FinishMySong Blog

Is it just me or is the way we're charged for phone services, and particularly mobile phone services, getting increasingly complicated to the degree that your average bloke on the street doesn't even know whether he's being ripped off by his provider or not?!

At the moment I'm a Vodafone customer and I've got to say that each monthly bill I get baffles me more than the last. There is a line rental charge that includes calls to any phone network at any time of day (except that this isn't strictly true), extras packages giving discounts on texts but never giving any clue as to how much I would have paid without it, a report of how many calls I've had carried over and how many I have left for the month before the one I'm in now, none of which seem to tally with one another or any of last month's figures... and so it goes on!!

Basically, it seems to me that there is a lack of transparency about the way we're charged for using our telephone products that leaves customers in the dark about how big their bills are going to be until they get stung with it at the end of the month. For example, did you know that when you text someone who is abroad your mobile company charges you according which network the recipient of that text happens to be connected to at the time that the text is sent? If they happen to be connected at that moment to a UK based network, such as Vodafone, then standard charges will apply. However, if their roaming handset connects them to a foreign network (such as Sprint in the USA) then you are charged at an international rate for texting them at that time. My question is 'how is the consumer supposed to know whether the text they're sending is going to be charged at a standard or inflated rate, or for that matter whether it will be included in their rental package?'! At least when you're abroad yourself you KNOW that the mobile phone company is going to charge you shockingly large sums to send texts, and to make and receive calls (often to the tune of £2 per minute or more).

These days complications with billing occur when both yourself and the person you want to contact are in the UK aswell. When I first got a mobile in 1997, calls were no cheaper but you could generally tell what network someone was on by the first few digits of their mobile number, and therefore you'd have a fair idea as to whether you'd be charged a higher rate for calling a network other than your own. But in the last couple of years, with increasing competition between the networks, it has gotten a lot easier to transfer a number from one to another, leaving the consumer in the dark as to what the charges are likely to be when calling a given mobile number. There is no directory or other source of information that gives the customer details as to which network another person is connected to, even when they are in their home country.

And then there is the issue of calling non-standard UK networks, such as 08 numbers : these are charged at full wack by most mobile companies, even if the number you are dialling is a UK landline - Vodafone even charges the full standard rate (around 35p per minute) for 0800 freefone numbers, which somewhat defeats the point of other corporations providing them! Also, something I didn't know until recently is that all 07 numbers are not necessarily mobiles - these can also be charged at non-standard rates without the consumers knowledge : I got stung for over £5 for a two minute call to a number that I believed to be a UK mobile when actually it was a foreign network routed through a standard 07 number!

It does seem that the telecom companies are doing nothing to assist their own customers with these kinds of billing issues - no system whatsoever is in place to guide a user of mobile telephony devices as to what they are spending when they dial or text a number, let alone MMS, Wi-Fi and international roaming services. Instead, the industry seems intent on trying to sell yet more gimmicks from built in cameras to the 'real' sound of Mozart's 40th Symphony as a ringtone. I believe it's time for this issue to be addressed so that the customer is given the opportunity to make informed decisions about the services they wish to use based on weighing up their need / desire to make a call with a clear, fair system of charges. Until this is put in place the advice I would give is to think carefully before calling or texting numbers that you're not 100% sure of or contacting people who are outside of the UK.

A British National Party promotional video that was released on the YouTube website allegedly included excerpts of the Kaiser Chiefs hit song I Predict a Riot. Since the band complained about the unauthorised use of their music by the BNP and, therefore, the infringement of their copyright by this far-right group, the video has been removed from the YouTube website. However, the BNP denies that the song was ever used on their promo, with this statement from their (unnamed) spokesman :

This isn't the type of music our party would ever want to be associated with, like rap music we think it's wrong to play this stuff. What's wrong with Beethoven?

However, the Kaiser Chiefs have been quick to condemn the BNP's attempt to associate their music with the racist, extreme right views held by party members. Their spokesman said that they are upset that the song was used by the BNP without permission and that they wanted to stress to their fans that they would never be associated with the political aims of the BNP.

Personally, I feel that the statement made by the BNP spokesman highlights how incredibly stupid these people are. Whether or not the video they released featured the music of the Kaiser Chiefs and whether this rock group's copyright was infringed is the matter at hand. For the BNP to state that it's "wrong" to play this "type of music" is utter nonsense, and what Beethoven has to do with the argument I have no idea!

Equally, I can understand the concerns of any group who find themselves associated with a political organisation whose viewpoint and ideals are opposed to their own, particularly when this association has come about as a result of unauthorised use of their material. Frankly, to be intentionally involved with the BNP - who are more honestly understood as a group of racist, violent thugs than as a legitimate political party - would be commercial and, more importantly, ethical suicide. Just as the BNP's aspirations for Britain as an all-white nation cannot be taken seriously, so we should look upon their connection to the Kaisers. Indeed, the BNP simpletons seem to have found themselves once again on the foul side of British law and should be treated as the dim-witted, petty criminals that they are.

I know it's a bit of a cliché but after such a heavy weekend I feel like I've been trudging my way through some kind of pesante movement from the late romantic piano repertoire. What I really need is to shake off these deep-and-meaningful thoughts for a while and go back to basics. And where better to start than with Britain's national past-time : a discussion about the weather?!



So, here goes... hasn't the weather been funny for the past couple of days? Really unseasonable. In fact, you might call it autumnal - sunny one minute and raining the next. The wind is making the clouds pass by so quickly and leaving it feel rather chilly outside, especially when you're in the shade. If this keeps up our tomatoes are never gonna ripen.

So there you have it... glad I've got that off my chest! :)

It often seems that life's lessons all come at once, like the number 34 on a rainy afternoon, piling up behind one another as if to make sure that you don't miss it this time. Certainly, this bank holiday weekend has been one of those times when a sense of perspective seems to have been brutally beaten into me, perhaps just when I needed it most.

You see, I was writing yesterday's blog about Martin's adventures in Europe just as my mother was getting ready to visit my Great Aunt, Marjory, who has been ill in hospital having suffered a heart attack. Once I was done with the entry and when Mum was all ready to go, we headed off to Airedale Hospital (near Keighley) with greetings card and flowers in hand to cheer up my increasingly elderly relative after her funny turn at the end of last week. It turns out, though, that Marjory was even more poorly than we had first feared and the doctor in charge at the Coronary Care Unit that day confirmed that she was gravely ill - the staff on the ward were really just trying their best to keep her comfortable while the inevitable took place. Hasten to add, I was back at the hospital this morning to pay my last respects to a woman who I've always quite liked from afar - we were never terribly close but when I did chat to her at family occasions I found her mostly to be intelligent and witty. And so, as I stood over her shrunken body, now devoid of all sense, a clarity washed through me - a renewed realisation that the centre of such an understated event as this is where we're all heading. We're not so much heading, in fact, as hurtling towards this quiet, solemn end. And as it takes place, of course, the world outside continues rushing forward obliviously and without empathy, on a promise to itself that there are more important things to be concerned with.

The concept of death is a biggie, especially for those people like myself who do not buy stories of white lights, reunions with long gone relatives and eternities in either the glory of heaven or the fiery pits of hell, and it's not one I'm going to directly deal with here, but it is significant that when someone close passes away we are given yet another opportunity to reflect on the brevity, fragility and ultimately the intrinsic value of life as we know it here and now. Moreover, it leaves me with a personal and urgent need to recognise the difference between high and low quality life experience, and by extension to strive for the latter leaving matters of lesser importance (such as attachments to riches, objects, grudges etc.) very much behind. Like it or not, the things that are really worthwhile hanging on to, such as the relationships we have with our loved ones, could be gone for good in the blink of an eye and, although we're all at least partially aware of this, the point cannot be overstated enough in a time and a place where emphasis is continually laid very much on the superficial. The message I suppose is not to wait until tomorrow to stop tying yourself in knots over things that just simply don't matter, but rather take action today to do whatever it is that's going to make a positive difference to your life, whether it be going for that walk along the river, taking the kite out, putting in your application for a new job or course, or simply holding someone you care about. I'm not nearly the only one who keeps having to relearn this lesson - many of us have watched very dear people pass away (having themselves experienced lives in portions of varying degrees of fulfilment), briefly but bluntly realised what really matters to us and then over the weeks and months following allowed all the silly, unimportant concerns to again get in the way of our happiness. And this is why I state that as my aunt lay still in a hospital bed this morning, having lost her battle to survive, I couldn't help wondering if she'd have any regrets could she have known that today's sunrise would be the last she would see. Who knows, but one thing is for sure - I am reminded by the experience of a spectator on the scene that leaving the most important thing in life, your happiness, to be dealt with tomorrow, next week or next year could be leaving it far too late.

My friend, Martin, is in the middle of his second epic cycling trip through Europe, this time following the Danube along its path through Germany, Austria and on to the Balkan states. He was initially travelling with another mutual friend, Robbie, but has now been left to complete the journey alone. Whenever he does these crazy trips I'm always intrigued to hear all about it when he returns but this time is different : thanks to the worldwide popularity of the internet, and to websites such as Blogger and MySpace, he has been able to publish an ongoing log of his activities that's open for anyone to read.

And when I flick through the entries of his blog it fills me with a mixture of concern for his safety, envy that he is getting to see so many wild and wonderful things while the rest of us get on with the monotony of everyday life in our hometowns, and more than anything else a renewed enthusiasm for a life beyond the realms of the 9-5 routine, the mortgage, the 2.4 kids, the Sky television, the Sunday shopping trips to Ikea and all the other paraphernalia that goes hand-in-hand with modern life in Western Europe. The fact is that there is SO much available to us in this life that we choose not to grasp - we have an enormous, beautiful planet full of interesting people and magnificent sights, sounds and smells that change with every passing breath and yet we mostly choose to ignore it in favour of a life being spoon-fed a whole bunch of lies about what will make us happy, from new shiny cars to the ultimate goal of shacking up and 'settling down' into a situation of self-perpetuating boredom that's over before we have time to consider that an alternative has always existed. I like to think that, rather than a glorification of drug-use, this is what Irvine Welsh and John Hodge were each in their own way trying to get at in the opening lines of Trainspotting :

Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television. Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suit on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose something else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?

No - when I read Martin's blog it inspires me to act on the knowledge that there is so much more I could be doing with my time than what coorporate UK would have me believe. It reminds me that the product we're being sold endlessly through our media and, by extension, through our peers is not what it seems : it will not bring the happiness and contentment that it promises. Of course, it's a free world so you can do what you like, but being a battery hen of the 21st Century isn't what Martin's life is for and it certainly isn't what mine is for.

Many of the diaries that WHSmith publish have on each page an amusing anecdote from some famous person or other and, although they catch my eye now and again, I've got to admit to having ignored them for the most part of the past 6 or 7 years that I've bought organisers etc from this newsagent. But, having a look through this year's academic diary there are actually some really excellent ones that I thought I would share on this sunny Friday afternoon :

This morning I received my copy of this year's programme for the Ilkley Literature Festival and it is truly packed with absolutely wonderful events, including some really quite famous names from around the world in the fields of poetry, journalism, novel authorship, sociology, politics and analysis of written word. Among these visitors to Yorkshire are John Simpson, Nick Hornby, Melvyn Bragg, Kate Adie, Jeremy Paxman, Simon Armitage, John Mortimer, Anthony Joseph, Harriet Walter and Mardani Younis.

Kicking off at the end of September, the Ilkley Literature Festival offers events of all kinds through more than a fortnight to Sunday 15th October (plus a feedback session on the 19th). Some of these are designed specifically with the aspiring writer in mind, such as Simon Armitage's Poetry Masterclass on 6th October, whilst other focus on the writings of the speaker or on other more open issues - Jeremy Paxman will be discussing the role of the Royal Family in modern day Britain and inviting questions from the floor on this and other relevant political subjects. There are also readings, theatrical and musical events, and many opportunities for the audience to bring their own work to the attention of a wider audience, including critique from the experts in the appropriate field.

Pricing is quite reasonable with many events being free of charge and going up to approximately £9 - £10, and booking of tickets will be opened online shortly. You can find out more by visiting www.ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.uk.

With the invent of Google Video and YouTube, and with ever increasing bandwidth capabilities both at home and on major websites, Vlogging is quickly becoming the world's choice method of expressing itself. Vlogging is effectively the same as Blogging, in as much as there are many different ways of using the tool from general rants to full artistic creations, except that it uses the medium of video (usually with audio) instead of written word and still images.

As a regular blogger I feel it's time I recognise the potential of video-blogging and perhaps incorporate it in some way to my website. One such use could be to add extra value to my resources page by including music lessons with video and audio examples : a first attempt at recording myself playing a simple classical guitar piece can be viewed below. Admittedly, the sound level needs to come up and I could have done with increasing the picture quality but I still think that it goes some way to demonstrating the potential of this medium.

My mother is a psychotherapist / counsellor and tells me that the first and most important thing to bear in mind about her profession is that everybody has issues that bother them and get in the way of there potential happiness. One of these that is most common to the majority of people is some form of feeling a lack of self-worth or self-confidence that then impedes their strength to grab all that life has to offer. I know I've experienced this many times over my life - a fear of failure so strong that I'm able to convince myself not even to bother trying for, say that new job or whatever, always making excuses to myself why it's not right for me when, in actual fact, the only thing that is getting between me and the thing that I desire is a lack of trust in my own abilities or innate worth.

I'm reminded of this situation every time I hear the Smiths song There is a Light that Never Goes Out :

And in the darkened underpass
I thought 'Oh God, my chance has come at last'
But then a strange fear gripped me
And I just couldn't ask.

I think it's at the times in life when a risk or a leap-of-faith is required to move forward that it would be wise to learn from the experience of the speaker in this song - presumably he never did ask for the hand of his companion in the darkened underpass and as a consequence of the fear that came over him he may have lost out on some great things. The comedy character Del Boy in BBC's classic series Only Fools and Horses has the ultimate antidote to this trepidation : He who dares wins. I'll be keeping that in mind as new challenges and opportunities show themselves and as I stride ahead into a future that is, when all is said and done, self-made.

I had the pleasure this weekend of catching some of the last day's performances at Scarborough's free music festival, Beached 2006. The whole premise of this 4 day event is that anyone can show up to see one or all of the bands and solo musicians do their thing on the main stage, built right on the beach at South Bay, just nearby the Spa Complex, and entire thing is free of charge. As well as an ecclectic mix of local and nationally recognised artists on the stage, other facilities are provided including a licensed bar and many shops selling gig t-shirts etc.

The weather was very changeable yesterday with some heavy downpours at times so, with no umbrella or jacket for protection, I only caught a few of the items that went on during the brief sunny spells. I was lucky enough, though, to see a good friend of mine, Billy Neilson, get up and sing some of his own songs (backed up by bass guitar and drums). It's a pity I wasn't around for the previous few days aswell because there really were many more great musicians playing over the course of the festival. Once again, a great idea, well planned and coordinated - just a shame that the Yorkshire weather didn't behave itself when it came to the crunch. Ah well... there's always next year!!

A student of mine recommended that I check out a site called Freecycle.org, with the advice that I could pick up all manner of items, from computers to car parts and from fireplaces to books absolutely free of charge. This, it's got to be said, sounded too good to be true but when I gave the site a try I was pleasantly surprised.

Freecycle is an organisation that promotes the free redistribution of things that once were bought or acquired by a current owner who no longer needs or wants them. How often do we find that we throw things out to the tip that, while perhaps being slightly dated or unfashionable, are still in fairly good condition? This, simply because we either can't or don't want to give them away to a charity shop, and perhaps can't be bothered with Ebay due to their extensive charging policy on both ends of the sale. Well, Freecycle now offers an alternative - simply sign up to your local Freecycle group (administrated by Yahoo! Groups) and post a short description of the item(s) that you want rid of and where they can be picked up from. Very soon, you'll almost certainly find that a number of interested parties will approach you and be willing to come to collect the item from your home.

This is what Freecycle say about themselves :

"The Freecycle Networkâ„¢ is made up of many individual groups across the globe. It's a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. Each local group is moderated by a local volunteer (them's good people)."

So, the basic premise of the Freecycle system seems to be that there should never be any exchange of money between participants and people should not take items from others with the sole intention of selling those things on (and, therefore, using membership of a Freecycle group as a money-making venture). Indeed, Freecycle is about recycling the things we no longer need by giving them away to someone else who may be able to use them. Items don't even necessarily need to be in working order as long as the full extent of their condition is described in the post - someone with the necessary skill and / or resources may well be able to put the thing to use in any case. Of course, the more common the item, the newer it is and the better its condition the more likely it is that there will be great interest in it.

Certainly a great idea : the website is run using many Yahoo! Groups that are sorted geographically so that the posts you choose to receive will only be from people in your local area. It is free to register and there is no limit on the number of posts you can submit, either to offer an item to the group or to accept something that someone else wants rid of. You are also allowed to make requests for things that you need, although it is slightly frowned upon if you request things without being willing to offer anything first, particularly if you are requesting expensive items.

As a private piano teacher, offering music tuition to people of any age group, it's important to my business that I am able to prove my suitability to potential customers. For example, people are naturally going to want to know that I have the necessary qualifications and experience to be able to teach them properly and give them the proper level of guidance required. For this I have a certificate on my wall telling all who need to know that I graduated in 2001 with a first class degree in Music with Creative Music Technology from Hull University : this is the evidence I need to show people that I know what I'm talking about when it comes to music.

But, even more important than showing a certification of my level of skill / understanding in music is the need to reassure my students that I am a decent, trustworthy citizen who poses no threat to either themselves or any of their children that they hope will benefit from piano lessons in the near future. The normal way to go about this would be to provide evidence that a recent check (within 2-3 years) has been carried out by the Criminal Records Bureau into my history, proving categorically that I have not had any runnings with the police and that the authorities have no concerns about me. The CRB check is organised by the Criminal Records Bureau in coordination with a number of other agencies (including those dealing with potential acts of terrorism and the registration of sex offenders) and, once all the admin has been carried out, a disclosure is released giving details of their findings. It is a copy of this document that is required by concerned parents or those running organisations that deal with children as proof that a person does not have a questionable past.

Last time a CRB was run on me was when I worked for Education Bradford as a peripatetic music teacher in schools, approximately 3 years ago. Now, as a private, self-employed guitar and piano teacher, I would like the check running again so as to help my customers make an informed decision to hire me to teach their children, knowing 100% that they are not placing their kids into a vulnerable situation. The CRB check is not mandatory for people who choose a career that involves coming into contact with young people but the vast majority of organisations such as schools and youth groups understandably require this to be done on all prospective employees, in the interest of assuring the safety of their clients. I, naively, assumed that the government would consider that the same level of protection is necessary for sole-traders, such as private tutors, as it is for workers in schools etc. But then, while browsing on the internet to organise for this check to be re-run on myself, I came across this document on the Criminal Records Bureau website :

http://www.crb.gov.uk/Default.aspx?page=381


In it, the following statement is made :

The current legislation does not allow the self-employed or individuals to apply for a CRB check on themselves. In addition, parents who employ a nanny/au pair/babysitter directly cannot apply for a CRB check;

In other words, the government will not allow a person to get a CRB check run on themselves. Nor will they let a concerned parent run a check on someone they hope to come into contact with their children in the capacity of a teacher or nanny. Thinking that I must have misread this or that I was looking at the wrong section of their website, I phoned up the Criminal Records Bureau who confirmed that they would not run a check on me as a self-employed individual, despite the obvious need for parents to have some way of knowing that they are not inviting a dangerous person into their home, and recommended that I apply for a job with a teaching agency, not with a view to working for them but solely so that that organisation will do the right thing and get me checked out before taking my application any further - a copy of the disclosure form will then be posted to me.

I'm not sure exactly what the government hopes to achieve with this ruling : if it were a matter of maintaining privacy then stopping parents getting checks run themselves on third parties would be understandable but what possible reason could there be for disallowing someone from having a check run on the records that have been collected about them over their lifetime? Surely, the Police realise that there are many self-employed people such as myself whose business it is to come into contact with children. It would seem perfectly right and sensible for a parent to make sure that these people are trustworthy before allowing them access to their young family, so where is the logic in stopping a person making sure that this can be done wholly and transparently, and without the need to make false employment applications to companies who I'm sure could do without the likes of me wasting their time?

This year's MOBO awards ceremony will be broadcast live on BBC Three (the digital television channel) on 20th September and once again as it approaches I am filled with mixed feelings about the validity of putting on a show to specifically celebrate music of 'black' origin to the exclusion of all other musics.

Firstly, it would be interesting to find out who it is that deems a piece of music as having black origins or otherwise. We know that, for example, jazz has its roots in West Africa and yet to date no jazz performers, of any ethnicity, seem to have featured in any major way at any of the awards. As an extension to this argument, it would be perfectly plausible to trace routes of most western 'pop' and 'rock' music back in one direction to black communities worldwide. So, I am intrigued as to where the organisers of this event draw the line as to what does and does not constitute music of black origins. To be quite frank, it seems to be the case that if your music is vaguely in the reggae, R&B or gangster-rap type bracket then you're in. Any other musicians can forget it, whatever genre they work in and whatever colour their skin.

Advocates of the MOBO's often cite past winners of these awards as evidence that there is nothing racist about the way it is put together, specifically wins by Eminem and Mick Hucknall of Simply Red. But for me there is still something deeply concerning about the need in our multicultural, 21st Century world to categorise our music as either being white or black. Those on the far right wing of white British and American culture often argue that the televising of the MOBO's demonstrates how the evil of racism has tipped in favour of people with brown skin (perhaps they wouldn't normally put it in quite those words!) and that a MOWO would not be tolerated by anti-fascist groups. My response is that these MOBO awards have obviously grown out of a cultural need for black people to be recognised for their massive contribution to music and the arts - a recognition that is wholly deserved and a need that must be addressed. It is not an inherent and explicit sense of racism on the part of the organisers that I believe to be the reason for these events, but they must see that by excluding any music that is considered to have 'white' routes (as if such a thing truly exists) they are contributing to the mindset of a fractured society.

The MOBO's in my eyes cannot be likened to Classical Music Awards, dealing with music of certain genres that are governed by the characteristics of the works themselves. Even though the majority of Western Classical Music would be considered whiter-than-white by many, it is not the ethnicity of its artists, listeners, supporters or heritage that categorises it as suitable for one event or other but the content of the music itself. If the awards we were talking about were, for example, exclusively for music of the hip-hop style then the question of whether or not the event is ethical would not come up, even if each and every participant of the ceremony were black, white or yellow. Having said that, race doesn't seem to be the only sticking point with groups who are concerned about the nature of the MOBO's : back in 2002 gay rights activists protested outside the ceremony in London because three of the nominees were known for singing lyrics that urge the murder of homosexuals.

I personally think that the popularity of the MOBO awards as they currently stand is a clear indication of very serious underlying problems in the way we see ourselves in the Western World. Yes, it is fascinating to look back at our history and see how people of all ethnicities have come together, each contributing in different ways to various aspects of our current musical culture, but in the present day there is no more need to classify music as black or white as there is to put any weight on those classifications of the people themselves. So, why am I reading in the news today that Beyonce Knowles is heading up the nominations for a competition that is closed to music that somebody has decided is not black enough?

Music's true ethnic origin can not be traced as purely one colour or other, any more than can the bloodline of the very people who make up the population of the Western World - as far as I'm concerned, such a scenerio is neither realistic nor desirable. Once we accept this truth we'll be closer to understanding the nature of our multicultural society, being able to empathise with those whose cultural backgrounds have differences to our own, and to putting an end to racism and its close cousins - divisive concepts such as the MOBO's.

The International Tchaikovsky Classical Music Contest, that's held in Moscow, Russia, will this year for the first time be broadcast live on the internet. According to RIA Novosti :

The competition, named after the 19th century Russian composer whose music is loved throughout the world for its harmony, stirring melodies and distinctly Russian and yet international character, is one of the world's most prestigious contests.

The 13th International Tchaikovsky Competition will take place June 12-30 in 2007. Held once every four years since 1958, it was originally organized for pianists and violinists, but later included cellists and vocalists.

If your Russian is any good you can get more information about this event on the following website : www.XIIITC.ru Personally, I'll let the music speak for itself!! :)

Last night The Superkings appeared at Baildon's Suburban Bar, capturing and keeping hold of the attention of many of the regular punters in the bar : something that is a real challenge to any band that plays pub-gigs.

They certainly caught my eye because it is rare to see a group in this kind of venue that have the guts to do their own songs, totally avoiding the standard, high-volume covers that usually blast out of pubs on a Sunday night. And they should be congratulated on the originality of their sound - The Superkings are an unconventional acoustic outfit held together by a rhythm section seated strongly on the steady chords of keyboard / piano. Added to this are really interesting, sometimes intense lyrics sung in a style the can be likened to Belle and Sebastian and some really quirky counter melodies provided by cello. The lead vocalist, David Wright, has an understated, throaty tone that works wonderfully with the band's overall musical style and Sophia Lockwood is clearly a gifted cellist whose musicianship is every bit as vital to The Superkings' success as the other elements.

Really great stuff : I look forward to catching this band live again soon. In the meantime, you can visit their website to download mp3's off their most recent EP. They will also be appearing at Morecambe's The Dome on Aug 26th and Carpe Diem in Leeds on 21st October.

In the BBC music news today is a story about how the heightened security in British airports is affecting traveling musicians who carry very fragile and often very valuable instruments with them on their journeys around the world. The problem is that, with the increased caution on flights to and from the UK, musicians are now being told that they have to check their instruments into the cargo hold of flights - a part of the plane that can get colder than -10 degrees centigrade.

Apart from the damage caused to instruments by airport staff who, probably due to time constraints more than anything else, have a tendency to be less than careful when loading and unloading luggage into the planes, the materials that many instruments are made from and the delicacy of their construction means that sudden changes in temperature and air pressure can themselves cause irreparable harm to instruments, particularly on lengthy flights. Normally, musicians carrying large instruments go to great lengths to keep their tools with them, including booking an additional seat on the aircraft so that there'll be enough room in the pressurised cabin for it to travel by their sides.

But, the new rules for inbound and outbound UK flights means that no hand-luggage whatsoever is allowed in the cabin and this includes musical instruments with or without their cases. And, to some degree I can understand this precaution by the authorities, although it does conjure images in my mind of mafia bosses carrying machine guns down dark, rainy backstreets in violin cases! There must be a compromise, though - surely airlines realise that some people will need to travel with belongings that simply cannot be kept in the cargo hold of a jet, either because of the fragility of the item or due to its importance or value, for example laptops containing extremely sensitive or business-critical information. The way I see it, there are two possible solutions : either drastically improve the manner in which luggage is checked in, how it is handled by airport staff and provide a system by which the stuff can be picked up without the risk of it being damaged or stolen by other passengers, or else take some of the seats out of the cabin and replace them with a large, locked storage area in which passengers can check in anything that cannot be placed in the cargo-hold, perhaps for an extra charge. In the meantime, people who need to keep their valuable equipment with them will either have to find a way of packaging it up in the safest possible way or just choose another way of getting to their destination. Obviously, though, if the place is a long-haul flight away that could be something of a problem!

Just a thought for the day : I always wonder why when I chat to my married friends the majority of the blokes who express any feelings whatsoever about having children usually say that they would want to have a boy and, in some cases, keep trying through multiple pregnancies until a boy is born.

Of course, in other parts of the world there are very good cultural reasons for hoping that the offspring will be male - certain cultures do not recognise females as equals and actually the only way to pass on one's inheritance, education and experience would be to have a boy : girls will be provided with what they 'need' by the husband in later life and are often considered, to all intents and purposes, pretty useless to the family.

But in 21st Century Britain where sexual equality is now a basic tenet of our culture, having seeped into the phsyche of most people and even mostly been achieved in the workplace, there really is no practical advantage for a family to have a male rather than a female baby. Of course, even now in the UK inequality does go on to some degree in certain circles and many couples continue to observe outdated rituals such as the taking of a husband's name by a woman when she marries (thus, having part of who she is - her identifier - being removed and replaced by that of the man), but these are relatively minor. Also, in this day and age we are open to the concept that people do not have to confirm to gender stereotyping, choosing lifestyles that are relevant to their individual choices rather than preordained placements purely according to biological gender. And, yet, I continue to hear all the time that my male friends hope that their partners will give birth to a boy so that they can enjoy football and beer etc in later life.

Personally, I just don't have this internal desire to have a child of any specific gender - if and when I am in a position to have children I guess this might change but for the life of me I can't understand why it would!

This morning all hell has broken loose in the airports around Britain, security tightened still further by officials disallowing passengers from carrying any kind of hand luggage onto their flights, with the exception of wallets and medicines, both of which should be displayed in transparent plastic bags. MI5 have raised the "threat" level in the UK to "critical" which means that they expect a terrorist attack on the mainland imminently.

But, to be honest, all this seems a little too familiar. I'm not clear what the purpose is of announcing these threat levels in the public arena when, in all reality, if a terrorist attack is about to take place there's absolutely nothing we can do about it. Some elements of the way this news broke struck me as signs of the authorities congratulating themselves on having foiled a plan made by ignorant, ill-informed individuals who allegedly hoped to cause mass panic and the deaths of many civilians this morning. But, in telling the public about what they have done they have also managed not only to cause chaos at UK airports but also increase the levels of anxiety about our safety countrywide, and probably worldwide. It is this very process that Michael Moore has been so critical of in his recent television documentaries, such as Fahrenheit 911 - this raising and lowering of threat levels, and their publication in the mass media, do nothing to help the public deal with the supposed threats and can only act to disrupt the authoritie's efforts to combat those who wish to cause the public harm. So, why tell us all about it? Well, I have a feeling the Moores of this world might be right on this point : keeping the population on the edge of their seats, scared to travel and fearful for their own and their loved ones' lives is a means of controlling them and keeping them quiet when the government carries out atrocities of its own that are clearly against the majority of the public's wishes, such as their involvement in the Iraq war.

So, if the MI5 managed to stop a group committing mass murder this morning then that's great - I'm very relieved that no planes were brought down over British skies. But please do us a couple of favours : don't tell the tabloid press about it (they only exaggerate everything the the nth degree) and please spend as much time addressing the problems that are causing certain people to try to harm us as you do foiling their attempts. Maybe if this latter request was carried out properly we would have no reason to feel terrified for our lives each time we enter a public building or get on a plane.

A violin teacher from Texas was last week sacked for "using alcohol" whilst watching a musical performance at a mountain resort in Colorado called Music in the Mountains.

The 25 year old classical musician it seems enjoyed a glass of wine whilst watching students perform on stage and, despite being one of many people who were consuming alcohol during the event, he was sacked a few days later. This, apparently, was because he was sat among students at the time he was drinking wine.

The source report on this young teacher's sacking was published by The Durango Herald and describes how Richmond Punch has now left the state of Colorado for his hometown in Texas but that he believes there was more to his sacking than meets the eye. Certainly, enjoying a glass of Chardonnay during a performance is perfectly ordinary practise and would not normally constitute grounds for dismissal, especially because this event was, presumably, not during Punch's normal working hours. But, he had been warned about other aspects of his conduct, such as his habit of busking in the street on days off, this that the Conservatory of Music in the Mountains deemed to bring down the tone of their esteemed establishment. Although, how what this teacher does in his spare has anything to do with his employer I'm not sure - seems like there would be grounds for unfair dismissal if this happened in the UK.

It doesn't help that those who jumped to his defence also seem to say nothing of worth, for example Punch's mother, Gayle coming out with this corker :

"People are usually enlightened when they see a young African-American man playing classical music."

What the relevance of Punch's ethnicity is I'm really not sure!

I'm not sure why but I seem to keep stumbling upon articles about a guy whose initial fame as a singer of the 'protest' movement during the 1960's was to some degree overshadowed by his infamy in the late 80's, mainly as a result of comments he made about Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa issued to an outspoken author who openly criticised Islam : I am speaking, of course, about the artist Cat Stevens or, as he is now known, Yusuf Islam.



Yusuf more recently hit the headlines because he was refused entry into the United States of America due to being included on a list of suspected Islamic terrorists and because of his alleged connections with world terror organisations. But, back in 1989, when he had only recently converted to Islam, Yusuf was asked during a lecture what he thought about the death sentence that was imposed on Salman Rushdie following the publication of his book The Satanic Verses. At the time, the Today newspaper reported that Yusuf agreed with the fatwa and that he called upon all Muslims to carry out the execution of those who blaspheme against Islam. Of course, in the 17 years since this controversy came about Yusuf has had many opportunities to give a true account of his side of the story, one of which is published on his internet site, CatStevens.com :

I was delivering a talk about my journey to Islam at Kingston University in London, when somebody (probably a disguised journalist) mischievously posed a question about Islam’s view on apostates and blasphemers... What I actually tried to do at the lecture in Kingston, and subsequently during other interviews, was to quote ‘from the book’ what Islam says about the legal consequences for someone who commits blasphemy within the context of Islamic law where it is adopted and applied, I never ever sanctioned people taking the law in their own hands or overstepping the laws of the Britain which is what the Fatwa of Ayatollah Khomeini proposed. The truth is I never once stated support for the ‘Fatwa’.

The interesting thing about this article in defence of the way he "foolishly fell for the trap" set by a tabloid journalist is that Yusuf doesn't actual go as far as condemning the view that Salman Rushdie should have been murdered for writing and publishing blasphemous material - sure, he is very clear that he didn't once STATE support for the fatwa imposed on this author but then doesn't actually criticise the judgement by the late Ayatollah or those who supported that decision. For me this sets a very dangerous precedent : once again we have a figure who on the surface is a peace-loving individual, even devoting many of his songs over the years to this very subject, but who is also happy to go along with the belief that those who blaspheme - who speak or write ill of Islam - forgo their right to life.

The problem with extreme views like this, of course, is that any of us can decide what opinions we consider to be offensive and whether they are shared by a huge population of people across the world or whether just me and my cat are offended by a given opinion is neither here nor there. I could, for example, decide that the idea of evolution is so utterly against my viewpoint about the nature of the world around us that I have every right to carry out the execution of every scientist and writer on the subject from Carl Zimmer, to Richard Dawkins to Charles Darwin. This might sound far fetched but when theatre productions in 2006 must be abandoned for fear of the cast, writers and / or the audience being in danger from attacks by those who disagree with the show's content then clearly attitudes of the likes of Khomeini are running rife in modern day society.

This comes back down to the dichotomy faced by all liberals : that we believe in freedom of expression as well as the freedom of faith, belief and religious practise. The only trouble is that those our society grants these freedoms to too often do not share our conviction that ALL views are valid and should be allowed an airing, even if they are considered highly offensive to 1, 2 or 2,000,000 people.

As for Yusuf, well he not only fails to express any conviction that those who wanted to murder Salman Rushdie were fundamentally ill-advised but has also made many testing remarks about the world's Jewish population - remarks that are as offensive to someone with strong beliefs about prejudice as blasphemous remarks are to a religious individual. Infact, on his charity's website, called "Small Kindness", he doesn't even recognise the existence of the state of Israel, that part of the world being marked on his revised world map simply as "Holyland".

I always find it strange when I'm listening to the radio in mainland Europe because it seems that the majority of the music that their stations play is either English, American or else is sung in the English language. Because I'm currently in the middle of trying to learn French I often tune into France-based radio and television stations on the internet, such as Europe 2, that all seem to play wall-to-wall English pop and rock, which isn't terribly helpful when it comes to improving my language skills but says something important about the French (and general European) attitude to international music making. Even the French music charts and video lists feature many foreign, English-language songs - looking at the TF1 website this morning I was surprised to see that ONLY three out of the top ten videos are currently English or American!

And, yet, in the UK it is very rare that any song makes it into the top 40 that isn't either British or by a group / singer from the USA - only a few exceptions spring to mind, including the 1987 hit by Vanessa Paradis called Joe le Taxi, and The Ketchup Song, by girl-group Las Ketchup, the latter of which was actually partly sung in a mixture of Spanish and English known as Spanglish. I guess when you stop to think about it there will be a number of other big hits in the UK that were sung in a language other than English but that's kind of the point : you have to think about it! Most of the charts in other non-English-speaking European countries in any given week will include a third to a half of songs in English and I think this might be part of the reason why people from these places tend to be more able to speak English to a greater or lesser extent than the average Brit or Yank can get by in, say, German - they are simply more regularly exposed to languages other than their own.




Quite apart from the educational aspect of it, the fact is that an awful lot of good music is produced in non-English speaking countries and it seems a shame that British people are not given the opportunity to hear any of it, presumably because some bod or other has decided on our behalf that we're not interested in knowing about what's going on outside of the UK. For example, in my French studies I stumbled upon a young singer who appeared on a French talent show with a similar format to Fame Academy or Pop Idol (called Graines de Star), Alizée Jacotey. Although not everyone's cup of tea, the songs this singer / dancer has released thus far have demonstrated that she has a real vocal talent, despite they being very much in the 'pop' genre and, therefore, likely to be heard mostly by those in their early teens. The question is, though, why hasn't she and other European artists of all genres been marketed for British audiences (with the exception of classical music, that seems to be more blind to national and cultural borders)? My guess is that it comes back down to a traditional and ongoing xenophobia that, despite the relative ease of international travel and the rise of the World Wide Web in the early 21st Century, continues to flourish in this country thanks to the conservative attitudes of our press who wish to deny us of our right to be part of a larger European community. Who knows what the likes of Alizée might do in years to come once she has matured out of singing to teeny-boppers, but one thing's for sure : if our British media doesn't widen it's scope we might miss out on hearing about it!

The BBC news reports today that the government's Transport Secretary, Douglas Alexander, is planning to implement a nationwide network of toll roads making it likely that drivers in the UK will be charged each time they wish to use any major intercity roads, such as the motorways. Alexander is quoted as saying :

"We are considering pilots on the trunk road network as an important stage towards national road pricing."

Now, perhaps nobody told him but we already have a national road pricing scheme called car tax. With this and the massive fuel duty that the government collects from motorists I personally feel that car owners in this country are already paying enough to subsidise an inefficient and unreliable public transport system - surely Tony Blair and his cronies should be concerning themselves with offering people a practical alternative to getting in their cars instead of turning back the clock to a time when only the wealthy were privileged enough to have the convenience of getting around in their own vehicles.

The only real solution to today's transport problems I believe is to re-nationalise the public transport system - as long as the rail and bus network are run by private enterprise the priority for their owners will be to maximise profits, resulting in a reduction in service levels and and ongoing increase in price. Clearly, this situation needs to be reversed if we have any hope of convincing people to leave their cars at home.

Paul Kildea's article entitled Prose and Cons in the arts publication Frieze is a fascinating read. In it he examines how classical music is approached by the mainstream music critics and asks why the quality of most comments on this genre is mostly very simplistic and at it's worst actually fails to say anything insightful about the experience of being involved with 'serious' music :

The critical shorthand employed today is rarely helpful. Piano accompanists can be ‘sensitive’ or ‘supportive’. Conductors do frequently show ‘command’ or ‘authority’ as they bring about ‘tidy ensemble’ with ‘orchestral clarity’. Violinists are commonly ‘virtuosic’. Singers often present ‘clear text’ with ‘vocal maturity’.

And it's got to be said that when one takes the time to look at reviews of either live performances or recordings of the classical music repertoire (as well as music of many other genres) this is the kind of language that is employed, especially when the critic in question is writing for a local readership. In this latter case, the writers often attempt to flatter the performers of a given work by being extremely cagey about what they actually thought about the details of the event, to say nothing of how this particular rendition fits alongside the artistic, authentic or societal traditions or expectations. Certainly, when I've been involved in semi-amateur productions of West End musicals, every review I have bothered to look at seemed to praise the singers' outstanding talents and in some cases perhaps remarked in passing about the volume at which the orchestra / band were mixed. Even when you look to the established national press, there is little discussion in these columns about any historical or extra-musical context or even an analysis of whether or not, say, the polyphonic texture of a given section was successfully carried by the string section or, more importantly, why this is the case!

In the third of his Reith Lectures the conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim asked why it is that cultured, educated people talk freely of books, art and theatre, but rarely of music.

Well, I guess that the nail is on the head with this one : there is an 'educated' elite in academia who approach the study of music in an entirely different fashion to the way broadsheet critics discuss these things, the only difference between this discipline and those that relate to other artistic fields is that there seems to be less crossover between the two methods. If a reader is interested in music enough to want to learn about it's greater societal context and then to analyse how a piece works and the agenda for its performance then there is plenty of material to go at. But, unfortunately, these kinds of articles tend to be expensive to buy, often not available in public libraries and so much harder to come by than the waffle that's printed daily and on sale for 30p a copy!

Avid Technology has purchased what has become the world's most popular music notation software, Sibelius. This is a programme that allows users to either point and click notes into a score on the screen or else attach a MIDI compatible device and play the parts in, outputting beautifully crafted sheets in any number of different styles, including standard 'printed' manuscripts and quasi-handwritten scores. The programme also syncs with an onboard soundcard to allow the user to listen to the work that (s)he has put together, giving the tool the functionality to become a composers right arm!

So, today the relatively small corporation that has owned and developed this programme since its conception has sold it, and it seems for something of a bargain price : the new owners only paid just over twelve million pounds (that's a year-and-a-half's turnover) for the rights to continue this work. My only hope is that they make the programme more affordable to the average man on the street - there is a limited student version available for about £90 but the full version is really too expensive for any novice musician to consider buying, which is a shame because it really is such a great piece of software!!


The source for this blog came from http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/03/avid_buys_sibelius/

I think it's long been established that the brain is like many other organs in your body in as much as that if you use it and keep stretching its scope, the net effect tends to be that it grows to cope with more useage and ultimately lasts longer into old age, avoiding the onset of neural dysfunction and diseases such as Alzheimer's. The basic message is use it or lose it. As the muscles increase their working capacity as they are exercised, so does the brain.

Further research has been carried out recently on the different types of usage and how they affect the brain's overall performance and it has been clearly demonstrated that being active in music (i.e. playing an instrument or studying music in great detail) has the impact of improving many people's abilities with other brain activities such as with maths, language and even emotional cognition.

The following article recently appeared in the Canadian Timmins Times :
http://www.timminstimes.com/story.php?id=245463

There is a wealth of evidence that indicates that music lessons offer children intellectual benefits that put them ahead of others who do not participate in music education. These advantages include higher grades and IQ scores, a lower propensity to misbehave and a fine-tuning of their sensitivity to emotion in speech... But watching television or listening to music is not enough to gain the benefits of music. One must be involved in the education process to see the best results.

So, if you ever had any doubt that piano lessons would improve your child's all-round education, take a look at some of the evidence on offer.

Today is Yorkshire Day : the one day of the year that Tykes get to celebrate their Yorkshire heritage. So, it seems appropriate for me to do my bit on this blog and invite everyone to sing their own private performance of the Yorkshire anthem On Ilkey Moor Bah Tat before the day is out. Incase you didn't know them off by heart, the words are as follows :