April 30th
Today I am back to more recent reminiscing. It’s the 2005 Winter Wear project. This is the Condatis March inspired by the confluence of the River Wear with the Cong Burn at Chester-Le-Street. In our performance the class imagined they were Roman soldiers on their way from Hadrian’s Wall to their homes back in Europe, and they stopped off at Chester-Le-Street for a break with music, grapes and worship at the shrine of Condatis, the Roman God of the confluence. What you see is the River Wear where the Cong Burn joins it (under the blue bridge).

April 29th
Today I have been delving into 1983 with cassettes, hand-written scores and matt-finish photographs. I was a composition student at the Royal Northern College of Music then and I composed this piece, Typhoid Fever (104F), for my percussionist friend Ian Forgrieve to play on the cimbalom. It was performed in a Composers’ Concert. Here are a couple of the publicity shots we made of him practising up in one of the windowless rooms on the top floor, and the first page of my score. What you hear is the opening of what is a 7-minute piece.

April 28th
Today I have had an exceedingly jolly time with my Year 6 classes in Wakefield, learning their new song, introducing new verses to them, helping them to unwind in the only part of the week when they’re not concerned with their SATs tests. Everywhere is filled with blossom at the moment. This is a crab apple tree in Worksop. The music is by Purcell and sung by Bailiffgate Singers.

April 27th
Waiting in the breeze next to the rubbish bags on Platform 3 at Doncaster Station for the 16.25 to London Kings Cross via Retford (change at Retford for Worksop). Today there has also been music with the 6 year olds. I took on the characteristics of the funniest music teacher they’d ever seen and it paid dividends with the behaviour and ability to learn and sing songs. Wore me out good and proper though. There’s been pie with peas since, and cake to come, so energy levels are rising again. The image is the flashing by of greenery between Doncaster and Retford.

April 26th
This morning I went for an early morning walk at the beach. The sun was rising from the sea as I reached the top of the dunes. As I was heading for the beach, my path was blocked by Darth Vaider and his friend admiring the sunrise. I was diverted from my focus by this sight, but still, I managed to reach the beach a bit further up the coast unhindered by fictional characters. Unsure as to what music to put with this sunrise, I asked Jamie who randomly suggested, “Something beginning with J,” so I give you a section of “January 1841”. It is a Winter Wear song about the famous ice disaster in Sunderland in that month – a sad tale of colliers washed out to sea and the deaths of several sailors.

April 25th
The musical highlight of my day today has been singing with Lionheart Harmony at the Glendale Hall in Wooler. We were the guests of Glendale Singers and their conductor Veronica Gilbert. What a brilliant concert. We had lots of fun. Six of us were on hand: Jamie, Simon, Gwyn, Mick, Gary and me, as you can see. This is one of the songs we sang with much jollity in the choreography. No recording of this event is available but here we are from our CD “Something For The Weekend”.

April 24th
Today I have been continuing with my reminiscing about the 2005 Grangetown Primary School “Winter Wear” project exploring the River Wear, its history, geography and folklore. Mr Swan’s Class produced some art glass and created a glass orchestra to accompany their telling of the history of glass-making in Sunderland.

April 23rd
Today, in preparation for a possible new project about a river, I’ve been revising my work on other rivers including the River Wear project from 2005, “Winter Wear”. What trouble I’ve been having with the machines that don’t seem to like things made in 2005…so very long ago of course. However, I finally circumvented all the foibly vexations the computer put in my way and have watched the video kindly put together for me by John and extracted some sound from it, if not images. What you’re hearing is the School Choir singing and Miss Greensit’s Year 1 class clomping about (sorry, I mean acting) the story of the Lambton Worm. The school is Grangetown Primary School in Sunderland.

April 22nd
Today I have been reading about Beethoven. I have also had news of workshops being booked and music being performed around the world including this one upcoming in Auckland later in the year. Here it is being premiered by Auckland University Singers in the early 1990s under the direction of the amazing Karen Grylls. The picture is of some spectacular swings in Oamaru.

April 21st
Today I wrote a song. I went to my 11 year olds, and put it before them . They liked it which is good because it was written especially for them and the lyrics are all about them. I have driven home. This photo is from last night at shortly after sunset. Lovely moon and sky hues over Worksop, I thought. I did write a song about the moon once. Of course, I did.

April 20th
Today I’m off to do some more songs about the natural world with Year 2, but more importantly it is the birthday of my wonderful, musical, generous, laughter-filled friend Glenda. This is a tune I wrote for her and her family and this is a banana-related teapot cosy she knitted for me. We make things for each other and we also make each other laugh a lot. This recording is feeble, but once Matt and I get our musical acts together there will be another recording of such brilliant quality and proportions that this one will be consigned to the scrap-heap.

April 19th
Today I have been encouraging families at the Hepworth Wakefield to make some Musical Sculptures compositions. What you’re hearing is the moment of foolishness when I say, “Everyone just have a go on the instruments and see what there is. We’ll start properly in a couple of minutes.” What you’re seeing is an evaluation form from 12-year old Morgan. Apparently, I made her laugh.

April 18th
Sunrise at Warkworth Beach was by far the highlight of a day in which I seem to have ground to a musical halt. However, more work and more payment for work completed has come my way, and tomorrow I’m off to the Hepworth Wakefield for a day of energetic composery jollity in Musical Sculptures. This is a fade-in from the song Autumn Sea, inspired by this very beach.

April 17th
Today I have taken a rehearsal of Alnwick Silver Singers for my friend Anne and a jolly time was had by everyone, it appears. We tackled Banana Fanfare 2 amongst other things. I have also been working on my new song for Wakefield on Tuesday. This fade-in has nothing to do with any of that. The song is the first half of “I’m Scared To Skip” performed by Swansfield Park First School in Alnwick and the picture is the same scene as yesterday, but way back in the winter – a stark contrast, I thought.
I’m scared to skip in the snow
‘Cause I’ll slip slip slip on the side of the road,
But the when the sun is shining down
Then I’ll skip skip skip skip all around the town.

I hardly hop in a hat
‘Cause my head head head grows horribly hot,
But in my home I’m hopping mad.
I hop hop hop hop hop till I drop, until I drop.

April 16th
For a while today I sat in this picture and recorded the daffodils which are triumphal at the moment. In the background you can also hear a wood pigeon, a chaffinch, some jackdaws, sundry other birds and the school bus bringing the village children home from their toils in Alnwick. I shall be off to Alnwick myself later to sing with Lionheart Harmony at Bailiffgate Museum’s poetry night. Rehearsal in the pub beforehand, so it should be jolly.

April 15th
Today I spent the morning with my parents which involved much laughter, a discussion about religion and politics, a visit to St. Mary’s church and lunch at the Shireoaks for leek and fish pie. What you hear is not the fish and leek pie. The reader is Mrs. Elizabeth Camm.

April 14th
Today’s musical endeavours with the little people have mostly been in the reggae style. However, of more interest was this morning’s news of royalties from sales of scores in New Zealand during 2014 – enough for some replenishment of the rum supplies. Best sellers by a long shot were Magical Glass and Motu Puketutu. Here is the latter in a German accent by a choir in Potsdam.

April 13th
Today I have been mostly rumba-ing with my rhinoceros:
Floss was a rhinoceros
Who lost her temper because
In the course of a rumba
An elephant bumped her.
That’s when she became very cross!
So she squashed him by sitting on his nose,
and then she charged him.He saw her horn and froze,
and then he fainted and lay there comatose,
so then she stopped, and the elephant arose.
By way of an apology he bowed with fervent energy
and then he gave her a red rose.

April 12th
School tomorrow. Preparing for a trip to Wakefield which is off Junction 40 of the A1….or in tomorrow’s case between Leeds and Sheffield on the train.

April 11th
So far today I have started my new song for the Year 6 classes in Wakefield, put together some ideas for my new art-inspired choral pieces and made 12 small banana cakes. I have eaten one of these so far and I can report that they have worked deliciously. With the new term starting again on Monday my thoughts have turned to school stuff and as this new stretch is the one filled with high stakes testing, here is my SPAG Time song, inspired by the stress of it all for the little people.

For more information about this song: Go to Spag Time

April 10th
Yesterday I walked along the River Tyne from Tynemouth to Fish Quay in search of a new composing project. Beautiful. This is the view south from the graveyard within Tynemouth Priory. Here’s a poem with graves in it: Silencio. It’s from a few years ago when a class I was working with was considering the use of silence in music. Another place to consider this is in my workshop for schools at the Hepworth Wakefield: Gaps Hollows Silence

April 9th
Earlier in the week when I was tidying up my mess, I found an ancient file in the purple filing cabinet called “Cheryl’s scores”. Resting peacefully within it were several hand-written scores from the late 1980s/early 1990s, including this one: Two Pieces for Three Recorders Using The Whole Tone Scale. I recall that I wrote them as an example to some senior school students at Westlake Girls’ High School in Auckland who were exploring whole tone scales in Debussy, or some clever other composer, and then were to compose their own whole-tone pieces. I was Arts Council Composer-In-Schools at the time, and was working alongside the vibrant team of Jack and Elise.

April 8th
This is the sound and look of this morning’s sunrise at Warkworth Beach, Northumberland. You can also hear a small parcel of sea pie flying off across the calm sea. It has been sunny and warm up here for several days. Quite a thing. And no fog or sea fret or har or dogs or argumentative pedestrians this morning to vex one.

April 7th
Today I have been composing some new music and also arranging this song (Peering Through The Rood Screen) from my recent workshop at Wakefield Cathedral. It’s a round tha knows. What you can see is the pelican and her toddlers. The words you hear are verse 2:

A tale of mystical menageries peering at the rood screen,
A serpent and a hare, they are living on the rood screen,
Oh can you see the pelican? She’s feeding her toddlers.
A green man on the choir stalls and dragons on the rood screen.

April 6th
Today I have finished my tidying and sorting, and have sent off invoices for all that work I did in March. Here is a picture of the Hepworth’s Crucifixion in Gallery 5 of the Hepworth Wakefield, and an arrangement I did last year for Yew Tree Youth Theatre of the Easter hymn “There Is A Green Hill”.

April 5th
Today I have been tidying and sorting in readiness for new projects. The sun has been out all day and lots of people have been outside my window, in it, but not me. Earlier, there was a great tit as you can hear, with the distant rumble of the A1 traffic in the background. I faded out a car driving past me in the middle. This photo is of a great tit in Clumber Park last Wednesday – very friendly it was.

April 4th
Today. Mud. Corbridge to Riding Mill on foot. Mud. Pheasant fight. Roe deer. Lambs. Squirrels. Mud. Forests. Fields. Roads. Muddy hills. Muddy valleys. Mossy stone walls. Bird tweets. Sheepy mud. Clay-y mud. Leafy Mud. Little burn. Larger burn. Hoofprints in mud. Mud on boots. Mud on trousers. Mud spattering. Squelchy mud. Riding Mill to Corbridge on the train with mud. Gourmet burger. Aydon Castle. Reivers stories. Reivers fortifications. Reivers green man. Reivers mud. New mud. Old mud. Dried mud. Home.

April 3rd
Bonny At Morn.

April 2nd
Today I have sung in a fourth funeral or memorial service in the last month or so. This is Lionheart Harmony with “All Through The Night” today and a night from earlier in the year. Today’s other news is that we got our car back, all fixed up and shiny after the altercation with Rice Pudding in its rear end six weeks ago. (See February 14th for this story) Six weeks! Blimey Charlie! Very exciting to see it returned.

April 1st
Goosescape. Today I have been for an inspiring walk around the lake in Clumber Park. There was the sun rising, long-tailed tits, squirrels, great-crested grebes, no people and lots of geese.