Grace Notes: Flyering and Rehearsals

Yesterday I spent the day in Oxford to do some preparation for mine and my brother’s concert on February 6^th. I set off early from London and arrived in Oxford around 10.30am. I met my brother at the bus station and we spent the morning putting up posters and dropping off flyers to some of his friends for them to put up in their collages. It also gave me a chance to see lots of the different colleges and get a feel for the place.

 

After lunch, we had then planned a rehearsal with the pianist and then a rehearsal of the double concerto after. However, Sam was ill and so I just had a rehearsal with the pianist. To make it more complicated, I had to change my program last minute, so the rehearsal was a little difficult. I hadn’t had a proper chance to refresh the new pieces, and the pianist was sight reading. However, we concentrated on musicality and I was really pleased with the outcome.

Everything is now starting to come together, and I now am looking forward to the concert. I’ve created an event on Facebook, so if you happen to be in the area on the day, then please come along!

Grace Notes: Concert News!

I mentioned in my first post of the year that my brother and I are putting on a concert in Oxford. We’ve been planning this for a while, but things are finally starting to slot into place.

The concert is on Saturday February 6^th, at 7.30 in St Peter’s College Chapel. We’ll be playing a selection of music by composers including Bach, Bartok and Saint-Saens. The piece we’re most excited about playing is the Violin and Oboe Double Concerto by Bach.

Today I spent the day printing out posters and flyers and I’m heading up to Oxford tomorrow to hand them out and display them. Sam (my brother) and I are also going to have a chance to rehearse together and with the pianist which will be great! I’m really excited to hear how everything sounds.

Please feel free to share this poster with anyone who may be interested!

The concert is completely free (with optional donations towards the national Youth Orchestra of Wales) and please come along if you are in the vicinity and fancy a lovely hour of music!

Grace Notes: Sounds of my Childhood

Last week was a very sad one. We lost two British greats, David Bowie and Alan Rickman. I’ve been fans of both of these men for ages. Alan Rickman as Professor Snape and Colonel Brandon captured my imagination and heart as a child and so I, along with many others, felt a huge loss when I heard the news. I have listened to David Bowie for as long as I can remember and his music played an integral part of my childhood. His music (along with a couple of other artists) has stayed with me through my entire life and I still listen to it today.

Growing up, I tended to listen to ‘older’ music, mainly what my parents played . On the rare occasion I go out clubbing, and a ‘childhood classic’ comes on, I don’t know it as my musical tastes were very different back then!

David Bowie, was (and still is) one of my favourite artists. Some of my favourite of his songs are ‘Ziggy Stardust’, ‘Golden Years’ and ‘Life on Mars’, although there are many others I love just as much. I loved the way that his style had evolved and it’s hard to imagine that ‘Golden Years’ and ‘Hallo Spaceboy’ are by the same person! A couple of days ago, my mum showed me something that her and her brother had bought with their pocket money in 1971. It was the single of ‘Life on Mars’. She still has it in the original sleeve and I can’t wait to listen to it when I’m next back in Cardiff! I will always be a fan of David Bowie and he’ll be greatly missed by so many people.

The original Life on Mars single

Another musician that has remained a solid fixture in my life is Bob Dylan. I’ve mentioned before how I loved him when I was little, and named my doll after him! Recently I’ve been re-living my love for Bob Dylan, and have been listening to a lot of Nashville Skyline and Blood on the Tracks. I love his sound and the folk-like style of the music.

The third person whose music has been with me for as long as I can remember is Elvis Costello. There’s one album in particular called ‘The Very Best of Elvis Costello and The Attractions’ that we used to listen to all the time, especially in the car on long journeys. We used to sing along, and make our cuddly toys dance to the music (yes, me and my brother were a tad strange). One of our favourites was ‘Oliver Zombie’ (known to most people as ‘Oliver’s Army’…..) and to this day I can’t hear the ‘proper’ words for that song!

Listing to any of this music makes me happy. I have so many memories associated with each of these songs and it’s great to be able to relive some of them.

Grace Notes: Welcome to 2016!

Hello, and welcome to 2016! I can’t believe how fast 2015 went and how much happened! I played my last concerts with both my county youth orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Wales, I began the final year of my degree, saw the last Middle Earth film, a new Welsh dinosaur was discovered and I fell in love with Budapest while on holiday there.

I’m going to try and get back into posting on here more frequently. I feel like the last term got away from me a little! I have lots going on now too, but hopefully lots to write about as well. Next week I have my orchestral excerpt exam, and after that a number of projects (both in and out of Trinity Laban) and concerts. One of the most exciting things is happening on February 6^th. My brother and I are putting on a concert in St Peter’s College Chapel in Oxford, featuring the Bach violin and oboe double concerto. I’ll be posting more information about it soon, along with talking about some of the music I listened to, and got given over the Christmas period (at least that’s the plan!).