Mark Thomas

I was born on July 1, 1954 and raised in Dundas, Ontario, Canada.   As a teenager, I taught myself to play guitar, lute and various other instruments.   At age 28, I started taking piano lessons, but I was more interested in composition.   I was fortunate enough to have a number of pieces for string quartet aired on CBC Radio   Around 1999, I started taking piano lessons from Francine McIsaac, who encouraged me to spend more time on composition.   I entered three composition competitions sponsored by the Ontario Registered Music Teachers Association (ORMTA) and placed 2nd in each one.   My success at composition inspired me to enter McMaster University as a part-time music student.   It was there I wrote the "McMaster Suite" and "Tales of Another Time."   I came to the attention of the Dundas Valley Orchestra and agreed to become their resident composer.   I wrote a number of compositions for the orchestra including "Journey To Jerusalem", "Celebration Suite" and "Into The light."   The DVO has also performed my first symphony in January 2010.  "Meditations By The Sea" from the symphony was performed by the McMaster Chamber Orchestra in March 2010

I decided to teach myself html language to make my own website and this is the fruits of my labour.   Deciding which songs to include was difficult.   I have written at least a thousand songs and arrangements over the years (and only one lyric) and they are all my children.   I don't want to play favourites, so I may change the songs in the future. Users of Firefox will notice that I have improved the display for that browser.

There are many people who affected my life as a composer.   Some of these people include Linda Gowland, Dr. Gillian Howarth, Vivian Paide, Paul Benton, Jordan Abraham, Francine McIsaac, Dr. Keith Kinder and Dr. Glenn Mallory.   To these people (and there are many more), I express my gratitude.

Thank You from Mark Thomas, August 6, 2010.

If you wish to contact me, I can be reached here.   If possible, I will try to respond back.

A link to the Dundas Valley Orchestra Website

Songs for Chamber Orchestra

While an undergraduate at McMaster University, I used to give Dr. Keith Kinder, conductor of the student orchestra, homemade CDs of songs I had written.   On one specific day, Dr. Kinder said, "I like these. Can you arrange them for chamber orchestra?"   Ergo, the "McMaster Suite" was born.   Here is the McMaster University Chamber Orchestra performing the work on November 14, 2004.

Overture  Hommage To Satie  Linda's Waltz  Variations In Green  Finale


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Songs for Flute Ensemble

Following the success of the McMaster Suite, Dr. Kinder asked it I could write something for the flute ensemble.   Here I present, "Tales of Another Time Suite", a work detailing a fictionalized account of the life of Queen Elizabeth I.   The piece, "A Lute Plays", sets the mood and time period.   "Musing" depicts a young queen pondering her life as head of state for England.   Around her, advisors tried to arrange a marriage partner for her.   "Procession of Royals" depicts a parade of hopeful suitors.   Elizabeth never did marry.   Whenever poets or composers of the time wanted to write about the queen, they used her pet name, "Orianna."   The piece, "Orianna's Lament" depicts an older queen wondering about her life and wondering what happened.   "In Another Time" sums up the story and the time period.   It is read by the McMaster Flute Ensemble.

A Lute Plays  Musing  Procession of Royals  Orianna's Lament  In Another Time


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Songs for Songs for String Quartet

A song written in memory of a sister, Shari-Ann Margaret Thomas, whose life was cut short by breast cancer.   This was recorded at McMaster University by Carol King, Julie Kim, Alexander Caudarella and Eli Graybiel.

In Memory of a Sister

In 1996, I was trying to teach myself how to write for string quartet.   Here are some of the pieces from a demo collection I called, "Just Thinking."   The performers are Mike Schulte, Brian West, Terry Ball and Mark Russom.

The Gathering  On A Wonderful Day Like Today  There Will Never Be Another You  Sandra's Song
Renaissance Song  Remembrance  Minor Lassie  And In The End


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Songs for Piano

The following pieces are part of a collection I call, "Songs Without Words."   They were performed by Francine McIsaac, an excellent piano teacher, educator and Royal Conservatory Examiner in Hamilton, Ontario.

For A Dancer  Song of a Schizophrenic  Hymn  Nightride
Meditations by the Sea  Toreador's Serenade  Hommage To Satie  Linda's Waltz
Oriental Fantasy  The Last Train  Song Without Words  Loneliness  Farewell My Friend

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Songs for Guitar

The following pieces were composed and/or arranged to help my hand recover after a stroke.

A Lute Plays  Musing  Procession of Royals  In Another Time
Song for nephew Aidan  Song For nephew Dylan

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Drafts for the Dundas Valley Orchestra

The piece, "Journey To Jerusalem" has a story that goes along with it. It is a story of a old Jewish man who wishes to travel to Jerusalem to relive is youth and dance with his relatives. Whether or not he actually goes or just imagines it is unimportant. A flute/harp duet is the sound of city calling out to him. The city is a long way off, but he starts out walking. As he gets nearer and nearer to the city, he walks faster and faster as his excitement grows. Once at the city, he begins to dance. The dance is joined by his loved ones until everyone is dancing. After the dance, the old man is tired, but euphoric. He begins the walk home refreshed with the sound of the city saying, "Farewell."

Journey To Jerusalem

The piece, "Into The Light", chronicals my transition in mood from a depression to joy. When I started it, I was in a deep depression. The piece begins with a big D minor chord which is followed by other instruments in the key of D minor. As the piece progresses, it becomes lighter and lighter. There is a rule in composition that a good melody in a minor key will produce a good melody in a major key and vise versa. As my depression was ending, I switched to the major key and repeated the music. It ends with 3 big F major chords.

Into The Light

Celebration Suite draft written for the Dundas Valley Orchestra's 30th Aniversary in 2008.

"In The Valley Town" is a piece which I think captures the spirit of the town. The "Fugue in D minor" was written to showcase the brass section of the orchestra. "Angel's Waltz" is a piece I wrote for string quartet and later arranged for string orchestra. Many members of the orchestra have come and gone over its 30 year history. With "Farewell My Friends", the orchestra says goodbye to all its past members... some who are still with us and some who have past on. Over its history, the orchestra has encountered many setbacks, but overcame them all. "Celebration" is the actual celebratory piece. Here the orchestra says "Look We Made it 30 Years!"

In The Valley Town  Fugue In D Minor  Angel's Waltz  Farewell My Friends  Celebration

After my first symphony was performed, I wanted to get back to the way I used to write before I had to worry about classical form. On this site under "Songs for Piano" there is a piece called the "Oriental Fantasy" which I orchestrated and added a middle section. The end result, I called, "Little Butterfly." Let us hope that the orchestra likes it as well. I intend to submit it as a possible piece for the new season.

Little Butterfly

Symphonies

The "Symphony No. 1" is my first attempt at a symphony which I did during the summer of 2009. The symphony starts out with a standard "Allegro" where I play with ascending and descending motifs and a dotted rhythm. For the "slow" movement, I arranged my composition, "Meditations By The Sea", which evokes the imagines of the ocean and sailors. In early symphonies, one of the movements was expected to be a "Minuet." A minuet was a complex dance which was danced by the royalty and reportedly took months to learn. I cannot dance, so I wrote, "Elephant's Minuet." It depicts an elephant trying the dance and is meant for the amusement of the younger audience. The "Finale" is written in a neo-Baroque style and is a happy way to end the symphony. This symphony is dedicated to the memory of my brother, Austin James Thomas, father, avid sailor and highschool principal.

Allegro
Meditations By The Sea
Elephant's Minuet
Finale

I thought I'd let you in on my ideas for a "Symphony No. 2." Like the first symphony, there is a definite Haydn influence. It starts out with a standard "Allegro." The second movement presents a theme in both major and minor keys of "A" and so is called "Theme in A." Its haunting melody I originally wrote about 1980. It is nice that I have the chance to use it again. It is very hard to write an orchestral waltz without sounding like Johann Strauss Jr as his name is associated so much with the orchestral waltz. The triple meter movement is a waltz and entitled, "Shari's Waltz." The usual finale has been replaced with a call for peace expressed by the movement, "Hymn For Peace." The work when complete will be dedicated to my late sister, Shari-Ann Margaret Thomas.

Allegro
Theme in A
Shari's Waltz
Hymn For Peace

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Some assorted duets I composed and still like

Linda's Waltz Duet
Angel's Waltz Duet
Flute-Bassoon Duet

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Some assorted songs I composed and still like

Just some random songs in random order. The oldest is "Sunrise" which I did around 1980 and based on a my classical guitar piece from back in the 60's. The rest are taken from cassette tapes and homemade CDs I have made over the years. Some are beautiful...some are not.

Lament       For A Nurse       Sunrise       Waiting       Joy       Sorry I Walked Away
Hearing Voices In The Wind       Untitled      Chamber Ditti
English Horn Song             Trio for High Woodwinds
      In A Cathedral       Flowers
Atonality       Take-off from Altair V       The Tryst
Haydn's Dream       Early Celebration       Turn Around
Never Be Another You       Bachette       Jenny Rag
18th C Melody      On A Wonderful Day Like Today
Rita       Orianna Lives       Celtic Fantasy       Sorry Chorale

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