Muse-ecology
Big C and I signed along the dotted line for a new car the other day. This is hardly earth-shattering news - except that it is the first...
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Winterreise
And so to 2022. January is often viewed as a miserable month; still cold, still dark, slithery walks and endless damp. But whilst that...
Seasonal Side Dishes
About six weeks before the first lockdown in 2020, I switched to a plant-based diet. I say ‘plant-based’ rather than vegan because I’m...
Pieces of Eight
I have been contemplating the women who have been in my life over the years and our connectedness and how we inspire each other. Perhaps...
Me and my camper
About twenty years ago, after a long-term relationship break-up I decided to buy a camper van and bum around. The action wasn’t quite as...
Comprehensive Cover
With the beginning of term underway and the world (well my world anyway) back into a routine, I have found myself contemplating the...
Jazz Wives
I had to spend some time questioning myself over the content of this particular post, as I am anxious to be seen as someone who supports...
Mary Angela
It was Mum’s 80th birthday last week and - we hope - the start of a much better year for her. Like many of her generation, the last...
Icky Ebacc
I have spent rather a lot of time over the last few weeks attempting to negotiate with our local school the right combination of GCSE...
Dancing Queens
Like many people during this last year I have spent far too much time on social media, and hope that the gradual lifting of restrictions...
Reading Music?
I was delighted when Quincy Jones had a Prom dedicated to him a couple of seasons back and was amused when he quipped “I didn’t do a damn...
Major, Minor, Mirga
Following Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla’s announcement that she will step down as Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra at...
Ronnie Scott's
Another of those good BBC4 documentaries appeared a couple of months ago about Ronnie Scott’s - that most prominent of jazz clubs in the...
Rattles, Bells and Whistles
Many of you will be aware of the news this week that Simon Rattle is leaving the LSO (one of the world’s most prominent orchestras) to...
Cosmic Performance
A Christmas gift I have been reading is Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason’s book ‘House of Music.’ I am both inspired and intimidated by this...
Foster the Imposter
At around the age of six or seven I was given my first chocolate orange. This sweet orb was devoured greedily and I loved it for what...
The LP Collective
One of the more pleasant aspects about posting on this blog has been the excuse to listen to a lot of my old records and CDs. Lockdown...
The Great 'O's
Usually, at this time of year Big C, the kids and myself would be descending on Ely Cathedral to revisit something that has become...
Brassknobs and Broomsticks
It has often been assumed that brass players and percussionists are the most unmusical and least educated members of the musical...
The Magic Wand
My musical education has meant encountering all sorts of conductors. Some were inspirational, musical. Some had a gargantuan intellect...
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