Neil March

Neil March (born 16 July 1963) is a British composer.

Life

He was born in Hemel Hempstead of Welsh and English parents. March studied from a young age and at 13 he was offered a place at the prestigious Purcell School but was unable to accept as his family could not afford the fees. In 1981 he was due to study music composition at Dartington College of Arts but he never took his place there and, by 1983, he had turned his back on the classical music world to focus on the growing Post-Punk scene.

During the 1980s and 90s he wrote for and performed with a number of bands and artists including MSQ whose song Modern World was released to Europe-wide acclaim by Unicorn Records in 1989. MSQ later recorded for Bluebeat Records, a label owned by Buster Bloodvessel of Bad Manners. In 1997 he wrote and played on Acid Jazz band Junction 8's West Skyline EP and in 2000 he wrote and played on Feels so good, a UK Garage song by Anella Kissoon for Storm Records. His final release in the Pop world was his most successful, the debut album by Smooth Jazz artist Kevin East.

However March had grown increasingly tired of Pop genres and returned to formal classical study at Blackheath Conservatoire with Benjamin Rous in 2005. He then studied with David Sutton-Anderson and Avril Anderson at Birkbeck, University of London in 2006/7 before studying for his masters (mmus.) in music composition at Goldsmiths, University of London with the New Complexity Composer Roger Redgate from 2008 to 2010. There he also studied with the Russian composer Dmitry Smirnov who have up much of his own time to provide one to one guidance to him.

During this period March's reputation as a composer grew steadily thanks to performances across the UK, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. In December 2009 his piano work Momenta was performed at the Royal Festival Hall as part of the Park Lane Group's Symposium. The performance drew praise from leading figures in the classical world including Paul Patterson, Timothy Salter and Giles Easterbrook. He was also invited as a guest composer to address students at the University of Middlesex and Cambridge University.

March's music is driven by a desire to reflect events in post-globilization society through the structure and technical aspects of his work whilst also postulating a distinct harmonic language. He has introduced a new form of composing using soundbites which he argues are the prevalent modern communication culture for which he cites the popularity of text messaging, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, YouTube etc. For large form works he has fashioned a two-movement form in which the opening movement (the Summary) presents a series of contrasting ideas as short soundbites and the second movement (the Elaboration) demonstrates how these may be fully developed alongside transitional material. He has also introduced new techniques including Polyfluidity of which there are several categories, each rooted in though not imitative of events in real life.

Aside from his musical endeavours, March has been a long-time supporter of the Labour and Trade Union movements, an active trade union official who has worked as a national negotiator for the union Public and Commercial Services Union and describes himself as a democratic Socialist who believes in the historic long-term influence of social democracy on changing attitudes across society.

List of compositions

• Youth and Discovery: Four piano pieces (1980/81)
• Nearness of the beloved (1981) for Baritone & Piano (text from Goethe)
• State of Mankind (1982) for String Quartet
• Reality Attack (1983) for Solo Viola
• Fugue & Fantasia (for Orchestra) (2008)
• Twenty Four Hours (2008) for Orchestra
• Contemplations on an untitled work by Andreas Schulze (2008) for performance by Laura Jay (Flute) & Philip Lawton (Piano)
• Metamorphoses (2008) for Orchestra
• Fluctuation: Graduation: Transformation (2008) for Organ
• 12 (for String Quartet) entered for Sound & Music Call for Composers
• Sonata for Piano (2009) commissioned by Coreen Morsink
• Heptagon (2009) commissioned by Goldsmiths Flute Quartet
• Momenta (2009) commissioned by Emma Firth (Piano)
• The Raven (2009) for Cn Lester (Soprano) & Philip Lawton (Piano)
• Motion: Stasis: Motion (2009) commissioned by Nomos Project
• Fanfare (2009) for opening of Composer/Performer Collaboration Concert, Deptford Town Hall
• Diversions (2009) premiered and frequently performed by Marilyn Wyers (Piano)
• As the facts emerge (2010) commissioned by Nomos Project
• No Surrender (2010) commissioned by Marilyn Wyers
• Into the night (2010) commissioned by Tunde
• Entanglement (2010) composed for Arditti Quartet Competition
• Construction (2010) for Orchestra
• The Twin Track (2011) commissioned by Marilyn Wyers
• Snapshots (2011) commissioned by Nomos Project
• People come people go (2011) for Chamber Ensemble

Forthcoming

• Shifting Sands (2011) for Laura Jay & Emma Firth
• Lament (2011) for Marilyn Wyers and Solo Soprano

Discography

• The Boilerhouse Tapes EP - The Electrostats (Zap) 1980
• The Juggler (TV Advert, Scottish TV) - Juggler Collective 1983
• Modern World - MSQ (Unicorn Records) 1989
• West Skyline - Junction 8 (MSQ Music) 1997
• Feels so good - Anella Kissoon (Storm Records) 2000
• Kevin East - Kevin East (Ravensbourne Records) 2003
• Everything you do - Kevin East (Ravensbourne Records) 2003

References

• NMC (2008). "Neil March page". New Music Composition. http://www.newmusiccomposition.com/neilmarch. 
• Neil March (October 2005). "Radio called the radio station". Guitar Nine. http://guitar9.com/colidxneilmarch1.html. 
• Junction 8 (June 1997). "West Skyline". Sky. http://www.answers.com/topic/west-skyline-1997-album-by-junction-b. 
• unknown (2005). "Hemel Hempstead Celebs". Knowhere.co.uk. http://www.knowhere.co.uk/Hemel-Hempstead/.../South.../celebs. 
• Neil March (January 2006). "Why distribution offers a new dawn". Vocalist website. http://www.vocalist.org.uk/distribution_online.html. 
• Roger Redgate (June 2010). "Centre for Contemporary Music Culture News". Goldsmiths University, London. http://www.gold.ac.uk/ccmc/ccmcnews. 
• unknown (2006). "Record Company Links". Electric Blues Club. http://www.electricbluesclub.co.uk/record_companies_links.html. 
• cymarc.co.uk (2011). "Kevin East album". Answers.com. http://www.answers.com/topic/kevin-east-album-by-kevin-east. 
• Amazon (2003). "Kevin East CD". Ravensbourne Records. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kevin-East/dp/B000009PAJ9. 

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Name	March, Neil
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Date of birth	16 July 1963
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