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Music
Son of God
Son of God
A musical play, written and produced by Les Sherlock in 1986/7 in Bournemouth, UK. See here for the video and the musical book version (better audio quality than the video).
Here is the background story.
Click on the picture to download either the music score or the script as a PDF:
Music Score Script
Hind's Feet
2 Samuel 22:34 He maketh my feet like hinds' feet: and setteth me upon my high places.
(Also Psalm 18:33; Habakkuk 3:19).
I first came across this when reading Glen Clark’s book ‘I Will Lift up Mine Eyes’. Intrigued, when I saw ‘Hind’s Feet on High Places’ by Hannah Hurnard on the Church bookstall, I immediately bought it, wanting to know how I could have feet like hind’s feet (as the hind’s rear feet perfectly track into the place its front feet step, it can reach places otherwise impossible, and is an analogy for one’s entire being, spirit, soul and body to be line with God’s will). I was captivated by the beautiful story and a few years later felt the urge to write a musical play. It took many years to complete, but was finally performed in Dorset, England in 1983/4. I am delighted that the Church’s Ministry among Jewish People, who own the copyright to the book, have given me permission to reproduce the songs here.
Hind's Feet
Chrissie Morris-Brady had the idea for this musical, and wrote the words in 1989. After unsuccessfully looking for someone to write music for it, she asked me to have a go. It took me a long time to do this and, after finishing it, just as long to reach the point where I could produce it. We finally brought a team together and made four presentations at the Wessex Christian Centre, Bournemouth (formerly Bournemouth Playhouse) in February 2001.
Bid for a Bride is a love story, based on the life of the Old Testament prophet, Hosea, who received Divine guidance to marry a prostitute - an idea horrifying to such a man in the society in which he lived. With 22 original songs, this is the edited version of the final performance, with subtitles throughout.
Bid for a Bride
Les Sherlock plays (or tries to play) Rachmaninov with a Christian angle.
Rachmaninov
Les Sherlock’s arrangement of the classic hymn
How Great Thou Art
Les Sherlock’s Christmas challenge! How many Christmas songs can you identify?
Christmas Medley
This is my first attempt at playing a duet with myself. Apart from the handicap of my playing (in)ability, a significant difficulty was the timing, since both players have several bars rest and gauging their length without the second player’s input wasn’t simple. So the videoing and editing was by far the most difficult part of the process. I hope the purist will not be too offended by my efforts!
Beethoven Sonata Duet
I have had this arrangement, for two pianos, in my possession for 45-50 years and always promised myself I would have a crack at it after I’d retired and had more time. It was way beyond my limited ability to do all of it (well, any of it, really!), so this is the first and last sections only. Things took an unexpected turn the week before I made the recording, and I have added a short section after the closing credits to explain an event that could easily have ended all hopes of completing the project: to have brought my playing back up to any kind of standard again after a lengthy interruption would have been impossible. Indeed, it is not inconceivable that my piano playing days would have abruptly ended at that point! I have added some links to other relevant pages of my web site after the link to the video.
I hope you enjoy it.
Links on this web site, relating to the Tchaikovsky piece above
Another miraculous deliverance for me - at arguably the lowest point in my life.
Scientific evidence proving God’s existence, seen in this response to Stephen Hawking’s final book.
How to become a Christian: a fairly lengthy study covering various aspects, but there is a shorter video clip at the start.
Tchaikovski Piano Conerto
This arrangement was transcribed for two pianos by Mary Howe, and while easier to play than the Tchaikovsky (above) proved much more difficult to synchronise the two piano parts in the editing process. So I hope the purist will not be too offended by my efforts; but hopefully the accompanying photos and video clips illustrating the words of the 23rd Psalm will go some way to compensate for the shortcomings in my editing and performance.
Sheep May Safely Graze
Since I have had the privilege of knowing Johnny, and a friend recently (April 2020) sent a backing track for his famous theme tune to the BBC Series, ‘All Creatures Great and Small’, I thought it might be nice
to have a crack at it in tribute to this great musician.
Johnny Pearson Tribute
While out walking, I saw this flower in its ‘cage’ and took a photo. Then at home a story about it developed, and here it is - with apologies for the rendition of Elgar’s Nimrod - I put it all together very quickly!
The Little Flower
Who made it and the problems he had to overcome; its development; how it works; why it needs tuning. Click on the picture to open the PDF document.
The Piano
This musical item is nothing to do with me, but having just received the link (August 2021) I had to include it on my website. I was singing some of these songs when I was in Sunday School over 70 years ago, and later lead the singing of some of them from my piano accordion when I was running Sunday School and children's meetings in my late teens and twenties. Very happy memories and brilliantly performed by this talented singer.
Sunday School Music
In the summer of 2021 I was asked to play for a newly-written pantomime, fully in the traditional British panto style. Based on what happened to Cinderella the day before the normal Cinderella story takes place, it was great fun to do, and is a wonderful addition to the pantomime repertoire. For any groups wishing to perform it in the coming panto seasons, the script and music are available and the link can be found at the end of the video from the performances in November 2021.
You can view the preview (below left) with one of the songs, or watch the full panto (below right).
Panto
The sequel to Cinders and the Time In Between, The Brave Little Mouse is the story about what happened after Cinderella married the handsome prince. This was performed in the Winterbourne Stickland Village Hall in November 2022.
Brave Little Mouse
Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A
2nd Movement
On the sad occasion of the passing of the father of my son-in-law, Paul, I was asked to play for the memorial service, where his other son, Stuart Clark, a professional clarinettist, played this wonderful piece in memory of his father. With only time for one run-through the day before I rather nervously accompanied him.
Mozart Clarinet Concerto
Liszt Etude
Liszt Concert Study
Etude III in Db
Un Sospiro (a sigh)
My two problems are [1] it takes a very long time to memorise a piece and [2] if I stop playing it for a while I completely forget it. I have memorised and forgotten this piece three times in my life, so this is the fourth time around. The previous time I was playing it, I started tuning for the world's top concert pianist: Alfred Brendel. The first time, aware he was in the house, as I neared the end of the tuning I argued with myself if I should play it. In the end I decided to do it. He made no comment, other than to identify the piece, but as I was leaving he shook my hand and said, "Well, keep practising!" I never knew if he meant, "That was really promising - keep it up!" or "That was terrible - for goodness sake get some practice!" I continued tuning for him for around 15 years; but I leave it to you to decide what he thought about my playing...
Murder Mystery:
A Course in Improvement
Written by the talented Stephanie Tompson, who wrote the Cinders Pantomime (link on this page), this fascinating play was performed in Winterborne Stickland, Dorset, in June 2022. I was asked to provide incidental music between scenes and a musical interlude during the interval. So I (foolishly) chose to play the Liszt piece - link above. However, in the event it all went a bit pear-shaped so I played a medley of old-time musical hall pieces instead (not shown in the video recording below) - but at least you can see the original selection if you wish, by clicking on the above link.
Murder Mystery
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