New school year: September 2011

So teaching starts again for the new academic year next week, I have a few new students, looking forward to getting to know them and introducing them to their instrument! Attended a refresher child protection course on Wednesday as required by law. We are also all notified of the child protection officer in each school we work in to ensure we know of the first port of call should a situation arise. I will be working on ensuring I keep incorporating the three learning styles into my teaching: Visual, Kinesthetic and Auditory. Using all three of these enables every student to be able to understand the point we as teachers are trying to get across. Getting to know our students, and how they learn effectively is paramount to their learning.

Playing for "Blitz! The Musical"

I'm playing Bb clarinet, bass clarinet and alto sax in the pit for "Blitz! The Musical"by Lionel Bart. It's being put on by The Company of Four - an amateur dramatics group based in Woodbridge, Ipswich.

"Blitz! is a story that draws on Bart's childhood memories of London's Jewish East End during the Blitz and, like most musicals, centred on a romance between a young couple, in this case a Jewish woman and a Cockney man, although the largest role and main point-of-view character is that of Mrs. Blitztein, the young woman's mother. Steven Suskin describes it as "Abie's Irish Rose set against the burning of Atlanta." Bart himself described the play as "…three human stories inside an epic canvas; the major human conflict—the major plot—personifies the spirit of London and how that spirit developed during the period of the piece."

Being shown at the Riverside Theatre, Woodbridge 21st-25th June!

Funding with Enterprize Inc

Through The Prince's Trust I am on a course to secure some substantial funding for ActuallyAmy Songwriting. 30 hours of business training and then I receive the bursary - very exciting!
Had my first session today, met some very interesting people and went networking crazy ;-)
Looking forward to the next one!

Paulerspury Players panto, Cinderella - showing 23rd - 26th Feb

Shows have commenced for our annual pantomime - this year, the classic, Cinderella.
The audience have received us well and got involved in the participation element very enthusiastically. Grimelda and the ugly sisters were so convincing on the opening night that a little boy in the front row looked close to tears!
On the second night Dandini nearly dropped the glass slipper when Cindrella runs from the ball but avoided a near disaster by acting perfectly as if it was planned - this gained her almost the biggest clap of the night!
The children loved coming up on stage at the end to sing the Community Song with Buttons as loudly as possible earning them sweets from Dim and Wit as they returned back to their seats.
By the second night the sound levels were balanced well, meaning the vocal parts and both keyboard parts are heard clearly.
Looking forward to the next three shows - see you there!

Meeting with the Prince's Trust

Having a meeting with the Prince's Trust for their Enterprize Programme tomorrow...
Means I'll have a mentor to talk things through with, business skills training and possible start up funding! Happy days.

The exercise and reading more resolutions are going well. Next, I plan on reading 'The Time Traveller's Wife' and not get confused.

Welcome to 2011

The year has started well! Have a couple more schools I'm working in for the Music Service as of next Tuesday.
Running around putting up leaflets locally for private teaching too.
New years resolutions are.... to read more and do more exercise.
Will let you know how that one's going...

Peace and Love :)