No way to treat a trombone

I won't say how I came across this photo, but once I had it pointed out to me I had to share

Busy Busy Busy

It is currently a very busy time for me, like most brass players I seem to be in great demand for playing Christmas carols, and the day job keeps me pretty busy as well.   On Monday I had the final rehearsal for a concert with the LCO which we played at St John's Smith Square on Tuesday.   Being a Christmas Gala night for the London Cab Drivers Fund for Underprivileged Children we played a popular selection including some Eric Coates as well as the Capriccio Italien, Czardas and a few other "Lollipops"

Along with the rest of the Brass I had one rehearsal and some "topping and tailing" on the night.   I think we all felt under rehearsed, and wondered how Will Carslake our excellent Conductor manages to control his nerves knowing that there are parts of the program that have not been rehearsed by the whole Orchestra at all.   Wednesday evening was given over to our Church Home Group, with tonight being the start of a carol marathon.

Tonight we played Carols around our Parish, tomorrow we have an open air Carol Service (both on Euphonium), then on Saturday I am playing trombone with the Norwood Wind Ensemble for some carols in Sutton.   Sunday is our  main Church Carol service (Bass Tuba probably the EEb) and then on Monday evening the Brass Band is paying carols at Brockwell Park Lido (conducting), that make Carols on five successive days!

Of course in between all this I still have to work, I am trying very hard to catch up after taking tie off for my bad back, I hope tomorrow to finish a clearance job I have been working o for the last couple of weeks, then next week I can get on with some proper gardening

still going

I noticed today that I have been writing mostly about y music - I know that this is what this blog is meant to be for but I did want to remind you all hat I am a gardener as well as a musician.   Well at the moment I am engaged of a clearance job, it is taking longer than planed partly because of my bad back, and partly because I keep find lots of rubble and paving just below the surface.   I have been working on the job for  most of the last couple of weeks, having got behind after the trouble I had with my back.   I am now nearing the end and Hope to be finished n Friday, but it may go into next week.

Today I had to tear myself away from that job and go and do some proper gardening.   It was a joy to get involved in some established lawns and borders.   Working in Bromley, Kent I was very aware that I was dead heading Cosmos and pelergoniums still in flower   This time last year we were uder 3 inches of snow

I Need a sponsor

I like cartoons, and I like the Internet, therefore I like Internet cartoons - right?   One of my favourites is 9 Chickweed Lane, I have commented on this before but it bears repeating, the current story line involves the Heroine doing some "butt" modelling.

Click on the images to enlarge, they are worth it!

On a different note I am very busy at the moment on the Music front, tonight I will playing a concert at the Bennett Memorial Diocesan School in Tunbridge Wells, my friend Paul Bennett is the MD and a few of us are supplementing the School's musicians.   I know Paul primarily as a flute player with ASO but he should be better know as a very talented up and coming Conductor.   I am looking forward to finding out what we are playing, and how the youngsters get on.

With bearly time to get home and have some sleep I shall be up ridiculously early on Saturday to go to Cardiff to visit my Mother for a couple of days.   When I come home I have a rehearsal on Monday evening with the LCO for a concert on Tuesday night.   That's before we start the Church Carolling on Thursday and Friday - ahhh the joys of Christmas for the Brass Musician. 

CSB Strike Gold

Last Sunday the Croydon Symphonic Band, played at the Colchester round of the National Wind Band Festival.   Despite an absolutely horrible journey (for me because of my bad back, for others because a lorry shed it's load of Christmas Trees on the A12) we all arrived i decent time, had a run through ad then hit the stage.
The consensus of opinion in the Band is that we played as well as we could have, and quite possibly as well as we have.   I am glad to be able to say that the adjudicators seem to have agreed and given us a Gold Award.    couple of years ago BASWE introduced an extra, higher, standard of a Platinum award, and now it is only Platinum award winners who get an automatic invitation to the finals, gold award winners have to wait.   Given the standard of our performance we are hopeful of an invitation to the finals, which we are especially keen to be at this year, since they will be help at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Well we followed that with a fund raising concert lat night (Saturday) for Ifield Church.   As well as the program we played at the festival we added a few repertoire numbers including my favourite show selection - Les Miserables.   I get a tremendous kick out of playing with this band, I have been with them for well over 30 years now, and I think that overall we are better now than at any time in the past.   However we are short on numbers in the heavy brass, a shortage that is about to become critical as our first trombone is leaving due to a change in his work.   In consequence I don't know what part I will be playing when we start up again after Christmas, at various times this term I have played Bass, Bass Trombone, First Trombone and Euphonium.   The only one of these I would not be happy commit to would First Trombone.   I am not a tenor player, I never have been and never will be I just can't play up there.

How many Tuba players does it take to change a light bulb? None we can't reach that high.