About

About Me

Earliest Musical Memories

I grew up discovering I could hear a song and work out how to play it by ear – the piano is linear for me so I could find where the notes were on the piano. This is how I taught myself piano, with songs like ‘Chattanooga Choo Choo’ which we sang in choir, and ‘When Irish Eyes Are Smiling’ a song my gran loved.

Favourite albums and film music

There are two albums which have marked pivotal moments of change and growth for me: The Celestine Prophecy and Eat Pray Love – I’ve read the books and watched the films – the music is deeply moving in both of these and has left a lasting impact on me. My favourite tracks from these films are ‘Attraversiamo’ by Dario Marionelli from the Eat Pray Love Soundtrack and all of Nuno Malo’s work is moving, but my favourite is ‘Opening Title and Dream Sequence’.

My favourite piece of my own

The Tides Inside – An emotional and atmospheric piano piece.

Music has always been a space for reflection for me- a way to navigate emotions and find stillness – and whilst composing this one my emotions were especially tumultuous. This track was inspired and came through in one go and I refined it afterwards.

How I create music

My music almost always starts at the piano first. For this reason the majority of my work is piano-led. Once I have settled myself and quieted my being, ideas arrive intuitively.

• I capture initial ideas at the piano
• then I layer other instruments to help create a sense of physical space and atmosphere.
• I do also love to start with strings sometimes, and if I could play a stringed instrument I would choose the Cello!

I absolutely love what I do!

My Background in Music

SA to the Isle of Man and Early singing years

Originally from South Africa, based on the Isle of Man since 2013. I’ve been playing piano since I was a little kid – taught myself to play by ear! As the years went on I learned to play many songs by ear and even started composing my own songs – despite not having any music training or music theory! I really enjoyed singing and was in both the school choir and the Provincial Youth Choir. I thought that my path in music would be as a singer-songwriter!!??

So I had a go at trying to make something of singing – and I took some of my tracks and worked with a local producer to turn them into produced songs – like this one ‘Falling’. The original piano, lyrics and the singing is all me. I recall sitting with Si as he magically produced this right before my eyes. He is a very talented producer at Skatandah Studios in Douglas on the Isle of Man.

However much I loved to sing, I loved sitting at the piano and just playing whatever came out of my fingertips more. So much of the music came and then went, never to be heard again – and some I managed to record on my mobile phone. A lot of people told me they could hear my music would be perfect for soundtracks.

THEN… the DAW “aha moment

I discovered a thing called a DAW back in 2020 and after making my first orchestral piece and listening to the fullness of it through my headphones, I knew that THIS was what I was meant to do in music. Make instrumental music of all kinds. This is the piece I created that triggered this particular AHA moment.

BBC Introducing & Releases

I started releasing instrumental music to BBC Introducing in 2021, and started distributing independently from 2025. Capturing improvised piano moments and sharing them with the world has been one of the greatest joys.

Full-Time Composing

Learning and Community

In 2026 I became a full-time composer. This journey has not been a solo journey! It’s been shaped by:

• Countless videos from composers like Christian Henson and Guy Michelmore.
• Collaborations with Wolfgang
• The weekly Music Weeklies challenge back in 2020 / 2021
• The supportive, inspiring Crow Hill Network
• Doing short courses through David Roche at Aberystwyth University to help with my composition techniques and how to write for orchestra

These communities have been invaluable – they’ve been a place to learn, grow and feel part of a team.

I want to make special mention of the Crow Hill Network. There’s people from all stages in their careers, people with different interests and angles that they’re coming in from – and every week we get to jump onto a google meet to say hi and have a natter about what Christian Henson has just demonstrated or some hot-off-the-press topic! It is a great way to feel like you’re part of a team! I highly recommend checking it all out – The Crow Hill Company has a YouTube Channel, and a Network Forum, and the weekly Google Meet link is always in the video description for that week’s podcast.

Planning the leap

I was always fully aware that it would be a long-game situation – work hard and produce a lot – and in a few years potentially see the earnings start to come in – and so going full-time required careful preparation, lifestyle adjustments and the support of my fiancé. I’ve learned that reducing wants and simplifying life brings happiness. I’ve loved discovering fantastic free instruments like Vaults from The Crow Hill Company, and all of the incredible content on PianoBook.co.uk which I have just recently discovered! Do check them out.

Projects and Milestones

The first 6 months of composing full-time have been deeply rewarding:

• community projects,
• independent releases,
• learning
• production music collaborations,
• my first placement with BMG in July 2026.

I share my full-time composer journey on my YouTube Channel if you’d like to follow along,

Here’s to success for all us!

-Eleri