Julia Sherriff

I have added five more string quartets to the String Quartets page (numbers 20 to 23a). Listen to them here. Quartets numbers 20 to 23a (please forgive the quirky counting: I had already embarked upon number 24 which is a separate piece and will appear at some stage) are all written with the time signature…

I have recorded some thoughts about the original Ostinato pieces and their modified orchestral versions: watch the video in the Lab Book.

As I started to learn how to use Logic Pro, I experimented with orchestrating my earlier “Ostinato” pieces. I also had a play around with Logic’s “drummer” tracks, which had some interesting effects. The results, such as they are, can be heard by clicking here.

I’ve created a new page with some pieces I wrote for string orchestra in 2022, expanding slightly on the string quartets. These were the first pieces I wrote using a DAW (digital audio workstation) – I wonder if you can tell? Listen to them here.

I have been sorting and reviewing my pieces for string quartet over the last few weeks, and I have recorded some of my thoughts, ideas and the inspiration behind them in a series of videos which I have added to my “lab book”. (I am originally a biochemist, hence the idea of the lab book…

These two pieces are my first attempts to write anything for larger forces (with apologies to the brass, who are only represented by horns at this stage). They are based on the same idea of repeating lines in different combinations and, in some places, offset against each other. The greater forces allow for more variety…

I am not sure how feasible it would be to play this, but I am interested in the idea of having four different lines coming from different directions, with the listener in the centre of all of them. Although all of the parts together very often create a discordant “wall” of sound, it is interesting…

This started life as a few minutes of piano improvisation, playing around with some slightly jazzy chords and a simple repeating rhythm (see below). At the time I was not really sure where it was going (if indeed it was going anywhere!) but I decided to play around with it a bit to see what…

Named mostly for the colour-coding that I used to show where the different parts appear! There are a few ideas inspired by Beethoven in there: I have been learning about his piano sonatas recently…

This feels more like a construction project than a composition! The accompaniment consists of 6 consecutive canons, each consisting of the same line played 3 times and offset by half a bar each time. Hopefully the colour-coding helps to indicate where each line occurs.  I wanted to play around with the effects of different combinations,…