I feel that it’s necessary every now and then to make note of a particularly good gig, as even crazy french free jazz (Les yeux de la tete) has an effect on the songs I write and sing. Nottingham based Cantaloupe have so far been a joy to watch and hear play and I continue to be impressed by their execution of sublime melodies and intricate rhythms.

I was at another Cantaloupe gig recently where my brother was enthusing about the band Picore. He said one of the main reasons he found them so bloody brilliant was because he didn’t really understand what was going on. I felt much the same about Les yeux de la tete. Unlike one of my friends who had been trying to work out the time signatures for different songs, I just enjoyed basking in the confusion and as they say “feeling the groove”. And what a groove!

(NB. Slightly more preferable than hearing Green Day’s “Time of your Life” for the umpteenth time at Ryans’ open mic night.)

Rough Truffles are based in Belper, and are usually lead by the talented Beth De Lange. As she’s away for a few weeks, I’ve stepped in to lead them with a bit of Beach Boys and a great arrangement of Moon River. I’ve discovered a great website for vocal arrangements of pop songs, called Pop4Vocal. This is where I found the arrangement of ‘Good Vibrations’. You can listen to each of the tracks individually, on Spotify, or buy from iTunes. It’s been a really helpful teaching resource, especially if like me you’re more comfortable learning by ear.

The Moon River arrangement is by Ed Lojeski, there are some really rich and interesting chords in this one. I’ve recorded it at home, as I think this may be helpful for the choir to hear how it all sounds together, but you can listen to a version sung by the Archipelago Singers on youtube here. Last session is tomorrow night sadly, but it’s given me some good ideas for the Mickleover Adult choir starting in September.

Handed in the last bits of coursework for the Certificate to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector today. As someone pointed out, lifelong learning could mean from birth, but for those of you who don’t know, it’s basically post-16 or post-compulsory education. For more info. check out the Institute for Learning website.

Will hear about the results from CTLLS in the autumn, but the next stage is to apply for Associate Teacher Learning and Skills Status or ATLS, yes another acronym for that too! Education seems to be full of them.

Well it’s nearly here. This will be my third time playing at the Quad, and I’m really looking forward to playing a few duets with Neil (from White & Collins). We’ve been hard at work practising and getting the harmonies just right, so just hope that the audience enjoys it! I’ve not updated this site much of late as I’ve been finishing the Music Educator course, and still plodding through mounds of coursework! But soon it will be finished and I can think about more creative pursuits, song-writing and hopefully recording some stuff that I’ve wanted to for a while. Roll on Aug 12th!

Really proud of my students who performed at last nights school concert, I was beaming from the sidelines watching them overcome their nerves to perform in front of family and friends.

Going to be a busy few weeks with a singing workshop on Thurs, practice with Neil White for the Quad on Fri, as well as an audition and band practice for a wedding I’m playing at in a couple of weeks. Somewhere in all of this I have to finish my CTLLS (Certificate to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector), so not going to be doing much sunbathing this week sadly…

I’m a freelance musician and music teacher based in the East Midlands. I teach singing & piano, as well as lead choirs for one-off workshops & ongoing sessions. I’m also available for weddings and events. I love songwriting and composing. Read the blog for updates, musings and reflections on gigs and workshops etc. Or explore the pages above to find out more about gigs, teaching and where you can listen to my tunes.

I’ve been shadowing Beth De Lange from Kaleidoscope Community Music and the Belper choir asked me to lead them as she was working on Friday. It’s a real privilege to conduct a group of people all singing their hearts out! They sounded absolutely lovely.

It’s been a great experience and I definitely want to do more conducting/ animateuring! I love the challenge of singing as a group and hearing the wonderful harmonies. By the way, if you haven’t seen ‘The Choir‘ with Gareth Malone I would highly recommend it. He’s an inspiring musician and choir leader, and is passionate about people getting involved in group singing.

A great opportunity to play some solo tunes on the old ivories and the strummer, and support a quality act in the shape of White & Collins.

Thought I’d start with “She Moved Thru the Fair”, one kind punter told me she hadn’t heard it since she was a child and loved it. They’ve asked me back in June so can’t be bad. I know that Adam and Neil had worked on a new set this month, so I’m going to have to do the same for next time! Will also be supporting Love Locked Out and looking forward to hearing them live.