"born that man no more may die..."

Well firstly I hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas. There are many special things about Christmas - food, presents, family, friends... You won't be surprised to hear that one of my favourite things about Christmas is the music. So many of our Christmas carols have wonderful melodies and words that are rich in meaning. I particularly enjoy playing "O come all ye faithful" each year in Truro Cathedral for the BBC Radio Cornwall Christmas Celebration. There's something special about playing a great carol like that in such a wonderful venue on a very fine pipe organ, particularly when using David Willcocks' arrangement of the last verse.

The line "born that man no more may die..." comes from the carol "Hark! the herald angels sing". The words for this carol were written by Charles Wesley and for me the carol says so much about the true meaning of Christmas. As a Christian I believe that at Christmas we remember God sending His Son Jesus to this earth. Jesus became a man and ultimately went to the cross and died for us so that "man no more may die". Because of Christmas we can all have the gift of eternal life.

I hope you have had a wonderful Christmas but also that you take some time to reflect on what Christmas is all about.

Learn to sight sing!

As many of you already know I direct a ladies choir called Keltique. Keltique is made up of quite a range of members of various musical backgrounds as many local choirs are. We have one lady who has a degree in musical theatre and is a professional singer and then we have others who have joined recently having never sung in a choir before. We have some who can read music and sight sing fluently and others who have to learn by hearing the tune over and over again. However, in the New Year we are going to teach every choir member to sight sing and read music! Sight singing is basically being able to work out how the next note will sound through reading the music and not having any help from hearing the note from a piano or another singer. The musical notation tells us the pitch of the note, length of the note and tone. Being able to sight sing should enable us as a choir to learn new repertoire much quicker as well as refresh old repertoire easier.

If you're a lady and you're interested in joining a choir in the New Year and learning to sight sing then why not come along and join us. We have a lot of fun and rehearse Monday evenings at Looe School music department. You'd be welcome to come along and view a rehearsal or join in just to see what we get up to. We don't normally ask people to commit to the choir until they have attended three rehearsals. Check out the choir's website at vocalgroupkeltique.org.uk for more details.

Singing is good for you!

Ella Fitzgerald once said "The only thing better than singing is more singing". There is a lot of evidence out there to actually suggest that singing is beneficial for your health. Here are a few possible benefits:
1. It exercises some of the major muscle groups in the body.
2. It is an aerobic activity and therefore good for your cardiovascular system.
3. It encourages you to breath deeply and take in more oxygen which can improve alertness.
4. It can help fight off colds and bugs by circulating air flow in the upper part of the respiratory system.
5. It can be a great way to relax and therefore ease stress and related problems.

But above all singing is fun! Everyone is born with a voice which is the most natural musical instrument. If you're not singing at the moment, why not give it a go. Join a local choir or go along to a singing workshop. Its a great way of meeting people, making friends and also getting incredible satisfaction through making music.

Tips for Pianists no. 10: Tankard exercises

I thought I'd talk today briefly about one of my favourite books of technical exercises. There are many collections of technical exercises out there as well as the normal scales and arpeggios pianists are expected to practise. Warming up is an important part of the practise routine. Not only does it give you time to work at specific technical difficulties you might encounter in pieces, but it also warms the fingers and hands up ready for playing pieces. The nice thing with the Tankard book I find is that some of the exercises are very straight forward and some are quite challenging so they can be used for pianists of all abilities. They also cover a wide range of technical difficulties from five-finger exercises to arpeggios, trills, tremolos and much more. You can also transpose the exercises into different keys, play them at different dynamic levels, try with different rhythms and use different articulation.

Learn an instrument!

As a piano and organ teacher I thought I'd write a little today about some of the benefits of learning to play an instrument. Learning an instrument can be a very rewarding and enjoyable experience whatever age you might be. There is much research to show that learning an instrument can improve concentration and co-ordination. It can be a great way to relax after a busy day. Being able to achieve something that you haven't been able to do before can really boost self-confidence and also playing with other musicians is a great way of meeting people and building friendships.

I have pupils of all ages and abilities. We often think that learning an instrument is something people do as a child. However, many adults too are now choosing to learn an instrument or returning to their music studies. They are discovering that it is very rewarding, enjoyable and a great way to relax.

So why not think about learning an instrument even if you have never done so before? Musicteachers.co.uk is a great website for finding a local music teacher and many will be willing to give you a trial lesson first so see if this is something you might like to do.

Happy Birthday Chopin!

This year is the 200th anniversary of Chopin's birth. He was born on 1st March 1810. In celebration of this I'm giving a concert of Chopin's piano music at Stuart House on Sunday 21st November. Further details are available on my website. Chopin is an interesting composer. Almost all of his music was for solo piano and covers such a huge range of styles. The Sonatas are examples of major works and I'm hoping to include the Sonata in B minor on 21st. However, we also get the Nocturnes demonstrating his ability at writing wonderful melodies and the Mazurkas and Polonaises show his love of Poland. It has been said that there were three main influences of Chopin's piano music. Firstly his musical education which probably included studies of works by J S Bach, Haydn, Mozart and others. Secondly his love of Italian opera which we see in many of his beautiful melodies and thirdly we see his love of Poland. It is sad that Chopin only lived for 39 years - who knows what else he might have written.

I'd encourage you to explore some of Chopin's piano music if you haven't already done so. Have a listen to some recordings and if you play piano why not look at some of his music. Some of the easier Preludes are probably a good place to start as a few of them are around ABRSM grade 6 standard.

Tips for Pianists no. 9: Research the music

I was reminded again this last week of the importance of researching music. I was performing Mozart's Sonata in A minor K310 and was doing some research for the programme notes. Mozart only wrote two piano Sonatas in a minor key and both have quite a dark atmosphere. The Sonata in A minor was written shortly after his mother's death and certainly portrays much of the emotion he must have been feeling at the time. Obviously this is going to have a big impact on how one performs the piece.

Always take some time to research the music you are playing. What do you know about the composer? What was happening in the composer's life when he wrote that piece? What do you know about that particular piece? How does it compare or differ from the composer's other work? Looking for information on these particular questions will certainly help to understand how to interpret the music. There are plenty of sources of information too. Look in music libraries, internet, CD inlays and notes actually in the printed music.

Tips for Pianists no. 8: How to memorise

On my last post I looked at some of the benefits of memorising music and so today I thought I'd talk about how to memorise music. Different techniques tend to work for different people. Some people simply find that after they've played a piece enough times it will be learnt from memory. Others find they need to remember key things about the structure of the piece to enable them to memorise the music. Still others find it very difficult to memorise and may spend hours reading over the music, playing it, even writing it out. The key thing is to try to find the technique that works for you by trying them all and then try to keep learning music from memory so that you develop that skill.

Let me give you a few ideas that may help with memorising music:
1. Look at the structure of a piece. For example if a piece is in ternary form (ABA) then knowing this means that you are aware that the opening tune will return near the end.
2. Memorise short sections at a time. Don't tackle the whole piece in one go but memorise the first few bars and then add a bit more to this the next time you practise.
3. Try playing a piece through with the music on the stand but keeping your eyes shut as much as possible. This way you'll be playing quite a lot of the music from memory and you'll be aware of the areas you still need to memorise as it will be these points where you will need to look at the music.
4. Try listening to lots of different recordings of the piece while following the score. In fact if you have the facilities record yourself and listen to it while following the score.
5. Try writing out the music. Some people find it useful to write out the music as this helps them picture the music as they are playing it.

Above all try to work at the skill of memorising music, even if initially you can only remember a short phrase. Also, if you choose to perform from music always make sure you can keep going (even if you have to make it up!) if you get a memory slip.

Tips for Pianists no. 7: Should I memorise?

I've just been preparing a programme for a concert I have on 13th October as part of Landulph Festival and part of that preparation has involved learning the pieces from memory. As I was doing this I began thinking about why pianists perform from memory. What are the advantages? Is it really necessary to learn a whole recital programme from memory?

When it comes to performing a piece for an exam, festival or concert you should know it from memory even if you still choose to have the music in front of you. The piece should be so well known by the time you come to perform it that you could play it through without music if you needed to. However, you may still choose to use music as a prompt or just for added security. If you do choose to perform from memory it is important that you are able to keep going even if you have a memory slip.

There are, however, some advantages to not having the music in front of you. Having music means you either need to worry about page turns or else get a page turner to assist you. However, having someone constantly popping up to turn pages can be a distraction to the audience and also to the performer. Being able to play from memory does mean that you're able to focus so much more on the music. It also looks more professional. When a pianist plays from memory the audience know that the performer knows the music thoroughly and therefore can give a confident performance. In a sense it can help the audience feel more relaxed and enjoy the performance more.

So, it is good practise to play from memory if you are able to. If you don't have the confidence to do this in front of an audience yet at least try it at home. However, if you choose to play from memory always make sure you can keep going should you have a memory slip. If you feel safer using music then do so but work out in advance how you can manage the page turns.

Tips for Pianists no. 6: Setting targets to work toward

Well its now the start of a new term and as you'll have noticed I've had a bit of a break from updating this blog over the Summer holidays. As I'm starting back teaching I was thinking about how useful it is to have targets to work toward in our music studies. I certainly think that having a sense of direction and a goal to aim for can help to make us more targeted in our practise and therefore help us to achieve more. For many the next exam might be a good target to aim toward or perhaps they will need to aim toward a performance as part of their GCSE or A-level music studies. However, not everyone will necessarily want to work toward exams, so what else might we have as a target? Perhaps for some it will be aiming toward performing a piece in a Music Festival or concert. For others it might be to learn a piece up to performance standard and then play to some family members or friends or even make a recording of a few pieces on CD as a Christmas present for friends and family. Whatever your goal is I think its good to sit down at the start of a new term and work out where you are heading with your studies. Work out what you want to achieve over this year and when you'd like to achieve it by. Its always useful to discuss this with a teacher in order to make sure your goal is realistic yet sufficiently challenging at the same time.

Let me know any thoughts you have and enjoy your practising!

Tips for Pianists no. 5: Exams

Well I've just finished two days of accompanying exams as well as having several of my own pupils take exams so thought I'd write a few thoughts about this. I have a mixture of pupils - some enjoy working toward exams whereas others prefer to just learn for fun. Exams are useful as they give you a goal to work toward and a sense of achievement when you pass an exam. You will also get useful feedback from the examiner on the mark form. If you do plan on taking music further it is really essential to gain the different qualifications, but even if you don't the higher grades do give you UCAS points which can be useful for going on to university.

I think the real key to exam success lies in being well-prepared. Make sure you know the scales and pieces set for the grade thoroughly so that you can perform them in a way that demonstrates your playing at its best. Its a good idea to know the pieces from memory even though you'll probably use music in the exam. Also, don't just focus on playing the right notes and rhythm (although this is important) but play the pieces musically. Obey all the different dynamic and expression markings as this will really help you gain a good result in the exam.

A lot of candidates focus a lot on the pieces but can easily forget about the other parts of the exams. For most exam boards you are expected to perform some scales or technical exercises, do some sight-reading and also do some listening exercises or aural tests. Make sure you have practised all these parts of the exam and are comfortable with what to expect on the day. The more prepared you are on every part of the exam the better you are likely to do on the day. It is probably worth asking your teacher to give you a mock exam at some point before the exam so that you know exactly what to expect on the day.

Having said all this when it comes to the actual exam mistakes sometimes do happen even if you are really well prepared. The examiner will understand that pianists are playing on an instrument they are not used to and also that many people do get a little nervous in exam situations. It really isn't the end of the world if you make a mistake or slip! The key is to keep going. The examiner is on your side and wants to hear you PERFORM the pieces. If you're performing in a concert and you make a mistake you keep going (the audience may not even notice!). Do the same in the exam.

Above all be as prepared as you can and then try your best to enjoy playing the pieces to the examiner on the day! The examiner really is on your side and wants you to do your best!

Tips for Pianists no. 4: Scales

I can almost hear the groans at the mention of scales. So many students think of scales as that very boring part of learning a musical instrument that you only really do to get through the music exams! However, scales are actually a tremendously important part of learning any musical instrument. Below are just a few advantages to practising scales:
1. Most pieces of music are either in a major or minor key so practising scales will help you to have a greater understanding of the different keys you may need to play in.
2. Scales are useful for building up a good technique. They make great "warm up" exercises and are good for getting the fingers moving around the piano before attempting to play pieces.
3. Scale patterns appear all the time in pieces so learning to play them fluently will help with performing pieces of music.
4. Since melodies are often based on scale patterns a good knowledge of scales should enable you to improvise or compose melodies more easily.
5. Scale practise will help with sight-reading as you will have a great understanding of keys.

Those are just a few points - I'm sure there are many more! So how should we practise scales and how can we make them more interesting? Well while a grade one piano exam might ask you to play C major scale 2 octaves hands separately at a tempo of around two notes per second and at a mezzoforte dynamic I would suggest that it is useful to practise scales in lots of different ways. When you think about it you rarely see a straight forward two octave scale at mf in a piece of music. Often the scale will begin and end on different notes, involve some changes in dynamics (eg. crescendo or diminuendo) and perhaps have different rhythm patterns. Therefore try to be inventive and practise scales in lots of different ways. Here are some suggestions:
1. Practise at different dynamics - f, mf, p... crescendo, diminuendo....
2. Practise beginning and ending the scales on different notes.
3. Practise at different speeds but never so fast that the scale becomes inaccurate or uneven.
4. Practise using different rhythms eg. dotted rhythms.
5. Practise feeling the scales in groups of 2s, 3s, 4s...
6. Practise with different articulation eg. staccato, legato...

More advanced pianists might also try the following:
7. Practise scales with hands crossed over.
8. Practise playing triplet rhythms in one hand against 2s in the other hand. You'll begin the scales 2 octaves apart and end one octave apart.
9. Practise different dynamics, rhythms and articulation in each hand.

Above all try to be inventive and play the scales in lots of different ways. This will enable you to tackle scale passages more effectively in pieces as well as improve your scale playing for music exams.

Hope this is helpful. Let me know any thoughts or comments.

Tips for Pianists no. 3: Slow practise

Yes its true - slow practise really does work! In order to be able to play something correctly and securely you need to practise it over and over again slowly in order to enable your brain to remember the pattern. Always practise at a tempo which is slow enough to get every note accurate. I find that it is often difficult to practise slowly and I tend to want to speed things up before they are ready. A really good way of keeping yourself at a steadier tempo is to practise with a metronome. You could try the following method:
1. Practise with the metronome at a very slow tempo at which you can get everything accurate for at least a few days.
2. Try speeding the metronome up a little (say by 10). If you can still play it accurately then keep practising at this speed for a while. If you start to make mistakes slow the metronome back down.
3. After a few days you might try a slightly quicker tempo. Try speeding the metronome up by 10 again. If it is still secure keep practising at this tempo.
4. Keep going through this process and eventually you should be able to learn the piece up to speed, even if it is quite a difficult piece. However, as soon as you start to make mistakes slow the tempo back down again.

Practising with the metronome is extremely useful in keeping the tempo steady and also developing a good sense of rhythm. However, in reality not every piece will be played at a rigid tempo. For example much Romantic piano music will need quite a bit of rubato. However, practising with the metronome will help to work on getting the music rhythmically accurate and then later you can add in the rubato.

Hope this helps! Feel free to post any comments.

Tips for Pianists no. 2: Don't practise mistakes!

OK this tip might seem obvious but I expect we've all made this mistake. We've worked hard at learning a piece and then either noticed ourselves or had a teacher point out a mistake that we've been playing. Unfortunately, because we've been playing it wrong so many times it can be really difficult to get it right. So, the secret is to make sure we never practise mistakes.

Whenever you practise a piece always stop as soon as you make a mistake. Take this section and work on it. Play it through once and if you play it correctly then play it at least 3 or 4 times in a row correctly (preferably more). This way your brain is more likely to remember the correct version rather than the mistake. If when you practise the section you make the same mistake again then you need to do something to ensure you don't continue to practise it wrong. Either you need to slow the section down or practise it hands separately in order to get it correct. Then make sure you practise it several times correctly before attempting to speed it back up or put it back together again. If you start to the mistake again then you need to slow it back down or do it separately a few more times. Slow, separate practise does work!

When a piece is getting nearer to a performance you will need to practise performing it. On these occasions it is important to play a piece through from start to finish without stopping. In a performance you always carry on and ignore any slips. Hopefully the audience won't notice! However, even when practising performing a piece, make sure you work on any areas that do go wrong. I find it useful to record performances so I can listen back to them and spot anything that needs to be worked on. Its amazing what you notice on a recording that you didn't notice while practising!

Hope this tip helps. Keep up the practising and feel free to post your comments!

Tips for Pianists no. 1: Fingering

Here is the first in a series of posts entitled "Tips for Pianists".  The idea is to be able to pass on some ideas which you may find useful in your own piano playing. So today I thought I'd talk a bit about fingering. I'm sure many of my pupils must get fed up with me talking about fingering all the time.  However, practising the correct fingering is essential in being able to play a piece securely.  It is therefore appropriate that this is the first subject to cover in these "Tips for Pianists". 

Whenever you start a new piece always start off with a sharp pencil and rubber and go through writing in the fingering that you wish to use. You will need to work through the piece slowly and with each hand separately to do this. Pupils with less experience in doing this themselves can be guided by a teacher.  Often there is more than one way of fingering a passage so its important to try them all out on the piano and find out which fingering works best for you. We all have slightly different hands and so what works well with one pianist may not work as well for another.  When you are writing in the fingering concentrate on working out what fits the hand most comfortably. However, also make sure that it will enable you to phrase the piece correctly and musically.  It really is worth putting the time into this as once you get the fingering right and practise this fingering you will learn the piece so much quicker.  If you keep changing the fingering you use every time you play a piece there is no pattern for the brain to remember. 

Once you have written in all the fingering it is time to start practising the piece.  Always make sure you play the piece using the fingering you have decided upon, even if it means playing the piece very slowly or separately. If you do change any fingering as you become more familiar with the piece then these sections will need extra practise as your memory will have already learnt the first fingering. If you accidentally play a passage with an error in the fingering always practise that section aiming to get it correct at least three times in a row before you go on so that your mind can remember the correct way of playing the passage rather than the error you made previously.  By practising like this and always using the correct fingering your "muscular memory" will kick in and you will find the piece is really secure by the time you are ready to perform it. 

Hope this helps!  Let me know if there are any areas you'd like me to cover in these "Tips for pianists".  Also feel free to add your comments.

Find out what its like being in an award winning choir...

The Looe Ladies Choir, Keltique, are hosting their first Open Evening at Looe Community School music room on Monday 19th July from 7.30pm - 9.30pm. Anyone who is interested in finding out more about being in a ladies choir is welcome to attend.

I have the privilege of being the musical director for Keltique and we also have a brilliant accompanist in Liz Sidebotham. On 19th July we will be talking about the choir, singing some simple songs and rounds that everyone can join in with, performing some songs to you and also enjoying some refreshments together. Anyone is welcome to attend even if you have never sung in a choir before. Keltique is a group of ladies of all ages and capabilities, not all of them read music, but they all share one thing: They are proud to be part of the Gorsedd Kernow award winning group Keltique. If you think you might be interested in joining Keltique or for that matter any choir and want to find out more do come along and join us on 19th July. For further details contact Kate Ward 01503 220153.

Acoustic or Digital?

One question I often seem to be asked these days is whether people should look at purchasing a digital piano or a traditional acoustic grand or upright piano.  I thought, therefore, that I'd write a little bit here about some of the benefits of each type of instrument. 

I think its important firstly to point out that no electronic instrument will ever be the same as a good quality acoustic piano.  A piano has over 12000 different parts of which 10000 are moving parts.  On a concert grand piano around 30 tons of pressure is caused by the tension of all the strings.  When the player strikes a key the mechanism transfers this weight to the hammer which then strikes the strings and produces a tone amplified by the sound board.  No electronic instrument will ever exactly reproduce the feel of a real piano action and the unique sound the instrument makes or the way in which this tone is distributed by the sound board.  How can we realistically expect a plastic action, electronic components and loud speakers to reproduce the sound of a top of the range concert grand piano?  Plus a piano can undoubtedly make a wonderful piece of furniture (although not a coffee table please!). 

Having said this though modern digital pianos are amazing instruments and do a very good job at replicating a real piano sound and action.  As many of you already know I often use my own Kawai MP5 stage piano when performing at venues which don't have their own instrument.  Also, many of the top music colleges including the Royal College of Music use digital pianos as well as acoustic instruments.  There are some advantages too to having a digital piano.  Firstly, they don't need regular tuning.  Secondly they can be portable.  Finally most of them can be connected to a computer using USB or MIDI.

So what should you buy if you're looking at purchasing an instrument? Well sometimes buying a digital instrument is the only option due to space or controlling volume levels.  As a general rule though, I would avoid paying less than £1000 for an acoustic piano. As I once heard someone say, you are in danger of buying expensive firewood!  For less then £1000 you can buy a reasonable digital instrument.  Here are some of the key things to look for in a digital instrument:
1.  Stereo sampled piano sound - This basically means that the piano sound has been recorded from a real piano and therefore accurately represents what a real piano should sound like.  Most modern digital pianos will have this.
2.  A weighted hammer action keyboard - The keys need to be weighted to feel like a real instrument.  Some of the better quality digital pianos have a graded weighted action where the bass notes are slightly heavier than the treble notes as they are on a real piano due to the different sizes of hammers.
3.  Damper pedal - Again a damper pedal is essential and sometimes this needs to be bought as an extra.  Some of the more expensive digital pianos have a graded damper pedal where the pedal replicates the pedal in a piano by allowing the pianist to use half damping.
4.  Does it come with a stool, stand and built in speakers?  Its so important that pianists sit correctly at their instrument so always check that a stand and stool is included. Otherwise this may need to be purchased as an accessory.  Also check it has built in speakers or you may need to purchase these or plug the piano into your HiFi unit.

Well what about if I'm looking at spending over £1000?

Well now you're in the area of being able to buy a reasonable quality piano.  Upright pianos tend to vary from £1000 for a reasonable second hand piano to £10000 for a good quality new upright.  Grand pianos will normally be from £3000 upwards.  If you are looking at spending toward the bottom end of these price ranges then do be careful to make sure you are getting a good quality instrument.  Ideally try to take a friend along who knows something about pianos - maybe a piano teacher.  However, here are some of the basic things to look out for when trying out a piano:
1.  Does it sound fairly in tune?  If one or two notes are badly out of tune it could be a sign of some serious damage to parts of the internal structure of the piano.
2.  Does the action feel even?  If one or two of the keys feel much heavier or lighter than others or some notes don't work then this can be a sign of very serious wear on the instrument.
3.  Do all the notes have an even sound?  If some notes are louder than others then this means the voicing of the instrument is out and can also be a sign of wear and tear.
4.  Do you like the tone of the instrument?  Pianos do vary in their tone and its important you find one you like.
5.  What kind of post-sales care is offered?  Most shops will offer a first tune after about 6 weeks when the piano has had chance to settle to the climate of its new venue.  However, its worth checking whether they will take the piano back if you're not happy with it.  Due to the different acoustics a piano can sound very different in your own front room to the sales showroom. 

Anyway there's some of my thoughts. I'm certainly no expert on these things and I'd always recommend asking for more advice.  However, hopefully some of my thoughts here might be helpful.  

Concert on 4th June

On 4th June I'll be doing a concert with soprano Bianca Phillips at Emmanuel Church Plymouth.  I thought I'd give you a sneak preview of what we are planning for the programme (subject to change when we've rehearsed at the church!).

I'll be starting on piano with two pieces from the Romantic Period - firstly La fille aux cheveux de lin by Debussy and then April by Ireland.  Ireland's piano music isn't particularly well-known but he wrote some beautiful pieces of music that are well worth hearing.  Emmanuel has a superb 3 manual pipe organ which was rebuilt only a few years ago so Bianca will then be joining me in Panis Angelicus by Cesar Franck and Pie Jesu by Faure with an organ accompaniment.  To close the first half I'm going to try to show off some of the various sounds and colours of the organ by playing the Prince of Denmark's March by Jeremiah Clarke, Prelude on Rhosymedre by Vaughan Williams, Elegy by Thalben-Ball and the famous Toccata from Symphony no. 5 by Widor.

The church always lay on a superb spread of canapes and drinks in the interval included in the ticket price.  Following the interval Bianca will join me in The Prayer and Ich will dir mien herze shanken by J S Bach.  Two jazz numbers will follow this on piano - Time Remembered by Bill Evans and Prelude (melody no. 17) by Gershwin.  The rest of the programme will then be with Bianca - Tell me the truth about love by Benjamin Britten, Jabberwocky by Lee Hoiby, Somewhere over the Rainbow, Summertime by Gershwin and the Rubber Duck song.

Hopefully Bianca and myself have managed to put together a varied and entertaining programme.  Cameras and a screen are used at Emmanuel so you should be able to get a good view from any seat in the church.  Tickets are £8 in advance or £10 on the door (students half price) and are available from Barbican Tourist Office on 01752 306330 or from Ron Wheeler on 01752 227003.  It would be great to see some of you there!

"Religion and Music shouldn't be mixed"

"Religion and Music shouldn't be mixed"  - this is something that was said to me fairly recently by someone who is well known in musical circles. It was in response to a church who were seeking to use concerts as a way of getting people into the building and sharing the Christian message with them.  However, certainly in the Christian faith music has always played a huge part in worship.  In the Old Testament part of the Bible there are many examples of music being used in the Temple worship and we have the book of Psalms which is basically the Bible's hymn book.  While the New Testament contains less examples of music being used in worship, it still talks about Christians encouraging one another with "Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs".  Similarly Revelation, the last book of the bible, talks about there being music in heaven. So music always has and always will be a big part of Christian worship.  However, should we seek to use music to share what we believe with others who perhaps don't share our beliefs? I think this is what was being objected to when the comment I opened this blog with was made.  I guess this immediately gets me thinking of Handel's Messiah and many other great sacred works in the classical repertoire.  Handel's Messiah was certainly controversial in its day and led to complaints for being too theatrical and operatic!  However it has been said that The Messiah has done more to convince thousands of mankind that there is a God about us than all the theological works ever written (Myers, Handel's Messiah).  So whatever our beliefs might be, music has certainly been used for many years to introduce people to the Christian message and as long as people continue to perform the great Oratorios of Handel and others then this will continue.

Feel free to post any comments or thoughts you might have.

First blog post!

Hi all,

Well everyone seems to have their own blog these days so I thought I'd go for it and start one. Obviously as you might expect I'll be mainly talking about music on here but also up for chatting about anything else people might be interested in. So, let me know what you might like to hear about on this blog and we'll see how things go.

Anyway this one's short and sweet as I've got to head off to school and teach now.