Les voici! voici la quadrille

Well, I did mean to post again a couple of days after my last post, but I didn't have a chance till this weekend, sorry. After the Spem event (which was only two weeks ago, but feels MUCH longer ago) I had another (non-musical) event last weekend in Edinburgh which involved a fair amount of preparation... and I'm still doing the part-time job which involves spending at least three hours a day on various buses. I'm hoping that ends soon, because the travelling makes it feel like a full-time job (so there's very little time or energy for anything else), but my finances are getting rapidly worse as a result of working there. I need to find extra sources of income ASAP.

Anyway, I've done a bit of singing in the past couple of weeks, although not as much as I would have liked. We recorded "Valiant for Truth" by Vaughan Williams a few days before the Spem thing, and I think the result will be great - I can't wait to hear it. (We were supposed to record two Elgar songs too, but (to no-one's surprise) there wasn't enough time in the session. I was pleased the Vaughan Williams was the one we did, because it was the only one of the three I liked!)

Currently we're rehearsing opera choruses for our next concert, which is a week on Saturday. I'm very much looking forward to this - I like all the pieces we're doing (well, the thing from Macbeth is less good than the rest, but that's mainly because the alto part is VERY boring) and I think they'll all sound pretty good. Also, I just LOVE the Aida trumpets! (One of my Great Choral Moments involves the Aida intro. I still think of it every time I hear that piece. Actually, I should resurrect my Great Choral Moments series - it's been a while since I mentioned one.)

(Just to remind you there are mp3s here if you want to practise. I can't promise they're all La Scala, though. (In fact, the Aida recording is US, last time we did it.))

The only thing we haven't rehearsed at ALL so far is Nessun Dorma (although we've only sung once through Brindisi so far), but that won't be a problem as it only involves two lines for the choir (just the ladies, in fact) and we've sung it many times before, although not for quite a few years. Most of the previous occasions were in the Classical Spectacular gigs at the MEN Arena (I'm still distraught that they do those gigs without us these days), in which invariably we had to sing Nessun Dorma in the dark because the spotlight was on the tenor, so we had to memorise our two lines. This wasn't exactly difficult - I can still remember the words even now, and it's years since I last performed them - so I was always a bit baffled at the fuss some people used to make over having to do the memorising. A couple of people just refused, and either didn't sing that piece or sang it to "la"; significantly more people went to a considerable amount of trouble to make sure they COULD see their words even though it was dark. (At least one person wrote the words on a bit of paper using a special pen that showed up under fluorescent light (or whatever sort of dim light it was we had on stage.) I could never understand this, because it seemed to me that they could probably have learned the two lines in the time it took them to sort out their alternative plans! But the choir these days is a lot more professional, so I imagine everyone will just get on with it and spend the two minutes it will take them to learn "il nome suo nessun saprà... e noi dovrem, ahimè, morir, morir!"

A few days ago I went to sing at an open mic night at Ronnie's Bar in Macclesfield. My friend Nigel (the guitarist in my band) lives nearby, and he was accosted recently on his way home from a rehearsal by the organiser, who had noticed his guitar and was keen to get new performers at the event, which they run every week. We want to take the whole band sometime, but we thought it would be worth going with just the two of us at first, so we could see how things worked. When we arrived, the place was deserted, but they had several screens showing the football, so we thought the open mic night might have been cancelled for that week due to the World Cup... but although they started a bit late in order to wait for the end of the match, the event did go ahead, and it was very well attended - lots of people turned up at about 9pm, when the event usually starts. They let us go on first because I was restricted by having to get home by train, and we had a great time. We hadn't expected to do more than three songs (and possibly fewer), but we ended up doing five, at the request of the organisers. They have a great sound system, and they did all the mic adjustments etc., so all we had to do was sing and play. I recommend it to any of you who ever perform pop (or know people who do).

I've also done a fair bit of singing at home, mainly recording multi-track a cappella vocal arrangements. I keep doing this thing where I record myself singing (usually for someone's birthday) and really enjoy myself doing so, but then I listen to it and think "hmm, I thought I sounded better than that. Ouch." ... but, having done it, I send it to the person concerned anyway in the hope that they'll think it's OK. I did three birthday presents this week, but I'm particularly dissatisfied with my singing on all three of them, so although they are all online, and you could find them if you searched hard enough, I'm not going to link them here, sorry!

Anyway, you won't be surprised to hear that I have many, many, many links to share with you. (I actually had a lot more than this, but quite a few are no longer relevant, so I've deleted them.) Firstly, I said I'd put any Spem photos I received online. Here's a link to a zip file which contains all of Caroline's and Martin's. They aren't full-size - I reduced them to keep the file size down - so if you want higher-quality versions of any of them, you should ask Caroline or Martin directly. As for the video, I haven't seen it yet, but Dr Liz has and says it's great. As soon as we get it online (which is still definitely the plan), I'll let you know. There's also a video of Dr Liz arriving (we had to do that separately, because her husband filmed the rest of it, but he couldn't start filming until the secret was out!) which I also haven't seen, but again I'll let you know when it's online.



Most of the links I deleted were about vuvuzelas. I was right, wasn't I? I told you almost a year ago that vuvuzelas would be big news - I hope I can truthfully say "you heard it here first!" Anyway, there are a few I still want to share. Fox News and the Daily Mail both have the story of the woman who burst her windpipe by blowing too hard. Via Intermezzo, the Daily Mail also has Alison Balsom trying to get a tune out of one. And the Guardian tells us that someone wrote a concerto for vuvuzela. This did amuse me, but of course there's a huge mistake in the score - the pitch of the vuvuzela is an octave lower than the one printed. I suppose the composer could claim it's a transposing part, but why bother?

Actually, it's occurred to me several times that the vuvuzela might be very useful for helping singers to develop their pitch memory. Anyone who's watched even ONE match during the World Cup will have that note in their head (the B flat below middle C). Just try it - if you've watched any football, I bet you can hum the vuvuzela pitch right now. (Well, you certainly can at this very moment, because the World Cup Final is on TV as I'm writing this, but you know what I mean!) And if you can remember that pitch, you can use that in the future as a way of working out other notes. (You may have to actually make an effort to do this at first, though - hum the B flat to yourself once a day, and check to see if you're right. After a while it will be ingrained, and you won't need to make the effort any more.) This is more or less how I developed my good memory for pitch (which is what makes people think I have perfect pitch, which I don't) - originally it came from the oboe's tuning A, which stuck in my mind (because I'm an oboist), and I started working out other notes from that.

A few more footy/music links: The band We Are Scientists wrote a great Guardian article about how to write a World Cup song. Tom Service has an intriguing article about composers who were inspired by football (intriguing because I knew NONE of this - e.g. Elgar being a Wolves fan!) (Tom was a bit less impressed at the BBC's Wimbledon coverage, which included a sin against J.S. Bach.) And the BBC Music Magazine has some suggestions for music to inspire some of the teams in the World Cup. (I know it's too late to share this now, but I like it!)

Glastonbury has also happened since the last time I made a full post. I wasn't that impressed with most of it this year, although that may be because I was distracted by non-TV things. But Stevie Wonder was fabulous, and I did like the Kylie guest spot with the Scissor Sisters. Anyway, here's an article by the BBC producer in charge of it all, in which he explains some of their limitations. Both the Guardian and the BBC have some tips for headliners. The Big Picture, as usual, has some great photos. And the Guardian compares Damon Albarn to David Bowie, which hadn't occurred to me before, but I can see their point.

Chris Rowbury (From the Front of the Choir) had a fascinating series of posts recently, in which he describes the sort of music he likes, with many examples. Since I am very unfamiliar with most of the music he mentions, I found this a great way to get to know some new stuff. Start with I may not know much about music but I know what I like, and follow that up with Now THAT's what I call singing! Volume 1 and Volume 2. Also, if you're wondering how he manages to teach these songs without using any written music, he explains that too.

I was very amused by this: grading every country's national anthem, part 1. No further parts have appeared yet, but I'll post links here when they do!

You'll find this interesting if you're a Glee fan: from BoingBoing, an article about copyright law as it applies to a TV programme full of cover versions.

Tom Service wonders whether Dido's Lament is really twice as good as Mozart. He also has an interesting article about El Sistema (in which he disagrees with certain people); some thoughts about minor thirds; an article about composers using codes; a post about the BBC Proms Archive (the Guardian also has an editorial about that); more about the Leonard Slatkin/La Traviata saga; and some great quotes from an interview he did with Anna Netrebko.

You've probably heard that the BBC Phil have a new chief conductor from next year (more on that from the BBC Music Magazine), but did you know that Kent Nagano has been pushed out of his job in Munich? (That news is from Intermezzo, who has more to say about it here.)

Also via Intermezzo, a treat for those of you who can read German: a blog by a journalist who was given unrestricted access to behind-the-scenes Bayreuth. And Intermezzo also examines how much opera directors and composers get paid, and disapproves of a recent situation at ENO. (Which reminds me: yesterday I finally caught up with Gareth Goes to Glyndebourne, which I really enjoyed. Well done Gareth. Only the last of the three programmes is still on iPlayer, but if they repeat it and you missed it, do watch.)

From On an Overgrown Path, an intriguing short post about Stravinsky and technology, although the bit I really liked was actually the news that Beethoven once wrote a Duet requiring Two Pairs of Spectacles. Hee!

Elgar has now vanished from our £20 notes - I'm still angry about this.

The Guardian has a long and thought-provoking article about music being composed by computers.

Gillian alerted me to this: an article in Science News about why some people find sight-reading easier than others.

Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis is one hundred years old, and Rob Young takes an in-depth look at it in the Guardian.

This year's Three Choirs Festival is in Gloucester from 7th to 15th August, and Classical Iconoclast has a helpful guide to what's on.

BBC Music Magazine has a short article about the lack of female composers. They've also just launched a podcast, and the first episode features our Götterdämmerung CD.

Paul Woodiel, a violinist who plays in a Broadway theatre, tells the New York Times of his outrage at the decision to cut five string players from West Side Story (which, it turns out, has ELEVEN SEPARATE STRING PARTS) and replace them with a synthesiser.

Latest practice tip from Stephen Hough: start by writing the fingerings in.

The BBC tells us that TV themes have been the most lucrative UK musical exports over the past decade. Sad, but not really very surprising, I suppose. They also have a related article about jingles (we have Wagner to blame for them, essentially, but we knew that).

And there's a new choral work in which the singers sing parts of their own genetic code. *boggle*

I think that's all my musical links, but I have a few more football ones. Don't go away! These are good, you'll like them!

The Big Picture has had several sets of their trademark amazing photos: Preparing for the World Cup, Opening Weekend, and Halfway in. No doubt there will be more after the final.

A British chemistry professor says that FIFA are lying when they claim that the actual World Cup trophy is solid gold.

Football can help people with dementia, a Scottish project has found.

I really like this BBC article about why David Beckham is a really great guy. (I already knew he was, but it's nice when people give me evidence I can use!)

And here's something I never thought I'd see: a football match on the M60.

Let's make the transition to Manchester-related to links via another footy-related link: the site of Maine Road is to be marked with a blue moon. I think that sounds lovely.

Manchester Day has come and gone now, but in the buildup to it the MEN site featured this Manchester quiz. It's harder than you might think! I scored 76784, but I think I could have done better if I'd been thinking clearly. It gives you a map of Manchester and names an event, and you have to click on where it happened. Give it a go.

Also in aid of Manchester Day, Manchester Confidential printed a great list of reasons why Manchester is historically significant. They include a great quote: "Manchester is the place where people do things. Don't talk about what you are going to do, do it. That is the Manchester habit."

I missed the parade (I was singing in Macclesfield at the time) but it sounds as if it was a real spectacle. (That's from the MEN; Manchester Confidential reviewed it here.)

The MEN also tells that we are the third most popular UK tourist city (after London and Edinburgh).

The temporary Central Library is now open - have any of you been in it yet?

And on 22nd August you can take part in a backwards running race in Heaton Park.

A bit more randomness...

If you have an iPhone, and have been alarmed at recent reports warning that the current unlimited-data situation will end soon, this MacFormat article explains how to find to how much data you CURRENTLY use.

I love this story about a vicar who discovered that there was a law giving her the right to call her parishioners together for archery practice.

Language teachers will particularly like this: a Guardian article which discusses the theory that Brits are bad at languages. And here's an article that discusses the changing use of the word "so" in the English language.

Here's a nice story from BoingBoing about how Martha's Vineyard became the birthplace of American deaf (and Deaf) culture.

Most of you will have heard of the TED talks - I'm sure I've mentioned them before - but now the Guardian explains the whole thing in detail, and tells us that TED is coming to Oxford.

And finally (finally!) some Harry Potter news. The Guardian reviews the recently-opened theme park in Florida, and the official website now has the full cinema trailer for the Deathly Hallows film.