The chance of the note being right is MASSIVELY high

The Harmonium gig went pretty well last night. It wasn't perfect, but it was probably the best we'd done it. The sopranos' tuning was much better, no-one got lost at any point (at least, that I noticed) and the altos were unbelievably good at rowing! I think my most smug moment was when we finally changed to "rowing in Eden" after several pages, and he looked at us gratefully as if to say "oops, I meant to give you a cue then, but you did it with no help!"

It was all quite a relief, because it really didn't go brilliantly on Wednesday and Thursday. Nothing dire happened, but the tuning wasn't great, and people weren't watching so we weren't together, and things that have been worked on time and time again in previous rehearsals just seemed to have gone right out the window. But hopefully this inspired people to concentrate and/or practise.

Anyway, I look forward to hearing it on the radio on 20th November. Particularly the bit with the bells! That was really magical.



Next up: Messiah, and carols. Oh, and a visit this week from a guy who's going to "revoice" us. No idea how that will work or what it will involve, but I'm intrigued. In the meantime, a few links!

I'm very jealous of the Youth Choir people who got to sing in Manchester Cathedral with Elbow recently. The concert is no longer on iPlayer, but here's the MEN review, and the Manchester Confidential one has a set list, plus photos and video clips. And the BBC News site has an interesting article about pop music in sacred surroundings, prompted by the Elbow gig.

I'm sure most of you saw the first programme in the Symphony series on Thursday night, starring our own music director. It's on iPlayer if you missed it. There's a related recent Guardian article in which the man himself chooses five symphonies that changed music. What I found even more interesting, though, was that the BBC Music Magazine's current issue invites nine leading conductors to name the nine symphonies that inspire them most – one chooses his finest First, the next his finest Second and so on. In conjunction with this, some of the magazine's own staff have attempted to choose their nine favourites themselves: Jeremy Pound, Elizabeth Davis and Rebecca Franks. I tried to choose my own and found it very difficult – for some of the nine, I can think of several contenders that I can't choose between, whereas for others there isn't a single one that I'd claim is a particular favourite! So far I've got down to these:

1st: ?
2nd: Mahler (but I considered Mendelssohn and Elgar)
3rd: Mahler
4th: ?
5th: Beethoven (but Sibelius is a very close runner-up, and Tchaikovsky was also in the running)
6th: ?
7th: Beethoven (but I'm not entirely happy with this – it's mainly here because of the slow movement)
8th: Beethoven (only narrowly beating Mahler)
9th: Dvorak (but Beethoven came close)

Of course, it doesn't help that all the Mozart and Haydn ones I know and love have numbers far higher than 9! What would you choose?

There have been several reports recently in the Guardian about the possible closure of the UK's biggest music and drama lending library, which is in Wakefield. Here's the initial story, a further report highlighting the impact the closure would have on amateur music-makers, and a "cautiously optimistic" report on the outcome of the relevant meeting.

You've probably heard, in the past, that the Bee Gees song Stayin' Alive is the perfect speed for performing CPR, but this intriguing BBC report examines whether or not it's actually useful for first-aiders – and, if not, what other songs might fit the bill.

Stephen Hough has a new piano practice tip: this one stretches and contracts the fingers alternately.

A few weeks ago, I heard a cello and guitar duo playing live on Radio 3. Their sound was absolutely gorgeous, but I was fascinated to learn that the guitar in question was actually a Brahms guitar, and even more fascinated to learn that it was invented and popularised by my friend Paul Galbraith! (Well, I haven't actually been in touch with him in many years, so I suppose I can't really call him a friend... but he was in my class at school, and I think we were the only two people to take German O-level early – I certainly remember us wandering through Manchester together one day, on our way back to school after going somewhere or other to do our German oral exam. I'm pretty sure he'd remember me!) Anyway, there's a lot more info about the Brahms guitar on Paul's website, but annoyingly I can't remember who the duet was that I heard on the radio, or I'd recommend them to you!

Something that annoys me intensely is that when the word 'ironic' is mentioned, there's often someone around who chimes in "And of course the irony about the Alanis Morissette song is that it's not ironic at all!" ... which is mostly true, but the part that annoys me is that I'm pretty sure that if I were to ask these people to explain what the word 'ironic' actually does mean, they wouldn't be able to – they're only saying this because they've heard someone else say it. Anyway, if you are now realising that actually you can't explain the word, this page will help.

I haven't tried this yet, but I definitely plan to: how to make banana ice cream with NO INGREDIENTS OTHER THAN BANANAS.

And finally: I haven't seen the film of Sherlock Holmes (starring Robert Downey Jr), but it looks like the sort of thing I would enjoy. I have seen the recent BBC version (starring Benedict Cumberbatch). But I was very, very amused by this Guardian not-entirely-serious comparison of the two versions.