Milly Finch – Composition and Arrangement
When the Year Six pupils of Meadow Primary School were asked to have a go at each
composing a Christmas song, which (if picked) would be performed at Christmas Concert, Milly
set to work.
Her 1981 debut “Santa Claus, Stop and Pause, Read the Note what I have Wrote” was
indeed picked. It performed with actions and everything. However, sadly and quite inexplicably it
failed to reach that year’s Christmas No.1 and a 20 year song-writing hiatus ensued.
During this time Milly completed the 3-year Diploma in Acting at the Webber Douglas Academy
of Dramatic Art, began a career in acting, had a couple of kids and brushed up on her grammar.
Music continued to play a large part in her life; with acting jobs often requiring a musical ability.
She was a member of a gigging five-piece A Capella group, and once they had exhausted the
list of Barber Shop Standards, Milly began creating arrangements from varied eclectic song
genres. And just so you know, this was way before “Pitch Perfect”………. We were barbershop
mavericks!
Milly’s second song was written in 2001 and many more followed, only to be humbly filed away.
The catalogue was finally put to use in a musical 2-handed comedy called “Tired and Grisly”
and taken to Edinburgh.
Since then, Milly has written and arranged original scores to “Wuthering Heights” and
“Bloodbath” (based on Aeschylus’ “Oresteia”) – (Red Rose Chain) “Sense and Sensibility” and
“Gary and May” – (Mango Theatre). She has worked as Musical Director for Cambridge Touring
Theatre and Abandon Theatre, composed the soundtrack for animations and short films and
runs singing and music devising workshops.
She stills works as an actor and plays the piano; badly.