One day nearly 40 years ago, a bear went for a walk in the hills. With his Mother’s blessing, he sets off for a jolly trip, […]
Choirs and Christmas Performances
Apparently there are somewhere in the region of 300 million active Twitter users worldwide. That’s a lot of people expressing an opinion on everything from […]
God doesn’t attend concerts
St Sepulchre’s in Newgate is known as the National Musicians Church. The ashes of Sir Henry Wood, founder of the Proms, lie in its north chapel which […]
Paraskevidekatriaphobia
On Friday 13 November 1868, the Italian composer Gioachino Rossini died from pneumonia at his country house in Passy. Possibly an unremarkable event if, like […]
Be Prepared to sing your best
Many years ago when I was about a foot shorter than I am currently, I joined something called the Cubs, which I think is still part […]
Singing in the Rain?
Last week, on the whole, was going well. Then suddenly this all changed. On Wednesday morning a small white envelope was pushed through the letter […]
If Chocolate is bad for you, what about Singing?
Forget the traditional message of Easter. For many, this weekend is all about chocolate. Everywhere you look there are chocolate eggs calling out to be […]
Of choirs and places where they drink
The composer Alexander Borodin once said, “Music is a pastime, a relaxation from more serious occupations“. For him, this was probably true. Whilst he is […]
Why do you want to join a Choir?
For the last couple of weeks I have been talking about New Years resolutions and there were grand plans to do more with the choirs and […]
Preparing for a Concert
Possibly my favourite quote of all time is: “The amateur practices until it’s right. The professional practices until it can’t go wrong” Now before we […]