David Heyes writes: "October Morn is originally for oboe and double bass and was inspired by the beautifully atmsopheric Dorset countryside as I was driving to Yeovil in early October 2015. The mist was still hovering over the fields, as the cows were slowly waking and beginning to eat, and as the sun was slowly starting to break through the clouds. The opening oboe notes 'appeared' and the piece slowly emerged as my journey continued and the modal and slow-moving music took shape."

October Morn was composed for OboeBass! (Carrie Vecchione & Rolf Erdahl) in America and is dedicated to this unique duo. It also exists in versions for flute or clarinet and double bass.
The version for flute and double bass was premiered by Michelle Underwood (flute) and David Heyes (double bass) at The Old Java Coffee House in Teignmouth, Devon on Saturday 5 March 2016 as part of the Teignmouth Classical Music Festival.

This new edition for viola and double bass was created for London bassist Eloise Riddell, a former student of David Heyes. The partnership of viola and double bass dates back to the music of Sperger and Dittersdorf in the 18th-century and 'October Morn' contrasts the cantabile and soulful lyricism of both instruments in a work lasting a little over four minutes. A range of colours and effects are used to vary the timbre of the two instruments, with each being an equal partner in a work of evocative and atmospheric soundworlds.

[The double bassist plays the D minor version for both solo and orchestral tuning. The violist plays the D minor version if the bassist plays in orchestral tuning or the E minor version if solo tuning is used]

David Heyes studied double bass with Laurence Gray and Bronwen Naish and later at the Royal College of Music in London. He completed his post-graduate studies in Prague with Frantisek Posta (Principal Double Bass, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra). He has given recitals and masterclasses in 13 countries over the past few years and has been a juror at a number of international competitions, twice as chairman.

David has been Specialist Double Bass Tutor at Wells Cathedral School for 19 years and received a prestigious award from the David Walter Charitable Trust of New York for his pioneering activities as a soloist, teacher, publisher and commissioner of new music for double bass. He works with composers throughout the world and is particularly interested to expand the double bass repertoire, by commissioning new works and by rediscovering forgotten ones. Over the past 30 years he has commissioned more than 500 works, from beginner to virtuoso, and from one to twenty basses.

David has transcribed more than 200 works for double bass, many published by Recital Music, and in recent year has also composed a number of original works for double bass which have been performed in Britain, America, Venezuela, Turkey, Spain, Mexico, Germany and Czech Republic. David is self-taught as a composer and his music has been described as lyrical, evocative and accessible, but certainly of the 21st-century.