Sunday, October 30, 2011

Watts hits youtube!


After the horror of seeing myself on these videos ( actually looking unusually respectable...) I think Kevin Mayhew Ltd have done a wonderful job of producing them. there are four altogether. There are two featuring all the "Red Hot Song library" books, and one showing the recorder tutor/method ( above), and one showing the "Red Hot Recorder Songs.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Grand Concerto gastronomique



Martha was playing the part of the waitress in Malcolm Arnolds Grand Concerto Gatronomique as part of the Malcolm Arnold festival at the weekend. I love Arnolds music, and the evening brought back memories of my Dad listening to the Hoffnung concerts on the radio. The review below said it was very "English", and it was! gloriously so!!






Arnold’s non-symphonic orchestral music was understandably little in evidence, though Saturday evening’s concert featured two pieces stemming from his involvement with the Hoffnung Music Festivals. Carnival of Animals (1959) is occasionally revived and should be heard more regularly for the piquancy of its depictions of gawky Giraffes, canonic sheep, cavorting cows, scurrying mice, dextrous elephants and aleatoric bats – interspersed with witty poems from members of Northampton’s Malcolm Arnold Academy, stylishly read by Martha Shrimpton and William Sitwell. The Ealing Symphony was in its collective element here as in Grand Concerto Gastronomique (1961), which appears to have gone unheard for half-a-century: scored for ‘Eater, Waiter, Food and Orchestra’, this 20-minute (and highly English!) precursor of 1960s performance-art was admirably ‘served up’ by Richard Brooman, Shrimpton and an elegantly Schubertian vocalise from Jennifer Smith, yet the musical content proved surprisingly effective on its own terms: a conflation of Arnold off-cuts, to be sure, though one that was not merely apposite to the course at hand but deftly assembled as an extended span of superior library music. Well worth periodic revival and not just at Arnold-centred events such as this

Saturday, October 22, 2011

"Scary Fairground ride!"




There is a great performance of "Scary Fairground Ride" from my "Ostinato song book"

http://www.kevinmayhew.com/red-hot-songs-library-ostinato.html by Warmister Prep school on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvkm33d8uAQ. They have sung the song and then added the ostinatos (with actions!), to make four parts. For young voices this is really quite something. I visited Warmister prep earlier this year to do a workshop day. They have an excellent music dept with every child learning the recorder and benefiting from a a very vibrant syllabus. Very exciting!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

EMBARRASSING MOMENT!!!!




I was in the Medici gallery in South kensington a couple of days ago ( one of my favourite shops). While I was in there, there was some music playing, and I instantly listened because it was a song that I had done an arrangement of, and it sounded very like my arrangement. I continued to browse, and the next track came on which was also familiar.. definately one of mine. Intrigued ( and frankly quite excited now), I went to the man at the till, (where there were quite a few people in the queue behind me), and said "Excuse me, can you tell me what CD you are playing?". He Said "We're not playing anything". We both listened.... It was my Ipod on in my bag!.

Friday, October 7, 2011

New pentatonic song book.

I am excited that my pentatonic song book is out now. Twenty NEW pentatonic songs. I hope these will be a welcome resource for those teaching the Orff method. The cover will say "Pentatonic songs" on the next printing. Hang on to the first cover, it may become valuable!!!!
I am probably more excited about the Ostinato song book, as it is ultimately flexible and can be used in so many ways. The songs are written around short four or two bar harmonic patterns, and each comes with a set of ostinatos which can be sung as extra choral parts, or played as instrumental parts. There is also an easy ostinato bass line, and a set of improvising notes. The teacher can make a creative performance of each song using the elements. There are songs in all styles, including a Christmas ostinato song, and ostinato Olympics!





Thursday, October 6, 2011

Does anyone remember the North Bucks Music Centre?



So sad the other day to see what has happened to the old pavilion which was the North Bucks music centre. It was there I dreaded my violin lessons, enjoyed my first introduction to wind chamber music, trembled before associated board exams, played my first Beethoven symphony and goofed my scales.... ahh... memories.























Monday, October 3, 2011

A nice day with the Fellers.

A real treat this week, to meet up with Ron and Marsha feller of "Fellers Art Factory"
http://www.fellersartsfactory.com/
We originally met in Spokane when I visited America for the Orff conference last year. Ron and Marsha are performers who tour schools in America making masks and writing plays and songs with the students. Pictured below is Ron with some of the incredible masks he made by sculpting paper. We had a wonderful day catching up and sharing creative ideas.