Upper voices

Commissioned by Youth Choirs:

• The Saga of the Seven Days - a 25-minute cantata for upper voices with piano accompaniment, also available with orchestral accompaniment.  Commissioned by the National Youth Choir of Scotland and published by them.

• Seven Planets and a Cosmic Rock - a 30-minute cantata for upper voices with piano accompaniment, also available with orchestral accompaniment (full symphony orchestra or flexiband).  Commissioned by the National Youth Choir of Scotland and published by them.

• Going for Gold - a 15-minute cantata for upper voices with piano accompaniment (also available with orchestral accompaniment) on the subject of sports events, with the intention of linking it to the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games or similar international competitions.  Commissioned by the National Youth Choir of Scotland and published by them.

• Tartan Terrors - a set of five songs for unison voices with texts by Derek Roberts: The Wild Haggis, The Loch Ness Monster, Bogle Boogie, The Wee Gigelorum  and The Kelpie.  Commissioned by the National Youth Choir of Scotland.  Published by Goodmusic.  

• Climate Change Songs - a set of two songs for unison voices with texts by Derek Roberts:  Cool Heads and Cycle and Recycle.  Commissioned by the National Youth Choir of Scotland.  Available free of charge here.

Others, published by Goodmusic:

• Five Auden Songs
  Settings of poems by W. H. Auden for upper voices and piano.
  - The Willow-Wren and the Stare
  - Make this night loveable (Nocturne II) - live performance here
  - Dear, though the night is gone
  - If I Could Tell You (But I can't)  - live performance here
  - The Love Feast
  Published by Goodmusic.  See and hear the whole score on their website.
  They are also available for solo voice and piano.  Watch a performance by Matthew McKinney and David Lyle.

• A Scottish Four Seasons
  Four new poems (Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter) by Alexander McCall Smith, set for upper voices and piano.  Published by Goodmusic.  You can see the whole score and hear it played on your computer on their website.  They are also available for solo voice and piano. The solo version of Summer is on the Grade 6 singing syllabus for Trinity College London and is also published by them in their Trinity Singing Grade 6 repertoire books TCL 016867 (high), TCL 017949 (low).

• Songs of Solomon
  Verses from the Song of Solomon (King James version) for three-part upper voices, piano and clarinet solo, 7 minutes long, published by Goodmusic. You can read the text, see the whole score and hear it played on your computer on their website.   First performance 11 June 2016.

Christmas pieces:

• For unto us a child is born, a new setting for SSA and piano of the biblical text.  Published and sold by Goodmusic/Roberton.  You can see the whole score on their website.  You can hear a computer-generated version here.  There is also an accompaniment for full symphony orchestra available from Goodmusic.  

• Patapan, a new setting of the traditional text, with words in English or French, for two-part choir and piano.  Published and sold by Goodmusic/Roberton. You can see the whole score on their website.  You can hear a computer-generated version here.  There is also an accompaniment for full symphony orchestra (as premiered by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in 2019) available from Goodmusic.  Conductor Ian Tracey said: "They all loved it, and the choir were going around singing it - it became their jingle - very catchy."  You can hear a computer-generated version of the orchestrated version here.  

• Three Donkeys, a Christmas song for unison or two-part children's voices with piano accompaniment. Available for download here.  Listen to a recording.

• Sweet was the song that Mary sang, an unaccompanied Christmas piece: a version for upper voices SSSAA is available free of charge here.

Other short pieces:

• Nearly there, a pentatonic melody setting a new text by Louise Cunningham about the pleasure and pain of a long walk in the country.  Unison voice and piano.  You can download a score here. You can hear Louise sing it and Tom play it here.

‘My boots are hurting, I’m weary, the rain is lashing, the darkness is eerie.  Please tell me that we’re nearly there.’  My year 7 classes love the sturdy rhythms of ‘Nearly there’ by Tom Cunningham, one of 30 songs commissioned by the National Choir of Scotland (NYCoS).  The harmony of the piano accompaniment is sophisticated, but the well-shaped melody is easy to sing.  Highly recommended.
Andrew Leach, Director of Music at Ipswich School, Music Teacher, December 2009

• Up in the morning early!: Robert Burns' well-known text (Up in the morning's no' for me, up in the morning early!) to a mixture of 6/8 and 3/4.  Unison voice and piano. You can download a score here. You can see and hear Tom sing it here.

• The Boatman (Fear a' bhàta), a beautiful, haunting Gaelic song arranged for SSA with piano accompaniment.  Published and sold by Goodmusic/Roberton.  You can hear a performance by the Fair City Singers here.

• A Silver Lining, a bright and cheerful song on "the power of positive thinking" with simple two- and three-part writing for equal voices and piano accompaniment. Published by Hinshaw HMC-1351, it can be purchased from Hal Leonard or, for UK and other European customers, from Music Shop Europe.   See a sample.  Watch and listen to a performance that won a competition on YouTube.

• The Duke of Perth (and other Scottish reels), a typical sequence of Scottish reel tunes arranged for two-part choir and piano.  The voices sing nonsense sounds as in traditional Gaelic mouth music.  Published and sold by Goodmusic/Roberton. You can hear a performance by the Fair City Singers here.