First campers arrive

The first campers have arrived for the National Youth Music Camps. Pictured is the reception commitee of musicians to serenade them as they arrive!. Also the NEW MUSIC MARQUEE. Its so nice everything has got going, and in very nice weather too. There is a good staff with some new faces, and promise in the air.

"Tents up tonight!!"

Can't believe the music camp tents start to go up tonight. Lets hope the weather holds and we won't have to battle with the mud we did last year. Just sent off the final draught of my musical to other members of staff for week two. Its quite exciting as I have reworked a musical I wrote for a teenage camp years ago!.

Hre we go, the THIRTY EIGHTH year of the "National Youth Music Camps".

"Everything is Somewhere else (again)"

Dusted off my bassoon at the weekend and tried to remember which way up it went, to play my piece "Everything is somewhere else" with the London Chamber Ensemble in the Dankworths garden as part of the garden season gala night.

It actually went well, despite it being very cold!!. We took our friend Sol who is over from the Philippines. After entertaining her in the freezing cold with a BBQ I expect she started to question the sanity of the English. Oh well, it was fun.

New prep test pieces

I have written all the pieces for the new Associated board flute prep tests. The book is out now, and this is the cover!. I haven't seen any more of it yet, but I think it will be fun to do.

The power of music!!

Have to confess to feeling very stressed at the moment for various reasons.

While doing a daily reading today I came across this about David a man who was also stressed. I thought it worth sharing.

"Walk back with David through his musings, and you will find him to be human like you, and he wrote his poem to share your sorrow as well as describe his.
His final act is a peculiarly human habit employed to lift the spirit. He turns to music. Nature is full of music and song, but humans use it to speak to themselves and unlock the prisons of the mind.
David decides he will sing his way out by singing praise to his God because His God has been good to him. He is presenting you with two final strategies here. First he is inviting you to share in the generic habit of singing to lift your spirit – focusing on God’s goodness. He is advocating you find opportunities by yourself or with others to sing your heart out. If you’ve been caught up in such singing you will know its power".

YEH!!!

Food for thought!

I have just discovered the Vienna Vegetable orchestra. Worth a look!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpfYt7vRHuY

(Potential music camp dabble!)

Sing up!!

One of my songs from "Sixty Sizzling Songz" is going in the September "Sing up" magazine.

"Sing up" is a new government initiative to encourage singing in schools. Their website is very colourful, and there are lots of useful resources for music teachers. A very good source of song lyrics worth a look, ( but still buy "Sizzling songz")

http://www.singup.org/