Between 2002 and 2008, Guy taught at Bruton school for Girls in Somerset.
The school will be celebrating its 120th anniversary later this year and it has commissioned Guy to compose a song for the occasion for the school Chamber Choir.
As part of the Heritage Lottery funded project connected with the amazing stone carved Leaves in Southwell Minster, there will be a concert in June next year (or later, depending on the virus situation) when massed local school children will perform songs connected with history, nature, conservation etc as a celebration of the project. Guy has been commissioned to compose a song for this occasion. The words of the song have been chosen as the result of a lyric writing competition at Southwell Minster School, and are by year 9 student Martha Buttle.
For more information about the leave project see: https://www.southwellminster.org/theme/leaves-of-southwell/
Guy is pleased to have been commissioned by Bingham Choral Society (http://www.binghamchoral.org.uk/) to arrange a Sequence of British Folksongs for the choir’s Jubilee ‘Prom’ concert on 27th November 2021 at Southwell Minster. This will be for large choir and symphony orchestra, and will include arrangements of four folksongs, one each from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Mezzo soloist Judy Brown, Mansfield Choral Society and the Nottingham Symphony Orchestra will also be involved in the performance.
The four folksongs chosen are
Guy has just completed a commission for the Junior Choir of Southwell Minster School.
This is a seven minute humorous song called A Head Full of Music, which includes parts for young instrumentalists, and a four part round as the chorus.
It tells of a child who wakes up to find the sound of instruments in his/her head, and wonders why?!
Date of premiere to be decided
Guy is now writing material for the English Trombone Consort. https://englishtrombonecon.wixsite.com/info
Having arrange the famous song ‘ Buddy, can you spare a Dime’ for them, he has now scored the Christmas novelty dixie-style song ‘Santa Plays the Trombone’ which is going into the consort’s repertoire, and it also published by Virgo Music Publishing. http://www.printed-music.com/virgo/
You can see the quartet perform ‘Buddy can you spare a Dime’ on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exp4Fug1A_w
You can see the group perform the Santa piece on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RFeByQbAIk
The vocals – and the masks! – on this video are optional!
Here is a review of the Santa number from the International Trombone Association Journal
When it comes to Christmas music, trombonists have no shortage of arrangements to choose from. The catalogue is so substantial, publishers often create dedicated pages to help organize everything in one location. Given this, it is incumbent upon the composer or arranger to contribute something unique and original to an almost trite genre. Through its upbeat Dixieland style and quirky source material, Guy Turner’s arrangement of Santa Plays the Trombone (in the North Pole Band) fulfills this requirement. Unlike standards such as Jingle Bells or Silent Night, Santa Plays the Trombone is a virtually unknown Christmas tune. Set here for a standard trombone quartet (with an optional sung section), Turner’s arrangement stems loosely from the 1954 recording by “Poppa” John Gordy and his Dixielanders. A strict transcription of the melody sung by Clint Garvin on the 1954 recording is forgone in favor of a “tailgating” approach. In the absence of text, this provides a light and fun intrigue that a strict transcription would lack. With a range extending from F to b-flat1 in the tenor trombones and FF to d1 in the bass trombone, an optional sung section, as well as stylistic considerations, this piece provides a slight challenge that is both fun for the performers and enjoyable for the audience. A short work, it will be a welcome and diverse addition to any trombone Christmas concert.
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