'Gull Dances' is a great series of dances inspired by Scottish gulls in flight, looking for food and soaring above the Scottish cliffs.
Tap dancing
The composer, who lives and works at the edge of the Forth Estuary in Edinburgh has been inspired here by the intriguing 'tap' dance that the gulls perform on the grass at certain times to encourage worms to break the surface.
The middle movements of the suite describe the birds' dancing in flight, with a waltz and a slow soaring melody.
The 11 minute piece was written for the cooperative band (then the CWS Glasgow Band) on the occasion of their winning the Scottish Championship in 2009, and was subsequently broadcast on the BBC.
Composer
The son of a Welsh miner, Terry Johns is a French horn player with a distinguished career as a member of the Royal Philharmonic and the London Symphony orchestras
He played with many jazz greats, including Tubby Hayes, Kenny Wheeler, Stan Getz, Clark Terry, Phil Woods, and John Dankworth.
He is also a composer of music for television. He has written music for the RPO and LSO brass and he composed the theme and incidental music for television series 'The Pretenders'.
