• The need for music
• The need to dance
• The need for stories
• The need to create
• The need for community

As I was growing up, my need to create was a powerful force. I realised one day that whenever I felt down, my personal therapy consisted of being creative.

I used to sit down with a pad and a cheap, retractable pencil and copy illustrations from ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ and ‘Through the Looking Glass and what Alice found there’. I still have the pictures, now in digital format, courtesy of http://www.wiqet.com/

Nowadays, my creative needs are satisfied in a number of different ways including writing music. I sing with my son in Holy Trinity Church Choir and we have performed some  responses I wrote several times in the last year.

A CREATIVE CHALLENGE

At the beginning of this year I decided that I would set myself the task of completing six anthems for Holy Trinity Choir in 2010. It is the 800th Anniversary of the Church so it seems like a good idea to mark this personally. I feel that I will only actually succeed in finishing some serious music if I have this kind of deadline – I have been meaning to write properly for many years.

The other reason I feel the time is right for this is the discovery of a free music notation program, Muse Score, which is fantastic. I used to use Sibelius but it’s rather complicated and I can’t possibly afford the updates.

So I am underway with the Six Anthems for 2010. The first is almost complete – Into Thy Hands I Commend My Spirit.

Look out for updates.