Tag: music

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New Year, new book and other news

margate dereliction

Oof! December was a blur of concerts and all that entailed, then family stuff and various resolutions.  Between Christmas and New Year we managed not one but two mini-breaks: the first was a day in London which included an excellent guided walk of Nine Elms & Battersea with Hilaire. The next day we took off to the north Kent coast, staying in Tankerton and doing a whistle-stop tour of Thanet’s seaside towns. I love a bit of dereliction for its photo opportunities, but it is a shame to see how run-down Margate seems to be. Nevertheless it was my favourite of the places we visited, albeit very briefly. There’s a youthful, arty vibe to it.

Back on the computer, by posting a comment on a Substack a while back I seem to have got a bunch of new followers there, even though I’ve never posted an article there as far I know. I can’t spread my online time any thinner. Blog or Substack..?

Then the Blue Sky experiment. I haven’t been posting regularly there, although I still prefer it to Twitter, and have certainly come across many more interesting folks. However I’ve spent a fair bit of time monitoring new followers and blocking those that appear to be either bots or agents. They invariably present as men in their sixties, straight out of a catalogue, smiling, posing with a boat or car or something outdoorsy, usually without a biog or else it’s an AI one-liner such as ‘Enjoying all that life has to offer!’ or ‘Be kind to me I’m new here!’  They are usually following zillions of people and if they’ve posted at all it’s just vapid photos or re-posts that suggest a political agenda. I suppose a lot of people just follow back when someone follows them, which is why these fake accounts exist – to disseminate crap on an industrial scale. It was one of the things that did for Twitter and I’m sorry (but not surprised) to see it happening on Blue Sky. All we need is for all the trolls, eejits and troublemakers to start posting and feeding the bots. So let’s hope they stay away.

The collection is coming along. First round of edits & comments received from publisher. I’ll be going through them very soon. We’re still hoping to hit a March launch. Let’s see! I’ve got a few readings set up now, but need to arrange some more. First of all I’m reading at Red Door Poets on January 21st in Covent Garden, as the guest of Gillie Robic. I don’t know yet who the other readers are but I’m sure it’ll be a good night, with an open mic too, so please come if you’re in London/willing & able.

One thing I plan to do more of in 2025 is writing poems. Sounds simple, eh? I’ve got an idea for a proto-pamphlet in the pipeline, which I’d like to self-publish in hand-made form and have it to sell alongside the ‘big book’ at readings.

I’m still fully committed to Planet Poetry, despite Peter and I missing out on any ACE funding. On the other hand, we’ve got a small number of people supporting us on buymeacoffee.com for which we are inordinately grateful as it helps to relieve the financial burden. And of course my quarterly poetry submissions spreadsheet, which I wonder how long I can continue with to be honest!

Meanwhile the music continues… two one-day workshops coming up, for which I am the admin. And another unrelated project which starts next month. More on that at a later date.

Happy New Year to you, thanks for reading this blog and I hope your 2025 proves to be a goodie.

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Something completely different – sound poetry

I was just reading this post on Rebecca Gethin’s blog and from there followed a link to Hannah Silva’s blog, which led me to watch some videos of her performing. Hannah’s amazing ‘sound poetry’ made me think again about the Magma theme ‘the music of words’ – I hope the editors are planning to include something by her.

Here’s a video of Hannah Silva performing ‘Talking to Silence’ for example…


… and then the mesmeric ‘Threshold’ seems to push the boundaries of poetry to its limits. As someone in the comments suggested, it’s not dissimilar to what some composers have done with music, for example Berio’s Sequenza for Voice which I once heard/saw performed by the wonderful soprano Lesley Jane Rogers. It’s a stunning piece of music, and Mozart it ain’t.

Feels like a breath of fresh air to stumble on something like this and find myself challenged out of my poetic comfort zone.

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Setting words to music

Lewes Singers at Westminster Abbey

Lewes Singers at Westminster Abbey

 

What do you think about setting poetry to music? (As opposed to writing song lyrics, I suppose). Personally I rather baulk at the thought of something I’d written being given a tune. I worry that adding music doesn’t just create another layer to complement the words, but it has the capacity to alter them permanently, like putting a painting in a particular frame, it can get in the way of the personal response of the viewer/listener/reader.

Nevertheless in the hands of a skilful composer you could say music takes the words to another, higher level. I can think of a couple of choral pieces where the combination is glorious – The Lamb, John Tavener’s setting of William Blake’s poem for starters, and Stanford’s The Blue Bird, words by Mary Coleridge.

Yesterday I was in an all-day rehearsal with our choir, the Lewes Singers. We’re singing the services at Westminster Abbey next weekend. (Do come and hear us if you’re in London – all the times and details of what’s we’re singing are here.) I confess I’m not a church-goer, but Evensong is the most wonderful invention of the Anglican church. If you’ve never been to an Evensong in a British cathedral, please go some time if you can. It’s short, it follows the exact same format it has done for centuries, and there’s very little for the congregation to do but listen. History, tradition, beautiful music – a meditative experience.

One of my favourite parts of the service is the chanting of the Psalms. For a singer, psalms are one of the hardest things to get the hang of. You have to fit the words to the notes of the chant, observe the pauses and move to the next note precisely at the same time as one another. It’s intense and you can’t let your concentration slip. And the words of the Psalms are unpredictable – full of the earthy violence and passions of the Old Testament, sometimes very funny, always vivid. Sadly, it’s too easy for the psalms to sound rough around the edges, and there are some very boring chants. But done well, they are the most powerful thing you’ll ever encounter in a CofE service.

Thankfully in the Lewes Singers we have Nick (my husband, and the conductor) to write us our own chants. Lucky us! OK so I’m showing off a bit here. But listen to this and tell me it’s not exciting.

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Love this

Air France advert, music is Mozart piano concerto no. 23.

Stupid really (just an advert) but something about it makes me want to cry.