Composition Portfolio

I have had the opportunity to learn from and work alongside some very talented composers, who have taught me a great deal about the innovations & subtleties of composing. During my time at University I learnt how to score and properly arrange my compositions on manuscript, I learnt how to competently and appropriately compose for instruments that I do not have any playing experience in and I have utilised these skills outside of University in order to make my compositions the best that I can.

Listed below are a few examples of compositional projects I have previously worked on. Feel free to take a look at them here or click 'See More' at the bottom to visit my You Tube channel, where I have extra examples of my composition, scoring and performance abilities.

Ghost

Here is a sample of a piece I composed for the intro to an amateur short film called "Ghost." The film was used by The British Film Institute to give young aspiring actors and film makers the opportunity to take part in a project together. The visual themes that run throughout this clip feel rather ominous and enigmatic, so I made use of a few musical drones such as the contradicting high and low string sections in order to set the scene for the film's disquiet nature. In addition to this I composed this song in the key of A Harmonic Minor, as I felt the use of a slightly more obscure minor key would set the precedent for an unsettling soundtrack. Click the video on the right to see the clip for yourself and you can press the link below to see the score.

See the score

Nerditecture theme

This is a piece I was commissioned to do for the YouTube channel 'Nerditecture.' They wanted me to compose an intro and theme tune in the style of a 16-bit video game. This was a relatively new concept to me so I took inspiration from Super Nintendo games such as 'A Link to the Past' and 'Final Fantasy III' in order to choose the instrumental arrangement and also try to capture the sense of adventure and wonder that these games are known for. But don't just take my word for it, here's what the co-creator of the channel had to say about working with me:

"Working with Elliot was a pleasure. He was open to our ideas but not at all nervous at giving his own input, making the process of working with him very collaborative. Even when there was no rush to complete the track, Elliot’s turnaround was also impressively fast, surprising us with the quality of what he produced in the time it took." - Patrick Harris

Visit the Nerditecture Channel

Themes of Time

In 2016 I took part in a guided tour of Perth Museum and Art Gallery. I was shown many interesting objects within the gallery but one thing that really caught my eye was a collection of old clocks. I asked the guide about them and she told me that very little was actually known about them due to the fact they had been donated. With a lack of their own narrative, I decided to compose one for them. The video on the right showcases the piece I wrote specifically for these clocks. While composing this piece, I followed the themes of mystery and age with the ambient, creepy nature of the instrumentation while incorporating chimes and ticking noises to relate the piece back to it's subject. Feel free to watch the video and hear for yourself. You can also click the link below to see other pieces I have composed around the theme of time (Look out for the visual & musical effects in the piece titled "Time".)