Also available for Alto (SP827). Songs for Claire is intended to portray a life journey with all the joys and trials that may be encountered. From a personal point of view it was written in memory of my childhood best friend Claire who sadly died of cancer aged 10. I think most people will be able to relate to the moods of the three movements and draw from their ownlife experiences in order to create the expression desired.Living Life begins with a pure and innocent piano introduction where life twinkles into being. The performers should aim for a sweetness and pure innocence. At this stage there have been no challenges and trials. Try to see this through theeyes of a child. At bar 71 we should be able to soar with the sheer exuberance and joy of life. Themood begins to take a downward turn via the piano there after bar 91. This is where situations begin to take a turn for the worse with much more agitation and a darker emotion takes over.Troubled Times now takes us onto a road that we would prefer not to be on everything should be quite agitated and restless. I had a strong feeling in this movement that it should show a battle of wills within; trying to stay positive (the sweeter timbral trills) and trying to fight the ever nagging negative thoughts. Performers should feel able to release fully where the score is marked 'desperately' because these are the cries of one who is struggling to keep fighting. At letter E the pianist should play almost with anger with strong stress to accented notes. At letter H the timbral trills stop abruptly and this indicates that the struggle is over if you imagine a heart monitoring machine that suddenly gives out is length monotone indicating the end of life. The rest of the movement relaxesinto the peace of the final movement.Flying Free is similar in feel to Living Life. You will see that the initial theme is reversed. In the first movement we see the theme very introverted probably as we often look inwards in life. In