OK – sorry, Happy Belated Christmas – but I’m only one day late. It’s been a bit busy with four Carol Services and two school concerts in the final week of term. That was three services for Pershore High School in Pershore Abbey (2 for kids, 1 for parents), one concert at the Blind College playing double bass in Palladio which they performed really well on flutes, recorders and cello, one Christmas concert at Prince Henry’s including the World Premiere of my new carol “Angels from the Kingdom of Glory”
It’s taken Stephen and I a long time to make and finish the last of the Grade 4 theory modules but at last, it’s ready and on sale here and it’s in High Definition for the first time so that you can count my wrinkles and grey hairs! This one is by far the longest video we have on sale and has a very informative pdf attached along with a devilishly tricky exam paper to fill in at the end!
We actually filmed part of it in France in April 2010 – here we are in October 2011 putting the finishing touches to the editing! It’s amazing how the months fly past when you have to work for a living as well!
Far from sitting back and relaxing before we tackle Grade 5, I have actually been working out what to put in each module already and we hope to start making the first one in the October half term holiday. We are very aware that Grade 5 is what most of our present and potential customers need (indeed, it was the very reason for starting this project in the first place!) but I make no apologies for giving them a really solid foundation in the earlier grades before we tackle all the skills required for this exacting exam.
I had hopes of retirement after we make the Grade 5 modules but The Boss says we should start at the beginning and re-make all the earlier modules in wide-screen HD. Now then, 18 months per module, 15 modules already made, plus at least 5 for Grade 5 – that would make me about 85 and him 93!
Stephen and I are just back from taking 61 teenagers to Italy on a music tour with one of my schools, Prince Henry’s High School, Evesham.
Stephen drove, along with one of the parents, a 3-ton truck containing all the instruments and sound equipment. I took the easier option and went by plane with the rest of the party.
We were based in Bussolengo, in the region of Lake Garda, arriving on Wednesday 20th July and departing the following Tuesday. In that time we visited many places including Verona, Garda and Venice. We performed several concerts, sang Mass in the Duomo at Pescantina and performed four motets in the Basilica of San Marco Venice.
There were also ad hoc performances by the Barbershop Boys in St Mark’s Square and by the tour choir in the raked seating in the Arena at Verona, at the dinner table in the hotel and in the foyer of Heathrow Airport!
All in all we had a fantastic time. The students were a credit to their school, both in behaviour and in the excellence of their musicianship, and were genuinely a pleasure to be with all week. The whole experience was rewarding and exhausting in equal measure!
Do take a look at some of the videos shot and edited by Stephen. Keep in mind this is just an ordinary state secondary school – not a specialist music college!
