SOMETHING ABOUT JOANNA - NOT MARY!
JOANNA BATES A.L.C.M.
Since leaving Music College in England with an Associateship to the London College (A.L.C.M.) Joanna has been working in the music industry as a musician and composer. The Classical Music grounding has proved invaluable in her work for TV and film; from four-part harmony writing for Male Voice Choir to the orchestral pieces for Discovery Channel, all that trainingcounted for something - somewhere along the line.
PICTURE.......Aged 21, joining a folk/rock band (with 'roadies') Joanna performed on Keyboards and vocals to audiences around Britain and had the dubious honour of being a ‘screamer’ on an album by “Cradle of Filth” whilst recording at the studios of UB40 inBirmingham. Something a little different to put on your CV! Theoriginal screams had been mistakenly erased – wouldn’t want to be in that engineer’s shoes.
Other adventures in live performance meant travelling to The Middle East – the Gulf War being the catalyst for returning to the UK and setting up as a freelance composer working in Commercial Production. The task of writing, producing and performing commercials for a number of radio stations, which then formed part of the giant GWR network, began.
A publishing contract with RCA/Arista paid for the first small studio - and a commercial written for regional TV then brought the opportunity of writing several pieces including title tracks for Discovery Channel.
Joanna has worked in the UK and overseas as a composer, musician and songwriter for many years and has produced work for Classical film score, Vocal Works, T.V., Commercial Production and Pop Songs.“CELT” is a large-scale musical theatre production which ran for fournights at Brecon Theatre in 2005.
As a freelance Commercial Producer, a body of high quality work was produced for broadcasters such as BRMB and Radio Wyvern. Music production, audio design and product branding were all undertaken and every jingle Joanna submitted - SOLD! Music, copy and voiceover were all skills employed whilst working in the commercial arena.Three T.V. commercials were broadcast on HTV in December 2004 and title tracks and background music have been broadcast on Discovery Channel in more recent times. Recent commissions for voice over include:
• an audiobook for a US company
• music and voice over for a German company specialising in global warming data analysis.
Joanna has a wealth of experience of music in education as a workshop leader and two years as a teacher of music in a Welsh primary school.
Work is now underway to add educational resources to the established list of services provided. So, these are exciting times with a children’s book about animals; identifying and recognising important facts such as habitat, camouflage and defence mechanisms and eating habits. The book is in the editorial stage and song, poetry and games will also be used to consolidate high quality music education for schools and parents alike. An example is Vikings and Norse Mythology -: a poem has been written and devised which eases the understanding of the Sagas - there is also a Viking song, teachers’ notes and games which are topic-linked to other subjects such as history, geography, science and english.
In October 2007, Joanna was one of ten businesses in Wales to be chosen to go to Seville for the Womex conference as part of the Welsh Music Foundation contingent.
Commissions have included:
• “Bear Sanctuary” - on Discovery Channel (2008) -a documentary about a Romainian Bear Sanctuary. Other composers including Paul Farrer (Weakest Link) piched forthis title track and Discovery chose mine.
• My Horror Home” - a fifeen part series for the Discovery Channel highlighting the many disasters befalling householders. (2006). The brief read: ‘Circus meets TheSimpsons’.
• A film trailer for a German company
• Five tracks (out of eleven) on a CD for a Cosmology Conference in Mexico which involved singing Spanish lyrics.
• A multi-screen installation at the N.E.C . Birmingham in April 2004.
• BBC Wales drama about a true murder mystery set in 1866.
• In 1996, the Musical Drama: “CELT” competed in “The Musical of the Year” in Denmark.
• “Only In The Stillness Of The Night” from “CELT” reached the final in the “Best Song” category from a worldwide open entry of more than 2,500 songs.
• Four performances of “CELT” took place at Theatr Brycheiniogin June 2005; Ex. RSC director Sue Best, award-winning playwright Margie Douglas and ex Leeds Playhouse SetDesigner, Sharon Lamb all helped to make it a wonderful show.
• As a member of JB Composer Collective Joanna provided themusic for a presentation by mrss-design.de whose clientsinclude Bentley and Maserati.
UPCOMING WORK
• Another voice over session for the German data analysis company
• Book for children with songs and poetry for integrated learning
• Music for film and TV