Ah, music hath charms to soothe a savage breast and if music be the food of love, give me excess of it!

I can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t love music. Even as a small child, I loved listening to music in some shape or form and tormented my parents with requests for them to play records or an old reel-to-reel tape that they owned. While still in my early formative years, I started studying violin, although that rapidly changed to organ and piano (and other assorted keyboard instruments as the years went by). Nowadays, I still mainly think of myself as a keyboard player, although I can also muddle through on guitar and have been known to get something passable out of a bodhran. I also sing.

While in college, I spent a short spell in a band (total gigs: 1 charity appearance for the local YMCA) after which I just continued doing my own musical thing.  More recently, I’ve played in a few local bands, mainly blues and rock stuff and, although I can’t say that any of those appearances made me rich or famous, they were at least thoroughly enjoyable and I did get paid.

At the moment, I’m back to working on my own, mainly instrumental, pieces (which is what often happens with keyboard players when they’re left on their own – we end up writing stuff that sounds like film and TV music). Although I still enjoy singing and, lately, find myself drawn to ballads, protest songs and other material from the British folk and acoustic tradition.  I may even be recording and releasing some of my efforts in that vein sometime in the future.

Finally (and for the sake of completeness only), I suppose I must at least mention the dreadful and terrifying subject of humorous and comedy songs. Yes, I have been known to perform and write those too…