Foot Tapping, Pointing, Leaping........

Inner Sound singer, choreographer and dance captain par excellence L, produced another cracking Dance Showcase last friday and saturday evenings !

I went to the first night, and was, yet again astonished by the sheer dynamism and fun which was generated by every dancer from the age of 2years - over 50years ! The stage buzzed, and the dancers were having a ball.

All styles were covered from ballet, step dancing, modern dance, highland dancing, Bollywood and Scottish Country Dancing. It was such a visual feast as well. Where does the girl get the costumes ?

In essence the whole evening encapsulated the pint sized dynamo who is the driving force. It was a classic example of the fact that almost everything really worthwhile comes from a 'leader' who is ;

a) talented !

b) cares about standards and professionalism, and

c) who gets on well with all ages, and can communicate with ease and flair.

That just about sums up young L, and she most definitely embodies those qualities in spoonfuls !

She also sings mighty well ! Oh to be young again, and have the energy of a sparkler! Don't burn out L, you are too valuable for that!

I wish you could all have been there, it was truly a lovely evening, and Inner Sound is extremely very proud of our little champion foot tapper !

None but the Lonely Heart

A wonderfully handsome young Peter Tchaikovsky

I have taught 'Nur wenn die Sehnsucht kennt' by Tchaikovsky a number of times in my career, and every so often it pops up again, either as a suitable filler in a second half group of accessible Romantic songs, or because the exam boards find it after a decade of relegation !

I was teaching it yesterday, and I realised once again, that the much maligned Tchaikovsky could write a great melody. He is often thought of as a composer who could not 'develop a tune' - great tunes but they keep coming back - when like a bolt of melodic lightening I realised that that is his greatness. The fact his tunes are so memorable, means they are so satisfying, and ultimately why they have such enduring appeal.

It was a young lady who is 17 this weekend who was singing it, and even at that age, and with little experience of the passage of time and life, she understands the sheer 'loneliness' of the melody line, the darkness of the sentiment and the pathos of the intervals of a 7th which repeat over and over. She is singing it in English, not Russian or German, and even given the less than stellar translation, the central core essence of the sad and dejected character which we know was Tchaikovsky's lot in life, comes over loud and clear. I was truly moved by her fearless performance.

In my early teaching career I taught in a convent school in Littlehampton, West Sussex, now sadly no longer. The Headmistress was Sr Francis, whose real name was Olga Schotogoleff, although I cannot remember the exact spelling. She was a child during the Russian Revolution and her father was a Count at the court of the last Csar Nicholas II. Her mother knew, and moved in the social circles of Nadhezdha von Meck, the patron of Tchaikovsky. She and her brother escaped via the White Russian trail, eventually arriving in Paris, where she converted to Catholicism from Russian Orthodox, and from thence became a nun. Very infrequently she would talk about her childhood and that amazing time in the history of Russia, and I always felt so inspired to think I was in some small way, 'touching' history. She encapsulated the end of an era, forever lost, and only to be found in history books.

There are more musical anecdotes which I will tell you about in future blogs. Suffice to say today - I knew a wonderful lady whose mother's hand was kissed by Peter Tchaikovsky. Thrilling indeed.






Nikita Storojev, romance "Net, tol'ko tot kto znal..." (Piotr Tchaikovsky)
Live concert recording
In Russian, and full of Russian passion and pain.

From Handel to Britten in 48 hours

Back in the Saddle !

I know I have mentioned 'V'adoro Pupille' by Handel before - I think I even recommended watching the Danielle de Neise Glyndebourne version of the aria. Wonderful singing and extraordinary dancing combined to make an unforgettable moment in that production of Julius Caeser. Of course it has the inimitable Sarah Connolly at JC himself.

Well, today I had my talented soprano L for a lesson, and as I had not taught her (or indeed anyone else!) for the last month, I was thrilled to hear how much work she had put in to practising the aria. It was secure, stylish and sophisticated yet lacking something I could not put my finger on.

I finally realised that what it need were a few more decibels! Sometimes pupils are quite frightened of making a 'big' sound, and cleverly manage to cover the lack of a satisfying and solid ringing sound with all sorts of interprative qualities, and 'clever' vocal tricks. L did not fall into the latter group at all, but she is a little terrified of hearing her sound coming back to her!

After a basic 'just get on with it' from moi, she suddenly let rip and made a noise (a lovely noise!) the size of the nearest mountain! Quite shocked and extremely surprised, she suddenly felt the physical thrill one gets from singing to capacity, with honesty, muscles and a bit of sweat. Hopefully she will remember the feel and reproduce it again and again!

Yesterday was my first full day back in the saddle, so to speak, and I was so pleased to, at long last, feel up to the energetic job which teaching is. I heard some excellent singing, a very good, embryonic Faure 'Pie Jesu', a delightful Bach/Gounod Ave Maria, from a much developed R, who at 14 is beginning to sound like a young woman, with all the complications that brings, and a quite remarkable first run through of The Flower Song' from The Rape of Lucretia by Britten..................quite a mixed bag of repertoire to welcome me back!

So upwards and onwards, into a busy wednesday with as much new music as yesterday and today !

Das Rosenband and a couple of finales

So Very Much..................


What a lovely concert we had last night - and given the fact that almost nobody had lessons for the past 4 weeks, the soloists and duettists were tip top!

We held it in a atmospheric local restaurant cum cultural centre and we actually performed in the eating area with the tables removed and filled with comfortable 'conference' chairs. It has such a warm and welcoming ambiance, and even with 30 singers, plus piano, pianist and page turner, it did not feel cramped at all.


The Clandonald Centre with the restaurant.....what a venue!




The part songs were snappy and colourful, and the Mozart Nocturne, which I had railed about during the last, and my only, rehearsal had a much better tone quality, it felt richer and rounder! Well done for that.

In my game, you are are almost always 'losing' ones top performers as they move on to higher things, and bringing on tinies who are just beginning their journey. There was a wonderful moment last night when, during the final applause, my lovely young soprano who is leaving us for the Royal Welsh College of Music, and for whom it was the last performance as a member of Inner Sound, was taking the applause whilst standing next to little L who is 7, and for whom it was a very first concert with Inner Sound.

They both looked happy and fulfilled, either with pleasure at the thought of a job well done, or pleasure from a new experience which (hopefully!) was a positive one!
I regret now not taking a photograph of the two of them. The end of one fine era, and the beginning of another.

It is difficult to put into words how valued, and how much missed will be R, but a double loss for us is that we also lose T, her husband, who has been a rock in the group, with his fine baritone. Like R, I taught T from the age of around 13, and he has passed through Conservetoire, decided singing was not for him, married a very beautiful Paradise soprano, and seems very happy and contented to move to Cardiff and enjoy her experience of the same. R, I have taught from 12, and whilst it is such a sad loss vocally, I value the two of them as much, and maybe more, as people before singers, so the loss is at a deeper level.

Vocally, someone else ALWAYS crawls out from 'under a bushel', and the journey goes on, but losing friends is much tougher.

I wish R all the success she so richly deserves, and I wish both of them a happy and exciting time in this new phase in their lives.

Last night R chose to sing a small Schubert lied, Das Rosenband, which she has sung for a number of years, so the development in her approach, and her appreciation of the 'beauty of small', was very apparent in the delicate way she sang. Big is easy to do, small takes much more thought and effort. It was a delightful performance and a fitting finale.

If you want to see a photo of them go back to the HMS Pinafore blogs from last July 2010, they were Captain Corcoran and Josephine.

O Lovely Peace minus the continuo

Duets Galore !

We had an excellent 'duet' evening last night, and because of the Paradise Song School, we have an abundance of duets ! Ranging from the humorous 'We're a Couple of Swells' to a Handel oratorio moment, via Gilbert and Sullivan's 'Cock and Bull' duet from Yeoman of the Guard with a small diversion to the 'Wild Mountain Thyme'

Duet singing is such fun - half the responsibility and double the pleasure! The nerves seem to half as well, so very often the whole performance comes over as confident and secure. Matching voices is not nearly so important as matching vowel sounds, as all types of voice will blend if the technique on the part of both singers is in 'harmony'. With good vowels we get a unified sound, which is pleasing for both singer and listener.

Most of my duettists have sung together a number of times, so a bond is built up, and the assumption that 'it will be fine' is a foregone conclusion. Such was the success of last nights rehearsal!

My alto M, can dance as well ! What a woman! So not only is she fought over as a singing partner, but she can also pull less light footed singers along with her on the dance trail!

The Handel duet is 'O Lovely Peace', and an old standard in ensemble terms. It is one of those delightfully pastoral moments in his oratorio, in 6/8 time and full of melodic depictions of 'wavy corn'. The end has an adagio and unaccompanied section to bring it to a peaceful close, which M&P can sing beautifully in tune and with no lead from the accompaniment !

Sometimes I wish I could supply a fully fledged continuo, complete with harpsichord and cello so they could truly experience what an authentic Baroque performance feels like.

'O Isis und Osiris Schenket' and other songs to please...

The keyboard marathon!


It has been quite a tough week. My first, back teaching a seriously curtailed timetable and still I am exhausted after a paltry amount of work! The rehearsal last night was hard, and I felt my temperature rise, whilst my tolerance level fell to freezing level, and the poor singers saw the less kind and sympathetic corners of my character!



It just shows that whilst my lungs are now clear, it is going to take some time for a complete recovery.........and in the interim I need to pace myself! Aaagh.................

The little teaching I have done has mostly been those souls singing solos at the concert on Saturday night. The repertoire covered has ranged from a super dark, if youthful, 'O Isis und Osiris schenket', one of the gorgeous Sarastro aria's from Mozart's panto, The Magic Flute ! L has even found a couple of bottom F's, which he sings with such baby gravitas, it sends a little shiver through me, even in my weakened state (perhaps because of my weakened state!).

His sister N sang me a performance of 'If There were Dreams to Sell' by John Ireland, which she performed with such mature interpretive qualities beyond her years, and then today one of my lovely ladies was a stress free zone by performing her 'Evening Song' by Liza Lehmann, then to be musically complimented by P who rehearsed her 'To Keep my Love Alive', by Rogers and Hart. We planned some cracking moves if we can persuade our male singers to take their turn at 'dying' in a dramatic and appropriate manner as the rich, innocently barmy lady about town kills off each in turn simply 'to keep her love alive' don't you know!

I finished my day with two sisters, each of whom are such diligent pupils, and so will add a bright and breezy Kangaroo and a Fiddle on the Roof 'Sabbath Prayer' to the evening proceedings.

All I must do now is pace myself enough to play the accompaniments and concentrate for the whole concert. That will, in itself, be like running a marathon with my fingers!

Wish me luck !



The legendary Kurt Moll at the Met singing Sarastro..............

Thank you

My last day of recuperation ! Tomorrow I start teaching again in preperation for our concert next saturday! I have tried to be sensible and cut down the week's teaching, but it is very difficult to cut a student without having to make dreadful decisions, decisions which will always upset somebody!

I have had such care from my friends, so many meals cooked, cakes baked, fresh picked soft fruits, and small gifts and cards. Thanks you to everyone, it is greatly appreciated, and shows how much kindness there is in Paradise!

Gretel has been looked after, played with and generally spoiled. She has now many new friends!

I also had a home visit from my personal, and extremely tame, chest consultant. After a long day at his clinic he called on his way home to have a listen to my chest.

All clear, all well and all ready to go, just need to get back to it all gently!

Big thanks to you all!

Oh Had I Jubal's Lyre

A wonderfully decorated Lyre, to match a beautifully decorated aria !

As a young singer I loved giving recitals, and one of the finest encores (assuming the audience were up for it!) I used was Handel's Oh Had I Jubal's Lyre. It is so full of fun, so zippy and with a truly ecstatic sentiment. It feels like one is singing the most amazing blissful joy set to music !

It is so difficult to sing the 'speed of sound' coloratura runs, if one cannot find the joy in it - with a mind set of happiness and devil may care it is a positive doddle! Sometimes on singing it I used to feel as if I might take off, and the whizz up to Heaven might be outwith my control.

The words are :

Oh had I Jubal's lyre or Miriam's tuneful voice,
To sounds like his I would aspire,
In songs like hers
Rejoice !
My humble strains but faintly show
How much to Heaven and Thee I owe !

What a simple but ravishingly gorgeous text to set to music.

The Dame makes it sound like a breeze, and indeed the best bit of advice I ever had when I was learning it was 'just believe it is so easy, and let Handel finish the job!'

Never a truer word..............................




If your ears can take it listen to the fantastic harpsichord playing, cheeky, brisk and so snappy !

Third Nocturne from the right, by Mozart

We have a concert next week, and thankfully the rehearsals have been taken by C my super duper young tenor. I have taught him from the age of 13 and now he is a father and is, for the moment settled in Paradise with the mother of his son.

It is funny how fate seems to manage things, had he not been around, this concert would undoubtedly have been destined for cancellation. He has whipped them into shape, assiduously taught the notes and words, and stamped his own musical mark on the repertoire.

For this concert a new set of pieces have been learnt, and I hope that I will be able to be at next Tuesday's rehearsal to hear what he has done with them. He phoned me from the rehearsal last week during the coffee break, and even though I was not firing on all cylinders, so to speak, I could hear the pleasure, and slight surprise in his voice, at the fact that the group all knew the music, were singing it really well, and that it was almost ready for performance ! Bless him! He is not, as yet, used to the journey from 'birth to maturity', and I hope, next Saturday he will feel that wonderful high of delight when he realises that 'he did that' !

Of course, the group have to put in the work, but in essence it would not be heading to fruition had it not been honed and moulded by a talented and energetic 'pack leader' !

Another wonderful piece on my iPhone ! I do hope that you are enjoying some of my choices !

I have always loved Mozart, and along with Handel and Bach, to me, life would be a shadow of what it should be without that brilliant trio of composers. We are performing one of the Six Nocturnes for Soprano, Alto and Baritone. I searched for a decent recording, and, Inner Sound, you will be pleased to hear that most of the recordings were not to my standard ! You will do it better! Anyhow, I came across this delightful Trio version. Enjoy.



It is in Italian, and you lot are singing it in German!

Another Great from Emma Kirkby - Thomas Arne (1710-1778) - The Morning

I found it ! Now I know what to do, I scouted around for another Emma Kirkby which will blow your socks off! I first came across this wonderful recording whilst teaching A Level Music in school about 246 years ago! It was used as an aural listening exercise because the opening phrase rises in a major arpeggio!

Once we had learnt about rising arpeggios we just kept putting the excerpt on, at the beginning and end of every lesson for about a year ! So glorious it is even strapping 16 year old boys melted at it, and girls who sang almost wept with pleasure and hopeless jealousy I suspect........

Dopo Notte by Handel

One for the collection.............


Oh dear. After doing a little shopping and visiting my parents yesterday, I came home exhausted, slept for 2 hours and realised my glands were swelling once more. I phoned some seriously medical friends and was told in no uncertain terms NOT to teach and just rest for the next week.

It is so frustrating, as when I am still, or reading, watching TV etc I feel almost normal apart from the cough, but when I exert myself I realise that I am not yet recovered enough to work. Teaching is mostly physical giving, demonstrating and being on the ball for every minute of the lesson, and I now know that I am none of the above !

So what else is on my IPhone ? Janet Baker - another great Dame of singing, and probably my all time favourite in terms of interpretation and technique. When you listen to her utter precision in placing sound, and her relaxed but totally firm muscle support, combined with such ease of delivery (having said that, and knowing the lady a little, she would say that it was not 'easy' at all, and very strength sapping!) I find she is one of the few singers I can listen to with complete relaxation. I can forget that I may hear technical faults, sloppy diction or intonation problems and just float away on the wings of the song. Now there is poetry in prose!

I have her singing the final moments of The Rape of Lucretia, when the darkness of her voice, and the realism and pathos are mind blowing, and an aria from Handel's Ariodante - 'Dopo Notte'. One of the most exciting and exhilarating arias both to sing and to listen to - believe me I know!

Handel forms much of my Desert Island Discs repertoire, and I just could not live without some of the oratorio arias and choruses from the most well known Messiah music through to Theodora, Alcina and Ariodante. I am so glad that these much neglected works in years gone by are now standard repertoire in Opera Houses the world over!

Taste some and see!

I DID IT ! Below is a wonderful duet from Pergolesi's Stabat Mater sung by Emma Kirkby and James Bowman
Love it or don't tell me!!!

Salve Regina - Pergolesi and my iPhone 4

Dame Emma Kirkby - purity and peace......


I am feeling a good deal better now and have decided to try teaching tomorrow. I am feeling quite bored and that must be a sign that I am well and truly on the mend!

I have, over the last two weeks surprised myself a great deal. The background to this is that a month ago I switched my mobile phone carrier to Orange. I had, prior to that been with Vodafone for around 15 years. There is so little Vodafone signal in Paradise that having struggled even to send texts from my own kitchen I felt the time had come to vote with my feet!

So - I went for an Orange 'bundle' which supplied me, at very little cost, with a brand spanking new all singing all dancing Iphone 4 ! It really does do everything except make the tea, and I can foresee even that happening in the not too distant future!

The upshot of this is that in playing with it for the past weeks when I was largely bed bound or sofa bound, I learnt about the iPod 'bit' of the machine! I also learnt how easy it is to purchase from iTunes.....................well did I enjoy myself! I rarely listen to music, when it is one's job and one wrestles with Handel and Gershwin 6 or 7 hours every day of the term, the last thing I want to do is listen to more! Thus I spend most of my time enjoying BBC Radio 4 - all spoken word!

However, the iTunes store had so many wonderful single arias - thus I could pick and choose down to the bar number - I spent a delirious few hours choosing what I absolutely loved.

So what did I choose ?

Lots of Emma Kirkby =- notably the Pergolesi 'Salve Regina' three movements of heavenly sacred song, so pure and peaceful, combined with the magical voice of Dame Emma Kirkby.

Now for an anecdote : I was honoured to go to Buckingham Palace with my old singing teacher Middy, as one of her guests when she received her MBE for services to music. It was a wonderful occasion and although it was Middy's day, at the same ceremony Emma Kirkby was receiving her Damehood ! Talk about 'Trilling 2 'Songbirds' with one stone' - sorry for the terrible pun.

I recommend you give the Salve Regina a whirl - you cannot fail but to think you have died and gone to Heaven!

OK does anyone out there know how to embed a You Tube screen anymore - I tried 25 times but clearly something has changed!!! I wait with bated breath for someone to tell me how!