There are many music exam boards for graded exams from near-beginner to advanced student. Two of the best known are Trinity College London and ABRSM. The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (now known simply as ABRSM) was founded in 1889. As a “board”, it was made up of the Royal Academy of …
If you drive to my house for your lesson, or to bring your child to their lesson, you’ll have noticed it’s been impossible to park next to my car. I’ve been having some work done on the bailey (my castle-relevant name for the front garden), and various bags and tools have been lying around, getting …
This week’s Humoresque contains inspiration from two people with terrific insight. One is Seth Godin, whom I’ve mentioned before. He blogs every day, and many of his short tips really make me think. The other is Oliver Burkeman. Burkeman is a British journalist. His best-known book is Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals. Godin …
Following yesterday’s Humoresque, in which my pupil Peter spoke enthusiastically about playing the recorder, this was brought to my attention: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002fvkx?fbclid=IwY2xjawLld-BleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFLWWczSWtnc2pycVdiejFkAR6Naz3O2uioHxWfA5zzuxpnIIofX3-dz1CvHm4QuGB0kI6-4bbXRkUANLUYIw_aem_M7M7rUKH0CyJGMGikDNYlA If any of you shudder at the memory of playing the recorder at school, or your children having done so, I urge you to listen to the recording of this programme, available on BBC …
Last week I had an interesting conversation with Peter, one of my adult pupils. I have quite a few adults learning to play the piano, both gentlemen and ladies. Some of them learnt as children, but “gave up” and have re-started. Others never had the opportunity or the inclination before, but have begun learning to …
Read more “Work or Leisure? But Always Pleasure! (Well, nearly always…)”
In a News post on 6th April, I announced my new blog, to be called “Humoresque”, and I promised you pictures of my cat. Three months later, I shall finally deliver on that promise! His name is Carly, and as you can see he’s quite a big cat. Carly has been brought up with music. …
Have you heard of Seth Godin? He’s an American author and entrepreneur who specialises in marketing strategies. Godin has written books and articles on marketing strategy, and he writes a daily blog, which goes out free to his thousands of subscribers. Some of Godin’s blog posts are longish, but many are very short. I was …
Parents of pupils aged 18 and under are invited to come to my house for an informal chat about your child’s musical progress this term. These discussions are very helpful as communication updates between you, the parents, and me, the teacher. These sessions help me gain a vital new perspective from my pupil’s family, while, …
Not the messages that ping into your phone, nor the ones people leave on your voicemail, but…. …the messages you send to yourself. You’re about to perform at the Showcase. Or you’ve turned up at a particular venue to take your music exam. Or you’ve got guests in your house, and they’re all urging you …
Remember to “View The Post” to get all the graphics! According to the Chambers Thesaurus, “À la mode” can be used to mean “elegant”, “fashionable”, “smart”, “stylish” or “sophisticated”. That’s all of us, right? In music, a mode is a type of scale. Did you know that the word “scale” comes from the Italian word …