I was born in Watford and started playing piano at the age of 6. I took up keyboard when I was 13 and then classical guitar when I was 14.
Since then, I have done grade 5 theory (distinction with ABRSM) and grade 3 guitar (distinction with Trinity Guildhall) and also my grade 5 piano (distinction with ABRSM). I am doing my grade 7 keyboard with Trinity Guildhall in the Summer and guitar grade 5 in the Winter. Two years ago I got 100% in my grade 4 keyboard exam with NME and 99% in my grade 5.
I have been composing since I was about 8, although I didn't write my first proper song until I was 13. Most of the stuff I compose is romantic/neo-classical piano pieces and Eastern European folk songs. However, I've also done: Latin, classical, jazz, soul and pop
I write almost all of my folk songs in Montenegrin but my other songs in English (note there is one folk song written in Romanian). (Hide extended text) ... (Read all)
More Informations
Instruments :
Piano
Digital keyboard
Classical guitar
Alto voice (low C-high F)
Timpani (sort of)
Skills :
Arranger, Composer, Interpreter
Prizes :
Chesham Arts Festival Piano solo 2006 (1st)
Chesham Arts Festival Piano solo 2006 (3rd)
Aylesbury Guitar Festival Grade 3-4 Guitar Ensemble 2011 - 1st place with AMC senior guitar ensamble
Chesham Arts Festival Guitar solo 2011 (1st)
Grade :
Grades taken:
Piano grade 5 (130/150 = distinction)
Keyboard grade 7 (pass)
Classical guitar grade 5 (91%)
Theory grade 5 (91% = distinction)
GCSE music (A)
Grades taking:
Keyboard grade 8
Music AS (predicted A)
This is a collection of pieces
I have written for a variety
of instruments in folk styles
from Eastern Europe - Croatia,
Romania, Poland, Russia,
Latvia..... My aim is to try
and c(...)
2011 Written on 2011-12-25 by Ellie Farrer Well 2011 is almost at an end
but I still have plenty of
projects on the go.
Unfortunately, I have to
arrange a whole new set of
music for my guitar ensemble
to perform in the Spring
school concert with the theme
'magic'. But because
none of the material I
wrote/arranged was based on
this theme, I can't use
any of it. I don't know
if I'll be able to upload
any of my arrangements because
of copyright, but I am
arranging the Doctor Who
theme, Michael Jackson's
Thriller and my personal
favourite, Pendulum's
Witchcraft (written by Rob
Swire). I am also thinking
about doing a solo guitar
'Nocturna' for the
concert on my new guitar.
My AS composition is going
well. Again, I won't talk
about it publicly on here just
yet, but I will say that it is
called 'Teliko
Kataigida', meaning
'Final Storm'. I am
planning on having it finished
in February.
I have lots of smaller
projects on the go too - 2
solo piano pieces, Rekvijem za
Jugo Slavije, a solo harp
piece and a song. I'm
also thinking of writing a
proper accompaniment for
Pictures and Words, perhaps
for entry into a composition
competition if it looks like
Teliko Kataigida may not be
completed in time (I can only
work on it in school because I
only have Sibelius Student at
home).
I hope everyone has had a nice
holiday, be it Christmas,
Hanukkah or whatever. And
everyone has a happy 2012
filled with lots of composing
;) xxx Two thousand and eleven
Update Written on 2011-11-05 by Ellie Farrer I realise I haven't
posted anything here for a
while so I'll tell
y'all what I'm up to
these days.
I've started co-running
the guitar ensamble at my
school, which is why I've
done arrangements of
Albeniz's Asturias,
Coventry Carol and my own
Cantec de Dragoste
Pierduta/Suma Ples. I'm
thinking about what I could
arrange next. I'm
thinking the first movment of
Winter by Vivaldi, and maybe
something from the Planets
suite (although that one might
be a bit ambitious). I should
apologise for the presentation
of about 4 of my most recent
works. I haven't been
able to open Sibelius for 2
months so I've had to go
back to musescore now. It
started working last night
fortunately so my presentation
should be better now.
Yes, I am doing AS so my
composition for that is going
to be shouted about on here.
The brief is to write an
expressive instrument piece on
the title 'Passing
Storm'. I WON'T
REVEAL ANYTHING ABOUT WHAT
I'M DOING FOR THIS! Ok,
if you asked me I'd
probably play you some and
show you the score. But I
won't risk anyone
stealing it and submitting it
for their own. I won't
even say the title, style or
instrumentation on here
because it's mine. Sorry
if I seem selfish, but I
won't help anyone with
their work because it's
just not fair.
In other news, I'm doing
a marathon vocal-orchestral
piece based loosely on
Stravinsky's Symphony of
Psalms called Rekvijem Za Jugo
Slavije. This isn't for
AS so I can tell you about it.
It's Croatian 20th
century fusion for massive
orchestra and SATB voice.
I'm also doing a symphony
for a more condensed
orchestra.
I have quite a few little
projects on the go at the
moment too, but they might
have to be put on hold until
my AS composition, Rekvijem
and symphony are done.
I'll be doing guitar
arrangements too.
You have no idea how happy
your comments make me. People
from school are especially
rude about my music, but here
it's nice to have
comments and messages from
strangers in Canada, France
and Portugal. Midnight
Malaguena and Suma Ples have
had their PDFs downloaded more
than 500 times now by people
from all over the world which
is amazing. I use soundcloud
and youtube too now, but this
site is still my favourite by
far. I'm quite excited
about this competition
that's happening too.
I'm not expecting to win
of course, but it would be
great to enter. It would be
good to get more views on some
of my pieces, as if 500
wasn't enough! I've
already entered Cantec de
Dragoste Pierduta for the
quartet category and I think
some others will be entered
too. Nothing new, seeing as
neither of my 3 massive
projects are going to be
finished in time.
READ THIS!!!! CHANGES Written on 2011-06-16 by Ellie Farrer My GCSEs have finished,
meaning more music will be
going on here very soon. But
in light of recent events
there will be a huge change:
As of now, lyrics will NOT be
in English anymore because
none of my 'friends'
can handle the subject matter.
From now on, it's
Montenegrin and Montenegrin
only - maybe the occasional
song in another language but
expect Montenegrin songs with
NO English translation.
Apparently it's creepy
that i've written a song
for someone. I don't
think it is and I'd love
it if someone wrote one for
me. I take inspiration from
what goes on around me and
what goes on in my head. This
will not be changing - I will
continue to write songs about
the important people in my
life. I only want to make
these people happy and this is
the way I will do it seen as
I'm rubbish at everything
else.
Also there has been a fair
amount of hate on Facebook
with people ridiculing and
passing round the link to my
homepage. However, just
because there is hate from
some stupid people who are out
to ruin me doesn't mean
uploads will stop. In fact,
they make me want to upload
more. Because even if I wrote
the next 'Fur Elise'
they would still write hurtful
comments because they, for
some reason, have something
against me.
However, while there is a
significant amount of hate,
most people have been very
supportive. People at my
school who I hardly know have
congratulated me. And, of
course, there's the
amazing people on here.
Whether you write a comment,
do an interpretation or even
just click on one of my links,
you are making me feel so good
about it. With every click and
every listen, I'm seeing
more and more hope that this
silly dream of mine could
become my silly reality!
Ellie I Thought You Were Dead Written on 2011-05-14 by Ellie Farrer Hi guys, I haven't posted
anything for a while. I have
my GCSEs starting in 2 days
and they continue for a month
exactly.
Therefore I don't think
there'll be anything
going up for a while yet.
I'll be revising and I
probably won't have time
to upload anything. But after
they finish, I'll have
loads of time to complete
projects and start new ones.
I have started arranging
'Sunrise Over the Pink
Mountain' for a very
strange orchestra - Sibelius
won't let me have 13
staves so I've only
included the instruments I
like eg. cor anglais instead
of clarinet.
I am also in the middle of a
late-Romantic piano piece to
add to 'Pianabella'
and also 2 Eastern European
things plus an arrangement of
a Latvian piece for
'Muzyka Z Serca'. I
am also trying my hand at jazz
and I am writing a song
inspired by Middle Eastern
music written in English and
Arabic. However, due to the
subject and circumstance it
definitely won't be
released until early September
to mark the 10th anniversary
of the 9/11 attacks.
So that's what's
going on. I'll try and
get on here to validate
comments etc. and check on my
analytics (there is a 27%
chance that you are French and
a 5% chance you're
Iranian). But don't
expect anything for a while.
Interest : Skill level : Although I don't understand a
single word of the lyrics, I
must say I greatly enjoyed
this piece of music. And even
if I use Google Translate to
translate them in English
again, they probably won't be
the exact same thing you wrote
xD The music itself is well
written, in a well mastered
Romanian-folk way. I'm eager
to hear more!!!
Comment posted the 2012-02-18 by samlab (Free-scores.com member)
Interest : Skill level : You really need to work on
your chord progression, and
the guidance of your melody
through the chords moreover.
My ears have creaked several
times when reading the score
because of unexpected unwanted
dissonances, which were
nonetheless pretty well placed
I must admit. Your musical
language is pretty well
advanced (I won't say "for
someone your age, since I'm
only a year older than you :P)
and it is a good thing. You'll
have more time to work on your
own style.
I hope that my comments
weren't too harsh for you, I
am an old-fashioned composer
still working with the
dissonance-resolution way of
writing. :P
Good continuance.
Samuel Labrecque
Comment posted the 2012-01-07, by Ellen Schwindt (visitor)
Interest : Skill level : Hello Ellie,
I found your music on this
site and want to know if you
would be open to having an
arrangement of it played by a
youth ensemble. I have a group
of beginning players who would
likely enjoy this song--Puppy
Dog Tails. In arranging it I
would need to change the key
to A, and might split up the
voices for different people to
get a chance at some of the
hard parts. The
instrumentation I have is
piano, violin and clarinet. I
think my students would have
fun playing a piece composed
by a young person--one whose
music they could listen to
on-line.
Please e-mail mail me to tell
me whether you give your
permission for me to make such
an arrangement and have my
students perform it.
Thank you and keep composing!
-Ellen Schwindt
Comment posted the 2012-01-06, by Francesco Cybele (visitor)
Interest : Skill level : thank you so much, i was
looking for some hora scores,
but this is really interesting
too. The bass part is a bit
static, but good for
practicing with eastern europe
folk music.
Comment posted the 2011-12-05 by alexandre-pappas (Free-scores.com member)
Interest : Skill level : xaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa len again a
super performance.and this
young lady must bee
sooooooooooooooooo happy.yes a
super peace form here and you.
Comment posted the 2011-07-12, by tzejing (visitor)
Interest : Skill level : Yeah I don't play any
instruments and I won't be
able to play this, but looks
good Ellie! Woop woop this
girl will grow up to be a
musical genius watch this
space!
Comment posted the 2011-05-14 by julie-gagne (Free-scores.com member)
Member account
Royaume-Uni, Aylesbury
Farrer, Ellie : Piangere
Traditional : The Coventry Carol
Albéniz, Isaac : Asturias - No. 5 from Suite Espanola (arranged for 3 guitars)
