Incapacitated

Dear All,

I have stupidly burned my hand and arm, so am bandaged for awhile. I will be back when it is easier to type - Apologies.

A simple mug of tea......................

Exercising and Cheating

Snow on the mountains, and I know my post lady will be getting very jittery! She HATES snow, having to drive over an almost 'off road' rally journey to one of the villages to which she delivers the mail!

The temperature has dropped considerably, and the stove is earning it's keep now. Soup was bubbling yesterday and I added dumplings last night - how culinary was that!

I was going through my file of 'essential music' for tomorrow and the exams, and wondered if I had ever extolled the wonders of the Vaccai Exercises book. They are set for the exams, one or two for each grade, but over and above their exam use, I think they are quite delightful. Well, all bar one for leaps of a 7th, which is an absolute pig of a sing!

Each is like a small early Romantic Italian aria, with all the lyricism of that era, sort of the same a a miniature Bellini moment. I also think, quite apart from the technical difficulties which some have, they are a wonderful way of introducing the Italian language to little people. I have a couple of Grade 1's and 2's, and even at that level they have to sing one. They last about 8 or 16 bars, and have a suitable range for little ones as well as very sweet melodies.

I love the fact that at that age they can learn the pronunciation by ear, and as they have to sing one for every exam, the fear factor of learning their first 'foreign' songs is greatly reduced.

I also use them successfully with adults and children not taking exams, and again they seem to promote confidence in both legato line and in the Italian idiom. I have found very few students who don't like them in any big way.

I did not sing them myself as a student, Middy always used another school of exercises, which really concentrated on vowel shapes rather than real words. I can honestly say I found them very boring, and in my naughtier teenaged youth I am ashamed to admit that sometimes if I had not learnt a new one I would quietly rub off the pencilled in date written on the top of the unlearnt music! Bless her, with so many pupils to monitor she did not notice, until one day she said to me in a slightly puzzled way, 'I am surprised a girl of your ability is not further on in this book'......I blagged and puffed a bit, but I bet then she knew something 'was up' as we say in Yorkshire!

Sorry Mid, if you are looking down at this moment !

Nicolai Vaccai - his life, and I learnt something today!

Nicola Vaccai (1790 - 1848)
Italie
Nicola Vaccai (15 March 1790 - 5 or 6 August 1848) was an Italian composer, particularly of operas, and a singing teacher.

Born at Tolentino, he grew up in Pesaro, and studied music there until his parents sent him to Rome to study law. Having no intention of becoming a lawyer, he took voice lessons and eventually studied counterpoint with Giuseppe Jannaconi, an important Roman composer. When Vaccai turned twenty one, he went to Naples and became a disciple of Paisiello, whose Barber of Seville was considered a comic masterpiece until Rossini's Barber swept it from the stage a few years later.

Vaccai launched his career in Venice, initially earning his living by writing ballets and teaching voice. He had his first operatic success with I solitari di Scozia in Naples in 1815. In Parma he was commissioned to write Pietro il grande, where he was also one of the soloists in the first performance. This was followed by Zadig e Astartea (Naples, 1825) and then his best known opera Giulietta e Romeo (Milan, 1825).

Vaccai's sojourn in London began with a production of his most successful opera, Romeo and Juliet, at Kings Theatre in April, 1832. His charm and continental reputation ingratiated him to society and soon he was much sought after as a teacher.

Ending his wanderings with a return to Italy, Vaccai became a director and professor of composition at the Milan Conservatory in 1838. After six years he retired on account of poor health to his boyhood home, Pesaro, where he wrote his sixteenth opera. He died there in 1848.
[edit] Metodo pratico de canto
Later eclipsed by his rival Bellini, Vaccai is now chiefly remembered as a voice teacher. Nicola Vaccai wrote many books one of which is called Metodo pratico de canto (Practical Vocal Method). This book has been transposed for different types of voice (i.e high or low), to teach singing in the Italian legato style. The Metodo pratico was written in 1832 and is still in print, from Edition Peters and Ricordi, and used as a teaching tool. Vaccai notes in his introduction that only the voice of a master demonstrating accurately his exercises can really teach the student the correct techniques of true legato. The book is also an important source of information about the performance of early 19th-century opera.

Decking a few Halls

The Christmas stuff is well on the way - C has done a great job! The parts are almost all there, now the proverbial kick is what is needed to push the pieces on to a slicker and more refined end product.

It was also our Inner Sound AGM tonight so a short and sharp rehearsal followed by a meeting combined with a birthday cake for the afore mentioned chorus master - who had a migraine and was not able to come! So what did we do ? We ate it in fond memory of the young man's birthday, and had it filmed for his perusal at some point when his head is recovered enough to take the din!

They sang a lively and bright Deck the Halls, which I always feel has slightly humorous undertones what with the cheeky little Fa la la's, which we will milk for all they are worth. The English version of Quem Pastores is beginning to have the calm and tranquil 1 in the bar feel, and the ever popular Cantique de Noel by Adolphe Adam was as full bodied as a mature port!

The meeting had some down steppers from the Committee and some new blood, but sadly I must always be the musical director - nobody wants my job, but I hold out hopes for the chorus master's apprentice!

Back to normal tomorrow and then a day's respite before the friday exam schedule - I bet you will all be as glad as I will when sunday finally arrives! I promise the E word will not pass my keyboard for a few months!!

Bring it on

Easy Peasy....


The nerves are out - set free - running scared - beaten down........my two lovely lady pupils who are taking the Recital Certificate and Grade 8 respectively, sang their entire programme to each other today, and did SO well! !

Well done ladies, you gave excellent performances which were full of colour, expression, dynamics, good legato line etc etc, but what mattered most was that you did it.

Friday will now be much easier. Not a doddle, not a walkover, but not the unknown, and however shaky the old legs feel on Friday, they would have been a great deal shakier if you had not broken the pain barrier this evening!

I seem to spend a very extensive proportion of my teaching week calming nerves and giving supportive advice, along with confidence boosting, but tonight you both arrived at that priceless place whereby you did it for yourselves, without my carrying you through it!

If only I could bottle it!

The repertoire is lovely, and there were highlights in each programme. One lady is singing the delightful 'Ridente la Calma', attributed to Mozart, but in actuality most likely pinched by Mozart from Myslivecek ! It was so full of confidence and a sweet lyrical line which flowed well. We can tell, simply by the tone quality that you really enjoy it. I have no idea why that is the case, but our feelings about a song are crucial to the sound we produce. It is so obvious, that I often tell a student to pretend they like it, and eventually it will grow on one, and suddenly what was the 'sag' in a programme becomes a strength.

The marvelously ebullient performance of The Duchesses Song from the Gondoliers will surely make the examiner tremble in his seat ! It had such fun and humour and was brimming with confidence!

I know these ladies very well, and if they read this they will both hotly deny that they have any confidence - fibbers! Confidence comes from knowing what to do, and they are both highly competent singers, and that is what brings confidence - it is not really a personality thing. I try to give the tools, and those who pick them up and work with them will produce and deliver. Those who ignore, or make the choice to reject will have a different outcome.

Done this job for years. It's a great job, except when the ignorers pretend that any failure they may have is the fault of the tool giver. Ladies, you restore my faith in teaching! Well done and bring friday on!

All Shall be Well

I love this painting of Julian of Norwich and cat!


Apologies for the break! I was in Inverness on Friday for a car service - 168 miles is a long round trip for anything, so usually I make a day of it with a long shopping list or people to see. I was accompanied by one of my friends who is also a pupil, and we had a most enjoyable, if long day!

We got back to Paradise late and tired, so Saturday was really a rest up day ! When I think of the 15 hour days 6 or 7 days a week, I did in London, I wonder where all my energy and 'go' has gone, and then I realise, actually it went back then!

Anyhow the sun is shining today and it is so mild that I have hung washing out on the line!

The Little Drummer Boy arrangement seemed to go down well, and it also went down well with my daughter's chapel choir at her school, so I am very pleased about that! Writing arrangements is something I really enjoy. I am not a 'creator' as in composing from scratch, I have always known that, but I think I probably know voices and their possibilities well enough to be a successful arranger of other folk's melodies, or folk songs.

I am off for a Carvery lunch in the village with my parents in a few minutes, and then back to the house to do housewifey things - washing, drying, and the like. On a day like today, none of that is a bind, it makes such a change to feel the warm sun on one's face and back, and see the birds happily feeding from all the 'bird kitchen' paraphernalia on my majestic plum tree!

Back to the teaching tomorrow, and the final run up to the exams which are this coming friday and saturday. We have been able to book our local church and church hall for them, and what a difference it makes to have a large space with a good acoustic. At least the nerves will not have to cope with a small, dead as a doh doh acoustic, modern school teaching room with a piano as loud as a clanky symphony orchestra.

The many operatic arias and oratorio arias will stand much more chance of not overblowing, and the examiner will hear the music as it should be heard, and not be deafened by being almost able to touch the singers, in the previously used room.

Roll on Sunday, when all all be done !

Keep remembering ladies, Julian of Norwich said...

All shall be well............

......for a few bob....

The wind was so strong today ! Around 50 Km per hour according to the weather outlook, and it felt like it! I took my parents out for lunch and they could barely walk from the car to the cafe without looking like they were twin leaning towers of Pisa! At their age they were keeping each other upright from sheer strength of will!

Kyle is a sweet little town, or village, I am never quite sure which! I think of it as a little town because it always has a bustling feel, and the train station is there. We go once each week for an outing which they love, but it is getting increasingly difficult, especially in the winter months.

Actually I think my poor Mum would happily stay in by the fire and watch the world go by, but father likes to chat and talk with anyone who will listen, so for him it is a social outing. The small cafes we frequent know us well, and accommodate the elderly with affection and patience, which is just as well, as my father would make a limping snail seem like Linford Christie ! He gets slower with every passing week!

The entries for Inverness Festival have to be in by the end of the week, so I have been wracking my brain for suitable repertoire to match all the many classes some of my pupils will be entering. The Festival have changed their normal days, so sadly, I will not be available to play for my little darlings! They will have to 'go it alone' ! I have been booked for more than a year to adjudicate at Basingstoke Festival at just about the same time, so whilst they are trying to impress the adjudicator in Inverness, someone else's little darlings will be trying to impress me in Hampshire!

Most of mine who will enter and make the trip without me are old hands, and will acquit themselves very well. They will, of course have to sing with another pianist, who may or may not know when they breathe, or pause etc. It is a learning curve to do this, but a positive learning experience, and quietly toughens them up for the bigger world of performing.

The repertoire is all done now, and lovely it is! I chose Colline's last act aria from La Boheme, for my teenaged baritone L, a gorgeous aria, short and strong, and very suitable for his age. It reminds me of a young man, now a professional singer, whom I taught for about 6 years in the 90's. He had a wonderfully dark bass voice, resonant and like chocolate orange in timbre. He was a very funny guy, and his introductions to his performance were infamous for their accidental humour.

He was singing this very sad aria, where Colline has said he would sell his goods for money to buy medicine for the dying Mimi. He shuffled on his feet, and announced with a grave tone that he was singing '' this aria from La Boheme where Colline was about to sell his coat for a few bob''. When the audience and the other singers all laughed, he told them with a grin that '' this is supposed to be serious you know ''.

I can never hear the aria without seeing his twinkle and grin, only to be sharply surprised and silenced when he opened his mouth and a glorious voice emerged like a downpour of honey.

He's married with a son now, I wonder if little S has his father's twinkle ?!

The Parrot who loved Vivaldi

And so the weather goes on, and the dark nights. We really feel the clocks going back here. Much more so than the South of England where I lived for so many years. We are so far North, it makes the morning take so long to wake up so to speak!

Hurrah ! my mega mezzo has her voice back, so we can all breathe a sigh of relief! She hugged me after singing a few scales and realising it was all there, in full bodied sound and that she was feeling as bright as a musical button! She is waiting for a date to have her tonsils removed, and that date seems to keep getting pushed later and later. They say that it will now be the end of Dec or beginning of Jan, personally I hope it will all be done and dusted by March - which gives the NHS a good leeway!

It was so satisfying to hear my musicroom rocking with the resonance from her huge and exciting voice. One does, after a prolonged period of illness, begin to think that one's voice will never return, and I think she was really quite desperate about it. No worries, however, it is still there, intact and in great shape.

Another pupil came this evening, a lady who sings with such joy and affection. I gave her two new songs which I know she will take away and relish! She showed me a fabulous clip of the parrot she and her husband are 'sitting' at the moment. He was singing a short phrase from her 'Domine Deus', which for all the world sounded like an aging and over confident soprano. I have asked her to try and take some more clips. It was extraordinary. He copies her when she is practising, and in the very short clip, made the most amazing human vocal sounds which even had a touch of vibrato !

I read an incredibly funny book not so long ago called 'The Hamster who loved Puccini', by Simon Hoggart, which is a compilation of all the worst and funniest of the dreaded 'family newsletter' to be sent at Christmas for the delectation of cousins, aunts and great uncles whom one never sees. I now feel sure 'The Parrot who can sing Vivaldi' could become an even greater best seller!

There you go K, make a million!

PS If he gets too good of course, I could become redundant. Luciano Parotti.....................

O Men From the Fields

There were some very successful 'runs through' of exam programmes today, but there are a few folk still suffering, and it looks as though there will be at least 2 withdrawals from illness, Oh dear this time of year is a rough one for singing deadlines !

I was teaching one singer, a low alto - one of those gold dust type voices which are as rare as hen's teeth. M is on track for her Recital certificate, which is a new exam from Trinity Guildhall, and aimed at those who love singing and can put together a challenging but enjoyable short recital, perform it to the best of their ability and not worry about the horrid stuff! ie Aural and Sight Singing ! I would not necessarily choose for this to be taken by anyone who had not completed a high grade which includes all the hard stuff, but it is a joy to have an exam which is perfect for the more mature singer, who can perform, entertain and sustain a 20 minute recital.

We covered some great music, from 'Vergin tutto amor' by Durante, via Schubert's divine 'An die Musik', whilst passing through some French opera, Mendelssohn oratorio and English Song until landing at the feet of The Duchesses Song from The Gondoliers.

The English song is 'O Men from the Fields' by Hamilton Harty. It is just beautiful, a real cradle song with a rolling and peaceful rhythm. In my youth it was very often chosen by music festivals as a Contralto set piece, and was always popular with competitors. Later I used it as a lovely 'down' moment in a section of a recital which needed a small oasis of calm inbetween more dramatic or lively songs, and it was ever loved by audiences.

I remembered today how very Christmassy it is, I had forgotten, in the frenzy of talking technique, and making sure all the 'eh' vowels were perfectly placed, how the gentle and seasonal simplicity of music and poetry spoke so clearly of the coming celebration of Christmas.

Enjoy the poem depicting the shepherds visiting the new born babe in the manger.

O men from the fields,
Come gently within,
Tread softly, softly,
O men, coming in...

[For]1 [m'mhurnin]2 is going
From me and from you
Where Mary will fold him
With mantle of blue,

From reek of the smoke
And cold of the floor
And peering of things
Across the half-door.

O men from the fields,
Softly, softly come through;
Mary puts round him
Her mantle of blue.

* * * * * * * *

(mavourneen, mavournin [məˈvʊəniːn]

Irish for 'my darling'

Remembering

Had a quiet day today, around the fire. I had my usual Sunday Carvery with my parents and the sun shone so brightly we could see across to the mainland very clearly. There is so much snow on the tops of the mountains now, and the car had an icing of frost.

I was hoping a chap was coming to look at my wood stove pipe fixture, but he never arrived, so after my little cleaner came and did a great job, I went back to her family and had a very tasty supper and a game of Ping Pong ! The smallest family member was deliriously happy to be the ball boy, so we had a jolly 30 mins whilst they wiped me out!

Today is Remembrance Sunday, and I listened to the service from the Cenotaph in Pall Mall. I always find it so touching, and such a strong reminder that we should never forget all the lives laid down for our total freedom.

My daughter S was conducting the Chapel Choir at the school where she teaches, and indeed where I was Head of Music about a zillion years ago. The Remembrance Day service was always such a large event in the school calender, the Corps were turned out like bright stars with gleaming uniforms and boots, and managing to march in relative symmetry, from the 11 year olds to the Upper VIth, and the school orchestra, band and drums were rehearsed to perfection, and the Chapel Choir led the singing as well as performing an anthem or two.

Today S used one of the all time favourites for the service, Amazing Grace, which she began with a solo treble voice from the balcony of the packed Sports Hall. It must have been very moving. She said to me 'Amazing Grace was the anthem directly after the 2 minutes silence, and I wanted the single voice to hardly be heard. Slowly the congregation realised and a hush fell over the Hall, by which time each verse was adding in more voices. Dramatic indeed!

I always loved this event, and found it heart warming that even in the 1990's, and clearly still now in the 2000's it is as important as ever. The Canon, who was also the Headmaster in my day read the names of all the old boys who fell in the first and second world wars, and today S said they had the added reality of a few boys who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. I wondered, sadly, if I had taught any of them in my time there.

We should never forget.

Music and Maths

Another day of respite from the bitter weather, and a short trip to the Post Office tells me it is a scorching 10 degrees!

I finally finished my simple, but hopefully effective arrangement of 'The Little Drummer Boy', I now have to work out how to put the lyrics in! I was quite tired when I finished the score and then made a feeble attempt at entering the words via the Lyric Tool. I think the lateness of the hour mushed my brain for any more new information.

I am using a new score writing piece of software, I do have a copy of Sibelius but it fills up the memory on my laptop and slows it down considerably, so I opted to use a smaller, but perfectly 'formed' software called Musescore. It is still in the beginnings of it's life so I downloaded for free and hoped that any bugs would not bite the behind of my arrangement!

I ran out of ink - honestly, things all come together don't they - so I cannot print it out until the ink I ordered arrives.......

Anyhow, the arrangement has a Bass and Tenor ostinato, or repeating pattern for the boys to imitate a drum, and the melody is in the Soprano and Alto in simplistic 3rds. Actually, I think it is a very pretty tune, and over arranged I feel it would lose it's childlike poignancy. I hope they like it!

It is a day for getting on top of the old 'Accounts' as well. Oh dear, the weather, the maths and the deceased dishwasher. Not the most exciting of weekends.

Now, get on with it Ann.

Winter grips tight

Brrrrrr!


Thank goodness the rain and gales have subsided for the moment! Teaching yesterday was like battling the elements, and to keep warm the fan heater was coming on via the thermostat, so therefore working like a trooper, and the whole sounded like a modern piece of symphonic music with a singer desparately singing for all they were worth just to be heard above the trombones!

My lovely young R arrived for her lesson off the school bus at the end of my lane. After negotiating a small lake, she walked the 100 metres to me and arrived like a drowned puppy. Her school trousers were sodden up to the knee, and her hair plastered to her face - but the smile was there, especially after some restorative biscuits! She sang beautifully, if a little dripping!

So many folk have throats, coughs, aches and pains at the moment. The November gloom has set in, and we are not yet near enough to the excitement of Christmas for that gloom to lift. That is why I value these rare sunny days when the mountains are clear, and the blue in the sky has that winter iridescence. The garden is awash with leaves off those bountiful plum trees which gave us much culinary pleasure, and many of which reside in my freezer for stewed winter plums and custard! Yum

My dishwasher gave up the ghost yesterday......I know, I should really save more of the planet and do it all by hand, but it is the only 'non essential electrical convenience' that I use, and when I moved here was the first time in my life when I have owned one! So for the moment until I can get hold of the plumber, it is back to the old fashioned way!

Friday is song free day, so I am enjoying some BBC Radio 4, and will take a short trip to the small supermarket in the village and then visit my parents. Getting old is so tough, and as painful to watch as to be the recipient of the aging process. They do brilliantly, but I know it is hard. My Mum has dementia so cannot remember anything very much, and my Dad is her carer.

Hope S shoots me before I get too debilitated !

O What Beautiful Singing Exam

Cheeky Chicken!


Lots of people today who are doing exams, so we sang through the programme from top to bottom with no breaks, and thus under a little pressure.

I always like to do a real 'mock exam' before the day, and apply some pressure to add that small element of adrenalin. I think it is very important to feel the stress before the actual day, then it is no longer an 'unknown' area which often leads to those silly mistakes which fear and shaking allow into the performance of the first one or two songs. If one can surmount that fear prior to the day, when faced with the real thing the 'rabbit in headlights' syndrome does not have a strangle hold over one!

So three of my Grades 1, 2 and 3 had a going over in readiness. Of course, being all young, resilient and cool they passed with flying colours and not too many wobbles and shakes. Oh that I could give my adults a little needle full of their confidence !

The songs for the early grades are, on the whole, gorgeous. It is not very often that a child under 13 really 'hates' a song, but my perky little M who is taking Grade 3 absolutely hates, loathes and detests her final song! It is 'Oh What a Beautiful Morning' from Oklahoma, and usually quite a popular 'final' song, but not for this young lady! However hard I try, I can't get her to like the damn song, so now I am tackling the 'but you can act' pathway!

I remember as a young singer loathing an operatic aria which was set for a festival, and Middy telling me in no uncertain manner that if I ever wanted to have a career I had better learn sharpish that to earn our living we needed to be able to sing stuff we loved, hated, were bored with and did'nt even suit us very well, with equal conviction, and so as the paying public thought it was our most loved song!

Later, during that very 'career' I learnt pretty 'sharpish' just exactly what she meant! Sorry M, it is just the way it is!

Learn to love it! (Does that include Avocado do you think?)

Teaching in Marble Halls

I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls
from 'The Bohemian Girl' by Balfe



My first real day of teaching came and went today. In many ways it is good to be back in the saddle, so to speak, but it comes as a bit of a mental shock after being away from home for so long.

What a change in my young baritone L's voice! Sometimes teenaged voices just fly off at a tangent and change under ones very nose. I did not see this one coming however. He has had both baritone and counter tenor for so long I was undecided where it would eventually settle. Well today I think we saw the birth of a bass baritone with the most dark and chocolatey tone I have heard in a few years! It rang around the music room like a large and resonant church bell, from the top to the bottom. Interestingly, he gained a whole tone at the top end as well as stronger bottom notes.

Maybe I need to go away more, and let my youngsters voices grow and change, so I am always delighted on my return! Actually, no, I need to stay at home for awhile now!

I found him a super Christmas concert solo, and with the new found top stair up to his passagio it was a much simpler task to choose repertoire.

I also had his sister N, and her voice gained about a semi tone at the top end - Mum what are you sprinkling on the breakfast cereal, and can I patent it!!

My dancing soprano came and had put all the work in and sang with such conviction, her 'I dreamt I dwelt in Marble Halls' was most touching. She is used to musicals, rock and pop but has taken to this type of repertoire like a ballerina duck to water. She restores my faith in teaching!

So, a good day all round, the Grade 6 GP is very close to peak singing, and my teeny little girl had learnt all her songs (which in fairness last around 37 seconds!) and performed me a jaunty and very loud 'L'il Liza Jane' !

Satisfied all round.

Home Sweet Home

Home Sweet Home


Monday Nov 8th

I am finally at home, after travelling something in the region of 7000 miles or maybe even a few more. Anyhow, it certainly feels good to be home and put on the woodstove and RELAAAAXXxxxxxx. I do now know what the day is and which side of the Atlantic I am residing, but there is some residual exhaustion from all the travel. I know for sure though, that being in Paradise will soon smooth out all those tired wrinkles and put me back together once more!

I really start my second half of the term tomorrow when I have a heavy ish day, which includes a number of exam candidates. The dates, which are 26th and 27th Nov are approaching fast, and only a couple more lessons will be fitted in before D Day.

Hence the reason I insisted that all music was memorised before I left for my 'away mission', so I am hopeful that there won't be too many panics during the week!

Building up to the Christmas concerts is in full swing, and there have already been two rehearsals taken by my super hero young tenor who is being a Lampard apprentice, with a view to a full takeover of the company at some point in the future! They have gone well, but I still have to write an arrangement of The Little Drummer Boy this week, so they will have time to learn it in the next week or so. Therefore I must knuckle down and do it before the rehearsal next week.

I am not going to go to this week's session as I really need a few more days to recover, and I know they are in mighty good hands!

My lovely young Mezzo has a throat and Ear infection, one of my Basses has a stinking cold and cough, and another youngster is so croaky she can't speak - which is probably a great relief to her Mum ! Just a joke C !! I am hoping and praying that all illnesses will be caught, suffered and recovered from by the December concerts, last year we had to cancel one of them due to deep snow, and the other was depleted by the lack of the long distance travellers, so we need to try for two cracking good evenings with all singers shipshape and Bristol fashion.

Keep taking the Vitamin C chaps!

Yorkshire Retreat

Thursday Nov 4th

I arrived to a very warm welcome at the all new, singing and ecologically dancing Stanbrook Abbey in Wass, North Yorkshire.
As the guest house is not yet built, it is part of the Phase 2 project, I am staying in one of the 9 holiday lodges which belong to the Abbey, and are generally used for holiday makers in the summer. It is cosy and warm, and with no WiFi signal, so yet again my blogs will all be retrospective!
Having slept like a proverbial log, I woke to brilliant sunshine, 3 mile views and the smell of pine woods. Gorgeous today, but like the Arctic in December I imagine! To my utter astonishment, and wondering, given my venue, whether it was a vision, a male peacock the size of a turkey which would feed 35 people, appeared inquisitively on my decking. He peered around corners in a slightly learned and myopic way, with a tinge of open eyed barminess in his eye. He was so tame however that a couple of slices of seeded bread later and I had a friend for life!
At 10am I arrived at the Abbey and began my day.






Moving from such exquisite buildings near Worcester, with a Pugin Church where the echo was to die for, into a modern and eco friendly, but low ceilinged building, has been torturous for the nuns who take the bulk of the chant. Suddenly they are transported into the hilltop equivelant of a recording studio with walls as dead as a padded cell ! (And I don’t mean a nun’s cell!)
The singing ‘morale’ has dipped, and I felt that in my 2 days here I dearly wanted to lift the gloom which had descended on the choir.
I taught some individual sessions first, including the Abbess, who came up the the RAM for lessons with me a number of years ago, and has a fine soprano voice. As Abbess of course, there are so many claims on her time and brain – especially given the move, which has exhausted everyone for the last 18 months.
We had a most successful choir practice, and after a relatively short period of time the old Stanbrook sound was filling the small church, and there was a distinct feeling of joy and enjoyment in the tone! We were on the same old trip of 2 weeks ago with J’s group – that is – the act of singing must be a ‘feel good’ thing to do, and when that happens the sound becomes full, vibrant and teeming with life.
I value the individual sessions so much, when I can attempt to pitch the lesson at the right place for the individual, whether they are a greatly experienced Chantress or a Novice who detests singing! Believe me there are some of those!
I finished at around 6pm and wended my weary way back to the lodge and after a long bubbly bath I fell into my cosy bed and read for about an hour, until the book fell out of my hand..........................

And another 3 Days

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And finally, a slideshow of some photos ! Hurrah !


Oct 31st Halloween....

Oh my goodness the ship was awash with small ghouls and witches all trick or treating and running amok in the technical bowels of the QM2. My 4 year old grandson W told me very excitedly that 'I have seen the big man on the bridge thing and he was wearing a hat' ? A wizard hat I wonder, and was he driving the boat by magic wand?

The Playzone Halloween Party was a triumph of E numbers and improbably coloured cookies with hundreds and thousands which were like an explosion in a nuclear reactor or a Star Trek Warp Core! They were, however still being greatly enjoyed at 10pm that night and as a pre breakfast snack the next morning!

We adults had a great day, and went our separate ways for peace and quiet. I had a gorgeous coffee in Sir Samuel's Bar along with an Alsace Apple Tart with an unbelievably crunchy and sugary top, followed by another gorgeous coffee and a majestic giant profiterole. This may sound very calorific, and indeed it was, but it was the first time in the entire cruise when I had enough 'peace time' to do this, so I was not going to allow any guilt to penetrate the bliss! Staring at the waves, gently rolling along, I forgot my duff leg, naughty children, endless Disney films and being wakened at 6am with tumbling children, and revelled in a moment of my usual cruise itinerary!

I could Mastermind in Disney movies now. Wow!

Monday Nov 1st

We docked in Brooklyn New York at 5am ish - not that I was there to see you understand! We were up at 7.15 to shower, breakfast and vacate the cabin by 8.30am, then much to my delight, we were given tickets for a New York coach tour, lunch stop and shopping before a transfer to JFK Airport for our 6.45pm flight home.

I say 'delight' because I had no idea it came as part of the bargain! I had been dreading a long stint at the airport with children rampaging and exhausted before we even boarded the plane, but it was not so !

The coach and our guide who was a strange mixture of US and Dutch and whilst vedry knowledgable, pronounced words in such a way that we had fun deciphering exactly what he meant. Our first stop was Ground Zero. I had not been before, even though I have been in New York for holiday and work a number of times since 9/11, so it was very interesting. The children were a little perplexed, and I was lost for words when W said to me as we arrived at the building next to the actual site, 'Seanmhair, what exactly happened here?'. How do you explain it to a 4 year old without minimising the horror, or scaring him to death and refusing to get on the plane later in the day? I did my best.

We had a lunch stop at the South Sea Port, a commercial and rather touristy old port revamped for we visitors, but lunch was fine, and we all ate from different food stops. The children chose the inevitable Pizza and I had a Teriakyi Chicken from the Japanese stall, which was delicious if rather large, so in the end we pooled our gargantuam plates and tried something of everything!

After a stop at a gift shop, where many 'last dollars' were spent on noisy and luminous toy versions of NYPD Police cars which were purchased by the smalls, and then taken on the coach, where they proceeded to annoy the other passengers, until S took control and confiscated the afore mentioned vehicles, to the death throes of temper and tears. Children are majestic in their dramatic talents are they not. We drove through China Town, Greenwich Village and Little Italy before we headed on to JFK and Virgin Airlines.

Tuseday Nov 2nd

It was a painless and very short flight home - just 5 hours and a few minutes..............and fell, still almost asleep into out taxi back to Petworth.

The resilient children and S went off to school and work respectively, as S though it would turn their days around more quickly. I, however spent the day drifting between snooze, wakefulness and coma until school finished and 2 very very tired bodies managed a plate of beans on toast and fell to sleep with knives and forks in hand, to sleep the sleep of the dead for the next 15 hours.

I drove to Yorkshire the next day after depositing two much more sparky babes at school, and arrived at J's by 6pm.

Tomorrow, I am 'nunning' once more, at Stanbrook Abbey, Wass.

It feels good to be back in the saddle, and I slept for the first time in 17 days in a bed larger than a under nourished mariner's bunk.

Aaagh............................

PS I have no idea if there is WiFi at the Abbey, so it may not be until the weekend that I can regale you with more 'Tales of Lampard' !