So , wandering around the sydney late night markets, custodian of 64 teens and guess who was there to greet them all.....
Here are the cello section backstage.. It was a fantastic performance, the girls played out of their skins and the feedback was excellent. Thats it now. Top 3 all ticked, berlin koncerthause, amsterdam concertabau and sydney opera house. Roll on next weeks gig in a field somewhere......
So here we all are, 84 of us in sydney airport, here for a week of concerts and workshops with the main one being a performance in the sydney opera house on Thursday. Speaking of the opera house, if you get a chance check out a movie called "mrs Careys Concert", its about a privage girls school doing a concert in sydney, and its exactly what this week is like.
So you got home from orchestra, fancy a beer and sitting in front of the fire and light a few candles and cant find the matches? Well try this, pop a wee magnet in the box and attatch it to any metal surface. When the matches run out just keep the magnet and pop it into the next box. This will also work for dish towels, just sew a magnet into one corner and stick it to your fridge/bbq/artificial hip. Easy. Magnets....the velcro of 2011!
As i blog this the dogs have taken formation on the rug in the shed. These guys should join an olympic swimming team...
The JS string quartet played with the year 5/6 choir last week at a inter-school festival at the convention centre. The quartet played fantastcally, it was their first time playing a concert with stage lights, they were mesmerised
The quartet accompanied the choir at another concert and if you look very carefully you can see one of my viola students 'flying the flag'
The irish waltz they call it 1.3.4.1.3.4. I could havebeen conducting anything last thursday as my year 3/4 orchestra (ages 6-8) took to the stage and proceeded to perform out of their skins. I dont think science will ever quantify the percentage increase of skill/attention/tonality between last rehearsal and concert, i reckon they played 300% better that night and were suddenly 400% worse the following day. Well ya win some ya loose some i guess
The only was I could keep my year 2 (6-7 year olds and 28 of them) string orchestra quiet backstage and in concert order was to train them for the three weeks previous inthe arts of ninjitsu. We figured out a few years ago that the quietest thing in the universe after a total vacuum was a fairy ninja. Here are a few of the girls being as quiet as they can. They tried very hard but after approx 4 seconds, the one at the front felt it prudent to inform me that she has 4 cats and it is her uncles birthday next week and one of her shoes she tied a different way to the other one......
Apologies for the delay readers, have been incredibly distracted with the whole work thing, I have a slightly different new position this year and it requires a bit more planning as it is its first cycle. Anyhoo pretty much back to normal now. Here is Ambassador Doyle and myself enjoying a 1 litre beer a few weeks ago. Consumed with ghusto I can assure you
We had a ninja vs geisha party the other night and Finn stayed over. The following morning we had arranged to go for dim sum in town (asian breakfast) and Finn came dressed as a ninja. Turned a few heads in the the place....
Afterwards, we went to town and here we are at lunch making lego race-cars. I wish I was 5 again!
Finally got time to move the brewing operations out the the shed, but the only thing is the shed is too cold during the winter to maintain an ambient temperature between 18 and 30 during the night, which wasnt really a problem in the old house as I brewed indoors. I bought three 5W heat pads from Neills and set them up out the back.
It was then necessary to construct some form of insullation for the fermenters so as this is all supposed to be on a budget of zero, out came the leatherman, the duct tape and a few cardboard boxes
And here we have it, a perfectly functioning incubation chamber to maintain all that fermentationary shenanigannary
After several dodgy cheap doorbells expiring on us I decided to go old-school and nail a xylaphone to the wall where the button used to be. Finn loves it and I have yet to challenge my students to play the piece they are learning on it to gain entry...
Finns lego collection is increasing so it was time to commission a new box.
I have taken the plunge and am going for percussion lessons, specifically the cajon, i found this girl who studied with a cajon flamenco master so i am learning the ropes from scratch, this is my homework this week, boom-a-bang-a-boom-a-boom-a. As much as I consider it a demotion from being a pro-violist, I do see the advantage of being able to claim the title of percussionist and get to park in those special parking spots...
Samurai Umbrella....HAI!
