Nellie clarinet quartet

This is something a bit different for me, I don't play woodwind and struggle to understand the technicalities of playing them, but I love the sound, and marvel at the range they can achieve. This quartet is a bit of fun, I was originally asked to arrange this piece for recorders, then I made an adaption for trombones as a little bit of fun for a band weekend away. But of the various versions this is the one I am most happy with and the one I have now published. It is available here to download from Sheet Music Direct

Interestingly when I checked up on the history of the piece I found that it was written in 1956 by Ralph Butler and Peter Hart, but of more interest to me is that the first recording was by Mandy Miller, and the orchestrion was by RON GOODWIN! not my father ~ but the other Ron Goodwin

THE MANDALORIAN

I thoroughly enjoyed watching The Mandolorian, I even subscribed to Disney for a while just so I could watch it. My attention was first brought to this series by a friend at my Brass Band who asked me to arrange the main theme for the band. After listening to it a few times I just couldn't see how I could voice the opening with brass, so I declined. They went ahead a bought a commercially available arrangement, only to find it was arranged for Fanfare Band not a Brass Band ~ long story short I initially agreed to transcribe it for Brass Band but as I worked through it I found myself more and more dissatisfied with what had been done ~ like the whole of the opening had been ignored ~ so I ended up arranging the whole thing from scratch myself. I am very happy with the outcome and it has been very popular with the band and audiences.

I have now published versions for both Brass Band and Concert Band they do offer a bit of challenge with some odd rhythms and unconventional harmony, but I think it is well worth making the effort to bring them into the repertoire.

The Brass Band version Here, from Music Direct for just £19:99

The Concert Band version Here, from Music Direct for just £39:99

New Year, New Car

"Jade" my last Singer at the Centenary Rally

I mentioned here that I was contemplating purchasing a new car, well maybe not a NEW car but at any rate a different car. I have actually never owned a new car, I was very lucky when I was younger to often drive my father's cars, and as he worked for Rootes Group and then Chrysler a major car manufacturer he always had new cars, sometimes as many as three in a year! In consequence I have always had a great affection for the cars of the Rootes Group, Hillman, Humber Sunbeam and Singer, I have owned several Hillmans, three Singers, a couple of Humbers (and quite a few Commer/Dodge vans) but never a Sunbeam. 

When I started thinking about buying a classic, and more specifically a sports car my mind naturally turned to Sunbeams, I could quite fancy an Alpine or a fastback Rapier, but cost and practicality reared it's ugly head, one way or another excluding both of these. So I have made a decision, whether it is a wise one or not remains to be seen, but in the end I decided on an MGB GT. Strangely it almost felt like a betrayal buying a Leyland car, the only one I have had before was quite horrible, a 25 almost without any redeeming features - the best thing I can say about that car was that it was a nice colour!

I am also being a bit reckless and am keeping my boring Honda, while I hope to drive the MG regularly for some things it is simply not practical, and one of those is carrying multiple large instruments!

When I have an interesting car I tend to name them, that does mean that the Honda remains unnamed! but I feel the MG will be acquiring a name as soon as I have fixed the wipers and got her back on the road, my only limitation is that there is no way I am going to call her "The Flying Banana"!

Foggy London Town

 A few times I have mentioned my aspiration to go to "something" at least once a month, a concert I'm not playing in, an exhibition, a play ~ not anything but definitely something! Well, today I did do my something, I went to the Monet in London exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery. I am normally very fond of the Impressionists and of Monet in particular so I was looking forward to this exhibition as well as a trip up to "Town"! It was my first time at the Courtauld Gallery, and they clearly have some wonderful works in a very impressive setting. Indeed I gather that this wing of Somerset House used to host the RA before they moved to Burlington House. At some point I fully intend to go back and take a proper look at the permanent collection.

Waterloo Bridge, Gray Weather

The actual exhibition was based on plans made by Monet himself to exhibit his London paintings in London, including is series on Waterloo Bridge, the Houses of Parliament and Charing Cross Bridge. It was fascinating seeing these paintings together so close to where they were painted, side by side, the different light, the different effects of the fog, and the differing times of day, yet I still found the whole thing vaguely disconcerting. Monet was fascinated by the London weather ~ what we would call bad weather! Mostly the fogs that would blur views, filter and colour the light and mute the sunlight.

Parliament, Sunlight in the Fog

Now, this is my city, and I am just about old enough to remember the smogs ~ they were blinding, smelly and we now know a serious health hazard, they were caused by the coal burning industries (power stations, gas works, mills etc.) featured in so many of these paintings, along with all the coal fires heating all the homes and offices in what was at the time the World's most populous city. Monet is even quoted as saying that he only liked London in the winter because of the fog! Looking back I can understand that, a bit! Back in the 1960s I remember all the buildings and monuments in London as being black, the Houses of Parliament were black, Nelson's Column was black, even Whitehall was black. London was black! No wonder it didn't attract the artist when all he could see was black.

Walking from The Strand to Piccadilly today I was very conscious of all the colours the white Portland Stone, the aged brown brick of St James Palace, the warm yellow sandstone, red brick and yellow stucco, the contrasting black and white of Trafalgar Square. All this is now visible because all of the coal soot and stains have by now been cleaned off. Somerset House itself now rejoices in it's almost baroque splendour and decoration ~ this is my City, this is the London I love! Maybe it is the reminder of what London used to be, the grubby, dirty, foggy, industrial city that my Grandfather knew and my father grew up in that has left me feel uncomfortable. Don't get me wrong I recommend a visit, if you can get a ticket, my reaction may not have been the one intended by the artist or the curator, but it was definitely a reaction! I wonder if all my fellow visitors who viewed it all through the lens of their camera phone can say the same!

New Year new stuff?

Yesterday I wrote about some of the problems I had last year (2024) with my health that impacted my ability to play music, I should have said that I also played in some great concerts with the Croydon Symphonic Band, and the London Gay Symphony Orchestra, as well as being a regular guest with a few others, I enjoyed conducting the Phoenix Concert Band and Croydon Brass and although I have now stood down as MD of Croydon Brass I am looking forward to new challenges to come!

But, my life isn't just music (although looking at my diary sometimes you wouldn't believe that!) At the end of only my second full season of motor sport I am once again picking up the first in class award for the All Circuit Sprint Championship, and am looking forward to another season. After much thought and discussion we have decided to stay with our existing car, it may not be very competitive, but we do know our way around it, and hopefully can still extract a bit more performance from it. ~ Same car but I think we may need some new tyres!

Since retiring in September I have been slowly disposing of many of my tools, lawn mowers, strimmer's, chain saw, pressure washers etc. and now I no longer have much of these it has dawned on my that I no longer need the car that I specifically bought to carry them around in. My Honda is inoffensive, it is comfortable, reliable, has sufficient performance and surprisingly good performance for an SUV, ~ I just find little to love or get excited about ~ and sub 20 mpg is no fun whatsoever!

I am thinking new year, new car. I have always fancied a sports car but for one reason or another I have never been able to have one, so now I am once again thinking "If not now, then when" so I am looking around for an enjoyable sports car that I can carry a tuba in, there aren't many options, but I'm hoping to find something that I can take on a tour, use as my everyday car, and maybe use for a bit of motorsport as well. Like they say "Watch this space!"

As I'm actually writing this on the 31st, the last day of last year I have only to wish you all a very Happy New Year, may it bring you all you wish for.

Good bye to all that ~ 2024

2024 has been a bit of a mixed year for me, playing wise although I have enjoyed a couple of new opportunities, I have been restricted in my playing by a series of relatively minor health issues. Way back in January I had just about recovered from a dose of Covid, But was suffering with a very lose front tooth, not only was this extremely uncomfortable it made playing extremely difficult. Over January and February I had several visits to the dentist and eventually ended up with the tooth being extracted and replaced with a plate! The false tooth looked fine, and after a while I sort of got used to eating with it, although I can't say that I was happy with it, I just, sort of, got used to it. What I couldn't get used to was playing with it! I tried playing without it but very quickly realised that a lot of teeth aren't too important for playing but the front ones definitely are essential. Trying to play with the plate in sucked a lot of the joy out of it, I found that it impacted my articulation (expected) intonation (not so much) and power (most surprising!) I have long been used to the idea that I can modify the tone by changing the shape of the inside of my mouth, but this was extreme!

After a few months I was able to see an implant specialist, by that point I was reconciled to playing a lot of money, and even having to take time away from playing simply in order to have some sort of future as a brass player. I soon discovered that my specialist is a trombone player and instantly understood my problems, even better he was able to offer a potential solution. I had been told before that bridge work probably wasn't an option, now I was told it was, this would mean that I would have some "gubbins" in my mouth, but a lot less than the plate, it would cost a lot less than the expected implant, and perhaps more important it would not mean taking time off playing.

I still had to work on my embouchure, and articulation took a bit of getting used to, but my tome, my power and my intonation were back. I had just about got back into practise when I went to a week long Summer school and came away with tendonitis. Once again I had to take time off from playing while my right hand and wrist recovered, at least I had some exercises to do to speed my recovery, once again I had to get back into practise, and then just in time for Christmas I fell down some stairs and brock a rib! All in all I think I was in decent playing form for less than half the year, maybe as much as a third, but it was hard work. Now I'm on another enforced break and will have an uphill journey getting my chops back in time for my first gig of the year in January!

I'm looking forward to 2025 being full of music, with lots of playing, lots of conducting, some new arrangements, and hopefully some new compositions ~ once again I also plan to go to more concerts I'm not playing in.

A very Betty Christmas

Betty was not as omnipresent in the year's Advent Calendar as in some previous years, partly because I was a little worried about repeating myself too much, but also because most of my Betty pictures are stored on my laptop, and it ended up that a lot, I mean A LOT, of my posts ended up being created on my phone or my table (I know, first world problems!).

I definitely have a bit of "a thing" for Betty Boop, I suspect it is that in my view she is a bit like cream cake (for those of us of a certain age in the UK) in as much as she a she is  "Naughty but nice". for all the "Do boop a do" there is something about her that retains a level of innocence amongst the sexiness. 

There is certainly an idea that she never goes too far, sure there are the short skirts and all that, but there is an obvious limit; and limits are important, I remember back in my cross dressing day talking to my then teenage daughter about just how high a hem line was acceptable, and I came up with the fingertip length limit. i.e. if the hemline was higher than her fingertips holding her arms straight down then it was too short, I think we all agreed that this was reasonable, then my wife looked at me and asked if I would stick to the same limit ~ I rather had to agree, and have stuck to that ever since. I suspect that Betty sometimes might be just above that.

Let's be honest this post isn't really about anything I have to say, the words are not important it is just an opportunity for some gratuitous pictures of Betty!

So if you felt short changed before I hope I have now made up for it!

Advent Calendar XXV

 

Happy Christmas 

And what are you doing reading a blog on Christmas Day?

Advent Calendar XXIV

 

It's Christmas eve, in many places I know this is in many ways the bigger day than Christmas day itself. The Germanic ideal of Christmas says that there should be snow, a log fire, a tree and lots of warming treats. Here in Malta we have none of those, as Pooh might have said here it is a blustery day!

It has been far too windy to follow our original plan and visit the old capital of Mdina, it is built on the highest point of the Island, and I fear we might have been blown away.

Being Christmas Eve we wanted to do more than sit in the hotel lobby playing Uno, so we braved the elements and had an excursion into Valletta. A visit to St. John's co-cathedral never disappoints and it was wonderful to be able to introduce somebody who'd never been here before to this baroque masterpiece. As you walk in through the rather austere entrance the sheer shock and awe of the interior hits you. 

I know of nowhere else that treads the boundary between magnificence and gaudy quite so delicately. I don't think there is a single surface that is not decorated, gold leaf is everywhere, polished marble abounds, paintings and sculptures are everywhere. Of course the major art work that brings people is the Caravaggio "Beheading of St. John the Baptist" but there is so much more that is magnificent, I often feel that the "Baptism of Christ" by Melchiorre Cafa is under rated, and maybe if it were anywhere else might get more attention. The only thing missing is stained glass. The only windows are small and set high, a reminder that this was also built as a defensive position.

As Christmas eve draws towards it's close it means tomorrow is Christmas, it also means that my Advent calendar only has one more post to go, it has been fun writing every day, it has of course also been a challenge, but I hope it has been worth it.

Advent Calendar XXIIV

We have settled in nicely now, the view from our room is pretty spectacular, but last night and this morning the wind was whistling round and we now have white horses on the sea ~ it's actually all rather wonderful!

At one point yesterday we were talking about "feeling like Christmas" and I realised that now coming to Malta at this time of year does feel to me "like Christmas". Going to an exhibition of crib scenes yesterday evening only helped. Here in Malta there is a great tradition of these crib scenes, they are major works of art and craft, whole landscapes, landscapes influenced by the Maltese countryside, buildings and culture. They can be truly wonderful, and most towns will have an exhibition of a few.

Not quite on the same scale as others, but even in our hotel room I think we are now ready!