Compositions by Neil V. Hawes
I compose choral music, nearly all for four-part choirs.

I publish and print the music myself using Mozart music notation software.
All the examples on this page are created using this software and the midi files are also generated by it.
Note that the tone and quality of the midi files will depend solely on your sound card.

A communion setting I wrote in 1980 has been sung regularly since 1982 at St. Mary's, Osterley, and a small number of other churches in the UK have also had copies and have sung it. It was originally written for the Anglican "Series 3" service, was adapted for the "Alternative Service Book" of 1980, and in 2001 I adapted it for use with the new "Common Worship" service book. You can hear a midi version of the Gloria by clicking here.

I have written a number of anthems for three- and four-part choirs that have mostly only been sung at St. Mary's.
I had a psalm setting published in a book of Responsorial Psalms in 1994 by Harper Collins.

If you are interested in using any of the music listed here, please email me.

    Projects for 2008:
      "The first snow of the year" - a secular winter piece for unaccompanied SAATTB. Here is the result.
      SSATTB setting of the song "So white, so soft, so sweet is she" by Frederick Delius - in progress.
      An unaccompanied song for SSATB to modern words "This is what we are" - work started.
    Anthems I have written for church choirs, many of them are arrangements of well-known hymn tunes.
    These are all for 4-part choirs (SATB), unless otherwise stated.

    The following have all been sung by the choir of St. Mary's, Osterley:

      A three-part (SAB) anthem setting of the Palm Sunday hymn to the tune "Winchester New":
      An anthem setting of:
      An anthem setting of a hymn by Charles Wesley to the tune "Little Heath" by David G. Wilson:
      An arrangement of the tune "St. Helen" by G. C. Martin:
      A new tune and arrangement of Harriet Auber's words:
      An anthem arrangement including tunes from other well-known hymns in the accompaniment of:
      An anthem arrangement of the famous words of Isaac Watts to an English traditional melody:
      A setting of words by John Mason Neale for Eastertide:
      An anthem I wrote in 1994 to words of Christopher Wordsworth:
      An anthem setting I wrote in 1986 of the third collect from Evening Prayer:

      Anthems that are based on well-known hymn words and tunes have some advantages:

      • I find them a lot easier to write
      • they are easier to learn for the singers
      • the words are often familiar
      • where the singers have the tune, that section can be sung with just one run-through
      I think a listener will often get more out of them on one hearing
      • they may already be familiar with the words, so they know what is being sung about
      • they may be able to follow the words in a hymn book
      • if they know the tune, they may then be able to get more out of the nuances of performance
      • even a relatively non-musical listener may find themselves remembering it afterwards
      I generally feel that hearing an unknown anthem once is not enough for a listener to get much out of it.
    An arrangement for four part choir and organ (from the original 7 parts, plus solos, with piano) of "Someone's going to change my world" by Andrew Parmley, words by Terry Rogers, for the Mothers' Union service in 2004 - See first verse
    Two non-religious pieces for SATB choir:
      A light-hearted item I wrote in 1979 based on the well-known rhyme "Thirty days hath September":
Instrumental music