Proms

 After not going to more than three Proms in the last twenty years I have now attended three within a week. The BBC Promenade Concerts are still the premier festival of "Classical" music in the World, and of course it is on my doorstep! Even now I probably wouldn't have stirred myself if a very generous friend had not gifted me some tickets when she found she couldn't make a trip half way round the World just at the moment.

The first I went to was the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, with an interesting and entertaining programme,  I thoroughly enjoy all three pieces, the first two (Shostakovitch suite for Variety Orchestra and the Ravel Piano Concerto for left hand) I knew, indeed I have played them relatively recently, the Walton first Symphony was new to me, it is a monumental piece with some fantastic playing, I suspect that this is a symphony that you need to hear live to get the full impact.

BBC Symphony Orchestra

The second was this Wednesday and was billed as a French Night, I will confess I had never even heard of Joseph Bologne never mind know his music. It was a brilliant performance with lots of energy and and French joie de vivre. The third was last night with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. There were two pieces that were new to me, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed, slightly against my expectations in the case of the Davis (Anthony Davis, Tales(tails) of the Signifying Monkey). The Mendelssohn had a tremendous verve and energy. On the other hand I remain to be convinced that Richard Strauss had a sense of humour!

It is not my intention to review these concerts, but I do have a few observations.

• The soloists had great affinity with the music, and performed with such enthusiasm and energy that the audience truly "bought in to" their performances.
• Each orchestra had a different layout, the most obvious thing being having the basses in different places. I'm not sure how much difference this makes to the audience as I was sat in different places, but I do know that when playing I like to be in touch with the basses as we are often playing the same line.
• Each night was a very different audience, the first applauded enthusiastically in between movements, and even cheered on occasion, the other two nights they were more restrained, but were still rewarded with jewel like encores.
• Why do British tuba players in British orchestra insist on using the upright 3+1 Besson Sovereign EEb (or a clone thereof) as their go to instrument when there are so many better (in my opinion) options? The Sovereign can do pretty much anything, but that does mean that it should be used to do everything

I have been reminded how much I enjoy the Proms, and how the Royal Albert Hall is actually the second easiest concert hall for me to get to (I can walk to the Fairfield Hall in Croydon), I have booked tickets for more concerts in this years festival, and will certainly be going to more next year.

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.

Advent Calendar XX

 

Tomorrow I fly off to warmer climes for a few days, I don't know why but when ever I go away it seems to come as a surprise to me and I'm never prepared. This time I have actually thought about what I will want to wear while I'm away, and I've tried to make sure that it is all clean! That for me is a major achievement! On the other hand I find that I still have a well stocked fridge and just generally too much food. I hate waste, but at the same time there is no way I can eat all of what I have before leaving at silly O'clock tomorrow morning. I know I can put the bread in the freezer, the milk will have to go but the cheese should be OK until I get home. My next job is to try to find out if I can freeze eggs (not mine! unfertilised hens eggs), I've already frozen some home made soup and some sausages and had an interesting breakfast of mixed fried mushrooms, spring onions and bacon with toast.

After that the next challenge will be trying to get everything in my case, I know I will still forget something but I do want to take what I have remembered I want. As this holiday is a little different to others we have taken in Malta (we are staying in an hotel rather than self catering) I suspect I will want more outfits per day and definitely a couple more presentable outfits. I usually only take one nice dress as we will go out for a nice dinner at our favourite restaurant at least once - but this time I anticipate a few more "posh nosh" meals. I also suspect this may hit the old credit card a little harder. Then I will water my plants! Last time I went away I forgot and spent too much of my time away worrying about my plants, especially the asparagus fern, of course they were all OK, but I don't want to put myself through that again.

Then, and only then will I allow myself to start thinking about tonight's concert. It is a bit of a strange one in so many ways, we (Croydon Brass) are only one of a few "Community Groups" performing', we start the second half, and provide the main musical backbone of the communal finale. That musical finale is Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas" I have had to create an arrangement of this just for tonight, my starting point was a very poorly arranged Brass Quintet that would actually be impossible to play. I have spent so much time on this that I now plan to expand it into a full band arrangement, hopefully ready for next Christmas!

Advent Calendar XII

 

I have often made mention of my almost constant battle with my weight, well lets be honest it's not so much the weight as the fat round the middle! I know that it is the result of three weaknesses, lack of exercise, too much booze, and a love of food. I know we all like to eat (well nearly all) I also like to cook. I do sometimes find it difficult to get excited about cooking just for one, it can sometimes feel like a lot of faff then to just sit down and eat on my own. But, when I retired I told myself I should cut down on the processed food and cook more from scratch. I am also trying to buy my meat from a butcher, my fish from a fish monger etc. rather than just get everything from the supermarket. It certainly makes life more interesting.

This week I have made my own lentil soup, a Coq au Vin, and a couple of vegetable gratins. I find that I will still cook the same quantities as I would for more people, but then I will have the same thing a couple of times or freeze a few portions (I will always do this with a bolognaise sauce, and often with casseroles). All this does mean I am eating better, but I can only do it because I have the time, it simple wasn't possible most of the time when I was working full time. It's one of the things I am finding, that activities expand to fill the available time!

Tonight I am actually at home so I will clear the table, wrap some presents, open a bottle of minervoise (my favourite) and then tuck into some of the Coq au Vin with a couple of mince pies to follow.

I marinated the chicken for nearly two days, then cooked it yesterday, left it to rest and will warm a portion up for tonight. The rest will be reserved for Sunday evening to follow on from the afternoon CSB concert!

I know none of this has much to do with Christmas, or Advent, but one of the reasons I am so happy to be cooing up a storm now is the knowledge that I haven't got to do it for Christmas, somebody else will have all that to do as once again I will be going away for Christmas, just as soon as I get through the last of my five remaining Christmas performances!

Advent Calendar X

 

As I so nearly observed yesterday "Three down Five to go!" ~ as a reference to my Christmas performances this year, I still have two with Croydon Brass, one with Croydon Symphonic Band and two with the Phoenix Concert Band. Friday night's concert with Phoenix will be very special for me, it will be only the second time this band has played a proper Christmas Concert, and proper "sit down" evening concerts are still a rarity in our annual programme. Last year we were rather feeling our way, this year we are a lot more confident and have a wonderful, varied programme, including three ~ count them! THREE WORLD PREMIERS!! one of them specially arranged for us, the other two will be on general publication after we have played them on Friday.

I think this will be the biggest band we will have put out as over the course of the last year we have acquired several new members, the band is very much about enjoying ourselves, and sharing the joy we have in communal music making with others. We are very much a community band with players of all ages and all abilities. As a proper community band we welcome all comers and seek to both reflect and serve the community as well as be drawn from it.

One of the things about being a community band is that we can always find space for someone, at the moment we would certainly welcome another couple of clarinets, a trombone, a bassoon, and another oboe. 

I always say that it isn't Christmas until I've played Leroy Anderson's A Christmas Festival, well, I played it last Saturday and between the three bands will be playing at least three more times! Each time it will be at a slightly different speed ~ and I'm conducting two of them!

Advent Calendar VII

 

We had just started the second half of this evening's concert (my second of the day) when I realised that I had failed to post anything this morning, and as I'm not really set up to do such things on my phone I had to wait until I got home before I could do anything. I had thought about maybe expanding on my thoughts about how we are all different, and in a way that also makes us all the same, but quite frankly I'm not up to any such cerebral work at the moment.

My first gig was playing euphonium with Croydon Brass Band at the Carshalton Frost Fair, fortunately not so cold that we had a frost, but I was still glad that I wrapped up well! It certainly wasn't as cold as this historic picture of one of the London Frost Fairs. Back in the "mini Ice Age" in the 17th and 18th centuries from time to time the Thames would freeze over and the locals would hold a fair on the ice. Read more about them here. It was nice community event with some nice stalls and two stages, I would have liked to have been able to stay a bit longer, but I had other commitments!

Then it was a dash over to Worcester Park to join the Linden Wind Orchestra for their combined Christmas and 40th Anniversary Celebration. Not only did this mean a change of clothes, but also a change of instrument, this one was on Bass Trombone. Although I have never been a member of this band I have played with them on a number of occasions over those 40 years, and feel like I must be a "semi detached member of the family". On one occasion a few years back I even auditioned to conduct them, in hindsight at that time I was not ready for a band of this quality, now? ~ if the chance came again I would still try!

Anyway, I'm tired, I haven't got any photos of the day so here is another gratuitous Betty picture!

Advent Calendar VI

 

Last night I was stunned by the new Tuba Concerto "Dreaming Awake" by Lauri Porra, a fabulous piece played excellently by Lewis Chinn, this was the UK premier of a piece so new that I can't find any recordings of it to share or point you in the direction of. For now I'll just say that I think this will be a major addition to the repertoire for tuba, even if at the moment it is technically a bit beyond me. I never really completed my studies on tuba and to tackle a solo piece like this I would have to do a lot of practise. 

The Trombone will be featuring
this weekend

Indeed I have to do a fair bit of practise just to maintain the standard that I am playing at and with three performances on three different instruments this weekend I am having to do a fair bit of preparation. My musical weapon of choice is my Besson 984 EEb Tuba, but in the lead up to this Christmas I am playing my B&S CC tuba, my Yamaha Bass Trombone and my Besson New Standard Euphonium. It is nice to get out the less used instruments, but of course that does mean I need to make sure they work, oil the valves and grease the slides, and of course do some practise to make sure I can do the job!

This week has been pretty much all about preparation, getting ready for the weekend, preparing myself and my instruments, preparing food so that I can still eat properly amongst the rush, preparing the bands during rehearsals, and preparing myself physically as I continue my visits to gym. It will be nice tomorrow to actually start the performances.

And, that's what Advent is really, a time of preparation, in times gone by that might have been preparation through fasting, physical as well as spiritual preparation for Christmas. For those of us who are Christians this is the point of Advent. Today's reading (in the Anglican Lectionary) is from Luke 13;22-30 which is also all about being prepared.

Advent Calendar V

 

Like most Brass players this is a very busy time of years for me, I am already wondering how I used to have time to go to work, even though as a gardener December is not the busiest month. This week I have already had three rehearsals and I still have one more rehearsal and three performances to go, but tonight I am taking time out from playing and will be attending a concert I am not playing in!

Sometimes I find it easy to get so tied up in the hectic run of playing that I forget why I am doing this, I can forget that what is driving me is my love of music, well, tonight I hope to be reminded of that! A few years ago I arrived at a TransPALS meeting a bit late following a performance, the (adult) daughter of one of my friends was there and we started chatting, she asked me what type of music I liked? I started to explain about Russian Romantic and modern music, the emotion, the grandeur, and the energy, but she looked at me quizzically and said "NO, I meant what do you listen to for fun!?"

At that point I realised that I couldn't remember the last time I had listened to music for fun! I had been listening to what I was going to play or conduct, I listening to what I was arranging or copying, I had forgotten to listen just for fun. Ever since then I have been trying to go to more concerts that I'm not playing in, and so far I have never been disappointed.

In the mean time I still have to practise plenty as this weekend my three performances are on three different instrument.

50th Anniversary!

I should have posted about this a while back, but other stuff got in the way and it all sort of got away from me.

This is the 50th anniversary of the founding of my beloved Croydon Symphonic Band. We're having quite a year already, last month we played the first of our special 50th anniversary concerts at the Fairfield Hall ~ although we may think of this hall as a local Croydon facility it is actually still one of the best Concert Halls in the Country, if not Europe! ~ we may not fill the 2,000 seater auditorium, but we generally mange to get a few hundred which is great for all of us. Next month we will be playing at the finals of teh National Concert Band Festival and then in June we will be back at the Fairfield for the second of our Gala Concerts, when we will be premiering a new work by a major British Composer! It is all very exciting.

One of the things that makes this band so special for me is how long I have been friends with some of the other members, not only have we been in this band for ages, but some of us were even in the Schools Band together. Maybe to save all our blushes I shouldn't work out exactly how long some of us have known each other!

Of course it's not all old farts like me, our music appeals across generations and it's always fun to be with young people, although I am finding that some of my "young" friends are now celebrating their 50th birthdays, and there are plenty of members of teh band who weren't born when the band was started.

These photos were all taken during the final rehearsal on the platform at the Fairfield, by a professional photographer we engaged, just this final one is of the actual performance ~ and yes that is a harp in a concert band!

We have two more concerts this season, and I'm hoping that one of my pieces "Transitions" will be played at one of them.

Paris!

The outside of the Church

My last post left you all a little bit up in the air, for the really perspicacious of you yes I was in Paris. The Church we played in on the Friday was Saint-Etienne-du-Mont a church with a fascinating history dating back to the 6th Century, the current building is largely Gothic with large windows and flying buttresses, but as I was only there after dark it was the interior stone work that I really appreciated. As I was only involved in one piece in the concert I had plenty of time to appreciate the setting as well as the music ~ I also had plenty of time to get freezing cold! Not quite what I had in mind for a trip to Paris in the Springtime!

The interior of St Etienne as I never saw it ~ in daylight!

Right next to the Pantheon and close by the Sorbonne the setting is a notable as the Church itself, and right in the cultural heart of the city. Despite being so close to such big tourist draws we still managed to find some good traditional French food for our pre concert dinner, and then afterwards adjourned to a local bar, where we enjoyed some of the local  beverage!

Notra Dame du Liban with
the Paris Rainbow Symphony Orchestra

For our Saturday concert we moved venue to Notre Dame du Liban, built in the 19th Century it was a lot more comfortable and certainly less cold. Still in Gothic revival even though less spectacular much more accommodating! A large and imposing interior with a strangely unassuming entrance, we could have easily walked past without noticing. 

A bit like my own London Gay Symphony Orchestra one thing that is really noticeable about the Rainbow Symphony is that the average age is quite young ~ especially for an amateur orchestra. These days I've got to an age where I don't want to be part of a group where I don't raise the average age! From preference I certainly want to spend more time with people younger than me than with others around my own age, so this helped make the week a lot of fun.

There are still plenty of things I want to see and do in Paris, I do have a bit of a thing for ecclesiastical architecture, so I would still like to visit Saint-Denis and Sainte-Chapellle. Notra Dame is still shut after the 2019 fire ~ I have been there but would love to go back now I'm older. But the great thing about this visit wasn't being a tourist and visiting the historic sites, it was about sharing the joy of making music, making new friends and renewing some old friendships.

The delightful Mathilde and Corinne
A tuba section I'm not pretty enough to get in! 

My Office today

Well yesterday actually, although concert was so late it felt like this morning by the time we left.

I will be playing very much the same concert again this evening, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Rainbow Symphony Orchestra, but in a different venue. ~ should be fun. 

The one "fly in the ointment" is that I brought all the wrong clothes with me and was freezing last night! 

A weighty issue

Today's post was inspired by Pearls Before Swine the cartoon by Stephen Pastis ~ I would love to show a copy of it here but Go Comics have got wise to that and have made it very difficult to copy a single cartoon, so just follow the link ~ In amongst the lots of things going on at the moment I have been booking my place in a lot of the Sprints for the Championship I'll be competing in this season, as we were talking about what little we are allowed to do to improve the performance of the car the subject of weight reared it's ugly head. We can't do much to save weight on the car, but I can (and certainly should) do something about the weight of the driver.

I have been feeling a "bit porky" for a while now, but have kept putting off doing anything about it, but having weighed myself and found my weight has crept up to thirteen and half stone (190 lbs or 85 kgs) I fear I can't put it off any longer. Indeed I was conducting a concert on Friday evening, went to put on my favourite black trouser suit, and found I couldn't do up the trousers! So, definitely time to act, now the next question is what am I going to do, diet? exercise? a bit of both? Given that Ideally I would like to lose about 25lbs what ever I do it's going to take time and effort.

Losing weight used to be easy, when I got that "porky" feeling I could just behave myself for a week and lose 7 lbs, no problem. These days it's not so easy and I suspect that has more to do with hormones than age. ~ as my ex has been known to observe "now you understand!"

There are very few things about transition that make my life easier ~ just better.

It's Never Too Late

I'm not actually picking up on the theme from my last post by suggesting that 64 isn't too old to start competitive motor sport, or for buying new instruments ~ because we all know that it isn't! I'm just going with the revelation that it's already the end of February and I'm not sure where those two months have gone. I didn't make any new year's resolutions this year, but that's not an oversight but a conscious decision, I'm simply going to carry on where I left off in 2022, I want to play music, do a bit of gardening, drive fast and go to more concerts I'm not playing in!

Christ's Hospital Band on the march

So far I'm doing pretty well on all of these (apart from driving fast!) on Sunday I went to a concert by the Christ's Hospital wind band ~ for a school's band they are exceptional especially bearing in mind that they are all (almost two full bands) drawn from one school! I first came across them about 50 years ago at the first National Schools Festival of Music. My band of "scruffy Herberts" from Croydon couldn't believe our eyes when they turned up. As I remember it we thought they sounded pretty good, even if to us they did look a bit weird! We did go on to win that Festival, and several others in subsequent years, but that first one was a shock to our collective system, seeing how the "other half" lived, and when it came to it how we could still measure up!

This month I've also managed a few days gardening, yesterday and today I've managed 10 hours, and to be honest I'm knackered!

I've also played a few concerts myself, the other weekend I managed three concert in three days on three different instruments. I think that might be a record even for me!

This photo isn't from one of the "epic three" but from the first of the Croydon Symphonic Band's fiftieth anniversary concerts, this one at the Fairfield Hall.

Am I mad?

This is a question I have to ask myself every now and then, I was asking myself this over the weekend as I contemplated just how much money I had just spent on a new Tuba! Then on Monday evening my regular rehearsal was cancelled, so I got to play in the Christmas concert given by my friends at the All Saints Concert Band. This did indeed confirm to me that I had made the right decision, yes it was a lot of money, but the new tuba is so much easier to play, the articulation is so much cleaner, and there is definitely enough of a sound there to support a band.

After that the disappointment set in that I will only get to play it at one rehearsal in what's left of this year as everything else would be conducting or on trombone ~ don't get me wrong I love playing Bass trombone (not so much tenor!) and conducting is the most fun, the most artistically satisfying thing I do, but I would like to play with my new toy! Well I have now accepted two further Gigs, on Saturday and Sunday evenings, so I will get to play my two favourite instruments at least once more this year! Last week I thought I was a little bonkers having four performances over four days, this weekend I now have four performances over two days! Hence the question "Am I mad?!"

On Monday I sat down to write my Christmas cards, only to find that I couldn't find them! I'm sure I bought some in January but where they are I have no idea ~ since they're not in the right place the only thing I know is that they're in the wrong place. I have bought some more but I think it'll be too late for the post ~ so if you haven't had a card from me, sorry it may still arrive or I've just given up.

Now I'm off to lunch with my Daughter, always a highlight.

Note to self ~ must take more photos!

Tubas do not have a gender

 For any brass player this is a busy time of year, this year I seem to have overbooked myself to a ridiculous level, even by my own standards ~ this last weekend alone I have played in three performances, conducted two rehearsals and played in another two rehearsals! I won't say that this was without stress, although there is more stress in getting to the point of the performance with all the necessary players, music, stands etc. than in the actual performance itself.

There is of course also very little time for anything else, over at Cyrsti's Condo JJ has been writing about how transitioning as a trans person is selfish, it dawns on me that being an active musician can also be quite selfish ~ I certainly wouldn't have been able to have weekends like this if I was still married. I often think that I am trying to do too much, but then I reflect on all the things I do and cannot think of any one that I would be happy to stop. This monster is of my own creation! In many ways my biggest concern is that by doing so much, I may be diluting the quality of some of what I do, I may not be giving of my best because of being stretched ~ maybe a problem to be addressed in the new year, I certainly don't have time to think about it now.

But all this is beside the point, after yesterday's concert the band joined the audience for a cup of tea and a mince pie, I had a nice conversation with a lady, maybe just a little older than me. She checked that I was indeed the tuba player and observed how unusual it was to see a lady playing the tuba, or trombone (our first trombone is also female, but a good deal younger than me). This gave me the opportunity to get on to one of my hobby horses about how instruments do not have gender! There is nothing about a tuba, a trombone or indeed a double bass or a drum kit that makes them fundamentally male, yet even now the idea that they may not be ladylike or appropriate seems to persist in some areas.

WOW Greeting the marchers in Parliament Square

I was reminded about how, way back in 2018 when I was playing with WOW Brass for Processions at our first rehearsal we went round the room and were all asked to say what playing for this event meant to us. Not particularly wanting to "out" myself I recounted the story of a contemporary female friend who wanted to play the trombone, but when she told her school that, they more or less patted her on the head and said "never mind dear", what they did do was give her a clarinet and told her that if she got on OK with that then maybe she could learn the trombone later. I was by far the eldest there, and I'm sorry to admit that some of the younger members found it hard to believe me. But this was as recently as the 1970s, and is why it is so unusual to see women of my age playing the trombone or tuba.

Tell me again how unfeminine brass instruments are!
The WOW Orchestra Brass Section 2018

At the next rehearsal we had some extra players, including another trombone player about my age, she recounted how at school she had asked to learn the trombone, but had been given a clarinet and had been told to see how she got on with that. She was only able to learn the trombone properly when she joined the Women's Royal Army Corps as a musician ~ they had to retrain women to play the instruments that schools had refused to teach them.

The other side of this is the many young women who are discovering the joy of playing tubas, trombones etc. I recently played at the National Concert Band Festival at Watford, there was a youth band there with three tubas players, two of them were girls! I miss the WOW Orchestra and meeting these young women. The more women who do things that were traditionally considered male preserved then the more young women will see that these things are available and will pursue them them.

My Office Today

 Just like buses, you  don't see one for months then two come along together!

Yesterday I played with the Kensington Philharmonic Orchestra, I was drafted in at the last moment as their regular tuba player had been struck down with the lurgy. They turned out to be friendly bunch, and there were a couple of familiar faces there which is always nice.

It was a great program starting with Sibelius's Finlandia ~ I certainly couldn't let them try to play this without a tuba. As I had an Allegra rehearsal in the morning I was unable to rehearse this with the orchestra but I think I have played it often enough to have "got away with it" in the concert!

I wasn't involved in the second piece, the rather sublime Strauss Oboe Concerto with Layla Baratto as the soloist. It always amazes me how anyone gets good at the oboe, it takes so long and so much effort before you can even make a nice sound, I am so glad that some persist, I enjoyed listening to this enormously.

After the interval we concluded with Sibelius' Second Symphony. I always find this a very difficult symphony to keep track of. In many ways it is a case of it not being the notes that are difficult, but the rests! Always a challenge, but to come in with less than a single full rehearsal, with an orchestra and conductor I've never worked with before this was certainly a test of my skills as a performer. I think we rose to the occasion and managed a good performance, the audience certainly enjoyed it!

The hall? another first for me, although I used to be a regular at the gym in the same building, have been a member of the library there, and attended a wedding at the adjoining Registry Office this was the first time I have actually been in the main hall, never mind performing there.

Welcome to the fabulous Chelsea Old Town Hall.

A Post With No Name

It's been a few days (well ten actually) since my last post, it's not that I've been idly sitting on my hands not writing or doing anything, unsurprisingly I have found myself rather busy! Not too much gardening, but I have a lot going on on the music front at the moment ~ and that's the way I like it. In some ways it almost feels that as though  as I am starting to wind down my gardening business in anticipation of at least semi-retirement later this year a whole new career conducting may be opening up.

For the next few weeks as well as playing with the Horsham Borough Band in a couple of brass band competitions, a concert with the Croydon Symphonic Band, rehearsals conducting Croydon Brass and Allegra Concert Bands, building up to a concert with LGSO and trying to fit in some time with my Jazz/Blues band I will also be conducting the Phoenix Concert Band. I have no wish to benefit from others misfortunes, but I have been asked to step in on a temporary basis while their regular MD is unavailable.

Phoenix are a local band made up largely of "Adult Learners", there are plenty of opportunities for young players through schools bands and youth music groups, there are plenty of opportunities for more accomplished adult players with community bands and and established groups, but for those who are taking up a new instrument or learning to play music for the first time there are less opportunities. Phoenix is a groups set up specifically to allow these people space to improve their playing. This will be a slightly different sort of band for me, but I'm really looking forward to joining them all for the first time this evening as we work towards a concert in just two weeks time!

The big news all around the World at the moment is of course the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I do not plan to comment much, there are plenty of wiser, more informed commentators around to do that, until one of them would have been my friend Sophie. Only recently did I add a link to her blog here, her foul mouthed comments and rants were always underlaid with wisdom, knowledge and experience belying some of her rather punk vocabulary. Over the last couple of years we grew to know each other better as I was pleased to be able to help her as her mobility became more limited. I knew she was not well ~ as did all her friends, but it still came as a great shock to us all to hear that she had died quite suddenly last week. All of us who knew her will miss her rambling random phone calls, her iconoclastic rants and her very good company.

I will leave the link here for a while yet, I just don't want to "delete her"

New Toy

Again, I started writing this post some time last year at some point during a lock down, and never quite got around to completing it. Since then it has been sitting in the "Drafts" box waiting for some love. As I seem to be on a bit of a roll posting wise, at least until I go back to work tomorrow, I thought maybe it's time for completion. The new bits are in italics.

Some of my friends seem to think I have developed a dangerous habit of acquiring instruments, personally I don't think I have that many, and anyway the phrase "Too many instruments" is in my books an oxymoron.

Rehearsing for a Trombone Quartet

I have had my beloved Yamaha Bass Trombone (Precious) for about 30 years now, in some ways I feel as though I should be thinking about a replacement, but it is possibly the best instrument in my collection, and a replacement would be excessively expensive ~ maybe that could be an aim for a retirement present. 

Then I have my two tubas, a vintage Besson New Standard EEb which I have customised to make it a bit quieter and easier to play. Known as Baby (short for Baby Besson) as it is a bit smaller than a contemporary EEb I love this instrument, although she is now a bit bruised there are some pieces that she's just perfect for. 

Big Shiny

Until recently my Conn CC was known as "New Toy" but since I've had her for over ten years she is now known as "Big Shiny" For the last few years this has been my prime instrument for both orchestra and concert band, she has a big sound, looks great and I find the rotary valve tubas easier on my back than upright ones. The down side is that she's not really a professional standard instrument, this shows in the quality and thickness of the brass, the outcome is that as well as a few intonation problems, she dents way to easily, and if I really give her "the beans" the sound will "crack".

That's the serious selection, then come the toys! Not really toys but the ones I really can't claim any great level of proficiency on. I have been messing about with Bass Guitars for a few years now without gaining much in the way of ability, maybe there's something in that old adage about old dogs and new tricks. Last year I got given the best birthday present! A lovely sexy black five string Ibanez electric bass. I was gradually getting better, but find it difficult to practise on my own so my progress has stalled.

Partly because I have been having so much trouble getting used to five strings, I have now acquired a black four string Ibanez as well. It is lighter, slightly shorter scale and takes lighter gauge strings ~ all this adds up to much easier to play, but not as full a sound. I have gigged on both and can see the strengths of both, so I think they are both "keepers".

Then there is the Euphonium, an old unlacquered Besson Westminster, I know how to play the Euphonium, and I do have one ~ that does not make me a euphonium player! It is not just about proficiency on the instrument, I feel it is also a state of mind. I like to hide at the back playing a supporting role, otherwise I will have my back to the audience when I'm performing. I suspect euphonium players need to be a bit more of a show off. They are great solo instruments and get all the best bits in both Brass and Wind Bands. It's great fun every now and then, but I would never neglect my Basses in favour of euphonium ~ that means my scruffy but serviceable old Besson is quite good enough for anything I'm going to do.

I always maintain I do not play Tenor Trombone, so why do I have one? Well in theory I am just looking after it for the Croydon Brass Band, It's a fairly old but very nice Yamaha Bb and F (in the Conn 88H copper bell style) It is very nice, and I do play it every now and then, usually in an orchestra where the part is more 3rd tenor than proper bass. I also have a pBone, you know, just for shits and giggles.

After this lot it just gets silly, I don't really know why I have a Cornet, a Violin, a recorder and various bits of percussion, they just seem to turn up.

Too many? no! That's why I'm a very happy bunny to have just welcomed into the family a lovely big five valve B & S CC, and can I just point out that this is no "Toy", and that it is Big and it is Clever!

Starting How I mean to continue

2022 has got to be better than 2021 surely, last year here in the UK we started with a lock down, no communal activities at all, certainly no communal music making, and I really missed it! 

We simply don't know what this year has got in stall for us, so I'm not making any resolutions I might not be able to keep, instead I am giving myself some new year "Graces", I'm going to try to be good to myself.

I know I enjoy a bit of exercise, so I will take some ~ when I can. I will devote some time to friends, I will also devote some time to myself ~ both are important.

I will carry on my work with Croydon Pride, after an hiatus of two years caused by the pandemic we will be back in July 2022, maybe not bigger and better, but still essentially Croydon, still free admission, and still fabulous.

But most of all for me, I want 2022 to be a year of music! I want to play music, I want to listen to music, I want to write music, and I want to support up and coming local talent!

To mark just how I feel about this I started 2022 as I mean to continue, on the first of January I braved the cold and public transport to travel up to London to play for the London New Year's Day Parade (well actually a non parade as it was a static event between The Mall and Pall Mall) to play with the "City of London Brass Band". This was pretty much a scratch band, I don't think I had ever even met any of the others, we had certainly never played together as a band before. There was no rehearsal just straight in and perform, admittedly to a small live audience of a few hundred, but also to a live stream of millions!

This is what I want my music making to be in 2022, fresh, brave, and exciting!

I'm playing my unique EEb tuba "Baby" a vintage Besson New Standard customised to my personal preferences.

A Bad Year for Show Offs

A few years ago I went to the Rodin
exhibition at the Royal Academy. It
Truly was life changing

In my last post I mused on the opportunities I have had recently for introspection, I suspect that a lot of us have been looking inwards and trying to analyse a lot of feelings in response to this strange year. Now I'm no stranger to a bit of introspection, I don't think anyone would go through transition without a lot of self analysis! Well I thought I had sorted all that out and could just get on with my life, but of course 2020 had other ideas, cutting me off from so many of the activities I love, the occupations that define me, and the affirmation of friends and family. So what have I learnt;~

• I am a performer! That may sound like a statement of the blooming obvious, but reflection has shown me just how much I have missed my musical performances ~ I enjoy rehearsals, but they are a means to an end it is the performances that I miss. Rehearsing or practicing is very much about the players, the techniques of the instrumentalists, melding them into a single statement rather than a selection of different ideas ~ it is the performance that then becomes a conversation between the performer and the audience. Of course this is more obvious in other performance arts than orchestral music, but it is very much there, and I have missed it. But dare I say this too is pretty obvious, it is what I do!

A bit of a show off

I have also found that I have missed the speeches and presentations I make, these are mostly for groups I represent, Croydon Pride, TransPALS, and others. I rather thought that I was doing this because I was the one best placed to do it, I even tried to tell myself that it was a burden, but on reflection I love it! In short I do rather like to be the centre of attention (as long as it's in a good way!) and that hasn't happened much in 2020

Two years ago I managed to do my Stand Up routine, while I have no plans to repeat the experience I'm glad I did it, the experience was interesting ~ if a little terrifying, and has made me realise that if I wasn't playing music then I would still have to get on a stage somehow, who knows I might even have tried drag!

• I need people! Maybe this is linked to being a performer, but I miss the companionship, and the comradery. Most of the year I have been OK as I have been able to work which means going out and seeing people, being active and doing something I love. But without people I find myself wondering what my purpose is, the old "what am I here for" question. In a way it is a sort of validation that comes from others. I remember when I first started my transition it was imperative to me not just that I understood myself to be a woman, but that others also saw me as one. I am sure that this is as a  type of validation that I can only truly get from others  ~ maybe that makes me shallow, maybe it makes me insecure, or maybe others are like this too but don't show it as much. I used to suffer with (sometimes) crippling imposter syndrome ~ particularly when on stage ~ I have not had that for some time, but however much I tell myself I am fabulous I still need others to tell me as well.

• I like dressing up, ~ well dur! In more normal times I will be out rehearsing up to six times a week, with a few performances thrown in as well. I will meet friends for a drink or dinner out. Again most of that has gone out of the window this year, but as I have said before I have been able to carry on working. I would normally get home have a shower get changed and go out. This year it has been more like get home shower and put on my pyjamas! 

All dressed up, but at least I had somewhere to go

My work clothes aren't exactly fun, or glamourous! Every now and then it's fun to dress up a bit! I always think about what I am wearing, whether it's a costume to help me to play a part, Gardener, Office Manager, Musician, Politician, looking the part helps me to behave in the appropriate manner; but it is also fun. I have missed the posh frocks I wear for concerts and receptions, but I have probably only worn any sort of dress four or five times this whole year.

I think I may reintroduce "Dress Up Friday" since we are all dressed down all the time now we don't need a special day to be allowed to dress down, but some of us do need an excuse to dress up!