Music
If you think that classical guitar is best heard at academic hoity-toity cocktail parties, or that bagpipe music reached its zenith at the last Robbie Burns Day parade, then the music of Gord Taylor will hit you like a thunder storm in the desert.
Gord has been composing for almost two decades and continues to create ever smoother melodies, sweeter harmonies, remarkable rhythms and in general some of the most memorable music being written today. In Gord’s compositional studies, he’s learned to incorporate an intriguing melodic dialogue in which musical phrases ‘ask’ and ‘answer’ their own fascinating questions. Gord is also known to enhance his pieces by using impressive technical counterpoint, consisting of rhythmic harmony lines under or over his trademark melodic subject lines. But the real signature of a Gord Taylor composition is the drama – reflecting the lessons taught to him by Bach, Mozart and Beethoven during his exploration of baroque and classical genres. The result is both the exciting and technically proficient writing, as well as tunes that thrill audiences by building to a massive sonic expression during performances.
Because many of Gord’s compositional years were spent writing bagpipe music for the world’s hardcore competition pipe bands, Gord became skilled at transforming his melodies and musical ideas into performance-ready production numbers. Gord’s finished pieces allow the player to paint a variety of different pictures just by making slight alterations to minor details like tempo, key or timbre.
His latest release, and final bagpipe music collection, “One Tone over the Line (Sweet Mhairi),” is a blend of his already diverse influences and successfully captures the best of Gord’s compositions over the past eight years.
Visit the Media section to hear the music of Gord Taylor.