Judith Bailey: Shepherd's Heyes for double bass & piano

About the Composition

Shepherd’s Heyes was composed to celebrate David Heyes’ 50th birthday in 2010 and was inspired by a popular English folk song of almost the same name (Shepherd’s Hey).

This new digital edition includes the original version, with the double bass in bass clef, alongside a more advanced edition, a fifth higher, which explores the solo register in music which is both lyrical and song-like. The piano accompaniment is colorful and inventive, with a rich harmonic palette employed but never overshadowing the double bass part.

Shepherd’s Heyes is a fun and accessible double bass solo which is ideal for recital and study use and is aimed at the intermediate bassist. The music flows merrily along, with few technical challenges, and the piece is both player and audience friendly.

This edition is for orchestral tuning.

About the Composer

Judith Bailey was born in Cornwall and studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, specializing in clarinet, piano, conducting and composition. Since 1971 she has worked freelance, conducting Petersfield Orchestra and Southampton Concert Orchestra for around thirty years, and producing a substantial amount of music which is widely performed and published.

In 2001 she returned to live and work in her native Cornwall where she is conductor of Penzance Orchestra Society and Cornwall Chamber Orchestra, and in the same year was awarded the honor of an ARAM from the Royal Academy. In 2005 she was made a Bard of the Cornish Gorseth for services to music in Cornwall.

Judith Bailey died on 16 March 2025, aged 83, following a short illness.