Humoresque welcomes you back and wishes you all a Happy New Year!
We had a lovely Christmas in Malvern with all the family, and then Carly and I celebrated the New Year by ourselves at home.
The new term started this week, and so Humoresque is up and running again, and keen to help you all with your music, or just to share thoughts, ideas and fancies. Which is the nature of a humoresque, isn’t it!
So, let’s kick off with two congratulatory statements – and some advice:
If you carried on playing and practising over the Christmas holidays, well done!
If you had a complete break from playing and practising over Christmas, well done!
In other words, in a holiday period of a couple of weeks, do whatever feels right to you. You will return to the routine afterwards, and you’ll feel better, and play better too, whichever path you chose. Some people can’t bear to lose the momentum. Some people can’t wait to take a break from it. “Go with the flow”, as used to be the cliché, and have fun!
My Pupils’ Pages now have an online calendar. I hope you will use it, as it’s where everything will be scheduled. To access the Pupils’ Pages, you’ll need the password. Please get in touch with me if you don’t already know it. The password will change in September, as it does every year.
Use the Calendar to check out the dates of Lessons, Showcases and Competitions. There will be two Competitions during 2026: one in June, the other at the end of November. The Showcases are both in October, but you’ll only be involved in one of them.
You can select any month from the drop-down at the top of the calendar to see what’s going on. So far, lessons are only shown for this Winter Series, but I will add lessons for the Spring/Summer Series and for the Autumn Series as we go along.
If you look at the Spring/Summer Series (starts on 20th April), you’ll see that Monday, Friday and Saturday pupils miss four weeks. This is because I’m playing at Medieval Fairs or Festivals those weekends, travelling to the venue on the Friday and back on the Monday.
I apologise for this disruption in your schedule. I have set aside two weeks at the end of the Series to make up these missed lessons: 27th to 30th July inclusive, and 10th to 13th August. On the Calendar, these dates show as “Rescheduled Lessons: Monday, Friday and Saturday Pupils“. If this affects you, please get in touch with me to arrange your replacement lessons during those available dates. I’ll need to hear from you by 21st March.
Please remember, you can write to Humoresque at any time! We love hearing from you. If you have any suggestions for material you’d like Humoresque to discuss, or questions you’d like us to answer, just let us know. Humoresque is for you, so let us know what you want!
Here in Norfolk, it’s been very cold, and we had a few inches of snow last week. That’s why this is the Winter Series! I’ve had the woodburner going every day, much to Carly’s approval.
And so here’s a picture of Carly the Cat in front of the fire. His happy place!
I’d love to know what you think of this Humoresque. You can put a comment in the box below this post, or you can email me directly. I read and respond to everything.
Humoresque is available to anyone who might be interested. You don’t have to be one of my pupils, or even learning music. If you know anyone who might be interested in subscribing to Humoresque, please let me know. I will only need their name and their email address. Thanks.
Humoresque = a whimsical or fanciful piece of music. Be whimsical, be fanciful, but play in time!
This is Humoresque Number 26