R.I.P. Conical Bell Eb aka Daniel Barkley

[ttf_anonymous]

Dear all,

It is hard to succinctly break this news, but it is personally relevant and devastatingly painful - I lost my brother on Thursday night and the world lost a wonderful composer and a beautiful human being. Me (Michael) and Danny were responsible for the Conical Bell Eb recordings and posts. We loved having a little fun, especially musical fun, and I think there were quite a few on here who had a laugh at our jape. Danny is no longer with us, and while I play some trombone I am primarily a trumpet player and may not check back very often here, but feel that he would want me to let you all in on the jape.

Before I write a short paragraph on what he meant to me and who he was as a person and to share his music, let me just tell you - he fought so very hard with extreme depression and lost the battle. If you are able, please consider supporting MindWise who help people like him in Northern Ireland.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/dannybarkley

The CBEb recordings were done by the pair of us on a trombone from the attic, with an ill fitting trumpet mouthpiece and too much spare time - we were kids, and how we laughed while creating the music. Every care was taken to make this as bad as it was, and it brought us both great joy to read the responses. Thank you guys - you are good sports.

Danny's entire life was consumed by music, one of the brightest most dedicated and tireless composers and musicians I have ever met. There was nothing he didn't know about music, about any instrument and any technique or style. His entire being was music, nothing else. When he wrote music for ensembles, he learned how to play the instruments they played to try and understand how to better write for them and with me being his brother he took to brass and I bought him his first cornet.

While his first instrument was piano, on which he was exceptional, he learned at least a working knowledge - if not greater - of most stringed instruments, including period instruments such as the viol, the voice, percussion and on... there are feet deep of books on his piano, and on his shelves. This was his WORLD.

A short story - he applied to participate in a Kodály course, lasting a week, which focussed on the voice, solfège and so on. He wasn't a singer or enrolled in performance, so he had to take an entrance exam demonstrating facility in music. As part of the exam they played a 30 second excerpt of SATB - Bach or something similar - they asked him to identify any cadences in the music. He wrote out the entire example - all 4 parts, having heard it once, with 1 mistake which he profusely apologised for. Everyone was speechless. I witnessed his astonishing ability to transcribe on many many occasions. If he had a party trick - which he didn't as he wasn't the sort - it would have been to play piano in ANY style. We played musical games where I would call a composer and he would improvise in the style, and I would call another and he would seamlessly merge into the style.

He was the most gentle hearted and loyal gentleman you would ever meet, and he loved all his friends and family. When he was well he would gift us short compositions and spend hours sharing music with us - he particularly enjoyed finding examples of dissonance in classical composer's works, this was like a little treasure hunt for him. I got many messages with links or images and bars circled showing how Mozart put a minor 9th on the strong beat of a bar or how Beethoven sneaked in some parallel #4th's or something similar. It was like a child finding a hidden sweetie.

I am going to try to collate, catalogue and record all his works - which for a 28 year old is substantial - but for now I will leave you with some of his compositions.

Thank you for reading this if you have, thank you for donating if you have, and thank you for the opportunity to share with the world what a truly gifted, beautiful and loyal brother Dan was.

One of my favourite pieces he wrote was this choral work "Twas later when summer went":

https://soundcloud.com/danielbarkleymusic/twas-later-when-the-summer-went-performed-by-melisma

More here:

https://soundcloud.com/danielbarkleymusic

You can have a look through his website here:

http://danielbarkleymusic.blogspot.co.uk/

This is a piece "Whirl" which he composed for my young brother (tuba). They were recording this piece, but the only audio surviving is the audio on the video recorder as the engineer deleted the session. I am SO glad we still have this as it brings me joy to hear both my brothers make such beautiful music. Andy in this video is only 13 in this video. He quit playing, but was phenomenal while he did. Drive beyond you could imagine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utGiO9q_nT4

He has several full brass band recordings on his YT page, please feel free to explore and let his music live on.

I will leave you with that, heart broken, and kindly yours,

Mike

[ttf_watermailonman]

Hi.

I'm sorry to hear about the terrible loss about your brother. Even though I don't know you or your brother I do know about depression.

/Tom

[ttf_watermailonman]

Hi.

I'm sorry to hear about the terrible loss about your brother. Even though I don't know you or your brother I do know about depression.

/Tom