FinishMySong Blog

Since it was first introduced to the internet, I've always like Wikipedia - it really is a great online resource for any number of subjects, including music. Sure, it's no Grove Dictionary of Music but it is a portal that is trusted by many, updated regularly and checked by those who are in the know about these things.


It also contains some wildcard pages like one I came across today - a list of songs related to Halloween! Certainly handy if you're planning to have a party tonight!

In honor of the Orange Man Project, the link to which a friend of mine has been passing around the email recently, I thought I'd blog on the subject of another seemingly natural human phenomenon.. or at least a phenomenon that seems to effect me: that one ear is more directly connected to the respiratory system than the other.

So, here's the experiment I urge you all to try - get some cotton wool buds and give your left ear a good poking. Stick it in far enough so that you can pull out some yellowy wax (but not far enough to actually, you know, penetrate your ear drum). Once you're all done with that try the same thing with the other ear.

Now, here's where the interesting bit comes in.... did poking your right ear make you cough?? And, if so, why didn't you get involuntary coughing when you poked your left ear? These, I feel, are some of the most crucial and profound questions of our times. Unfortunately, I do not have a logical answer to offer. Feel free to leave a comment if you can think of one..!!

For me, the highlight of last Monday's gig at Leeds Metropolitan University's Student Union bar was not the main act, Divine Comedy, but their support, the brilliant Duke Special.

This duo really epitomised the phrase 'less is more' by performing all of their songs on piano and drums with one single vocal line provided by the pianist. Thanks to a pianistic style that was pretty frantic at times, combined with really varied syncopations from the percussionist, Duke Special really managed to pull a bit sound out of the bag. They have a distinctive sound that's complemented by songs that are interesting and thought-provoking.

Definitely worth seeing, they're touring with Divine Comedy and offer limited free downloads from their website www.dukespecial.com Go visit and hear for yourself! :)

I wrote a blog a couple of months about the ridiculous red-tape involved in getting a Criminal Records Check and just wanted to update any prospective customers with children or young adults that my CRB disclosure has now gone through and, of course, come back 100% clear. Details are below:


Disclosure Number: 001143551349
Date of Issue: 23rd Oct 2006


The Enhanced Criminal Record Certificate that I hold is not evidence of my identity but it is relevant to sections 115 and 116 of the Police Act. It basically states that when a check was run against my details for the following things none were recorded:

Police Records of Convictions, Cautions, Reprimands and Final Warnings
Information from the list held under Section 142 of the Education Act 2002
Protection of Children Act List information
Other relevant information disclosed at the Chief Police Officer(s) discretion.


The top and bottom of it is that I don't have a criminal record and so pose no danger when working with children, which is a good job since I already work as a singing tutor in various schools and after-school clubs!!

My very reliable and hardworking cousin, Craig, has just stepped up his landscape and gardening business to a full-time occupation. He's working in the Bradford and Leeds areas and is available for any type of gardening jobs, no matter how big or small.

For further information about availability and rates, give him a call on 01274-638218 or 07708-528757 and ask for Craig Verity. He does not yet have a website up and running but would be happy to chat to you on the phone about your requirements!

People keep asking me what I think about North Korea's plans to become a nuclear power, as if my silence on the matter is somehow baffling to them. I suppose my blogs do often cover current affairs but I think the reason I haven't said anything up to press about this particular issue is that I thought it was a straightforward no-brainer. Apparently, I was wrong.

Well, ok, here goes: basically, it's not a very good idea to develop weapons that can kill thousands if not millions of people at the push of a single button. As a pacifist, I can't see anything positive about the use of violence as a means of negotiation so clearly violence on the scale of a nuclear strike is totally out of the question as a reasonable aim for world politics.

Do I agree that the government of the USA should be playing the world's police, judge and jury on this issue as it has done with so many others in recent history? Of course not: here stands a nation that holds the world's largest stockpile of nuclear warheads and has the means to deploy them to pretty much any corner of the globe. It is also the only nation ever to have used nuclear weapons against another country, and a nation that is run by the gunhoe George W Bush. Of course it's hypocritical for America to go around telling other people what weapons they should and shouldn't be developing, but it doesn't change the fact that ANYONE having these things means that we're all in greater danger. My friend lastnight argued that if we all have nuclear weapons at least a certain balance is restored by means of a standoff, as it was in the cold war. Yes, I said, but it only takes one nutter to push the button and we're all screwed. And there are plenty of nutters out there.

I always think that the tradition in our society of calling for an encore is a very strange one. For a start, the whole thing is so very staged: when a band goes off stage (and especially when it's the main act) we expect them to come back on and do another one or two numbers before the end of the night. Equally, they expect the crowd to call for more - it is a declaration of adoration but, more than that, it is the validation that the group has been looking for from the very beginning of the performance.

Moreover, it is always obvious whether or not an encore is going to be performed - the venue will either raise the lighting or put other music through the PA system when they want to tell the crowd to get themselves off home. So, if the band says "Thanks and Goodnight" but the lights stay down and there's no other music playing for more than ten to twenty seconds then you can be sure that the band is coming back on for their swan song.

My question is this: why do we need to continue with this charade?? Yes, we like your music. In fact, we think you're so great that we shelled out £60 each for a ticket to see you play. So, do we REALLY have to watch you pretend to finish your set then yell out "More!" for a couple of minutes before you'll finish off the gig? Am I just being a party pooper here?? Maybe it's that time of the month or something?! :)

It beggars belief how stupid some people can be. For example, in a leaked memo, Greater Manchester Police asked detectives not to make planned arrests against Muslim people at prayer times during Ramadan. Apparently, the need to be 'sensitive' to other people's belief systems now extends to allowing known criminals freedom to worship at times when they ought to be being arrested and removed from our communities for the safety and security of the rest of us.

Not surprisingly, this faux-pas has not gone down well with most rational people, whatever their religious background - muslim people clearly feel as strongly as anyone else about the need to deal with criminals in an appropriate manner and would be much happier if they did not have to worry that wrong-doers in their own communities were intentionally left to their own devices during the Ramadan period - unarrested thanks to a decision made by GMP that seems to have confused the concepts of respect for others with plain negligence! In fact, Mohammed Shariq of the Ramadan Foundation, an Islamic youth organisation, has gone as far as to say "It's stupid, lunacy, that police could even consider not arresting Muslims during Ramadan."

I wonder when the idiots who run the police force are going to realise that racial equality is about treating people with the same level of decency whatever their race happens to be. This is not about positive discrimination and letting people off if they are a different colour or if there is a perceived need to be sensitive to their religion. There is no place for the race card in law enforcement (or any other system) and to implement a rule such as not arresting someone who is of a certain religious orientation does inter-community relations no good whatsoever. Such an idea puts us all at greater risk, patronises those who want to see justice done when the law is broken, and fans the flames of race hate.

Nice one Greater Manchester Police: you couldn't have thought up a more ineffective policy.

Don't know whether this is genuine but it arrived from a friend into my inbox today so it might be worth a try:


This Friday and Saturday (20th / 21st October) HMV.co.uk is offering you a 20% online discount*. Just use the promotional code: SQ1515 to save 20% on thousands of CDs, DVDs, games and accessories (future releases are excluded and terms and conditions apply.)

This is a Friends-and-Family offer, so please forward to anyone you think would enjoy 20% off at HMV.co.uk. Remember it's only valid for two days.

Best wishes,

The HMV.co.uk Team

The Borat sketches that have been passed around the internet numerous times over the last few months and that will be showing as a feature length movie this month are generally pretty offensive to most groups. Pretending to be a Khazakh tourist, this character coaxes people into giving away their most outrageous views, and just simply takes the michael out of them seemingly without their even realising it's happening.

Anyway, the government of Kazakhstan got a bit upset about this and in particular remarks that Borat made about their country, including that the age of consent to have sexual intercourse there had just been raised to 8. But, they really don't help themselves with blunders like the one made this week : the Kazakh bank has printed two thousand notes on which the word "bank" is spelled incorrectly! As if that itsn't bad enough, they intend to circulate them even knowing that the error exists.

Read the full story on the BBC Website.

According to a government report, known as Music Manifesto, the standard of school education in music across the United Kingdom is so varied as to be described as a 'postcode lottery'.

The details of this report go on to say that there are "pockets of excellence" around the country that the rest of the national education system should be using as a positive example to bring the nationwide standard up. Of course, this could be interpreted as an indication that the majority of local education authorities are failing in their duty to bring excellence in music education to the children of today. Hardly surprising, really, since funding for extra-curricula music activities such as the running of choirs and orchestras and the providing of one-to-one vocal and instrumental tuition for pupils in England and Wales seems to have continued be reduced over the past decade.

Certainly, when I was at school lessons in as many instruments as a pupil would want to play were provided free of charge to parents and many groups were organised by the music department after schools. But with the reduction in financial backing and the ever increasing demands on teachers, I'm afraid those days seem to be over. However, it is clear from the report that many teachers and LEA's continue to work hard to provide the best possible musical opportunities for every young person that comes through the school system and these groups and individuals should be congratulated for their outstanding work.

My personal experience of working as a peripatetic pianist / music teacher in primary schools around the Bradford area is that most schools continue to be grossly overstretched to the point that musical activities simply have to take a position of secondary importance. Too often I have visited schools where the teachers responsible for the class don't even know what it is the kids should be doing in their music lessons, let alone conduct the sessions, giving them a sense of structure and purpose. Infact, I have often been told by staff on duty that they have no idea what repertoire the regular teacher (usually a person brought in from outside to teach singing) works from and where in the school building the necessary resources are located. This is not a slur on these schools or the staff that work in them: simply a fact that is all to easy to observe - music is not treated as an important, serious academic subject because teachers and support staff really don't have the time or energy to bestow this status upon it, thanks to the numerous other pressures weighing down on them, for example in maintaining high standards in literacy and numeracy.

So, it is good that this report has come along to shine a light on the problems that schools are facing and to help them get the assistance they require from the relevant LEA. I hope that this initiative has a marked and notable effect on music education in our schools all year round, not just in National Music Week for Schools.

How many people do you know who have recently purchased a second, third or fourth property, or very soon plan to do so? If you’re social group is anything like the ‘average’ then the chances are you’ll be acquainted with a number of these people and will possibly be one yourself!

As property prices in the UK continue to rise, more homes are being bought up, most often on money borrowed from the bank over a long period of financial commitment, that in turn stimulates the market, encourages those who are already in a financially secure position to take advantage and take a step or two up the ladder, further increasing house prices and isolating those on lower incomes and those who do not already own a property from getting into the system in the first place. Ironically, this latter group are the very people who are then forced to rent a home from those who have been able to take out further credit – thus, they pay the mortgage that they cannot themselves afford to get whilst simultaneously lining someone else’s pocket: someone who is already much better off than they are.. or, so they think.

You might ask how this is different from ten or twenty years ago when traditional landlords owned dozens of properties that they rented out to many less fortunate families? I think the shift that has taken place is really one of the choices available to young people and those in lower income brackets. Simply put, there is no longer a choice for these groups. As a result of the greedy, paranoid society that has developed into the beginning of the 21st century in this country, young people are faced with options ranging from relying on financial assistance from their parents (which isn’t always forthcoming or available), renting a property at an enormously over-inflated monthly rate, or else (where possible) getting onto the property ladder by signing an agreement that locks them into a commitment over a period covering their entire working life – a future that is simply far too long to make an accurate prediction of uninterrupted employment. Of course, for those who are in unskilled jobs and / or are single, even this latter option is not on the table and since most undereducated people stem from a background of poverty and inopportunity, a lifetime of paying someone else’s 2nd or 3rd mortgage is likely to be on the cards for these unfortunate people.

It’s not as if I don’t understand the reasons why many people are now rushing out to increase their mortgage commitments, either to make improvements to their homes or to purchase additional properties: there is a strongly held belief that, when it comes to the long-term future for those who are in work now, and for their children soon to enter the working world, the government will let us all down, bail out on providing a decent pension and leave us high and dry but for the investments we have made ourselves in the years when we were able to do so. But, I’m afraid that this fosters a false hope that, like in a game of Monopoly, buying up as much property as possible to get above the waterline will lead to long term financial security, and presumably to hell with those who fall by the wayside. Personally, I can’t see that this is a realistic view: most purchases of additional properties and home improvements are being made on some form of credit and although it is true that the average income is also on the rise the rate at which it is growing is nothing compared to that of the debt this country is sinking into. Sooner or later, the bubble has to burst – it might start with a few people finding that they’re deeper in credit than they had anticipated or with some major event such as a war, but the landslide is all set up like dominos ready to fall.

My view is that it is time for people to start taking responsibility for all our futures, realise that buying up properties is not only foolhardy but that it is also supporting and encouraging the growth of a system that is totally sick – a system that feeds off the greed and insecurities of those who are currently financially better off than most, leading them down a path to inevitable hard times ahead, while also abandoning those who are desperately clinging onto the thin end of the wedge. A return to affordable housing for all is essential if we are to regain a fairer society in which first-time buyers do not have to sign away an entire lifetime for the privilege of having a place to live that will not be lifted from beneath their feet at the drop of a hat, or a downturn in the economy. Perhaps a depression in the market is what it will take to curb the spiralling selfish attitude towards property in our society. If that’s the case, then so be it.

After a short break for the summer, Bradford Music Club is very much back open for business and on track to bring many new and unheard musical talents to a local stage that prides itself on its friendly atmosphere of support and encouragement for all who wish to perform.

Last night's event was no exception to this rule: pieces played varied from an arrangement for flute and piano of Schubert's Gute Nacht (the opening lament of the Wintereisse song-cycle) to a vocal duet of Heart Like a Wheel to the French chanson d'amour of Gabriel Faure, Apres un Reve. The musical experience of performers varies hugely but one thing that is assured is an appreciative audience, partly made up of others who get up to play or sing.

These Bradford Music Club meetings take place on the penultimate Sunday of each month at the Quaker Meeting House in Yeadon, Leeds. Performances normally get started by around 7pm - if you're interested in performing or would just like to enjoy an entertaining evening of mixed musical styles and genres, come along for the next one which is on November 19th, or the following event on December 17th. Contact me for any further details.

I've been working with the Stampede Theatre Group again over the last couple of weeks, this time as a rehearsal pianist for their production of the hugely popular Broadway musical Annie, due to open in Yeadon this December. And, it's got to be said that even after just a few weeks of rehearsals, it's clear that this is going to be a great show.

Once again musically directed by Sylvia Shepherd, the cast for this production of Annie is very strong indeed with some great voices and big personalities, including Joe Morrow as Mrs Hannigan, the drunken manager of the orphanage. Certainly a show to warm you into the Christmas spirit and one not to miss if you're anywhere near the Yeadon are at the beginning of the festive season.

Annie will be opening on 12th December (also my 30th birthday, as it happens!!!) at Yeadon Town Hall. Contact me for further details of how to get hold of tickets.

The cliché goes that there is no substitute for experience; that, no matter what you know and what you learn in this life, until you’ve ‘done it’ none of those pieces of information are worth anything.

And, yet, our entire culture rests upon the experiences not of our own but of those who have gone before us. We know about what these people did and how they were motivated by reading accounts of their deeds and (in some cases) seeing multimedia representations of their actions, but we did not live it and, even when we are among the remaining physical evidence of these achievements, we do not experience any of their roots first hand.

Take the Eiffel Tower as an example: construction started on the project in 1887, before most every living person on earth today was even born, let alone had any real experience of the building process at the time. But when we stand beneath the enormous, steel structure that reaches 1000ft into the Paris skyline, defining a city and standing as a monument to the creative ingenuity of an entire continent, we feel we know it personally – it speaks directly to us in the here and now. Knowledge of what it must have been like to have played a part in putting the tower together for it’s unveiling at the Exposition Universelle in 1889 can be gathered by reading the firsthand descriptions by onlookers, but we’ll never actually live it. Equally, sources detail how the cables for the lifts were severed during the German occupation of France in the second world war, so that Hitler would have to walk up the stairs if he wanted to be at the top of the tower (in the end, he stayed on the ground while others took the Nazi swastika to the summit). Born in 1976, how could I possibly even imagine what it must have been like for the people of Allied Europe to watch these events unfolding? Of course, I can but sympathise.

The point I’m getting at is that we all rely more heavily than could be expressed on the experiences and achievements of those who have already passed – we have learned everything we know from them and only maintain a civilised society because the shadows of the past loom over us. Few living people can take credit for the vast majority of the things we see around us or for their significance. We simply take it all for granted and move forward, building on and around the experiences of others. So, in fact the opposite of the opening cliché is true: not only are knowledge and understanding good substitutes for experience but actually, in the absence of concrete experience, they are the only substitutes we can fall back on, for all else is dust.

And this brings me around to the inevitable question asked of anyone who, like me, cannot in all sincerity believe in the afterlife: what is the point of spending a lifetime gathering knowledge and firsthand experience of your own if it will all eventually fall away and lose any meaning it had? My answer: the point of seeking knowledge is for today’s experience and only that. Just as there is no one alive now to remember the construction of the Eiffel Tower, so in another hundred-or-so years the early 20th century will be confined to the history books and we will only leave objects and ideas behind for future generations to consider. This, I believe, is all the more reason to live for today.

I was lucky enough to get to the Topic Folk Club's weekly meeting lastnight in time to see a couple of great folk performers get on stage.

Accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, Gordon Tyrrall sang many well-known folk tunes and took an interestingly alternative approach to some more modern songs that one wouldn't normally associate with the folk scene. A couple of his songs were memorable as much because of their rhythmic content as the pitch or lyrics - I found myself spellbound as I tried to keep on top of the different time signatures that Gordon performed, seemingly totally comfortable with playing tunes that either mask their main pulse under a blanket of syncopation or that contain incredibly complex combinations of strong and weak beats. Wonderful to hear.

The other special guest at last night's meeting was David Moss, who wowed crowds firstly with unaccompanied fiddle music (mostly playing melodies of Celtic origin), then with his amazing vocal talent, accompanying himself on bouzouki. But, I think the part of this performance, by the former front-man of Banoffi, that most intrigued the audience was when he used Mongolian overtone chanting techniques within his folksongs.

This really was something else - using this specialist vocal method, David is able to sing multiple notes simultaneously. Of course, most sounds produced by voices and / or instruments can be broken down into the main pitch and a series of overtones that actually dictate the timbre of that sound (this is why a violin sounds like a violin and a flute sounds like a flute, even when they are playing the same note), but these overtones are so subtle that the listener is rarely conscious of them. Overtone singing, however, is a technique that brings these sounds to the forefront, standing them alongside or even in front of the main pitch, resulting in a whole collection of notes being clearly audible. David Moss seems to have this technique mastered because he used it to wonderful effect - watching him do this was rather like seeing aliens in an episode of Star Trek trying to communicate... it was so odd to know that only one person was singing in the room, without the assistance of a microphone (let alone any other live sound manipulation equipment) and yet I could hear at least two notes making up a drone plus one or two more providing a sense of melody. Really excellent stuff - I'm intrigued enough to try to find out more about this method!

In the meantime, you can catch David Moss giving his 'Musical Bridges' tour - see my forum entry for details. Also on my forum is information about forthcoming Topic Folk Club events. Many great performers are coming up (including an appearance by the original Scarlet Heights duo - a band that performed regularly at Maguires pub back in the day) and there is usually some opportunity to get up and do some singing or playing if you wish to do so. Non-members are always welcome : my friend and I were made to feel very much a part of the group lastnight.

I've been reading a really interesting interview with a well-known saxophonist from Seattle called Skerik. Although I'm not particularly familiar with this person's music, I was intrigued by his remarks to Glide Magazine because they confirm everything I've always felt about what is really important for a musician preparing a performance or recording :

...after a certain while there’s an amount of mechanical knowledge
absorbed. It’s mostly like a mental state. You can practice all you want, music
theory and technical stuff, but unless you have a philosophical idea on what
music should be and what life is, then none of that theory is going to help you
because you’re not going to have any context for it. So you get to a certain
age, after a certain amount of study, it’s more about building context and
philosophies for the music to exist in.

Personally, I don't think it's even about age as much as it's about an awareness of self and one's environment. Yes, in order to be a great performer (and I'm certainly not claiming that I'm personally anywhere close to that state!) you need to have done the ground work, practised the scales and arpeggios, gotten to know the rhythms, keys and / or modes inside out, really made friends with your instrument of choice etc. - this supplies you with the technical 'knowledge' that Skerik refers to in the quote above. After that it all hangs on personality: what you have to say through the medium of music and then how you go about conveying those things.

In vocalists it's usually pretty clear who just sings the melody and who really thinks about what they're saying in the music, allows the individuality of their personality to interpret it and brings that understanding through in the nuances of their performance: bringing the lines and dots off the page and injecting life into them.

With instrumentalists it can be more difficult to sift through the technically brilliant performers to find the gems who really bring themselves to a gig, recital or recording session. I like to think, though, that the more we are involved in music the more tools we acquire to make this transition happen and so most of those who have found the time to perfect their instrumental technique will also have been afforded the opportunity to deal with the more important aspects of music. In many ways, though, listening to an imperfect effort that brings the audience closer to the performer(s) is more fulfilling for everyone involved than when an audience is subjected to a note-perfect but mechanical rendition - but the two positive elements combined can trigger the most profound response. This way, when you listen to a really good concert pianist, a rapper or a bass player, you get the benefit of finding out something about who they are - what they want to say, rather than just being shown a glorified programme.

Snooker star and Leeds lad, Paul Hunter, has died at the age of 27 after fighting cancer of the stomach.

This Yorkshireman had everything going for him - a talented sportsman, he had a young family and as many material things as money could buy, thanks to his successful career as a snooker player. As this region mourns the loss of one of its most successful sons in recent years, we will also be reminded that riches and fame don't bring happiness any more than they can halt the onset of illness and death.

Paul Hunter, rest in peace.

Jelly!

Yes, the latest innocent victim in the relentless, paranoid hunt for terrorists is the humble jelly & ice-cream or celebratory birthday trifle. Fire officers in the German town of Halle cordoned off a large area while they inspected a pile of "red, orange and green substance". After TWO HOURS of investigation, they concluded that it was nothing more than normal, edible jelly left over from a wedding party!

Of course, my major concern about this is the reckless nature in which the wedding caterers mixed various flavours of jelly into one dessert - disappointing for those guests with a more discerning palette for these things. Moreover, I can't help feeling that the security team responsible for this investigation have neglected to consider the fate of the missing vanilla ice-cream. So, if you're visiting mainland Europe sometime soon beware - around any corner or lurking in any dark alley could be hundreds of litres of life-threatening Carte D'Or just waiting to pounce.

Luckily, Halle is also notable for one other thing, at least via some tenuous link: The Hallé Orchestra was named after the conductor who founded the group, Karl (later Charles) Halle, whose own surname is presumed to have its roots in the German town by the same name. Although The Hallé was founded in Manchester (where it is based to this day), Karl was actually born in an area in modern German and the accent was added to the last letter of the orchestra's name simply to make it easier for English people to pronounce.

Sometimes I find the simple act of taking a stroll in the park, across fields, through woodlands or perhaps around the cemetry is more than just relaxing... ethereal even; it liberates me from the shackles of the everyday and, in the quiet of a weekday afternoon, delivers to me a sense of unity - belonging without ownership.

I like to think that this experience is related to that which 'people of faith' get when they gather in their places of worship, singing together of glory and humility, or when they silently commune with their God in the wee small hours, kneeling in darkness and yet knowing that they are surrounded by light; an experience akin to the meditative state sought after by those who we in our modern culture glibly refer to as 'spiritual' and which many such people testify relieves them of the pain of as many physical traumas as it does of their psychological burdens. These times, you see, speak directly to the humanity within, heightening our senses while halting the constant conflicts that drive us to try to keep on top of the day's schedule, a false timetable that too regularly means fighting battles that needn't be fought. Like a climber finding refuge in the freezing, merciless mountains, always aware that in searching for his heart in the hills he also risks losing it for good, I find tranquillity and perspective in the places, moments and concepts that leave space for inner reflection.

And so I stroll between the dancing shadows of Peel Park's many great oaks and sycamores, tickled by the flickering rays of our life-giving sunshine, freshened by the cool breeze and humbled by the seconds, minutes and hours as they march along, relentless and as untouched by my presence as they were by the presence of those who so long ago built the Yorkshire stone monuments that punctuate this public space, the young children who laughed, cried and argued their way along these concrete boulevards, so often with only BMX bicycle races to concern them, and the teenage sweethearts who used these playing fields both as a convenient route to their own dwellings, taken hand-in-hand, of course, and as their own refuge from parents who might scold them for the public outpouring of affection they both knew they'd be performing in the fading light of some summer evening. These voices that echo from each shadow, carried like acorns by another generation of squirrels into this year's haven and nestled high in the branches above us, remind me that our lives are as fleeting as words uttered in hope, frantically scribbled in desperation, screamed in pain, shouted in triumph and written in love. There is no point in denying them their course any more than there is in holding on to them once their meaning is lost. Like a glance or a touch, they cannot be captured and they feel no shame, for shame is just another word and, some day, it will also fall with the leaves.

Then, driving on the road back to normality, I find myself having returned with a thud to my gripes and my anxieties, my woes and my worries, my self-criticisms and my doubts, my intolerance and my fears, and ultimately the sheer disappointment in myself for letting 'me' buy into all of these things. And it strikes me that if I can just keep a bit of the park with me then today might not turn out so bad.

A kind Freecycler has a piano to offer to anyone who is able to collect it from the Keighley area. According to this morning's post on the Ilkley Freecycle forum, this upright instrument needs some cosmetic attention but plays alright - would probably be ideal for a beginner to intermediate player.

For further information contact eckisix@yahoo.co.uk

I just caught 10 minutes of a programme on BBC4 lastnight called Piano: A Love Affair, about people who are passionate about learning, playing and listening to the piano. The presenter, Alexander Waugh, seemed a bit more obsessive than passionate, if I'm honest, but the part of the show I saw was a good watch - I do hope the BBC repeats the whole programme at some point.

Some of the characters that Waugh caught up with included Jools Holland, a group of 'piano holiday makers' at the Malvern Hills Piano Holiday, some students in Sheffield who some months ago could not get their piano up the garden stairs to their house so instead had it bolted down to the pavement in the street outside (much to the annoyance of the local council and some select neighbours, but also to the delight of many local and national pianists who visit the city just to play this notorious instrument), and Damon Albarn (of Blur and Gorillaz) who's passion for the instrument goes much further than its use in Western classical and rock musics.

I think my favourite part of the programme (at least, of the bit I saw of it) was when Waugh attempted to teach a beginner to play the piano in 3 half-hour lessons. Attempting to side-step some of the more literal, academic issues such as notation, Waugh instead opted to look at improvisation techniques and made some bold but often overlooked observations about the nature of the pianoforte's timbre in its various registers, noting for example that notes that are close together on the lower end of the keyboard sound 'stodgy' when played together, so the advice to his new student was to try to separate the notes she chose to play in the left hand while note clusters in the right hand (further up the keyboard) worked much better.

Interesting stuff anyway.

Watching Eduard Kunz playing piano at the Leeds College of Music's 'The Venue' yesterday lunchtime was an awe-inspiring experience. This young pianist wowed the crowd with the most virtuosic playing, and often seemingly without as much as breaking a sweat. Watching his performance was certainly a great way to spend a Wednesday lunchtime!

I thought that Kunz had a somewhat strange manner about the way he approached the performance - almost meditative in nature. He first sat down at the keyboard of LCM's Steinway grand, placing a handkerchief neatly inside the casing by the music stand, and simply sat staring forward for a length of time that probably seemed much longer than it was. Then, he struck the first few notes of the opening piece in this set, the Scarlatti Sonata in B Minor (K197), as if to be just trying out the piano. Soon after, however, it became clear that this was the real deal : Kunz had a remarkably potent sense of contrast throughout his playing, often making use of the left (soft) pedal to take even the quickest passages down to barely a whisper. This combined with intermittent use of the piano's more metallic forte, particularly in the lower register, made for a stunning show.

Perhaps due to time constraints, Kunz left out the Haydn sonata that was billed and chose to go straight on into Debussy's L'Isle Joyeuse (reminiscent of his preludes, written on Jersey in the opening years of the 20th Century) and then onto some incredibly colourful Moments Musicaux by Rachmaninov : if Kunz's performance of these six miniature pieces can't reignite your enjoyment of the Rachmaninov piano repertoire then surely nothing could! Truly a boldly marked end to a wonderful concert.

This event was the first in a series of lunchtime recitals to be held at LCM's The Venue over the coming months. Take a look at my FMS Forum for further info.

Let me get the record straight right from the start of this blog: I'm not anti-American or anti-freedom or even necessarily anti-Christian but what I will say is that there's something seriously wrong with the society that's developing across the pond, where many of our cousins in the USA do some things that are just beyond any rational thought.

Take Pastor Fred Phelps, of Kansas: a baptist minister who organises rallies to picket the funerals of those who have been unlucky enough to die of HIV Aids. Among his supporters at these events are people who hold up signs reading "Fags will burn in hell", "No fags in Heaven", "AIDS CURES FAGS" etc. Micheal Moore produced a short film on this subject, part of which can be seen on YouTube at this URL :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33-_9nOX8KM

The top and bottom of it is this - the likes of Phelps hold themselves up in high esteem, preaching to the masses about morality, of course with a heavy undercurrent of Republican, evangelical Christian, far-right American nationalism. This individual has no consideration for the loved ones of those who's funerals he and his supporters invade, spreading messages of hatred rather than words of love and compassion that we commonly associate with followers of the Christian faith. One such follower is captured at the beginning of Moore's movie with the following words of wisdom for its viewers :

"Aids, rotten, dying, spotted faggots are organising under the banner of 'gay
rights'. We have nothing but hate and contempt for these people."

Nice. I'm sure these sentiments do a great deal to comfort the grieving family of Matthew Shepherd, who's funeral was met by anti-homosexual protestors, one of whom held up a banner outside the churchyard reading "MATT IN HELL". What is going through these people's minds I really don't know!

And all this happening in a country that supposedly holds up the freedoms, liberties and rights for all, no matter what their background, colour, sexuality etc. This coming from a country that invaded the nation of Iraq, allegedly in the hope of bringing these very freedoms and a newly formed American culture of liberty to a nation that did not invite its occupation, under the pretext of saving the world from Saddam Hussain's nuclear capabilities. This from a nation that holds by far the world's largest arsenal of nuclear warheads and is the only country ever to have used them in war - twice in fact. A country that continues to hold people on a Cuban island for periods calculated in years rather than months or days, without ever charging them or allowing them a trial (let alone a fair one). A country that this week witnessed three separate incidents of fatal shootings within its schools, one of which has, thus far, resulted in the deaths of five innocent children. A country that continues to use the death penalty against its most serious criminal offenders and yet has one of the world's highest rates of violent crime.

The list of atrocities taking place in America or by the American government and some of its people goes on and on, and yet we, the rest of the world, are supposed to look to this nation as the peacekeeping, righteous and fair governors of our planet. I and many likeminded people, including millions of American citizens, really don't see it. Yes, the USA is a truly magnificent country but bubbling just beneath its surface there is a seething mass of social and cultural dissatisfaction that is getting ever more unstable by the day.

Tomorrow is the start of Leeds College of Music's lunchtime chamber concert season and it will get kicked off to a great start with the Russian pianist Eduard Kunz playing pieces by Scarlatti, Haydn, Debussy and Rachmaninov.

Lunchtime concerts will take place at LCM's 'The Venue' every Wednesday from this week and every week for the next few months. Admission is free of charge to all events (with the request that those who can afford it make a donation on their way out of the auditorium).

This week's musician, talented young pianist Eduard Kunz graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music with both the RNCM Piano Prize and the RNCM Gold Medal for performance. Born in Russia he studied at the prestigious Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire and has been a major prize-winner in a succession of international piano competitions, including the Netherlands International Piano Competition, the Grand Konzerteum International Competition and the Dudley International Piano Competition. In June 2004 he was awarded a prestigious Dame Myra Hess Award in London. Eduard’s recent engagements include the Tchaikovsky and Schumann concertos with the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

For further details about this and all other Leeds Classical Music performances this year, visit the Leeds Concert Season website.

Meanwhile in the news, Katie Melua is attempting to break the world record for the world's deepest underwater gig! The concert will be taking place 300 feet below the surface of the North Sea and be broadcast live on Norwegian television. Seems like a foolhardy way to try to save a sinking career...! :)

According to The Bereavement Register, the most requested song for funeral services this year is Goodbye My Lover, by James Blunt. Not entirely surprising given that the main hook is the line "Goodbye my lover / goodbye my friend", but you'd think people would be a bit more original about the kind of music they choose to send off their nearest and dearest.

In any case, I'm not sure that the lyrics of this particular Blunt song are appropriate : I've had heated discussions in the past with a number of friends who interpret them in entirely different ways. If you don't know the song (where have you been for the past 12 months??!!), here are the words :




For me, this is a song written from the viewpoint of a person about to take their own life as a result of the heartbreak caused by a broken relationship. I think the second verse really points to this with the lines "As you move on remember me / remember us and all we used to be" and "I cannot live without you."

In any case, the vocal performance on the original recording of this song is absolutely stunning - it's clear that James Blunt is a creative songwriter but this even is overshadowed by the manner in which he delivers his songs. When the magic moment of the song appears with the line "And I still hold your hand in mine / in mine when I'm asleep" the whole tone of the piece shifts to a reflective acceptance of the situation. Blunt brings the whole thing down - the timbre changes with the mood-change. Wonderful stuff. Pity it seems to only get played these days when someone carks it!

I was chilling out with my Ma the other night, flicking through the music video channels to find good songs when we came across Jewel Kilcher's Intuition. Now, having gotten to know Jewel's work through a friend at university some 10 years ago, I stopped to watch this particular video but was really surprised by my mother's interpretation of it.

When the video was coming towards its close, Mum made some throw-away remark about how watching Jewel was just like seeing the videos by Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera - images of pretty young things poncing about in skimpy clothes, generally concentrating more on selling their own sex appeal than the messages in the song or their vocal talents etc. Now, I consider Jewel a 'proper' musician who writes her own lyrics and music, has published poetry (according to the reviewers, with varying degrees of success), plays guitar and sings incredibly well and, ultimately, is someone with some interesting things to say in her songs. So, it was disappointing to hear her being compared to the likes of Britney Spears who, to all intents and purposes, is an average singer who's found herself sold on the world stage as a sex symbol disguised as an actress and musician.

But, then, if you were to watch the Jewel's Intuition video for the first time and without any prior knowledge of the singer's other work (as my Mum did that afternoon) it would be forgivable for you to come to the same conclusion as my Ma did about it : that Jewel is just another little talentless slapper made up to the nines to sell records. The video, after all, does feature Jewel in various states of undress, including a sequence towards the end of the production in which she, dressed in quasi-firegirl uniform, is soaked by a firetruck's hose. The whole video, infact, is produced in a way that shines a critical light on productions made by the likes of Britney Spear's marketing team, such as Hit My Baby One More Time, that shows Britney dancing around in full school uniform etc. My understanding is that Jewel's Intuition is intentionally making a statement about the way products are marketed for mass consumption, including songs and singers themselves, and so seeing it is in the context of this artist's career as a whole that I am afforded this interpretation of the tongue-in-cheek imagery displayed in the video. Actually, I think that Jewel doesn't look very comfortable playing the dumb blonde but that's not a surprise because this image is so far away from the image she normally portrays - think of the heartbreaking song Foolish Games or the thought-provoking Hands.

And so this is the trouble with sarcasm generally : it requires a very narrowly defined context to come across how it is intended. The cliché that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit I think is inaccurate - it is just perceived as negative (rude, even) by those who don't see the full picture.