Author: admin

I am off to London next week to pick up an award for BlueJam from Will Michael Foundation – a chance to meet new people in the jazz world and also catch up with old friends. Thanks to all the team at BlueJam and Cumbria Music Hub who helped to make this happen.

India Harding Great to start off the new academic year with an inspiring collaboration with India Harding, a young vocalist from Lancaster – off next year to Birmingham Conservatoire. One of those rare musicians who combines the skills to perform opera with the inclination to improvise over everything in sight – and an encouraging facilitator who genuinely enjoys engaging with emerging musicians.

We had a really successful session with four newcomers to the group who found their feet quickly, and it was a delight to hear how the others had improved both in technique and confidence.

I got to play drums and trumpet and sing all at the same time so was happy!

Regular gigs from now til the New Year at Centerparcs. They are actually great fun as lots of people come to listen, dance, join in and appreciate a range of winter music from medieval to pop to world and jazz arrangements of familiar tunes. I get to play whistle, flute, trumpet and accordion in quick succession so much better than those puzzles at keeping my brain on the go. We’ve done this for 4 years now so are actually quite well-rehearsed – and the money helps to keep BlueJam afloat for the rest of the year.

A really interesting afternoon with seven primary schools taking part in a music and film event. Using the One Small Bird story and singing Meeting, Ballad and Vuela Libre from the cycle, schools created their own soundscapes, songs and animations describing the journey of the phalarope. Just what I hope will happen when a piece of work is created – that it gets embellished and re-imagined by the different groups of people performing it.

Rheged IMAX cinema in Penrith is a great venue

Plans now finalised for the theme for this year’s show so can get going on writing the music – this year I will be recording a vocal and junk percussion soundtrack with Carlisle primary and secondary school students, with live singers, brass and drummers on the stage. Great to work again with storyteller Jeff Wallcook from Trellis Arts and firesculpture maker and director Gavin Lewery.

(Brampton is weekly on Wednesdays 7-9: Penrith weekly from April on Mondays 7.30 – 9.30 at Mostyn Hall.)
……last week of term so doing a bit of evaluation but in an improv way

asked: “if the group woke up on stage in front of an audience and were asked to demonstrate something of what we, what would happen?”

really different answers –

Penrith: definitely not when we turn the lights out
Brampton: definitely when we turn the lights out
Penrith: show how we take a song or riff and develop it – so I set it up and everyone waited for me to start something off (which was what I had expected)
Brampton: they just launched straight in! was great! foundered quite soon – when we got to a place where I started something off, everyone was raring to go

Quite exhiliarating the whole thing

the last day of term so i decided to get all the singers in my lessons to sing phrases in response to a call – either as an echo or to start off a conversation.

this was something people hadn’t done individually and with the opportunity to explore their own phrasing and style, shape their own melodies and rhythms and create words – all on the hop.

it was great fun and showed how much everyone has improved over the last term.

what a great group of young musicians and supportive staff at Richard Rose, Central, Carlisle!

Well – definitely worth the trip through the snow over to the North East – over on the east people seem raring to go. What a treat – nothing better than handing people a few tools and seeing them take them far beyond your expectations.

looking forward to the next one and massive thanks to Sarah Gray for organising it all.