The Whimsical Orchestra

This piece has helped me redefine my relationship with music.

Some time ago I realised I will never have the focus, or free time, to practice playing any instrument to the level I want. I want to create music, so I needed to find a way. Discovering the Art of the Score podcast I realised my interest in film making had set me up to understand film music, and began seeking other resources to learn more about orchestration. After entering a film scoring competition (no, I didn't win) I decided that some more solid understanding was needed - a challenge for a non-music reader. After completing three of Karleen Heong's Udemy courses I began experimenting.

I still don't read music well. But, apparently that mental block goes away when I write it.

The Whimsical Orchestra is my first composition and arrangement for a full orchestra. I know that in time I'll learn more and my work will become more emotional, complex and nuanced. You have start somewhere, and I'm happy with this as a first attempt. My next challenge is to shoot some imagery to turn this into a beautiful short film - another project you'll see down the track.

It's fantastic that the tools available to us at home can produce this. I was trained as a recording engineer when I first left school, but it hasn't been my career. It's another area of growth in the future. For the technically-minded, here's a list of what I used. The software is much more capable than I am and I'm looking forward to growing into it.

• Avid Sibelius - Writing the original score, including all those fiddly articulations.

• Noteperformer - "Reading" the score and translating it to MIDI with a human feel.

• Spitfire Audio BBC Symphony Orchestra - Real instruments recorded in a real environment.

• Steinberg Cubase - Mixing and adding effects.

• Steinberg Wavelab - Mastering interface.

• iZotope Ozone - Audio mastering, producing the finished recording.