Original Olde World Ethereal Instrumental Music for relaxation, background and chilling out. Thought-provoking, inspiring tunes created with a variety of instruments both ancient and new with soundscapes, sounds of nature, haunting voices and choirs. Contemporary, emotional yet bold and uplifting, these original music compositions span decades and are always being expanded upon. Keep up to date with what's new and learn about how it all came about.
Since deciding that I was not going to make any more soundtracks available on CD, I was asked to produce St. John of the Cross soundtrack, this is now available. Then, the other day, my sister was working with the music score from St. Edith Stein film and noticed that the click-track was playing in the background, embedded in the music score.
I found myself opening up the project from 2015 to check, muted this strange phenomenon and sent her a new clean file.
Whilst in the project I thought that I may as well make it into a soundtrack and so I spent the day dividing the full score into 9 tracks, levelling them out and mixing them down. I called the album "Science of the Cross" and it is volume 8 in my Calm Your Spirit With Music series of Mary's Dowry Productions soundtracks from the films, instrumental as audio CD.
Track Listing:
Track 1: Visions of the Cross (2:57)
Track 2: Taking up the Cross (5:27)
Track 3: The Message of the Cross (5:05)
Track 4: A Theology of the Cross (3:41)
Track 5: The Word From the Cross (3:09)
Track 6: The Love of the Cross (3:31)
Track 7: The Cross and the Night (5:19)
Track 8: The Science of the Cross (6:47)
Track 9: The Glory in the Cross (3:17)
I produced a VLOG which speaks about the process involved in making this soundtrack, or any soundtrack from a Mary's Dowry film into an audio CD. This can be watched here:
What I love about St. Edith Stein soundtrack is the use of Mysticavoices by Eduardo Tarilonte, I fuse this with Duduk and it's a nice fusion of sound, very atmospheric and contemplative. It was nice to work on this straight after working on the St. John of the Cross CD (DARK NIGHT) as that soundtrack uses Cantus, also by Eduardo Tarilonte, the voices of monks, so it was a good contrast to work once again with the voices of female choirs in Mystica. I am still currently working on and off on VALLEYS from my other series of Folklore type Olde English Instrumental fusion albums, following on from KINGDOMS produced in 2010 but it's very slow going. I am currently having a pause from any Holy Spirit Music Series and seem to be mostly working at the moment on film scores and film soundtracks which is unexpected but interesting. This new CD Album "Science of the Cross" is now available through our website at www.marysdowryproductions.org.
I have produced this trailer to show samples of the music from my new CD Soundtrack "DARK NIGHT". 'Dark Night' is Volume 7 in my Calm Your Spirit With Music Series of Mary's Dowry Productions soundtracks. You can listen to it here:
I had previously chosen to stop producing soundtracks onto CD at the six that I have released over the past several years. Last week however somebody wrote to us asking where they could get the music soundtrack for St. John of the Cross Film.
Saint John of the Cross DVD
I remember writing this in 2014 and using CANTUS by Eduardo Tarilonte for the first time. The monks voices and Gregorian Chant sounds are gorgeous and this score really does have it's own atmosphere. So I decided to see if I could re-open the old project and produce the soundtrack onto CD for it.
It opened fine and I worked the score over the week into eight lovely tracks. It was actually quite fun to listen to the music I had not heard in a while. I gave the finished tracks to my sister to create titles for and she came up with titles relevant for this saint based upon the writings in the Dark Night of the Soul by Saint John of the Cross.
The titles of these tracks are:
Track 1: Fired With Love (2:39)
Track 2: By The Secret Ladder (4:43)
Track 3: More Surely Than the Night of Noon (3:54)
Track 4: O Night More Lovely Than Dawn (2:34)
Track 5: The Breeze That Fanned the Cedars (3:33)
Track 6: The Guiding Night (3:10)
Track 7: In Darkness and Secure (7:16)
Track 8: My House is Now Still (4:42)
I'm really pleased with this CD as it speaks musically of Carmelite Spirituality and has a strong and absorbing atmosphere. The CD is called DARK NIGHT and is the 7th in my Calm Your Spirit With Music series of Mary's Dowry Productions soundtracks. It's available through our online shop www.marysdowryproductions.org
Following on from my previous post, 2018 saw Mary's Dowry Productions work on several more new DVD releases in 2018. It was fantastic to work on another English Martyr - St. Thomas Garnet this year. Although filmed for in March 2017 and being so keen to have this DVD, it was not until late this year 2018 that work was finally completed on this great saint.
We had invested in a particular costume for this saint, a high quality, authentic style garment that really made the visuals for this film stand out.
Screenshot from "St. Thomas Garnet and the Gunpowder Plot" DVD
We had a sudden few days here of intense snow and for ten years we have wanted to venture out into the snow to acquire footage. We did this, obtaining beautiful shots of hills, horses, cows, nature, close ups of flowers in the snow, branches and blizzards.
Screenshot of St. Thomas Garnet at the Gallows
St. Thomas Garnet was the first production we used the snow footage in and it really added to it. We were particularly pleased to be able to use the horse-rider in the snow that we shot to portray St. Thomas Garnet's travels around England.
Saint Thomas Garnet and the Gunpowder Plot DVD
When it came to me composing the music score for this I was able to use all my old English sounds and samples but I also added depth by incorporating a lot more sound effects, including horses hooves with the horse in the snow footage as well as snow falling plus many more. This film is called "Saint Thomas Garnet and the Gunpowder Plot" and is now available on DVD.
Our Lady and the Visionaries of Knock
Saint Thomas Garnet marked the end of the films we shot for in March 2017, leaving us with only the Ferring barn footage shot for St. Mechtilde of Magdeburg film. The next production we worked on was "Our Lady and the Visionaries of Knock" which we filmed for earlier this year.
I was extremely excited about this production. All my life I have found the Knock apparitions to be important and fascinating but I've never understood the entire process of what happened. I looked forward to working on this to find out.
We had filmed not only the visuals of the villagers who saw the apparition, but we had also recorded several parishioners who volunteered their time to narrate several witness accounts from Knock, mostly genuine Irish parishioners, one who is actually from Knock and remembers the time before the basilica, with all the crutches from cures upon the walls.
It was so effective to show the actual people experiencing the visions, it really brought the whole thing to life. We used everybody who was at the barn for the filming day for St. Alban Roe, St. Francis de Sales, St. Jane de Chantal and St. Gemma Galgani so we had several people and it worked out perfectly.
Screenshot from Our Lady and the Visionaries of Knock film
The side of the barn was perfect to represent where the apparitions took place.
We also filmed our parish priest for the 1960's section and building of Knock Airport.
Our Parish Priest in the production of Knock.
Putting this production together was quite a pressure, it was longer than our average DVD, plus there were lots of different narrations to work with. I was looking forward to writing Irish-themed music but I found it quite difficult. The difficult productions always turn out quite profound and it was the case with this. I was astonished at the shocking Irish history
I learned so much about Ireland and it finally clicked exactly why Our Lady appeared here and at that time in history.
St. Mechtilde of Magdeburg and the Souls in Purgatory
I had been wanting to have this production for over a year because I wanted to see how our discovery of the ruined barn at Ferring would turn out. Visually it was perfect! I was much moved by St. Mechtilde's life and particularly new insights into the devotion to the Holy Souls in Purgatory which is covered in this film.
St. Mechtilde DVD
I enjoyed writing the music for this film, mystical, reflective and lots of use of soundscapes and ethereal voices and nuns.
Screenshot from St. Mechtilde of Magdeburg DVD
This DVD has actually proved extremely popular, more than I would have thought. Finishing this DVD marked the completion of our catch-up of outstanding productions and footage filmed for in 2017. It was a great feeling to have all these wonderful saints' DVDs available and their stories told.
St. Mechtilde of Magdeburg Trailer can be viewed here:
A step forward to Mary's Dowry Productions, we have been pleased to begin introducing some Beguines into our catalogue, Beguines and the Beguine vocation is very dear to us.
Saint Gemma Galgani
The very end of 2018 has seen us working on St. Gemma Galgani. I liken this production to our film on Blessed Alexandrina produced in 2010. As with Alexandrina St. Gemma Galgani is in black and white with effects surrounding visions, her guardian angel and mystical experiences.
Screenshot from St. Gemma Galgani
I found writing the music quite difficult again but went for something very moving with use of cello and strings. Gemma's story is fascinating and deep.
Feeling quite overwhelmed and a little burned out but so pleased to have caught up, we have decided to leave St. Alban Roe and St. Francis de Sales to the new year. We have begun filming for Edel Quinn but only allowed ourselves one filming day, taking advantage of the cracked earth and heatwave that took place here, to represent Edel's time in Africa.
Screenshot from Edel Quinn upcoming film 2019
This has been archived until 2019 when we are feeling a bit more recovered. Next year will surely see some new saints and fascinating new releases. Meanwhile I will be concentrating a bit more on my albums.
2018 has been a hectic year for us. Over the years with Mary's Dowry Productions we have tried to produce as many films as possible on the lives of the saints by incorporating as much history and film footage as possible on a filming day. This has left us with a lot of ongoing catch-up work so we seem to always have several productions outstanding. 2018 has been quite bad for this because we filmed for Saint John Bosco, Dominic Savio,
Screenshot from Dominic Savio FILM
Screenshot from Dominic Savio FILM
Mary Mazzarello, Jacinta Marto in January 2017, this gave us four productions to put together.
Screenshot from Jacinta of Fatima DVD FILM
We also filmed for Bartolo Longo, Claude de la Colombiere, Margaret Mary and Thomas Garnet in March 2017, this gave us 8.
Screenshot from Bartolo Longo Film
Screenshot from Bartolo Longo Film
We discovered an old ruined barn in Ferring that would be great for a backdrop so we slipped in Saint Mechtilde of Magdeburg and the Souls in Purgatory shortly after this. This gave us 9 productions.
Discovery of an old barn in Ferring as backdrop for St. Mechtilde
We get so excited about every single production. From a music perspective I know that once I start writing a score, the theme and atmosphere develops and is the theme for that production. Therefore each saint, each DVD has it's own atmosphere. We can see the potential of this so we're keen to get them released fast.
It's ever such a lot of work however and having 9 films all filmed for with amazing visuals is quite a pressure. 2018 therefore has been about catching up with these, one by one. The only way to handle the workload was literally to take one at a time and not allow ourselves to get too excited about all of them.
However instead of putting together ALL the films we filmed for in 2017 above, we had several intense extra filming days at the end of 2017 for Saint Faustina and Saint Padre Pio.
Screenshot from Faustina and the Divine Mercy DVD
Screenshot from Padre Pio: Pray, Hope and Don't Worry DVD
We released these films but this got us really behind so the beginning of 2018 saw us working on Saint Margaret Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, filmed for in March 2017, we also had outstanding, Dominic Savio and Mary Mazzarello from Janary 2018 - a year earlier.
Padre Pio DVD, New in 2017
Saint Faustina DVD NEW for 2017
Working on Margaret Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus was a new experience and a great start to 2018 for music. The whole theme of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is extremely important and moving. We used the words of Jesus narrated by Mike Pailthorpe who narrates for us so beautifully. He did the same in Blessed Alexandrina Maria da Costa DVD back in 2010.
Listen here to the words of Jesus taken from Margaret Mary Film:
We released Saint Margaret Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus at the beginning of 2018 and felt we were catching up, but we still had Dominic Savio and Mary Mazzarello from January 2017.
Saint Margaret Mary DVD
With the release of Saint Margaret Mary DVD we went straight on to working on the beautiful film Saint Dominic Savio which seemed to take several months to do. I was very moved by this because although we have been working on popular saints and saints outside of England, we love the English Martyrs and Saint Dominic Savio is linked to England because of his vision of England. It's incredible how each saint that we work on is linked to each other and to Mary's Dowry.
Saint Dominic Savio DVD
Saint Dominic Savio film took months and was a lot of work. It left us however with just Saint Mary Mazzarello to complete the January 2017 filming day. We went on to Saint Claude de la Colombiere however as there was much interest in him with St. Margaret Mary DVD being met with such a good reception. Again, Saint Claude is linked to England, he actually came to England and met with Saint John Wall in prison, one of the forty martyrs.
Screenshot from Saint Claude DVD
When I work on a score, I find myself very moved as I get into the production and it's when I really meet and connect with a saint. This was again the case with Saint Claude de la Colombiere. The profundity of his visit to England, bringing the Sacred Heart devotion to this country was incredible. How this production fits in with all our work on the English Martyrs is brilliant.
We released Saint Claude de la Colombiere and the Sacred Heart in England DVD and it's available along with all others from https://www.marysdowryproductions.org/
Also this year, we worked on A Simple Soul: Saint Mary Mazzarello. She is the founder of the Salesian Sisters and having worked on Saint Don Bosco and Saint Dominic Savio films it was great to see a different side of this. The production is called "A Simple Soul". She is a great saint and although lesser known, her life is very insightful and inspiring and I'm very pleased we worked on this film.
A Simple Soul: St. Mary Mazzarello DVD
It was celebration time with the release of Saint Mary Mazzarello because this marked the completion of films shot for in January 2017.
There was a bit of a break after this production as we were not at our goal yet nor have I mentioned that during this process, we had another filming day in March 2018 adding four more to our list which set us back again. I shall continue this roundup for 2018 in my next post. 2017 and 2018 really has been quite dominated by Salesians and the Sacred Heart saints and they are great!
Please visit our website for all DVDs and new releases here:
Last week I produced a trailer for my CD album "REALMS". I love this album I spent four years on it on and off, back when my studio was downstairs and I had a big working environment that included a lovely Clavinova CVP-203.
Me in my first studio early setup
This was the last CD album I wrote before I migrated to VST instruments. I'd gone about as far as I could go with the technology of the day and I enrolled myself into college in order to learn more and take my music production skills further.
REALMS CD
We've been having a break since releasing our newest DVD on Saint Gemma Galgani.
Screenshot from "Saint Gemma Galgani" Film
We've had really good feedback so far from this production and with all the catching up that took place this year we find ourselves quite exhausted. It has been my aim to get back on track with my albums, Mary's Dowry Productions work does take up a lot of time and I never seem to find the time to pursue my CD compilations.
Work on "VALLEYS" is very slow, I started it in 2014 and have only found time to complete 5 or 6 tracks for it. The thought of doing more makes me very tired so I'm a bit burnt out and need a rest before working on it more. We are taking until the end of the year before we continue with our outstanding productions St. Alban Roe and St. Francis de Sales.
Our newest DVD Release - St. Gemma Galgani available now on DVD.
Still, something I have been doing is making trailers for each CD album and integrating them onto the website. I have tried for so long to describe my music with words but nothing beats actually hearing it! Now, each album has a trailer that can be clicked on and you can hear the tracks. My new aim is to produce a trailer for each CD so watch this space.
This week I have been working on a trailer so as to give some audio/visual samples of my CD album "Realms". I really enjoyed working on this, it's a great album with so much going on and wonderful to listen to.
Last week I wrote the music score for our long awaited DVD on Saint Gemma Galgani. This film has been a long time coming, we purchased the cape for Saint Gemma to wear about 6 years ago, the hat about 4 years ago, the script was written over a year ago. We were planning to film for this production but then the filming day was cancelled and when re-booked was such hard work with so many difficulties that we almost cancelled it again midway through!
St. Gemma Galgani
Recording the narration took 4 attempts with a faulty sound cable, then the soundcard drivers needed updating via LiveChat with Focusrite, all hell broke loose trying to edit, a college student across the road decided to get himself a loud motorbike and drove it up and down all day long until gone midnight so there was no peace. Then when it came to writing the music, my computer decided on regular 15 second delays whilst showing the film so I had to regularly compose to no picture where the .avi file was not the correct size for Cubase.
I began the music score but then there were so many delays that it was several days before I could go back to it. I lost all my inspiration and got very stressed. In the above VLOG I speak about beginning the music score, instrumentation and share the opening titles.
Completion!
Finally on Saturday I had just 15 minutes of music left to write and thought I would spend an hour or two finalizing it. It took me the whole day but was well worth it, the scenes with St. Gemma's Guardian Angel were very moving and I was able to blend a Tenor Recorder with Soundscapes, Strings and Choirs for this and bring in the Tenor Recorder every time the Angel came back on screen.
Screenshot showing St. Gemma Galgani and Guardian Angel
After we completed our first film on Saint Philip Howard, the Earl of Arundel and English Martyr at the beginning of 2008, we were inspired to discover more of the English Martyrs, particularly the 40 martyrs of England and Wales. An opportunity arose to attend "The Martyrs Walk" in London, led by Joanna Bogle.
Waiting for the Train to London
We caught the train and met a group of Catholics and historians at Tower Hill. The Martyrs Walk was led by Joanna Bogle and the Franciscan Friars of Renewal and the idea was to visit historic sites in London, the first Catholic Churches now destroyed, priories torn down during the reformation, and Joanna Bogle would explain the history behind these sites.
We also prayed litanies and sung hymns about the Faith and the martyrs as a witness.
Along the way we stopped at St. Patrick's Church, Soho for Mass, we continued along the busy streets, all the while we photographed, documented and filmed the event.
Bearing Witness to the Martyrs along the streets of London
It was not until I stood and examined the plaques at Tower Hill that the reality and excitement of our Catholic Faith and History, especially the English Martyrs, struck me. At this point we had only worked on Saint Philip Howard and discovered him as an awesome witness and martyr. Seeing the spot where many of our Catholic ancestors were martyrs made it so real.
You can see Saint Philip Howard's actual writings in his cell in London, you can also stand on the spot where saints such as Thomas More and John Fisher were executed. You can also stand on the spot where the Tyburn Gallows once stood.
Tower Hill, where many martyrs were killed
My interest and love for the 40 martyrs of England and Wales was ignited even more on this spot and I wanted to know all their stories! The place of Tyburn Gallows is in the middle of traffic now but there is a plaque that marks the spot. Saint Philip Howard died in the Tower of London but other Martyrs were hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn. The Martyrs Walk ended at Tyburn Convent. where there were many relics of the martyrs.
It was not our intention to produce a DVD on The Martyrs Walk but we were so inspired by the history of these sites in London as well as the spots where the martyrs were executed, plus we had filmed and documented the entire event. We decided to produce our second DVD 'The Martyrs Walk' sharing this history, these sites, great shots of London including many back streets and secret places, interjected with short biographies of many English Martyrs.
When I began writing the music score, I had only written 1 full length film score so this was my second score. I wanted to capture the history and era and drew upon memories of atmospheres from places such as The London Dungeons, spooky sounds and eerie atmospheres created with soundscapes and noisescapes.
I used early sounds such as Symphonic Choirs and Whispering Angels. For the Opening Titles I used Pizz. Strings and create a very story like sound to lay the foundation for the film content. To this date The Martyrs Walk has a very unique atmosphere.
You can listen to the Opening Titles here:
I particularly love the use of the bell, it takes you straight to the era of the English Martyrs.
Although we started our Catholic Media Apostolate with Saint Philip Howard and wanted to move straight on to Saint Edmund Campion, The Martyrs Walk event in London was such a blessing as it introduced us to all the martyrs including the Blesseds and the Forty Martyrs. It took us to the places of their deaths and to many historic sites of Catholicism in London.
It set an amazing foundation for the next 10 years of productions on the English Martyrs and sparked a great zeal in us for our faith and history.
We have many box sets of English Martyrs Feature Films Available.
As Joanna Bogle said so prophetically "The martyrs sacrificed their lives for us and for our country yet the Forty Martyrs were not canonized until 1970. It's as if all the graces they obtained were stored up for us until now when we most need them."
voices by Eduardo Tarilonte, I fuse this with Duduk and it's a nice fusion of sound, very atmospheric and contemplative. 
