The end is near …

But wait, that’s a good thing!

Friday’s session in studio was an exhausting marathon, but we got more accomplished than I thought possible. Yesterday the last original piece for the album was nearly completed, which means I need to wrap that up today as well as finish the last carol arrangement. Potentially, this could give me a slight breather before Tuesday’s session in which I could attempt to catch up with the rest of my life.

Cricket-wise, I’m a bit worried by the news that Darren Maddy (Warwickshire, formerly Leics. Foxes) has signed with an Indian league, only because the league doesn’t appear to be officially recognised. Ian Bell is certainly finding spectacular form, and watching him bat with Pietersen is always a treat.

It feels odd to be rabbitting on about my album and the cricket when the world is filled with serious, life-threatening situations. There are people, however, who are blogging about social and political issues far better than I could, and I hope that you will seek out a blog of interest and keep in touch with things outside your own immediate sphere of influence. It’s never far from my mind that I am a citizen of the World - first and foremost. There are many more things that unite all of us, and that we share in common, than there are things which divide us.

Please take a moment …

“May we be free of torture, may there be peace in hearts and minds as our kindness spreads around the world.” — the Buddist monks of Burma

It will only take a moment to join in the international outpouring of support for the citizens of Burma, now under military rule and known as the Union of Myanmar. Current updates on this horrific situation are available on both the Amnesty International UK and AI USA websites.

You can easily take action by joining a direct email appeal to the Foreign Ministry of the Union of Myanmar, or if you’re a US citizen, you can email President George Bush to call for UN intervention. Both AI websites also offer other ways of becoming involved and staying informed.

And the beat goes on

Being in studio yesterday was rather like being in a high-speed, no-holds barred, video game when absolutely everything - and I mean everything - was cooperating to my advantage. It was an incredibly fast-paced 90 minutes, but we laid down an entire new piano piece as well as two instrumental tracks, and edited five other tracks. I’ll be back on Friday, and I can only hope the session will go as well as it did yesterday.

Blog stats are a marvellous thing. Today I noticed that someone hit my blog after a search on Google for Sid Fendley’s email, at Mountain Road Recording. You can reach Sid at MRrecording@aol.com, and believe me, your multi-media needs couldn’t be in better hands. I’m extremely fortunate to have been able to work with Sid on all three of my recordings thus far, and I can highly recommend the entire crew at Mountain Road.

I’ve not been able to listen to any music in the last week or so; that generally happens when composition shifts into highest gear; instead, I’ve been listening to ‘Doctor Who’ audios from Big Finish which are nicely filling the gap. Before it became necessary to take the musical headphones off, however, I was playing a lot of random tracks by The Lucksmiths. They’re one of those amazing bands that are impossible to categorise; even with 306 genres in my database the best I can do for them is “indie”. A quick check reveals that Wikipedia files them under “indie pop”, “retro-pop”, and “anti-folk”. I file Regina Spector under “anti-folk”, but somehow I can’t quite manage to equate The Lucksmiths with her work.

Recently I’ve had a rather surreal vision of an over-sized tag cloud of musical genres enveloping the planet; I wonder if the breaking-point will eventually be reached and we’ll return to using simple tags like “pop”, “rock”, and “folk”, rather than “symphonic metal chamber music”, “baroque pop”, and “Icelandic experimental post-rock”.

The Spirit of Cricket

I’m thrilled that India won the first World Twenty20 Championship (and their first big trophy in nearly 25 years!), but there’s something that thrills me even more than Singh’s brilliant three wicket haul or the nail-biting finish which took us into the last over, and that was the celebratory moment when Dhoni took off his shirt and gave it to a fan. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if in 10 or 15 years that same young man was playing for India, all because a professional player cared enough to touch his life? It’s times like these that I’m reminded cricket is truly, on all levels, the most beautiful game.

I’m in studio tomorrow and Friday, and hope to finish laying down all of the remaining keyboard tracks. There’s still a lot of instrumental parts left to add, as well as editing and balancing before we can even think about the final mixdown, so this is really going to be down to the wire. At this point, release events are scheduled for October 27th and November 4th.

I’m quite certain there was something else I wanted to write, but obviously I’m in the midst of a severe brain cramp. It couldn’t possibly be fatigue …

‘Slow down, you move too fast . . .’

Paul Simon may have been on to something with that lyric, but for now, there doesn’t seem to be much choice in the matter. I’m still here, still alive, but unbelievably backed up . . . or is it, backed against a wall?!

Quick thoughts:

The CD — yes, it’s going to happen, but certainly not in my timeline. However, two premiere events have been scheduled, percussion tracks were laid down on Friday, and I’m recording two days this coming week. A more detailed post will follow, and I’m hopeful a newsletter will be emailed late tonight or early tomorrow. I’m now at the point where I can honestly say I’m excited about the album, despite the fact this project has been fraught with delays, derailments, and difficulties.

Organising my life — that, also, is an ongoing (and at this point, seemingly never-ending) project, and it’s nice to find someone who is discovering and implementing similar techniques. It took a while to get myself down to a single notepad, but the system is working extremely well and has put an end to constantly scrabbling for lost bits of paper containing vital information.

The cricket — Zimbabwe vs Australia, well done (and fond memories of the Banglas in 2005)! India vs Pakistan in the World Twenty20 Cup final: I’m backing India to win. Andrew Flintoff: I’m deeply concerned about his future in the game. Darren Maddy’s career seems to have been anointed by The Kingmaker; I’m hopeful he will continue to have opportunity to play for England. Wicketkeeper woes: two words, Paul Nixon.

There’s a lot more I’d like to write, but I’d best stop for now and get back to scoring a medley for the album. More soon!

The mania continues

There doesn’t seem to be any let-up right now, despite the fact I’m finally on lecture hiatus for about five weeks. I’m due back in studio tomorrow, and still feel as if I’m struggling against near impossible odds with my current project. Logically, I know that somehow, someway, the album will (read: must) fall into place. But we creative types rarely function logically, which means emotionally I’m in an utter panic. I’ve often been told I work best under stress; this would be an awfully good time for that to prove to be true.

I think I’m going to be very happy to finally put this project to bed and return to the ‘normal’ level of manic activity in my so-called life. In the meantime, however, it’s back to the grindstone …

Catching up

Just a brief note to let you know the latest issue of my newsletter is now online. For those of you who read my blog, there’s probably not much you haven’t already read, but you never know.

Nipping out now to give a presentation on ancient music, which may be rather apropos today - as I’m feeling rather ancient myself!

Bits and bobs

Tuesday afternoon I finished the summer trimester at OASIS with a lecture on the music of World War I. I’m now officially unemployed until late September (huzzah!) which means I will be putting nearly all of my energy into finishing the winter CD. I won’t be in studio again before the end of the month, so I have about a fortnight in which to finish all the arrangements and be ready to record.

Wednesday I received a small parcel via UPS, which turned out to be my long-awaited Ring of Excellence from Sigma Alpha Iota. It’s still hard to believe that I am considered worthy of the music fraternity’s highest honour, but I shall continue to do my best to strive for excellence in both my professional and personal life.

I don’t spend a lot of time on YouTube, but occasionally I stumble across some brilliant creations. This animation of the Bayeux Tapestry, by a fellow named David Newton, is simply astonishing. I also recently enjoyed the cleverness behind Animator vs Animation.

One of the things I like best about Neil Gaiman’s blog is the way he writes endearingly about everyday occurrences. If you’ve ever owned a pet, this recent entry about his relationship with his dog during thunderstorms, is priceless.

Last but not least, I occasionally blog about my ongoing personal struggles with pixel vs paper and pen. Dave Terry’s article The Advantages of Keeping an Analog Work Journal is well worth your time if you’re still attempting to sort which organisation methods work best for you.

It’s been quite a year, this summer …

To politely paraphrase the popular sticker often seen on the back of cars, ‘Life happens’. In fact, I’m beginning to feel almost as if I’ve had a bit too much life this summer. ‘They’ say, anything that doesn’t kill you, builds character. If anyone is in need of a hefty dose of character, please enquire within; I have loads to spare.

For those of you concerned that the mailing list has been purged over the summer, fear not; the newsletter simply hasn’t happened. With a bit of luck, that situation should be remedied shortly. For those of you wondering whether the winter recording is still on track, that answer would be yes and no: yes it’s going to happen, but no it won’t be released before October 1st.

My blog has been sorely neglected, but I’ve learned not to make promises I can’t keep. Know that I’ll be here as I can, sharing my music, my interests, and the cricket, as time allows, until I’m able to contribute regularly again.

I hope you’re all having a brilliant summer. See you soon!

A quick update

After a two month hiatus, the JEOW newsletter will be back next week, with news about the new CD, which is due to be released in September 2007. If you’re already receiving monthly mailings, watch your email; if you’d like to be added to the list, simply drop me an email with the word “subscribe” in the subject line.

A dear friend in London sent me this quotation; I’m sorry I don’t have the original citation, but I’d bet money it’s from the Daily Telegraph:

“I don’t know what prompted it - although I’ve been watching huge amounts of cricket - but for some reason Andrew Strauss was being paid to stalk me.”
Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe reveals an alarming nightmare

That’s one of us who’s been getting to watch the cricket and at least I’m not the one having the nightmares! Although I’ve missed a week of phenomenal cricket, it’s been for a good cause as studio dates for the next album have been scheduled beginning July 16th. I’ve now made tremendous progress toward being ready to record, and am quite excited about being back in Mountain Road Studios with engineer Sid Fendley. Knowing that I’m still an owl, rather than a lark, Susan has promised to have the coffee brewing for me!

To help promote the new CD (which will be a seasonal album entitled Flowers in Winter and yes, you heard it here first!) I will be giving away 1,000 copies of my choral work ‘One Little Child’, which was written for two-part children’s choir and piano. The same work will be on the new album in instrumental form, and I will happily make the original version available to anyone who wants it. It is a traditional Christmas piece but could also work for interfaith or ecumenical services, as well as for school performances where religious references are allowed.

The choral (a printed octavo valued at $1.15 USD) will be given away for the price of postage and a heavy duty postal envelope. For 20-35 copies, the price is $4 USD; for 36-50 copies, the price is $5 USD. If interested, please contact me and I will give you information for payment either by cheque or online via PayPal. I’m happy to post outside the US as well, but I cannot guarantee what the cost will be since the international rates have recently changed. Again, please contact me for more information. When the original printed octavos are gone the work will still be available, but only in electronic format.

Lastly, someone wrote to ask what I’m listening to at the moment. I fear it’s another mixed bag, but in short: Benjamin Britten’s Four Sea Interludes, Keane’s Hopes and Fears and Under the Iron Sea, Murray Gold’s Doctor Who: The Soundtrack, and Mahima by Debashish Bhattacharya & Bob Brozman.

And now … it’s back to work.