if I am going to do a blog a day I feel a song a day should be part of it x x

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New Video in One Take.. Nothing fancy…we did 8 takes, some in half speed some in slow motion some in normal speed.. and I was gonna spend a couple of days picking

all the best bits and I came to take 5 and went…yes! it is practically perfect in every way…Had just the right amount of stillness and emotional quality the song needed

One take is a magical thing in film or in music and so much of our lives we don’t do much in one take, we correct , we edit , we ‘grammerly’ ( when the frog did that become a verb..I don’t by the way!).

There are certain bands that used to  swear if you don’t get the recording on the first take the magic has gone… I made an album in 2003 where did every vocal in one take because I wanted to have that performance quality to it..Lots of people would not notice the difference. It may be very subtle and just arsey rather than arty… Maybe you agree….In love with this video today like a new born baby….

 

 

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Hallo World

Today as  my sobbing subsides over the kitchen sink  ( it’s been a long, amazing but terrifying year of choral directing, repertoire planning, arranging, music leading ) I remember, it is in fact exactly 5 years to the day that the  CDs for our first album was released on a sunny day unlike today.

I felt it was a landmark worth marking by posting a  sneaky preview of the newest song just for a ‘how are we doing 5/6 years on?’ moment..a moment of reflection as the rain beats down and the thunder crashes overhead.I am deeply tired from giving out a lot of energy this year, so just have to wait patiently for a bit til I get my inner mojo back…would love you to have a listen to the new track which I am fond of as a well behaved baby .” I Remember (The Simple Things)”

And then  thought it would be good  to post the first song we wrote almost 6 years ago…the song that started this wonderfully crazy , bumpy journey. But then what’s a journey without  a few bumps on the way…

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I wrote this post below  in January 2012 and am adding to it 7 years later

I have to say that I cannot  but wonder about parts of my life. When cleaning out the fridge today 7 and a half years later, I found that I still have the aforesaid jar of plums looking a little worse for wear, which probably says more about my levels of hygiene that the poor plums themselves. Now I am blogging rather than throwing many other concoctions which also look like they may have been there as long as the innocent plums… AND I am still wondering… can  I still eat them?

 

THIS IS WHAT WAS GOING ON IN JANUARY 2012 ( I was arranging Paradise!)

And my mind! Seriously, someone is messing with my mind. A few days ago I mentioned the fact that a jar of umobushi plums went missing. I looked in all the cupboards, had everything out of the fridge, went through the bin…you would too, as a jar of umobushi plums is like £12 ! It is  no picnic looking after your digestive system, I am telling you. In the end I surrendered to the fact they must have gone in an old bin and went back to fresh and wild,  whole food mania, or what ever it is called and bought a new jar. I opened the jar  a few days ago, and it has been in and out of the fridge a couple of times. So last night I go to the fridge   and wonder what the jar is behind the UPs? No blinking way! The old jar of UPs! What is happening here? I have only one possible explanation. Someone is breaking into my flat, stealing  japanese pickled plums and then putting them back a couple of weeks later, just to make me seem as if I am going slightly mad ( no help necessary)…The only explanation. So I am asking you nicely to stop it please.

Today I saw a pair of woodpeckers in the garden and while I was singing all the parts for Paradise -which is finally finished, a cat walked in front of my window, stopped and listened to me singing ha ha ! The list on my desk is going down a bit, so new things can arrived, I am sure.

SONG OF THE DAY A New Song which did not exist 7 years ago..every day of 2011 , I posted a song  from youtube…now I can post my own songs hurrah!

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Hallo hallo

Its been a rip roaring summer..singing under canvas and at the Guildhall Summer School. Yesterday I wrote and recorded this..My idea of a lovely day..plugged into a pair of headphones and Logic X for some considerable hours, on my own. I am a bit of an ‘ants in my pants’ type of person, but once I am absorbed with writing and recording a new song…I am glued to the spot.

Love you to give it a spin…. right now am arranging it for a choir…that bit is always a bit trickier…hope you are having a good day x