Other Compositions

Shadows Nae sleep until da dawn

This piece came together as part of the composition module. I had to choose a genre, so I opted for the folk route as that is most likely my first port of call. I love gothic music and in particular the sound of an organ or harmonium, so I decided to implement that into the fiddle piece.

This was done on Reaper without a click track. I hope we will add some percussion and harmonies on the fiddles and perhaps an Octave fiddle before performance. Perhaps for the final Student night.

To the right is a Soundcloud audio and below the DAW workings.

Michelle Henderson fiddle and backing track. 2023.

Trinkies in itween

Come tae da Hills

This is a poem in Shetland dialect by the late James Stout Angus that we learned from the late Jim Gear of Foula when we were in Foula for Foula fest in 2018 and 2019. Jim was so encouraging to my daughters with their singing and playing and would request to meet up when on the mainland for a sing song and tune. We miss him and I put together this ambient version of the song, Jim Gear wrote the melody to the poem.

Vocals Martha Robertson

Guitar Ewen Thomson

DAW Michelle Henderson

Arranged and Recorded by Michelle Henderson

Trinkies in itween

Looking for inspiration for lyrics I asked Bruce Eunson if he had any. He said no problem and sent me some Shetland dialect poetry for me to try and work with. I put together this composition to his writing.

Lyrics Bruce Eunson

Composed, arranged by Michelle Henderson

Fiddle Michelle Henderon

Fiddle Ella Robertson

Vocals Martha Robertson

Percussion Eamonn Watt

DAW Michelle Henderson

Peerie Dwaam

This track I composed and wrote Shetland dialect lyrics for but have yet to add them to the recording.

We tried it out at the Singer songwriter night in dec 2024 and had positive feedback from the audience.

Composed, recorded and played here by Michelle Henderson

Resistance

This composition is inspired by the rumination of negative thoughts and the resistance we often put up when embarking on dreams. The ultimate self sabotage.

I like the dark electronic vibes, drawing on a trad fiddle vibe in the first part and a more what if dreamy vibe in the second part which has a more classical gothic feel along with the vocal electronic backing.

Would love to add vocals to this composition as well as the other fiddle parts to create a more string quartet feel.

Composed, recorded and played by Michelle Henderson

Come tak my haand

This track Come tak my haand was composed as I wanted to try something very dreamy and chill. Using just a simple lyric and capturing Marthas vocals. I asked her to try layering them to get the real ambient effect almost like a round. I liked the pipe samples in this track. But also used an Indian style drone which creates a meditative vibe. A more Shetland style melody in the first half and going into the Indian sounding second part, the banjo also sounds Indian I think.

Composed, recorded by Michelle Henderson

Vocals Martha Robertson

Fiddle, banjo and DAW Michelle Henderson

Sirens Song

Sirens song is a composition I am putting together at the moment, it is aiming to be a Shetland dialect song but I'm still working on the lyrics. More fiddles to add and the octave fiddle as well as percussion. I'm liking the Gothic folk vibe though coming through with a bit of electronic dance too. This is for part of the composition module and I have taken elements from a few genres to fuse together. I think composition and the live performance have been my favourite parts of the HNC. I'm hoping to collaborate to finish this composition with some dialect vocals

To the right is a Soundcloud audio and below a peek at the work on the DAW.

Da Fetlar Lullaby

Da Fetlar lullaby I am familiar with since childhood as my dad is from Fetlar. I wanted to get a recording of Martha singing it with her being named Martha after my Fetlar Gran Martha who was surely a beautiful singer too.

I did the backing on the DAW and added piano, fiddle to it as well.

Martha recorded the vocal harmony to it.

A beautiful song in Shetland dialect.

Words and music by Sinclair Shewan

Vocals Martha Robertson

Fiddle, Piano and DAW and arrangement Michelle Henderson

Haste Dee

This was composed with the thought of someone running from the trows. I was having some fun mixing elements of electronic dance with the fiddles. Yet to add the low fiddle and would love to have some lyrics to this.

Composed and played by Michelle Henderson

Heading 2

Tak Peace

This composition is inspired by childhood memories o sitting on my late Uncle Grahams knee. He would sing songs o Russia foals and rabbit holes and when da foal stuck its head don da rabbit hole he wid drop me down tween his knees, creating much hilarity.

It's inspired by looking at Shetlands beautiful skies remembering folk no longer with us.

Ambient fiddle vibes

composed, played and recorded by Michelle Henderson

I'd choose dee

This track is inspired by thoughts of, If I had to choose to walk this earth again and relive all the ups and downs to be where I am today, with the family and friends I have, I would do it all again, no questions.

Composed, recorded and played by Michelle Henderson.

What aa da beauty geed

A piece of poetry in Shetland dialect written by Bruce Eunson that I composed backing for and recorded it in spoken work over the top. I have wanted to experiment more with spoken word particularly in dialect with music.

Lyrics Bruce Eunson

Composed, played, spoken and recorded by Michelle Henderson

Starshine

This track I was trying for a more lofi vibe. It reminds me of being on hold on the phone. I love lofi tunes, they really help me focus when doing written work. This comp is inspired by my love for my kids and my hope they never let anyone dull their sparkle. They are my starshine.

Maybe get lyrics to this one day but I'm pretty sure my kids would cringe at the ones that rain through my mind when composing this. They are pretty cheesy.

Composed, played and recorded by Michelle Henderson.

Composing music to film.

The last entry on this page is a short film clip to which I had to put music and sound effects. In the composition unit we had a choice of 3 clips and I chose Wall-E. It was a good experience to learn how to put the film clip into the DAW and compose along to it. I found some robotic sounds and metallic sounds on cubase and used the pitch bend for his robotic voice.