Music

Well, in 2009 I did a few things musically that I’m proud of.

Firstly, I took up the challenge of learning a new instrument, the bodhrán. As well as being a lot of fun (and somewhat hard work) to learn, I also very much enjoyed being in a group setting (several of us being taught at the same time in a class run by the Scots Music Group, under the excellent tutorship of Andy May (if you need a wind instrument repaired in Edinburgh, then go to his shop)). I also loved the fact that I was learning a Celtic folk instrument, as how more organic music can you get than that? In November 2009, I was asked to play my bodhrán live for the first time, by accompanying two choir pieces in a church service. Here’s a video I made about halfway through my tuition (I’m better than this now!):

In the second half of the year I started working with a great singer called Shona on cover versions of tracks. I love making my own arrangements of others’ songs: it’s a great challenge, and also allows me to get quite creative in my interpretations (although sometimes I try and replicate the original as closely as possible – that’s another whole challenge in itself!). I also enlisted the help of my friend Fiona to play piano on a few of these cover versions. I’ve only finished the recording and mixing on a couple so far, but we have more half-finished, and I hope we’ll complete these in the first part of this year. Here’s a couple of finished videos:

I also started experimenting more with live recording in 2009. Here’s a wee video I made of Edinburgh at Christmas, with a Christmas Carol arrangement performed and written by three sister friends of mine, recorded live and mixed by me:

In terms of my own original compositions, I was highly delighted when my own unique version of ‘Away in a Manger’ was performed at a Watchnight service this year (by the three sisters again). I got a lot of good feedback on the piece, with words like ‘amazing’ and ‘beautiful’ being bandied about – very humbling I wrote this tune very quickly indeed (I just sung it straight out one day); this has never happened to me before like this, but it has encouraged and inspired me to keep going. Here’s the live recording from the Watchnight service (plus a screenshot of my mixing in progress):

Finally, a bit of fun…. To amuse my Facebook friends, I made my own wee cover medley of Michael Jackson songs, shortly after he died. It isn’t to be taken seriously at all, but I hope you enjoy …..