Happy New Year!
My first resolution is to start teaching again. Last year I did tours in Japan, Germany and Spain and a few UK tours which meant I couldn’t do much teaching. I always find I really miss it as it’s one of my favourite things to do. So, I’ve decided to make the times I’m available more flexible (rather than doing only week-ends).
If you’re interested in taking any lessons then you can contact me here
Here’s a little CV of my experience in education, too.
Onwards!
A couple of years ago, my wife was involved in creating a new orchestral score for the archive war footage of the Battle of the Somme.
The film shows footage from the First World War, and when it was released in 1916 almost half the population watched it. It’s an amazing, important film.
For part of her research we went to visit the Somme battlefields. I was chauffeur and chief map reader. Just before we went, Laura’s aunt mentioned that her Great-Uncle was at the Somme and she had his diaries from that time. It turned out he was positioned exactly where we were staying on the Somme. He was a stretcher-bearer and attended the 29th division (they appear in the film) on July 1st 1916, so it’s possible he could even be in the film. Here’s an extract from his diary that dates from the first day of the Battle.
Fred survived the war, too, and here’s a pic of Laura and her Uncle.
There’s much more info about Laura’s research for the project and the music written for the film at Laura’s site as well as both diaries scanned and transcribed in full: https://www.laurarossi.com/battle-of-the-somme/
Being married to a film-composer means that I get to experience part of the research that Laura does for each project. I’ll never forget the experience of visiting the Thiepval Memorial, retracing Fred’s steps from the places he mentions in the diary, and the bizarre experience of putting my hand into one of the battlefields and just pulling out bullets. You can’t help but be moved by being there.
Here, also, is the score she created. It was recorded by the Philharmonia Orchestra and mixed at Abbey Road. I remember the recording session well as our first child was just born and in between takes Laura was dashing back to feed her and I was pacing round figuring out how to look after a baby :)
Here are two videos of my band from a recent gig at the excellent Soundcellar in Poole. Andy Trim is playing the drums, and Ross Stanley is on organ. The first clip is of a tune that’ll be on my upcoming album. It’s called ‘Come On’. The second clip is ‘Softly as in a Morning Sunrise’, and it’s the Emily Remler arrangement.
Hope you like them. I really want to do more gigs with these chaps, so give me a shout if you fancy having us play for you :)
Our next gig is at the King’s Place on October the 30th. Looking forward to that :)
Hit the play button and read on…
Bikini Atoll is a small group of islands in the Pacific where the atomic bomb was tested. I’d read Jack Niedenthal’s ‘For the Good of Mankind: A History of the People of Bikini and their Islands’, and I feel it’s a story everyone should know, so I urge you to check out his site and read his book.
What really affected me was the disparity between, on the one hand, the 167 Bikinians and their island home, and the naive power of the US on the other. It’s a pitiful story; staggering and incomprehensible. And, sad to say, it’s a story that’s played out all over the world in countless other ways today.
You should also know that the bikini is so called because a marketing bod likened the power of an atomic explosion to the explosive power that wearing a bikini would have on men.
So there you go, humans!
Recently I’ve made a few small decisions where I really didn’t know the outcome. I didn’t know if what I was doing was pointless, boring, good, worth something, whatever. But I just figured, sod it, I’ll do it. What was interesting to me was not looking for feedback in the expected places by asking ‘how did I do?’ or something. The interesting thing was how I felt afterward. It reminded me of feeling 8 years old and the smell of summer holidays; of walking to my friend’s house to go fishing.
Sometimes we carry little dilemmas around for far too long. Waiting for the right time to take action or procrastinating because we don’t know which way to go. Especially if you’re your own boss and no-one is around to give you a deadline, or tell you what to do. Remind yourself that you’re in charge. Do you need a badge? Ok, here’s your badge, put it on and make a decision. Find a line and cross it.
Feel better?
How do you develop a sound, a style? It could be by chance; it could be by eliminating all the things you do that come from things you’ve seen or heard; it could be by evolving things you already do into areas you haven’t thought about before; it could be by combining new things. Sometimes, though, we look to others for the answers of what to do, where to go, where to start.
Try this:
Where were you born?
What do you like to do?
Describe your day
Describe your first memory
Where do you like to be?
Who are your friends?
How’s your hair?
Any aches and pains?
Your favourite sensation?
What do you like to taste?
A good story you’ve heard?
What happened when you were five?
Who’s not here?
When did you hit your head?
What would you like your last thought to be?
Ever been high up?
Ever been underground?
Ever gone fast?
Ever lost it?
What do you have that no-one else has?
How can you do something you do differently?
Imagine something that can’t exist
Do you know anyone else with the same answers as you?
Thought not.
There’s only you that’s you.
Why not let us know about it?
Put it all in.