Onedin line

Posted on April 12, 2022April 12, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged adagio for Spartacus, Classical music, Memory, Music, Ocean, onedin line theme, Sea, StormLeave a comment

I just listened to the Adagio from Spartacus. I know it as the theme music to a 1970’s TV series called the Onedin line. My mother used to collect LPs (long playing records) of classical music, and sometimes we would sit and listen to them. The adagio rises and falls, the music swells before it calms like a settling sea.

I haven’t heard it for forty years so I was surprised at how upset it made me. I cried so much. Memories can have that effect. These were good memories of a long time ago. If you want to hear it go to YouTube. It’s worth it.

The Cavern and the Beatles

Posted on April 1, 2022April 1, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged 1960's, Cavern, Cavern club, Childhood, Childhood memories, Fun, Liverpool, Merseyside, Music, rock and roll, The beatles1 Comment

When the Beatles were famous I was a child. By the time they split up I was still not very old. One of my earliest memories was hearing them on the radio. ‘Help’, Love me do’, ‘Yesterday’, I can still remember a lot of the words and tunes and I really feel nostalgic when I hear their songs.

I was a bit older when I heard of the Cavern Club in Liverpool, Merseyside. I never went there but cavern came up as a word prompt for a friend and suddenly I remembered where I’d heard the word. So I looked it up on the Internet (where I got the photo). The original club opened in 1957 as a jazz club. They didn’t like rock and roll but when it was taken over the Beatles started to play there in 1961 (they were previously known as the Quarrymen). Apparently they played there over 270 times. The club itself was a cellar with a curved arched ceiling. It closed in 1973 and was demolished so a railway line could be laid. The Cavern club did reopen but I’m not sure if it still is open.

Choir time

Posted on February 21, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Choir, Fun, gathering, glorious, Happy, Memory, Mine, Music, Singing, Sketching, songLeave a comment

Go out and sing!

Join together in harmony

Open your mouth and heart.

Let your feelings out!

Sing songs of fun and glory,

Music to enhance your mood

Tunes that fold your memory in them

Like nectar, it is a wonderful food

It holds the world together

Plays through mind and soul

So sing of love and life and feelings

My choir makes me feel whole!

Join a choir?

Posted on February 16, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Art, Cheerful, Choirs, Fun, Happy, Life, Masks, Music, Singing, Sketching, vaccinationLeave a comment

We sing all sorts of music in the choirs I am in. We learn by repetition rather than using sheet music. We’ve been learning Bulgarian songs, and ones by Robert Burns recently. Also sea shanties. There is one choir called Clay Chorus that has men and women singing in it and Loud Mouth Women which is a women only choir. Both are usually unaccompanied (a capella), although sometimes we have a guitar or ukulele to help with the tune. There are no auditions, people just come along and try. Many stay with the choirs for years. It was such a shame when we couldn’t meet because od Covid. Now all of us are vaccinated, we wear masks when we move around. The windows are open and we keep the room well ventilated. We do lateral flow tests to be safe. It’s fun to sing again.

Penkhull Wassail!

Posted on January 19, 2022January 19, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Apple tree, Cider, Dance, Eccentricity, gathering, Life, Music, Penkhull, song, Stoke-on trent, WassailLeave a comment

Memory of Doomesday Morris at Penkhull Wassail a couple of years ago. They danced and beat sticks to encourage the ancient Penkhull Apple tree to bud, flower and bear fruit later in the year. They were surrounded by a crowd of people, maybe two or three hundred. Some if us carried flaming torches to light our way. A walk around the boundaries of Penkhull and into local hostelries. I was part of the Mystery Singers choir who sang Wassail songs as we stopped off at the pubs…

Crowds and laughter, mad jolly japes, humans being gregarious. That’s what I miss. Thank goodness for Mysterious madness and eccentricity. Let’s pray to the gods of Wassail for this to come again one day, drink cider, jingle your bells, stamp your clogs, crash your sticks together! WASSAIL!

Dawn Chorus

Posted on January 5, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Beautiful, Birds, Birdsong, Blackbird, Insomnia, Listening, Music, peaceful, Quiet, Robin, WildlifeLeave a comment

Despite it being the start of January I am listening to a beautiful dawn chorus. It is either a Robin or a Blackbird. That’s because I’m struggling to sleep again. But hearing the liquid notes and swirling tunes is fascinating and lovely. I’m just sitting quietly and I can hear strong birdsong despite having double glazing. Each tune or snippet of song only lasts for a little while, then there is a short gap and the music starts again. There is no other sound out there. It’s too early for traffic or footsteps. Just a high series of tweets and whistles cascading from a small bird.

The weather forecast is for lower temperatures and snow rain and ice to return over the next few days. I shall make sure the birds in our garden have food and water. They deserve it for creating such beautiful song. I could not get a photo so excuse my drawing of the garden. Its full of trees and bushes. Now other birds are joining in. Excuse me while I listen… X

Midnight hour

Posted on December 24, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Carols, Hark the Herald, Life, Memory, Midnight, Music, nativity, Seasons greetings, Thinking, TimeLeave a comment

As the last few minutes to midnight tick down I wish I was at a midnight service for Christmas. There isn’t one this year, and it makes me sad not to be able to go. It’s the carols that really get to me. I think Hark the Herald Angels sing is my favourite. I remember being in the school choir. I wasn’t very good, I think they used me for volume!

Stay safe this festive week, and kee well. No doubt I will add to this blog tomorrow… I don’t think it will be very exciting though!

Singing again

Posted on December 14, 2021December 16, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Choir, Christmas songs, Loud mouth women, Music, music stand, Photo, Singing3 Comments

For the first time in months I went to sing with the Loud Mouth Women choir. Covid fears and a pulled calf muscle has stopped me. I had to admit I’ve been scared of mixing. But I went, and I felt a bit better in myself afterwards. You don’t realise how depressed you are getting until you force yourself to do things, but I did it. It’s cheered me up. It was the last choir practice this year and we sang some Christmas songs. Glad I went.

Pattern time. Jazz

Posted on October 28, 2021 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Abstract, Art, Colours, Design, Felt pens, Fun, jazzy, Life, Music, Pattern, Sketching, Time9 Comments

Felt pens can make interesting patterns, and this was one I created which I called jazzy.

It’s hard to know where the triangles and lines should go and which colours fit together. Stripes and chevrons. Highlighted lines to try and add depth. Abstract art isn’t just splodges, I think it has to have some thought, at least that’s my opinion.

I should have been doing some art today, but I’m not well so I thought I would share this.

Sitar player

Posted on August 28, 2021 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Appetite, Appetite big feast, Big feast, drums, Fun, Music, Singing, sitarLeave a comment

We went to Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent today to enjoy something called the Big Feast which is run by a group called Appetite and is held in the summer. I’m in two choirs and we had two spots to sing at (hence no photo of us). Between our spots were a couple of musicians playing a sitar and drums. The sitar was made of a pumpkin? Or gourd? With a long wooden neck. The sitar player said the instrument had seventeen strings. He explained that he played the opposite technique to the famous player Ravi Shankar. However he played it was very beautiful. I admire both players skill.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Music