FinishMySong Blog

BBC Radio 3's spotlight will be briefly hanging over Bradford a little later this year as the 'Delius Inspired' music festival takes place. The Festival Director, Tasmin Little, and her team have organised an array of music related to the life and work of Bradford's most famous serious composer.



The festival promises to be of interest to people of a great many different musical backgrounds - the big classical pieces will be aired (mostly live) on Radio 3, but there will also be smaller events that include works of jazz, improvisation and folk music traditions, as well as educational sessions for adults and children. The festival is titled 'Delius Inspired' because it aims to encompass music that is not only penned by Frederick Delius himself but also the music that he claimed to be inspired by and contemporary work that has been inspired by Delius' Yorkshire.

Delius, who was born in Bradford in 1862, actually had German parents and spent most of his life away from his hometown in Yorkshire. After meeting a Brooklyn organist in Florida, Delius moved to Virginia, USA, where he became a piano teacher. His compositions were first known when he was in his late 20's and in the midst of working on them, but he was only really accepted fully by the British public as a talented composer after being praised by the world renowned conductor Sir Thomas Beecham. In his mid-thirties, Delius moved to a small town in France where he lived out most of the rest of his life, dying in that country in 1934. However, the city of Bradford will always consider him one of it's most famous and talented sons.

The Delius Inspired festival kicks off on the 1st July for a week - more specific details such as programming etc can be found here.

Tiscali have a competition going to win free tickets to the 'T in the Park' Music Festival, near Kinross in Scotland. The festival takes place on the 8th / 9th July this year and promises to be another great weekend with some fantastic bands playing, including Kaiser Chiefs, The Strokes, Paul Weller, The Charlatans and many many more.



Visit this website and answer a question about The Fratellis (the answer shouldn't be too difficult to dredge up from an internet search if you don't already know it...) to win the tickets. I went to this festival a couple of years ago and remember it being an absolutely fantastic place to be - we saw loads of great acts such as Green Day and Badly Drawn Boy there - definitely worth the journey to Scotland, and even better if you're lucky enough to get the tickets with compliments from Tiscali!

It's going to be a busy weekend for me - after a night out this evening to celebrate my friends' engagement, I'll be heading up to Yorkshire's East coast for a few days of merriment and, hopefully, music. I actually studied for my degree in the seaside resort of Scarborough so I know the area reasonably well, but on Saturday I'll be heading up to Whitby, a small harbour town about 20 miles further North on that coastline.



Whitby doesn't exactly conform to the stereotype of a sleepy fishing town (certainly nowhere near as much as it's picturesque neighbour Robin Hood's Bay) for various reasons, not least it's ongoing popularity with tourists. But, the town has more going for it than a thriving fishing industry and a historic abbey for tourists to visit (first climbing the famous 199 stairs to the building's position on the hill overlooking the town). The myth of Dracula, for example, continues to attract those interested in the region's 'gothic' history and this brings with it related musical traditions, such as those visitor's tendency to be interested in rock music. An 'alternative' music night that presumably satisfies these tastes is offered at various venues around Whitby and Scarborough and is aptly known as 'Death Warmed Up'.

Whitby also hosts a number of large music festivals that attract musicians and audiences from all over Britain and beyond. The Whitby Rock festival is held at the Whitby Pavilion Complex in September and then, in October, Musicport presents the World Music Festival that stages musicians from literally all over the globe. Many performers at this event are experts of their particular genre of music : an absolute gamut of fantastic and hugely varied music is on offer right here on Yorkshire's coast.

At other times during the year, Whitby hosts many other smaller events, including a folk festival, and lots of the pubs in the town regularly show live music. It's been a while since I visited this town - I'm certainly looking forward to being a part of it again!

As part of the expansion I have planned for the 'finishmysong' website, I have just put together a new section where I'll be posting other bits of writings etc that don't necessarily have any direct relation to music. I expect to have more time for poetry and for photography over the coming months and I'll treat this part of the site as a 'gallery' of sorts - a space on the internet where my work can be viewed.

To kick the section off, I've just posted 68 short poems / song lyrics that were written over a 15 year period (they are not in chronological order on the screen). If you're familiar with the music The First Few have put out over the past few years then you may recognise one or two of the pieces on this page. Others are mostly miscellaneous writings that I scribbled and were previously displayed on allpoetry.... I'm no great writer so I wouldn't expect perfect poetic structure in my work, but you may enjoy some of it so it's out there in any case.

Click here to view the Pictures & Poetry section.

The picture above was done by an 'internet friend' I became acquainted with whilst writing and reading poetry online using the allpoetry website. Her handle is Blondeoverblue and, apart from her prolific poetry writing, she puts together these great images by altering and editing documents that are already in existence.

This one above particularly caught my eye : a page of Beethoven's F Minor Sonata for pianoforte that has been altered and given new meaning and artistic merit quite beyond it's original purpose of notating this well-known musical work. Personally, I love what she's done with it - if you're interested you can see more of Blondeoverblue's work by clicking here or by visiting her space on allpoetry.

As strange as it sounds, Bradford Festival Choral Society are next month doing an open 'Come & Sing' evening to perform the Requiem by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Don't get me wrong, choirs do try to attract new singers and new audiences by doing these sing-a-long nights quite often but it's usually something a bit less sombre than a mass for the dead that gets performed on these evenings, such as Handel's Messiah.


In any case, everyone is invited to join BFCS on Saturday June 24th at Victoria Hall in Saltaire to perform this great work. What would normally happen is that there'll be a rehearsal during the daytime to get people used to the conductor's methods and then after a short break the performance will go ahead in the evening. It is the norm that those who volunteer to sing will already know the work (and the part of their vocal range) well enough to just get up and do it. I presume this will be the case here : the only catch is that it costs £10 per person to get involved. It does make me wonder why choirs charge so much for people to join in with these kinds of events and it certainly is no wonder that they then struggle to keep numbers up for these and the rest of their regular season, but then this is partly because of the lack of funding available to this kind of organisation.

You may be interested to know that the portrayal of the situation surrounding the composition of Mozart's Requiem on the 1984 film Amadeus (originally written for the stage by Peter Shaffer) was exaggerated and altered but not altogether far fetched. Rather than the mass being commissioned by Antonio Salieri, as the play would suggest, it was actually Count Walsegg zu Stuppach who wished to pass the work off as his own and hired a servant to dress in black to organise the commission from Mozart. And, according to some sources, Mozart did have a premonition of his own death around this time and believed that he was writing his own requiem mass. In reality, Stuppach wanted the world to believe that he had written it for his wife who had died some years earlier - he was known in later years to have claimed authorship to many works that were actually commissioned anonymously from professional composers.

Tchernaya had this to say about the Mozart Requiem :

"This work was, indeed, close to [Mozart's] dramatic music in character: magnificent choruses and solo episodes corresponded least of all to the dogmatic themes of the church. This was an expression of real human feeling, a tragic premonition of death, of the unfathomable depths of human suffering, and yet also of the miraculous power of hope and love for humankind that permeated the whole of Mozart's work...

[It] is closely connected with the remarkable choral tradition of the German classical composers of the first half of the 18th Century... Particularly close to them are such movements as the Kyrie, written in the form of a double fugue on an austere theme in the old style."

More details about this event and any other queries regarding Bradford Festival Choral Society can be sought by emailing bradfordfestivalchoralsociety@googlemail.com

The first item on the Yahoo! Entertainment News today, about the in's and out's of Madonna's concert in Los Angeles last night, certainly amused me :

"During one of her half-dozen costume changes, another video montage juxtaposed images of Bush, members of his administration and Prime Minister Tony Blair with footage of Adolf Hitler, Osama bin Laden, and Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe. Midway through the new song "I Love New York," she deviated from the script and made a crude reference to Bush and oral sex."

Earlier video montages that Madonna had organised for this stage production of her Confessions tour apparently "showed images of third-world poverty and reeled off grim statistics". I've got to say that I get the impression Madge is very much jumping on the band-wagon of celebs who are suddenly 'concerned' for the wellbeing of the world's poor, whilst also continuing to live a lavish, very expensive lifestyle (in terms of both finance and resources) that supports the notion of the Western world's greed as being hugely more important than the concerns of the impoverished majority on the other side of the globe. I remember when she was interviewed by Jonathon Ross after her performance at the Live 8 concert last summer : she barely acknowledged at that time that she had any interest in the issues at hand whatsoever, nonchalantly remarking that she just happened to have a space in her diary to perform.

Having said that, anyone who is willing to stand up and publicly slate George Bush, albeit in a crude and probably ineffective manner, gets my attention, especially when Americans are brave enough to do so in their own homeland, populated by many who believe that their President is chosen and should be trusted as some deity-type figure.

It's just a shame that the music Madonna performs these days isn't so remarkable as the antics she gets up to on stage - I don't think I've enjoyed anything Madonna has done in the last 10 years, the most recent notable performance being her appearance as Eva Peron in the 1996 film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Evita. To be fair, I thought she pulled off this role much more successfully than I'd expected, although it was annoying that the sequence of songs was pulled around a bit so that Madonna got to sing all of the big numbers, including Another Suitcase in Another Hall which otherwise would have been performed by Andrea Corr who also appeared, very briefly, in the movie.

I rushed to my clarinet lesson yesterday having set off slightly later than I meant to and then gotten stuck in what seemed like endless traffic jams across Bradford to where my teacher lives. After rushing out of the rain and into her house (not forgetting slipping and nearly falling on her pathway) I got my instrument out and dived straight into the Mozart piece I've been working on all week. And, not surprisingly, my playing was nothing like as polished as it had been just hours earlier in the comfort of my own home.

It seems that, just as with so many things in life, performing music is as much about overcoming mental obstacles as it is about the physical acts of moving and breathing in the correct manner to produce a series of musical phrases. Yesterday I was not in the right frame of mind at all : I had let the journey to my class frustrate and annoy me, fill me with anxiety about being late and ultimately put me in a state of mind that was not conducive to calm, controlled approaches to music. This is a lesson I keep having to relearn - that engaging with musical pursuits is infinitely easier and more enjoyable if you come to it in a positive, confident and open frame of mind. As Barry Green discusses in the Inner Game of Music (see blog on this subject here), internal anxieties manifest themselves in a multitude of physical reactions that hinder the process of making music so addressing these by being conscious of your state of mind is crucial to success as much in practise as it is in performance.

Tonight I am accompanying Joan Cottrill at the Bradford Music Club so I will be concentrating on following Barry Green's advice!

It's going to be a funny evening for television tonight because the BBC is dedicating almost 6 hours of it's primary two TV channels, BBC1 & BBC2, to broadcasting two music competition shows, both with massive followings, I suspect for entirely different reasons.

First off at 17:20 on BBC2 is the final of the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition - this is the climax of the series of programmes I mentioned in this blog a few days ago. Now this is something really worth watching - the kids that enter this competition are not only massively talented in their individual disciplines but also show each other the utmost respect, presumably because they are in a position to understand just how much dedication it has taken for their peers to have made the final. And those who have made it this far and are in the running for the title of BBC Young Musician of the Year 2006 are the crème de la crème of a field made up of some of the strongest technical masters of Britain's youth and, when all is said and done, some truly wonderful classical musicians.

Each competitor tonight will perform a solo concerto on their instrument (one from each section of the orchestra chosen at the semi-finals stage), accompanied by the Northern Sinfonia of Gateshead. The young person who is deemed to have performed most convincingly and musically on this single performance will walk away with the title - it can't be expressed strongly enough what a huge feat this will be; many people study an instrument for their whole life and never acheive this level of technical accuracy and general musicianship. In any case, this programme will be worth watching as much for the performances themselves as for the competitive aspect of the show - we can expect to be offered some great pieces performed with a real sense of freshness and perspective by a group of people who show us that the stereotype hoody-wearing teenage thug who hangs around the street causing trouble is often just that : an unfair stereotype.

A competition dealing with the slightly less refined but possibly more 'glam' side of the international music business will then be screened on BBC1, starting at 8pm : The Eurovision Song Contest. The contrast between this and the Young Musician of the Year will no doubt be striking - I think it's fair to say that the music we will hear on this show is very much secondary to the spectacle put before us as a whole.


Indeed, Eurovision contests of the past have been responsible for many many truly awful songs (although the odd gem has also found its way onto this stage aswell, not least ABBA's Waterloo), lots of politically motivated voting on the part of the esteemed judges of the various nations involved, and some truly marvelous television! For example, after the duet Jemini (Chris Cromby & Gemma Abbey) got up to perform their song Cry Baby back in 2003, their joint lack of ability to hold a tune was blamed on the monitors at the venue in Latvia. Hasten to add, the UK was awarded with nul points that year!

Personally, I find the show most entertaining each year thanks to the commentary traditionally made by Terry Wogan. He does give you the impression that the rest of Europe takes this competition very seriously whilst he casually takes the Michael out of everything that appears on stage and screen. I've got a sneaky suspicion that this is the game everyone across the continent is playing but that noone is willing to admit openly to, at least not to each other! If nothing else, anyway, it's all a bit of lighthearted fun with 20 of the cheesiest pop songs squeezed in there for good measure. Hey, what with the dancing schoolgirls, the catchy melody and lyrics that are reminiscent of Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall - Part 2 ("We don't need no education" etc.) the 2006 entry for the United Kingdom, rapped by Daz Sampson, might just have a chance of getting somewhere!

There's been a bit of an update on my website - this afternoon I posted an mp3 of myself playing some piano pieces as a sample of what I can offer to a couple for their wedding reception or party. The update is on the 'performance' section of this website and can be found by clicking below :

http://www.finishmysong.com/fp.html

I actually knocked the recording up very simply at home lastnight. A friend from The First Few came round to the house with a digital four track (Tascam Pocketstudio 5) and we ran through a random selection of cocktail type pieces, and the odd bit of light classical stuff such as the very famous Bach Prelude in C - my friend set up the mic and sorted out the levels etc whilst I got on with playing the pieces. It's actually really strange trying to play in that environment - I found myself much more self-conscious playing to a small recording device than I do when I play in public. Hasten to add, then, that I needed a couple of takes on one or two of the pieces because of the distraction!

Once the recording part was done, I chose some contrasting pieces and sections of songs from the master copy and spliced them into a new mp3 track, using SoundForge. So, when you go onto the site you should be able to listen to one 10 minute track that fades you in and out of various musical styles and genres etc.

Let me know what you think of it - I don't think it's so bad, given that it's a home recording that my friend and I put together in less than an hour. It is only meant as a guide as to the kind of stuff I play at these occasions but, of course, this is to be discussed for each individual event in any case.

To attract more pupils and to get some additional bookings for weddings etc, I've decided to launch a promotion whereby if you recommend me to a friend I will pay you £10 - no catches and no questions asked.. £10 just like that! There is no limit to the number of recommendations this offer extends to, as long as those customers you recommend to me each make a significant booking (such as hiring me as a pianist for their special day) and that the appointment goes ahead as planned.

So, for every new customer you put onto me I will send you a personal cheque for £10 - can't say fairer than that. There are few terms and conditions, of course, and you can find the details here :

http://www.finishmysong.com/RecommendationOffer/offer-tsandcs.html

I'm only leaving this offer open until the end of July for the time being, so mention my services to any friends or family members you know who might be interested as soon as possible. Remember, I am primarily a piano tutor but can also do study sessions for music theory, GCSE or A level music exams, and I'm available to play piano for any kind of special occasion, particularly for weddings and wedding receptions.

I spent most of yesterday playing some music or other and it really brought home how much one can get out of these activities - it's been a while since I devoted a whole day to the pursuit of music. In the morning I had an appointment with someone who wanted me to accompany her on piano (she is a singer) for a performance at the Bradford Music Club meeting this Sunday and I've got to say I'm really excited about doing it.

Myself and Joan Cottrill will be performing a few songs from the Broadway musicals, including an all time favourite of that genre : I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables. Running through the pieces with Joan reminded me of how wonderful it is to play in ensemble, especially when you're working with someone for the very first time. Most of the challenge of the rehearsal was in getting used to the way we each interpret the music and then being flexible enough for us both to adapt our performance style to suite the other one. Of course, as the pianist, my role is very much an accompanying one and so the more I can do to allow the singer to shine through the better, but there is much more give and take than a non-musician would imagine.

We'll be appearing on Sunday 21st May at the Quaker Meeting House in Rawdon, Leeds, from around 1930. Hope to see you there.

Sometimes I begin to wonder what on earth way pay our television license fee for. I mean, there is just so much rubbish on tv these days that it's hard to understand how our government justifies charging us to receive these broadcasts to our homes. Quite apart from the fact that most people nowadays don't even use the standard aerial on their roof to get this stuff, the majority of the repeated or regurgitated nonsense on our screens is provided by third party companies who are in it more to make a quick buck than to provide any worthwhile service, not least by repeatedly bombarding us with the most annoying advertisements for mobile phone ringtones and the like...

And then I switch on the Beeb's digital television channel, BBC4, and it all seems worthwhile. Don't get me wrong, the BBC broadcast a lot of programmes on both television and radio that don't personally interest me, but it would seem pretty difficult to argue against the idea that when they go for quality entertainment, the Beeb really seem to pull it out of the bag. Their musical offerings particularly highlight this point : as well as the annual Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, the BBC Symphony Orchestra's regular nationwide season, pop and rock concerts such as Radio 1's Big Weekend and a plethora of other musical events, many of which are heavily subsidised by the license fee payer, the BBC organise internationally acclaimed music competitions, including the Young Musician of the Year which is going on at the moment.



I spent an hour last night simply mesmerised by the amazing talent on show at the semi-final level. Yesterday's programme centred around the pianoforte / keyboard and percussion competitions and it's no exaggeration to say that all 10 performers (5 in each section) were stunning to watch. That people of 15-17 years old could carry huge classical pieces off so convincingly is remarkable in itself but I was especially impressed listening to each one perform a piece written within the past 10 years - really interesting contemporary works that, devoid of regular melody or rhythmic pattern, are difficult for the most experienced musician to work with.

More notable too was how much fun each of these young people seemed to be having throughout the preparation for their solo performances - contrary to the popular notion of a child being forced into music lessons against his or her will, these kids were clearly enthusiastic about the whole thing and having a great time, not least as a member of a group of likeminded musicians. Great to see - I sincerely hope the BBC continues to fund such ventures far into the future.

After a heavy weekend burning the candle at both ends, I spent most of yesterday chilling out on the sofa and watching some DVD's I've been meaning to look at since I bought them (couldn't really go very far due to the injury I sustained to my leg after a fall on Saturday night!!). The one that I've got to admit to enjoying the most was a DVD I have of the original 1955 musical Guys and Dolls, with Marlon Brando starring as Sky Masterson and Frank Sinatra playing the part of Nathan Detroit.



Apart from the obviously predictable storyline and cheesy 'exterior' sets, it struck me that the musical arrangement was contrived to perfection. As in so many musicals of this era, the main themes come up time and time again in different guises so as to fix them in the audience's memory and have them prepared for their main outing in the solos and duets, and then to recapture previous scenes when those melodies are revisited at a later stage.

A powerful example of this is the song that Sky Masterson and Sarah Brown encounter on their rendezvous in Havana - Loesser introduces this tune initially in the orchestral backdrop of earlier scenes in the movie, then it appears in various instrumental and vocal arrangements during the Havana scenes (on the couple's tour of the grounds of a church, in the restaurant and also during the fountain scene), finally allowing the song to be presented in full when Sky and Sarah return to New York and perform it as a duet and the main love song of the movie - this is the scene where the characters' actually feelings for one another are established and confirmed. By this time, we are all very well acquainted with the melody, albeit from various snippets earlier upon which dialogue was overdubbed, so this outing was well prepared and served a narrative role connecting the passion of a trip to Cuba with the characters' emotions.

Marketing a project seems to me to be a very similar process to the one described above - initially laying an impression of whatever it may be so firmly that when a direct advertising campaign is launched the recipients are already prepared for it on some level or other and can associate a given symbol or name to the ideas that the project hopes to achieve / fulfill. A good friend of mine warned against getting my name as a pianist and music tutor on every directory going on the grounds that these things on their own don't actually tell prospective customers anything about the skills I have to offer. I disagree : I see the listings in yellow pages and on numerous internet sites as likened to the introduction of melodies in the orchestral background of a movie. Any direct marketing, including word of mouth by reputation, should be much more affective once this ground is laid.

By the way, reading reviews of Guys and Dolls on the internet gives a very mixed bag - Marlon Brando is largely slated for his lack of singing ability as compared to Sinatra and also he is criticised for not successfully demonstrating the actual character traits of Sky Masterson as they originally were offered on the Broadway stage for the 5 years prior to the movie being released. I really can't help but disagree with these sentiments : I thought Brando comes off as a really charming (if overly self-assured) Masterson and his singing voice got the point across - sure, he's no Frank Sinatra, but then his character is supposed to be a jaded gambler / gangster - and anyway, it wouldn't really seem appropriate for him to sing like an angel!!

Certainly, there are many more positive aspects to this movie, including the amazing choreography, so I'd recommend it to anyone who hasn't yet had the opportunity to view this picture. Interestingly, this is the only film Sinatra and Brando made together and, even though they only appeared in a couple of scenes at the same time, there was a famous rivalry between them at the time, Sinatra even coining a nickname for Brando - 'Mumbles'.

Well, I usually try to keep this blog on some musical subject or other - I have very eclectic tastes and interests in music so it can often be about wildly different aspects of this very wide subject area - but today is a special day so I thought I'd drop a little personal one in for a change.

Ever since I finished university (and throughout summer holidays during that period) I have earned the majority of my income from administration type jobs and, apart from a brief spell a couple of years ago, I've never really made any attempt to earn a living from music. Well, recently I seem to have run into a number of fairly negative experiences in the corporate office environment - too many egos and too many people willing to walk over anyone else for the sake of how they are perceived by the big boys upstairs - so I've finally got the motivation to reject this whole culture and try to make it without any longer being involved with these greedy, fat cat types.

So, as of Monday I am officially my own boss. I don't expect, of course, to make huge piles of money or live it up in any magnificent style, but I do hope that my efforts to advertise the services I can offer will be successful enough to get a handful of pupils (I'd imagine mostly in piano) and do the odd playing job for weddings and other occasions; enough, that is, to make a fair living from it. I'll probably need to get some kind of part time work aswell to subsidise my income so this I see as another opportunity to try out something completely different : ideally, I'd like to work for the state - either the NHS, the council or perhaps for an educational establishment like a uni or college. Watch this space anyways. In the meantime, if you know anyone who wants piano lessons or needs a pianist for their wedding please keep me in mind... there will soon be cash offers for these kind of recommendations!!

So, ths blog will be turning the spotlight back on the musical world as of next week, and I also hope to update the main body of my website with many more features, including some online music theory lessons etc so please continue to visit regularly.

I've just been checking out the BBC Proms website and it looks like many of this year's concerts will be focusing on the achievements of two major composers : Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Dmitri Shostakovich. Both of these massive figures in the classical music world have major anniversaries in 2006 : Mozart's birth was on January 27th 1756, 250 years ago, and Shostakovich was born on September 25th 1906, a mere century ago!

This is very fortunate for concert goers and those interested in classical music because some marvellous music will be on offer over summertime, both live at London's Royal Albert Hall and also televised and broadcast on the BBC's serious music station, Radio 3. You can search through a full line up for what will be performed by clicking here, but having a quick scan I've noticed multiple Shostakovich heavy weights and lots of Mozart opera, concertos and other orchestral works. For example, the opening concert, scheduled for Friday 4th July aptly referred to as 'Prom 1', will include parts of the Marriage of Figaro and a performance of Shostakovich's 5th Symphony : a massive work known as well for its tongue-in-cheek title 'A Soviet Artist's Reply to Just Criticism' as it is for its themes. This prom is a must for any admirer of either of these composers, as is, I think, most of the rest of the season.


I'll have to promise myself a trip down to London to see at least one or two of these in person : the last time I turned up at the Albert Hall for one of the proms, my friend arrived a little late and so we didn't manage to get tickets (we were hoping for a couple of bargain - standing room only - ones!!) That must be about 10 years ago, though, so I think it's about time I made the effort to get down there again. As it happens, the same mate still lives just outside the city of London so maybe he could offer floor space for the evening?!

This has to be one of the funniest and most worrying music news items I've read for a while :

"The power of film music has led British film censors to tell the producers of The Da Vinci Code movie to tone down the soundtrack if they want the film to get a '12A' rating.
The BBFC said that the level of tension and volume in the sound mix of Hans Zimmer’s score would result in the film getting a '15' classification if changes weren’t made.
The censors were worried that the music would be too intense for young children. The producers have now made the changes in order to get the film a '12A' rating."

(For original story on the ClassicFM website, click here)

In all seriousness : a board of censors have now taken it upon themselves to decide what film scores are appropriate or not for children to listen to? Remember, we're not talking about songs or raps containing obscene language and we're not talking about 'garage' or trance tracks with reference to external drug cultures. These people are seriously trying to censor orchestral scoring on the grounds that the music is too loud and tense to be suitable for children.

Did I stumble into a time-warp? This is the year 2006, is it not?!?

I was chatting to a colleague at my office job this afternoon whose grandfather sadly passed away very recently. Apparently, this gentleman was a pianist and composer, mostly of rags, and unbeknown to the family until a couple of days ago he had left behind a whole bunch of manuscripts written by his own hand. The colleague in question no longer has any member of her family who are able to play piano to any great standard and felt at a loss as to what to do with the music, so offered it to me as a gift.

Apart from anything else, I think it will be difficult to accept this man's music - the one and only copy of the musical voice he carried within him until just weeks ago - without providing the family with something to keep that would be equally meaningful. So, I said that I would make use of this lady's grandfather's work and also try to make a good recording of his music so that her family would have a good idea of how his compositions actually sound - to be able to hear his unique, personal voice sing through the scraps of paper he had allowed to gather dust in an attic over the past five to six decades.

This is all very well, of course, and I hope that this gesture will mean that we - myself and this gent's family - will equally benefit from this amazing find, but the whole circumstances surrounding the situation did get me on to thinking about all the music that does not end up getting revived - going unpublished, unrecorded and ultimately unloved by anyone when the sand of time passes by those who created these treasures. What will happen to the music, for example, that myself and the guys in TFF have produced over the last few years once we have gone? Of course, to some extent this harks back to the classic human ego syndrome in which things are only viewed as having value if they are considered eternal in some way (we can see this when we read the romantic rhetoric surrounding love that never dies, enduring all things, including the death of those who do the loving). And this reminds me of the wise words of George Harrison - often recited even now by a wise and dear friend of mine - that all things must pass, and more than this that their passing does not negate their inherent value. Infact, in accepting that a given thing is transient by its very nature, such as a fine wine, a folk tune long forgotten or a momentary glance from a loved one, we are able to elevate its value in the moment that it does exist. So, yes, many of the things I write or record will inevitably vanish into the ether in days or years to come but this makes it all the more important to appreciate them right now, at least for me!

It's funny that when I stop and think of the things that most excite me about the prospect of going self employed and trying to make a go of teaching and playing for a full time living, the one thing that I keep coming back to in my mind is that I'll have time to attend lunchtime concerts again.

I remember when I was in sixth-form at school (jeez.. 11 years ago now!) that I used to rush to Bradford city centre every Wednesday lunch, and so skip PE classes, to catch whatever classical concert was showing free at Alhambra's Studio Theatre, and it struck me that the only reason I don't do that now is because I'm always committed to some office job or other at that time of the day. Even when I was working full time in Leeds city centre I used to time my breaks so that I could run across town to catch at least the first half of the concerts that were provided free in Leeds City Hall during the summer months, and saw many fine musicians doing their thing there for practically no financial reward.

So, this is my commitment to myself : I finally end my full time contract as a Sales Administrator with Aspire Technology this Friday so that I have more time to be involved with music. My first act as director of my own destiny is to make time to attend as many musical events as possible again, starting with the regular concert seasons provided free by the many theatres and cathedrals around Yorkshire - after all, what with relying on income from teaching and playing myself, I'm going to need to tighten the belt for a while! I look at it this way : it's a wonderful thing that I actively seek involvement in the area that I also choose as my living. Here's hoping it will work out!

Since I started writing this blog a couple of months ago, I’ve been meaning to say something about Kylie Minogue. Something, that is, that gives recognition to the amazing achievements she has had with her career over the past 20 years, acknowledging that her ongoing worldwide popularity is a direct result not only of the hard work her marketing teams have put in in the past couple of decades but also simply because the ‘X-Factor’, so often elusive among the chintz of Pop Idol and Fame Academy studio sets, absolutely pours out of this Australian singer and actress, seemingly unendingly and beyond any conscious control on her part.

I’m not naïve enough, of course, to think that Kylie isn’t very aware of what makes her audiences tick – she has a huge following with teenage girls and gay men, and is adored pretty much without exception by the tabloid press – or that she doesn’t do her best to maintain the status quo on that score, but it’s got to be said in her defence that this successful manipulation of the mass media to have her presented in the most positive possible light at all times is just another example of how well she carries off her job as a ‘pop princess’. I think it’s becoming more and more obvious that actual musical ability is only one very small part of the criteria required to thrive as a singer in the popular music charts of the early 21^st Century (let’s face it, many people get by without any ability at all!) and that the manner in which these people allow themselves to be seen and heard has far more to do with whether or not they manage to sell a lot of records, and ultimately make it in this fickle industry. Kylie’s sister, Danii Minogue, is a perfect example of this principle in action : she’s never managed to maintain such extensive popularity as Kylie, due partly to her inability to gauge where her fans' comfort zones lie – xenophobic remarks have not helped to elevate Danii in the public’s hierarchy of stardom any more than the poorly chosen and badly performed records she has released over the years!!

And therein lies the problem for Kylie Minogue : she has a distinctive, pleasant singing voice and enough vocal training behind her to carry off a tune. She’s also recently had a flurry of excellent songs written for her, including the hits Spinning Around, Can’t Get You Out of My Head and Love at First Sight. But from her earliest single recorded in 1988, I Should be so Lucky, to her latest song I Believe in You, her image, and so ultimately her success, has relied heavily on the public’s view of her as a happy-go-lucky girl next-door type who also happens to exude sexuality in a manner that is both playful and alluring. Her assets as a sexual female are displayed at every opportunity in a way that both outshines and cleverly outsmarts the efforts of her competitors, such as Madonna and Britney Spears. Kylie does not ‘bare all’ either literally in smutty photo shoots or metaphorically by means of telling press about relationships and breakups etc. She has managed even to come off relatively unscathed after awkward and upsetting events such as when her ex-boyfriend, the INXS singer Michael Hutchence, was found dead having been involved with what appeared to be a fetish act involving self-asphyxiation.

The most recent trauma to hit Kylie’s life, of course, was when she was diagnosed last year with cancer. During a routine check made by doctors (most likely for insurance purposes during her international tour) a tumour was discovered in her breast, apparently in the very early stages of development. Equipped with the money and resources only available to someone of such vast wealth, Kylie underwent treatment immediately and has for the past six months been recovering from the after effects of radiotherapy, with the intention of resuming her career as an international pop singer (against doctors’ recommendations) in December of this year – she has also been invited to headline the Glastonbury music festival in 2007.

I really do hope that she makes a full recovery and gets right back into the limelight when she feels strong enough to do so, but I also feel that this huge event in Kylie’s life can’t help but set her on a slightly different career path from that of the outgrown Charlene we knew before her illness – a course that is elevated by a new sense of importance and perspective. When the international media first heard of Kylie’s illness many were quick to criticise her lifestyle, jumping unfairly to the conclusion that she had a part to play in the development of her own cancer. True, women who choose not to have a family so early in life do run an increased risk of contracting these cancers, but the cause and effect argument cited by certain narrow-minded individuals about Kylie’s personal case seemed to me to be unwarranted. When all is said and done, we all make choices about the lifestyle we wish to pursue and those choices inevitably come with a series of pros and cons. But, more important than shrugging off this brutish criticism (and inevitable comment on her subsequent engagement to Oliver Martinez) I think will be the need for Kylie to find a new way to present herself. She has already shown the world in a number of photos released with her fiancé that a woman can lose her hair through aggressive cancer treatment and still stand strong, looking fantastically healthy and radiant, and this goes some way to acknowledging that she can continue to play the naïve girl next-door no more. A blow has been struck to the very tools that Kylie used to maintain this earlier image of herself: her breasts have for 20 years been flaunted as a symbol of the sexuality of youth while her wild curly hair danced in the breeze of numerous wind machines. But now I think she owes it to herself, and to other women and men who have suffered this terrible illness, to rediscover and represent these parts of her anatomy not as objects of male fantasy but as symbols of the strength of mind and body required to overcome such terrifying obstacles. Only then can Kylie look forward to a brighter, more fulfilling career in music without stepping back into her previous role as a singing pin-up.

Kylie is due to release her version of Over the Rainbow in the UK shortly and resumes her Showgirl Tour in Australia at the end of the year. Further information can be obtained from her official website.

The Reith Lectures are this year centred on the subject of music and its place in the context of modern day society, with reference to music's power to bring together waring factions. Sue Lawley introduces the lectures that have taken place around the world over the past couple of weeks by pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim.

I'll say no more about it except that his observations about the political climate of the Middle East are as fascinating as his thoughts on the nature of music and sound. All the lectures can be downloaded from the following webpage :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith2006/lecture1.shtml

Daniel Barenboim is the conductor of his own orchestra, made up of musicians from Israel and Palestine in equal numbers.

I got spammed by the good people of Audiences Yorkshire today. The problem with showing an interest in anything on the internet is that as soon as your name hits that database everyone and his dog start emailing (and posting) things to you that you may or may not be interested in. I get so much stuff through the mail (both electronic and the snail version) that I'm not really bothered by but today the advert was something a bit special.

Apparently, the Soweto Gospel Choir are visiting Leeds Town Hall for one night only on Thursday 11th May this year, as part of their Blessed tour. I've only ever seen them performing on television but I got the impression that their blend of rich, close and interesting harmonies as well as their eclectic selection of music of multiple styles and origins would be really interesting to experience live. Unfortunately, I can't personally make it on the 11th but I think it'll be worth a look if you are in the area and free that night.

Further info and CD sales etc. can be found here.

When any musical event is being organised the utmost importance is placed not only on what the programme will consist of but also in what order the items will be presented. Certainly, in orchestral concerts one would usually expect the pieces to come in a preconceived configuration, usually starting with something incidental like a concert overture and ending with the ‘biggest’ of the pieces on offer, such as a full symphonic work or similar.

Yesterday evening I didn’t have time to write an entry to my blog because I went straight from an office job to The Primrose to set up for our gig with The First Few. We were genuinely honoured on this occasion to be headlining the gig – this is a privilege only bestowed on bands that are considered worthy of the last slot of the evening. The only problem with this honour, though, is that sometimes the privilege turns out to be something of a double-edged sword. Last night is a classic example : having set up by 7pm, we didn’t actually start performing until 2230, by which time the bar was starting to quieten down (it was a Wednesday evening, after all) and those who were in attendance, including ourselves, were starting to wind down with fatigue. The sensation of direct, musical communication with the audience and the sheer drive of being on stage and playing songs that mean so much to us, was lessened by the awkward timing of the event.

Speaking to the organiser of these gigs around West Yorkshire, Sarah, I was assured that the headlining slot is usually the best to take when it’s offered, particularly at the weekends. But it did make me think that we, as a band, will have to be more careful in future as to which slots we agree to take on a given night (although, admittedly, we could have helped ourselves by trying a little harder to get friends etc to come along on this occasion). Sure, in a venue that is perpetually packed on a weekend evening, the later the band goes on the better reception they’re likely to receive. But, equally, in a venue that is struggling to get the punters in, especially on a weekday night when few are up for a ‘big one’, it can be advantageous to go on earlier while there are people mooching around after work etc.

Food for though, anyways. For the record, thanks to Sarah for organising TFF’s gig at The Primrose last night – we always enjoy these experiences, varied that they are.

Just a quick reminder : The First Few are playing at The Primrose on Meanwood Road in Leeds tomorrow evening. This is a bar that I've played in on a number of occasions before that encourages new bands and musicians to get up and perform. As well as their regularly organised gigs, they do an open mic night once per week that draws a lot of visitors, especially considering the size of the venue (albeit mainly friends of the various musicians).



Some further details about our gig can be found by clicking here.
Please come along to support live music venues in West Yorkshire!

On the iBreatheMusic forum, ash.D posted the following question :

"...I'm attempting to apply for admission into my uni's music department. I've been playing for 8 years, and can play petty much anything and in many styles, but as for scales ...I probably play them all the time, but don't know it... I don't know, maybe I'll be fine with what I know, but if they ask me to play something, I want to know what they're talking about. Any tips?? Any suggestions on pieces?..."

Quite honestly, I see the university interviewing process as one that allows the tutors of that establishment to figure out two basic things about the candidate : does this person have the necessary enthusiasm & drive to study one subject intensely for the entire duration of the course, and does (s)he have the potential to get through it and do well? As long as you are able to convince them that the answer to these two questions is yes then you should be fine.

So, no - I don't think it's necessarily essential that you have an in-depth, technical knowledge of music theory before you embark on the course (although, of course, all universities have their own selection criteria for each course) but a good working knowledge might be useful and for this you should probably do a little preparation : borrow a beginners theory book from the library (such as The AB Guide to Music Theory by Eric Taylor) so that you have a general overview of how we define a scale / arpeggio etc.

Apart from that, just try to play the best, most technically difficult pieces that you can pull off well. Remember, better to play a less difficult piece correctly than to fluff one that is harder for you to get right.

The original post can be located here.