There are winners, there are losers, but when music is reduced to a sport, we all lose… … unless you win, of course… when, of course, it is all right. Areas, 2nd to Last, Senior Trophy, Last… enough…. Paul Archibald sums it up rather eloquently in his blog post. No more brass band contests for me for a while, concentrating on music making, concert repertoire and accepting the fact that in amateur music making, mistakes happen in live performance. So…
Coming from Ireland, March mainly means one thing, St Patrick’s Day on 17th. As a school kid, it means the manufacture of your very own “St Patrick’s Day Badge” (a green white and gold rosette), participating in the Parade with your school or other sports group. As a member of a brass band, it meant that long march in the town’s parade, usually right behind a slow moving articulated truck spewing out diesel fumes! Since moving from Ireland to the…
After all the concerts, contests, shows towards the end of 2013 Mrs Q and I finally got away for a fantastic holiday in Dubrovnik to celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary. What a marvellous place, steeped in history, with stunning architecture, an amateur photographers dream, as you can see from my Flickr photos. Full Flickr Feed here. We stayed in fantastic hotel that had it’s own private beach with lift through the cliff to access. Highlight of the trip was the…
Haydn Concerto with SELO – done… Overall, I think the performance went very well. The Orchestra accompanied brilliantly, and it was a very (surprisingly) relaxing affair. It was a fantastic experience to play a concerto with full orchestra, and especially to quite a large and very appreciative audience. National Finals with Regent Brass – done… Even got some good comments from the Judges…. Overall we finished, er.. in last place, but hey.. not to worry, there is always next year…
If variety is the spice of life, I certainly have variety this coming Autumn/Winter with regard to the concerts and contests I have in my schedule so far! First up is my first time playing a full Concerto on Trumpet with the South East London Orchestra in September. I will be playing the Haydn Concerto in Eb, which I’m sure everyone is familiar with, which makes my job that bit harder. Also on the programme that afternoon is Weber’s Oberon…
Pictures from Q2 work outing to GoApe in Trent Park uploaded to Flickr Check them out! http://www.flickr.com/photos/dmquinlan/ Thanks to Simon for taking some pictures from the ground! 🙂 http://goape.co.uk/days-out/trent-park Here is link to video I made on first time at GoApe http://vimeo.com/43483106
Please support my good buddies Phil and Lisa who are climbing Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds for RISE Global Volunteers to aid the great work for the children of Kibera. For more details of their trip and to follow their adventures, see their blog here at http://barleybensonkili.wordpress.com Click here to donate on their JustGiving Page! Thanks Now! Q
On one of the hottest days of the year, I run my first ever 10k, the British 10k London. Setting off at just before 8am on the tube to Victoria with buddy Dale to catch up with other friends (Yvonne, Matt and Lisa) at the starting line. Never having done such an event before, I was a bit surprised at the chaos at the start, where I understand, for other such events on entry you specify what time you think…
Next Sunday I take part in my first 10k run, The British 10k London run. After this Sunday’s training run in the heat around Trent Park, I’d almost prefer to be back in the saddle. Looking forward to finishing “reasonably significantly” under an hour! Let’s see…
On Sunday Morning, a 6:45am Dale, Phil and I departed Clapham Common to partake in the London to Brighton charity cycle ride in aid of the British Heart Foundation. I really enjoyed the day out, despite queues, punctures… mild rain, couple of hills, overall it was a great buzz. I may have rediscovered my enjoyment of losing myself in my own thoughts on the open road on a bike.. 🙂 Here is a short video of the day!
