpoint) in A-Major. The A-theme will be heard earlier in the keys of D-minor and G-Minor. Taken from my analysis of Bizet's Farandole, it has a similar heraldic feeling to it.
I just need to figure out how to tether all the parts together now!
27/03/2021
A short piano composition I’ve written as a study into Arvo Pärt’s Tintinnabuli style exhibited in Für Alina.
https://youtu.be/Syq97g0-nmM
Twinkle Twinkle Tintinnabuli Star Twinkle Twinkle Tintinnabuli Star is a composition/arrangement that combines the simple melody of the nursery rhythm, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, with the t...
I recently arranged London Bridge for Orchestra, using Bizet's Farandole as a model. Tracing the structure and orchestration, it proved a fun learning experiment that revealed some nice techniques and ways of thinking about arranging more efficiently for large ensembles/orchestras. The video here demonstrates how closely I imitate Farandole. (Deviations are in red.)
I discuss these "lessons learned" in an article/video: https://anyoldmusic.com/using-bizets-farandole-as-a-model-for-arranging-london-bridge/
Videos (show all)
![The Stagecoach Driver's Demise (at the hand's of the Old, Mad Miller) [Draft]](https://img2.findglocal.com/v/801/798/668360168017986.jpg)
