• Operatic vernacular

    Listening to the London Road recording reminds me not only how effective this production was but how the vernacular style of speech and singing is immediately engaging for me. I think back to my interest in the Aberfan disaster of the sixties and how hearing accounts of the event by those in the community was…

  • Guest post – Jonathan Savage’s Blog

    Jonathan Savage kindly invited me to respond to a question about the future of a classroom based music education. My response was originally published on Jonathan’s blog (2nd December 2011). What is the future of school-based music education in the United Kingdom? It seems difficult to suggest what the future of school-based music might be. Extra-curricular…

  • The Animals and Children took to the Streets – NT

    I am yet to be disappointed by a production at the National Theatre. Perhaps I’ve not seen enough! The Animals and Children took to the Streets was a unique and thrilling experience; animation, film, music and movement synchronised so virtuosically that I was engaged throughout. I am keen to look into 1927 further – their…

  • Frolicking with the Past

    – Below is an item I wrote for the Leicester Early Music newsletter – forthcoming. More information about the festival can be found at http://www.earlymusicleicester.co.uk/ – Performing early music sometimes can involve more time in a library than in the rehearsal room; discovering the intentions and conventions of earlier music can be an exciting endeavour yet…

  • Cypher for Orchestra (2010)

    http://soundcloud.com/[soundcloud%20url=%22http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/10941266%22]  “Cypher” has numerous definitions but the one that remained in the forefront of my thoughts was “a secret code of writing”, or the “process of converting ordinary language into code”. The opening harp material essentially operates as a “cypher” through which other material is coded. Each time the cypher returns the music that follows…

  • National Plan for Music Education

    I finally had the opportunity to read the National Plan for Music on a commute this afternoon. I’ve extracted some points that particularly grabbed me as being interesting in that, for me, lacked real precision. Some are just interesting and made me think. I’ll reflect on them more fully as the week goes on. I’ll…

  • Tosca to Bostridge in 24 hours

    Tosca at ENO last night was compelling and very moving. Puccini always strikes me as a brilliant orchestrator and I was particularly taken by the cello ensemble writing accompanying Mario in the final act, the off-stage playing and the use of a chamber organ. Puccini’s operas seem to be so complete in their design and…

  • Connect CPD

    It was fantastic to catch Sean Gregory, Director of Creative Learning at the Barbican and Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Sean took the time to speak more about the continuing professional development in creative leadership offered by the Guildhall School to help me write an article for Music Education UK (Spring 2012). I attended…

  • 50 Years of Minimalism: Rock ‘n’ Rollers @ Kings Place, London

    – already published on I Care if You Listen(.com) at http://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2011/11/50-years-of-minimalism-rock-n-rollers-kings-place-london/ – I felt fortunate to attend the final concert that formed part of a short series at Kings Place, London, called ’5o Years of Minimalism’. Igor Toronyi-Lalic curated the series and from what I saw and heard at the concert this was clearly something that was…

  • Reflections on writing a musical

    The set has finally been dismantled for Juniper Dreams. It made me realise how much had passed to get the project from the initial conception – my colleague Deborah suggesting we write one – to the performances last week was a rewarding learning curve. It represents the longest musical work I have written and I’m…