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Ken Freeman (composer)
Ken Freeman (born 1946) is a prominent English composer and session musician, primarily playing piano and synthesisers. He is most prominently known for his work playing most of the synthesisers on ''Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds'', and also as the composer of the theme music for BBC television's ''Casualty'' and ''Holby City''. His session career has included work with artists including Justin Hayward, David Essex and Elkie Brooks. Ken is also considered by many to be the inventor of the string synthesiser, creating a prototype version of a polyphonic instrument at home in order to be able to mimic the sound of a string section more accurately in the studio. This instrument would eventually be released as the Freeman string symphonizer.Sound On Sound (Feb 2007)Ken Freeman & The Birth Of String SynthesisAccessed 2010-12-18 Most recently in 2008, Ken has been working on a new version of the music he composed for the BBC series ''The Tripods ''The Tri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboard, which is a row of keys (small levers) that the performer presses down or strikes with the fingers and thumbs of both hands to cause the hammers to strike the strings. It was invented in Italy by Bartolomeo Cristofori around the year 1700. Description The word "piano" is a shortened form of ''pianoforte'', the Italian term for the early 1700s versions of the instrument, which in turn derives from ''clavicembalo col piano e forte'' (key cimbalom with quiet and loud)Pollens (1995, 238) and ''fortepiano''. The Italian musical terms ''piano'' and ''forte'' indicate "soft" and "loud" respectively, in this context referring to the variations in volume (i.e., loudness) produced in response to a pianist's touch or pressure on the keys: the grea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and frequency modulation synthesis. These sounds may be altered by components such as filters, which cut or boost frequencies; envelopes, which control articulation, or how notes begin and end; and low-frequency oscillators, which modulate parameters such as pitch, volume, or filter characteristics affecting timbre. Synthesizers are typically played with keyboards or controlled by sequencers, software or other instruments, and may be synchronized to other equipment via MIDI. Synthesizer-like instruments emerged in the United States in the mid-20th century with instruments such as the RCA Mark II Sound Synthesizer, RCA Mark II, which was controlled with Punched card, punch cards and used hundreds of vacuum tubes. The Moog synthesizer, d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeff Wayne's Musical Version Of The War Of The Worlds
''Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds'' is a studio double album by American-born British musician, composer, and record producer Jeff Wayne, released on 9 June 1978 by CBS Records. It is an album musical adapted from the science-fiction novel ''The War of the Worlds'' by H. G. Wells in a rock opera style with a rock band, orchestra, narrator, and leitmotifs to carry the story and lyrics that express the feelings of the various characters. The album features guest artists David Essex, Justin Hayward, Phil Lynott, Chris Thompson, and Julie Covington, with actor Richard Burton as the narrator. The album became a commercial success in the UK, peaking at number 5 on the chart and selling over 2.7 million copies there since its release. In 2018, it was the UK's 32nd best-selling studio album of all time, and has sold an estimated 15 million copies worldwide. It won two Ivor Novello Awards, including one for Wayne and main lyricist Gary Osborne for Best Instrument ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Casualty (TV Series)
''Casualty'' (stylised as ''CASUAL+Y'') is a British medical drama series that airs weekly on BBC One. Created by Jeremy Brock and Paul Unwin, it was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 6 September 1986. The original producer was Geraint Morris. Having been broadcast weekly since 1986, ''Casualty'' is the longest-running primetime medical drama series in the world. The programme is set in the fictional Holby City Hospital and focuses on the staff and patients of the hospital's Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department. The show has strong ties to its sister programme '' Holby City'', which began as a spin-off series from ''Casualty'' in 1999, set in the same hospital. The final episode of ''Holby City'' was broadcast in March 2022. ''Casualty''s exterior shots were mainly filmed outside the Ashley Down Centre in Bristol from 1986 until 2002, when they moved to the centre of Bristol. In 2011, ''Casualty'' celebrated its 25th anniversary and moved production to t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holby City
''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama ''Casualty'', and premiered on 12 January 1999; the show ran until 29 March 2022. It follows the lives of medical and ancillary staff at the fictional Holby City Hospital, the same hospital as ''Casualty'', in the fictional city of Holby, and features occasional crossovers of characters and plots with both ''Casualty'' (which include dedicated episodes broadcast as ''Casualty@Holby City'') and the show's 2007 police procedural spin-off ''HolbyBlue''. It began with eleven main characters in its first series, all of whom subsequently left the show. New main characters were then periodically written in and out, with a core of around fifteen main actors employed at any given time. In casting the first series, Young sought actors who were already well known in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Justin Hayward
David Justin Hayward (born 14 October 1946) is an English musician best known as the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist of the rock band the Moody Blues. Hayward became the group's principal lead guitarist and vocalist over the 1967–1974 period, and the most prolific songwriter and composer of several international hit singles for the band. Hayward wrote singles for the Moody Blues including " Nights in White Satin", " Tuesday Afternoon", " Voices in the Sky", "Never Comes the Day", "Question", "The Story in Your Eyes", "Driftwood", "The Voice", " Blue World", "Your Wildest Dreams", "I Know You're Out There Somewhere" and "English Sunset"; in all, writing 20 of the group's 27 post-1967 singles. He also has a solo career. His first album outside the Moody Blues, '' Blue Jays'', a collaboration with John Lodge, reached the UK top five in 1975. The single "Blue Guitar", recorded with 10cc as the backing band, reached the UK top ten in 1975, and his 1978 recording of " Forev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Essex
David Essex (born David Albert Cook; 23 July 1947) is an English singer, songwriter, and actor. Since the 1970s, he has attained 19 Top 40 singles in the UK (including two number ones) and 16 Top 40 albums. Internationally, Essex had the most success with his 1973 single "Rock On". He has also had an extensive career as an actor. Life and career Early life Essex was born in Plaistow, Essex (now a neighbourhood in the London Borough of Newham, included within Greater London on 23rd July 1947).Sarah Fielding. "From Rags to 'Rock On': How David Essex Became a Star." ''Music Scene.'December 1973.p. 18. His father, Albert, was an East End docker and his mother, Olive (née Kemp), was a self-taught pianist and an Irish Traveller. His grandfather, Thomas Kemp, was nicknamed "Philimore", which was the anglicised version of "Philly Mor" – being Irish for "Big Philly". Essex was two years old when his parents moved out of the overcrowded home the family was sharing with relatives, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elkie Brooks
Elkie Brooks (born Elaine Bookbinder; 25 February 1946) is an English rock, blues and jazz singer. She was a vocalist with the bands Dada and Vinegar Joe, and later became a solo artist. She gained her biggest success in the late 1970s and 1980s, releasing 13 UK Top 75 singles, and reached the top ten with "Pearl's a Singer", "Sunshine After the Rain" and the title track of the album '' No More the Fool'' (1986). She has been nominated twice for the Brit Awards. Brooks is a Gold Badge Award of Merit winner from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) (now The Ivors Academy) and is generally referred to as the "British Queen of Blues". Life and career Early career and Vinegar Joe Brooks was born Elaine Bookbinder in Salford, to a Jewish family. Her father's grandparents emigrated to Britain from Poland at the start of the 20th century to escape the pogroms. Her older brothers are Raymond Bookbinder (born 1938) and Anthony Bookbinder (born 28 May 1943), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Freeman String Symphonizer
The Freeman String Symphonizer was a 5-octave synthesizer of the 1970s. (The first prototype being shown prior to 1970, but the most well known shown in 1970, the second according to the Sound on Sound article) It was finally manufactured by the Chicago Musical Instrument Co. and was also known as the Cordovox CSS. Its sound was related to that of the ARP String Ensemble – cool, glassy-sounding strings. Eventually, its inventor Ken Freeman tried to strike a deal with the company Ling but they abandoned their interest in it. Lowrey a division of CMI finally struck a deal after some deliberation. The delay in getting the Freeman to market limited its sales. Some users were fairly famous, but its release was overshadowed by both the Eminent Solina and Crumar Stringman, both of which had only one oscillator and were cheaper to make. The Freeman has 25 oscillators. One controls a digital 'top octave synthesizer' (TOS) IC (the common MK50240 in later versions; M087 or SAA1004 in earli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Tripods (TV Series)
''The Tripods'' is a television adaptation of John Christopher's ''The Tripods'' series of novels. It was jointly produced by the BBC in the United Kingdom and the Seven Network in Australia. The music soundtrack was written by Ken Freeman. Series one of ''The Tripods'', broadcast in 1984, had 13 half-hour episodes written by Alick Rowe, the author of many radio plays, and covers the first book, ''The White Mountains''; the 12-episode second series (1985) written by Christopher Penfold covers ''The City of Gold and Lead''. Although a television script had been written for the third series, it was cancelled by BBC executives Michael Grade and Jonathan Powell due to the adaptation failing in the ratings. The first series was released on both VHS and DVD. The BBC released ''Tripods — The Complete Series 1 & 2'' on DVD in March 2009. Production The series introduced several minor changes from the book, notably the shape of the Masters and Tripods, which have tentacles ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Composers
English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national identity, an identity and common culture ** English language in England, a variant of the English language spoken in England * English languages (other) * English studies, the study of English language and literature * ''English'', an Amish term for non-Amish, regardless of ethnicity Individuals * English (surname), a list of notable people with the surname ''English'' * People with the given name ** English McConnell (1882–1928), Irish footballer ** English Fisher (1928–2011), American boxing coach ** English Gardner (b. 1992), American track and field sprinter Places United States * English, Indiana, a town * English, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * English, Brazoria County, Texas, an unincorporated community * Engl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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