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Five A-list actors who impressed us with their singing ability

28/8/2019

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Movie musicals are everywhere. Disney has seemingly decided to live-action remake every one of its films, as well as bringing out new ones. And every popular stage musical looks destined for a big screen adaption.
 
Some casting choices have been... interesting. Think Pierce Brosnan in Mamma Mia! or Russell Crowe in Les Misérables. But some choices have been inspired. Here are five A-list actors who surprised us all with their singing ability.

Dwayne Johnson

Now one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood, Johnson made his name as professional wrestler The Rock with the WWF. He had his first acting role in 2001’s The Mummy Returns, but is probably best known for playing hard man Luke Hobbs in The Fast and the Furious franchise. So we were all surprised (and impressed) at Johnson’s voice when he sang “You’re Welcome”, as Maui, his character from the 2016 Disney film Moana.

Anne Hathaway

​Starring in The Princess Diaries, Brokeback Mountain, The Devil Wears Prada and The Dark Knight Rises, Hathaway won the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Fantine in the 2012 film adaption of Les Misérables. Who can forget her heart-wrenching rendition of I Dreamed A Dream (Susan Boyle who?).

Gerard Butler

As the hulky action star of Olympus Has Fallen (and its sequels), you may be surprised to learn that before his breakthrough role as King Leonidas in Zack Snyder’s historic (?) fantasy 300, Butler actually starred in the 2004 adaption of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera. He played the phantom, one of the most demanding roles for any tenor. Andrew Lloyd Webber has said the song The Music of the Night is the hardest he’s ever written because of its large vocal range (2 octaves, from low to high Ab).

Emma Watson

Best known for her role as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films, it was a surprise to find Watson cast as Belle in the 2017 adaption of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. We might have all been a little sceptical, but she does a thoroughly decent job. She was even nominated for an Empire Award, whatever that is.

Hugh Jackman

Jackman’s singing ability should not have come as a shock – he started off in stage musicals, such as Beauty and the Beast, Sunset Boulevard and The Boy from Oz, for which he won a Tony Award. But for those of us who only really knew him as Wolverine from the X-Men films, seeing him as Jean Valjean in Les Misérables (alongside Anne Hathaway) was a surprise. He did a decent job (but does he not have a falsetto register!?) but his turn as the title role in the 2017 blockbuster The Greatest Showman really impressed us all. Listen to his range! 

And five honourable mentions...

MERYL STREEP - With 3 Academy Awards and 8 Golden Globes, Streep is considered one of the best actresses of her generation. She can also hold a tune, starring in such musical adaptions as Mamma Mia (of course), Into the Woods and Mary Poppins Returns.

JOHNNY DEPP - Known for Edward Scissorhands, Pirates of the Caribbean and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, he actually won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of the title character in Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

AMANDA SEYFRIED - The star of Mean Girls and HBO's drama Big Love co-starred with Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia and also Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway, playing Cosette in ​Les 
Misérables.

EWAN MCGREGOR - McGregor's internation breakthrough came in Danny Boyle's 1996 film Trainspotting, and he is also known for playing the young Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars Trilogy, episodes I-III at the turn of the millennium. His voice really impressed us all when he starred alongside Nicole Kidman in 2001's Moulin Rouge!.

CATHERINE ZETA-JONES - Initially finding success with the British television series The Darling Buds of May and then Hollywood films such as The Mask of Zorro and Entrapment, Zeta-Jones won an Academy Award for her role in the 2002 musical Chicago. 

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Classical Masterpieces - Chopin; Nocturne (Op. 9 No. 2)

13/8/2019

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Frederic Chopin composed this, his most famous Nocturne, when he was about twenty years old. Along with his Funeral March, Raindrop Prelude and Minute Waltz, the Nocturne in Eb is among Chopin's most recognisable pieces. It is also one of the world's best loved works for solo piano.
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The melody is a smooth, gentle lullaby. Simple at first, it recurs three times, becoming more decorated with each playing. The left hand is reminiscent of the chordal leaps of stride piano, albeit with a waltz feel and at a much slower tempo! It is this left hand that really challenges the player, with Nocturne in Eb coming in around Grade 8 standard.

All of Chopin's music is in the public domain, and you can download the full version here: 
https://www.mutopiaproject.org/ftp/ChopinFF/O9/chopin_nocturne_op9_n2/chopin_nocturne_op9_n2-a4.pdf

If you are looking for a simpler arrangement, my book FAVOURITE CHILDREN'S CLASSICS FOR PIANO includes a Grade 1 standard arrangement of this piece, as well as 24 other classical masterpieces. It is available on Amazon here for £5.99.

You can hear how the Grade 1 arrangement sounds by clicking on the adjacent YouTube video.
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Four Oaks Cluster Choir win the Manchester Amateur Choral Comp. 2015!

10/4/2015

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Four Oaks Cluster Choir win Manchester Amateur Choral Competition 2015
Four Oaks Cluster Choir - MACC 2015 winners!

A huge congratulations to Four Oaks Cluster Choir, who on the 22nd February 2015 won the annual Manchester Amateur Choral Competition.

We sang three songs - Winter Sings Her Song, London Medley and With Or Without You.

After announcing us as winners, we sang With Or Without You again, and you can see the video of that performance below.

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Andrew Lloyd Webber and his 'original' songs

22/12/2014

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Don't get me wrong, I'm actually a huge fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber. A lot of people seem to look down on his music, dismissing it as clichéd and 'safe'. In some ways, of course, it is. But that's because the general public like simple melodies and clichéd chord progressions.

There is nothing new nowadays. It doesn't matter whether you look at literature, art or music - pretty much everything has already been done to some extent. In Western music there are only 12 different tones; and so only a limited number of variations! I'm pretty sure every 'recent' melody you name can be already found somewhere within the wealth of written music generated over the last 500 years or so.

The video below is a tongue-in-cheek poking fun at ALW, performed live in a village pub. Originally written and performed by Kit and the Widow, with a few adaptions and additions by myself. 


~ Memory from Cats sounds like Ravel's Bolero.
~ I Don't Know How To Love Him from Jesus Christ Superstar is an almost exact copy of a theme from Mendelssohn's violin concerto in E Minor.
~ The 6 note motif sung with "Jesus Christ Superstar" is the same as one from Richard Strauss's September.
~ Themes in The Music of the Night from The Phantom of the Opera sound similar to Puccini's La Fanciulla (for which ALW was sued by Puccini's estate and settled out of court) and Come to Me, Bend to Me from Brigadoon.
~ The accompaniment to Don't Cry For Me Argentina is a version of JS Bach's Prelude in C.
~ The first few notes of Love Changes Everything from Aspects of Love are identical to the ones from JS Bach's Fugue in E Major (Well Tempered Clavier Book II).
~ The super famous chromatic riff from The Phantom of the Opera is almost identical to the one in Pink Floyd's Echoes.
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Free sheet music to my piano composition 'Walk in the Moonlight'

15/11/2014

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You can download the sheet music (PDF) and have a listen to my jazzy piano solo WALK IN THE MOONLIGHT below. About grade 3 standard.

Walk in the Moonlight mp3 (listen)
File Size: 916 kb
File Type: mp3
Download File

Walk in the Moonlight sheet music (PDF)
File Size: 35 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

jazz piano composition free sheet music
Walk in the Moonlight - piano jazz composition by Matt Walker (grade 3+)
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Cluster Choir's article in the Journal

12/9/2013

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There was a great double-page article in September 2013's edition of the Journal about Four Oaks Cluster Choir.
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Carrie Theme Tutorial

24/8/2013

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Finally got round to making a piano tutorial for the main theme from the movie 'Carrie' (1976):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m637qPDIVjY
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First piano tutorial uploaded

22/8/2013

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I've uploaded videos of piano solos and compositions to YouTube for a few years now, and had a few requests for tutorials. I decided to make one today for Pink's Just Give Me A Reason, and hope to make more in the future. My next will be the theme tune from Carrie, which is often requested!
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