The Month o’ May – Part 2

So, as I said, May was a very busy month.  The second half of the month was especially busy – I worked 18 days in a row at one point – that’s a first for me!  I’ve no aversion to hard work and, although shattered by the end of it, the variety of gigs that I got up to really kept things interesting.  Here’s a few highlights…

The first few days were pretty standard with the usual teaching etc. but I was invited back to the Royal Academy of Music (RAM) to play in a composers’ workshop which was nice as I got to see and play with some of my old RAM peers.  That week I also went to the launch of The Island Experiment’s debut album featuring their open mic night’s most successful performers, on which my friend Niko (http://www.myspace.com/radioniko) was featured.  I’ve recorded and played live with Niko so was pleased to support him and see his mini-set at The Island in Kensal Green.

That weekend (Saturday 16^th May) was my first of two trips to the Isle of Man that month with function band Co Stars.  We were playing at a wedding each time and though the gigs are pretty standard, their location does mean it takes up your whole weekend.  The second IOM gig required an early Sunday morning flight back to Luton so that we could then drive straight up to Manchester for another gig that evening – evidently the wedding season is in full flow.

The week commencing Monday 18^th May was a really fun one.  I’d been booked by RAM to play at the ceremony to mark the Installation of the new Archbishop at Westminster Cathedral.  I once worked at Westminster Cathedral, in the Friends office, so it was great to go back and see former colleagues.  The gig was amazing – playing fanfares and processional/recessional marches in a brass ensemble with organ.  It was broadcast live on the BBC, on the Diocese’s internet channel, on EWTN (the Roman Catholic TV network) and on Premier Radio.  So, the fees for the broadcasting rights in addition to the fee for the rehearsals and gigs made it the single best paid gig I’ve had to date (more of those gigs please!).  During my breaks in the ceremony I was Tweeting updates and replied to a Tweet from @CatholicHerald after they made a comment on the fanfares.  I’ve since been featured in an article in their newspaper entitled “’Tweeting’ to trumpeters at the installation.” And then for something completely different, after playing fanfares in Westminster Cathedral, I went and played a gig with originals rock band T.Mandrake at 229 (http://www.myspace.com/tmandrake).

As the only female in the brass ensemble I guess I was guaranteed some air time

The following week saw another rehearsal with T.Mandrake on the bank holiday Monday (no rest for the wicked), a rehearsal with a new horn section, a filming/recording session at Metropolis and another filming session at the Circus Tavern the day after – what a contrast in venue from one day to the next!  I’ll write a separate blog about the day at Metropolis as it was such an experience, but the Circus Tavern gig was interesting.  Our horn section was invited along to perform one song with a function band who were filming their promo video.  They already have a horn section (featuring Jack Birchwood on trumpet who’s been touring with Lilly Allen so it was great to meet and play with him), but wanted to really beef up the first number on the video and also use it as an audition for us with the hope that they’re happy to book us for gigs if their main horn section is unavailable (which seems likely if they’re off touring with pop stars!).

I ended May and my crazy 18-day stint with a cracking weekend; Friday night out with the girls, a trip to Worcester on the Saturday to see my friends Ruth and Steve, and a trip to the new snowdome at Hemel Hempstead on Sunday afternoon.  Ruth is a singer with an amazing voice who I’ve worked with since our days at Exeter University (http://www.ruthhamilton.com) and her husband Steve opens the batting for Worcestershire CCC.  I knew Steve from the Exeter days too – he played sax in the Jazz Orchestra where Ruth and I also met.  Despite Worcester being beaten by Northants in the end of the Twenty20 match, Steve played really well and scored 62 not out.  We followed the match up with a night out with Ruth, Steve and some of the other Worcestershire cricketers and their WAGs, including cricketing legend Graeme Hick, who had opened the new member’s pavilion named after him at New Road that day.  Just to make the evening even more surreal were joined at dinner by Jason Bonham, drummer for the Led Zeppelin Reunion and son of John Bonham!  A great end to a crazy month.

The Month o’ May – Part 1

May was a busy month.  I’m not complaining at all, but it was a very busy month.  It began on May 1st (the being busy part, not the month which of course started on May 1st!), with a daytime rehearsal with the Canterbury Philharmonic Orchestra in Bethnal Green for a couple of performances of Verdi’s requiem, and an evening gig with a function band down at The Grand in Brighton.

I enjoy the Canterbury Philharmonic Orchestra/Canterbury Choral Society concerts for a number of reasons.  Firstly, they are a good orchestra and a good choir. The orchestra seems to be largely sourced from the London music college graduates, so it’s always a chance to meet up with my former Royal Academy of Music (RAM) peers, some of whom I don’t get to see very often (others I see very frequently!).  Secondly, they pick good repertoire; Verdi’s Requiem is a great piece both to listen to and to perform (I’ve also performed Belioz “Damnation de Faust” with them in the past).  Thirdly, they perform in good venues.  The rehearsal on 1st May was for two performances of the Verdi; the first of which was in Snape Maltings on Sunday 3rd May and the second of which will be in Canterbury Cathedral on Saturday 20th June.  Although Snape Maltings is MILES away from Windsor (a 264-mile round trip), the concert hall there is excellent (http://www.aldeburgh.co.uk/).   And although the accoustics in Canterbury Cathedral (the location for the June concert and the previous Berlioz one) are not the best for hearing vocal performances, it is still a wonderful venue in which to play.  The problem with me taking on the gig at Snape Maltings in May was that it fell on the same date as my boyfriend’s birthday, which as you can imagine, didn’t go down particularly well as I was out all day and most of the night.  But because that gig was tied to the one in June and I couldn’t afford to say no to them both, I had to take it and sacrifice spending the day with my other half.  To be fair to him he didn’t kick up a fuss about it, although he was obviously disappointed.  But it’s one of those decisions you will face as a musician, and if I worked a normal 9-5 job he wouldn’t have expected me to take the day off if his birthday happened to fall mid-week (unlike this year’s birthday which fell on a Sunday unfortunately).  However, we did manage to celebrate his birthday that weekend – I packed alot in!  After getting home somewhere around 4am on Saturday morning after the Friday night gig in Brighton, we had a fun trip to the Zoo on Saturday and had a lovely dinner at a Thai restaurant in Windsor that evening.  After he opened presents and cards on the Sunday morning (his birthday) I faced the long drive to Snape while he had a long lunch with his parents.  The concert went really well and I eventually met up with him at a bar in South London where he was out with some friends who were also wishing farewell to a friend of ours who has gone to Ibiza to DJ for the summer season.  All in all, it was a busy weekend – thank goodness it was a bank holiday Monday!

My final thought about the Canterbury Phil/Choral Soc gig was this… There are four on-stage trumpet parts and four off-stage trumpet parts (I was onstage, playing 4th trumpet and tonking out the bottom end of the section – fab!).  All four on-stage trumpets were female, and one of the off-stage trumpets was also female.  Now, obviously it’s no shock to me to see talented women playing the trumpet, but it’s rare that in an 8-piece trumpet section the majority of those players would be female.  Very enjoyable indeed!

Canterbury Choral Society – link for the June concert:

http://www.mdesignsolutions.co.uk/cgi-bin/ccs/info_concerts.html?domain=info/concerts&name=nxtconcert

The time has come…

The time has come to share the ins-and-outs of life as a freelance musician with anybody who may take an interest in such things.  Hopefully my posts will prove to be interesting and insightful (as long as I’ve got plenty of work on and therefore plenty to talk about – but we won’t go into that right now!)

Actually, I will go into that right now (how contrary).  Life as a freelancer is particularly tricky when you’re early in your career, pretty fresh out of music college as I am (I graduated in June 2008), and trying to build up your network of contacts and people who  can put work your way.  Sometimes opening the diary fills me with dread as I know there’s just not enough work in it to pay the rent this month; other times you’re so rushed off your feet that you live on 4 hours sleep a night and can’t even remember where your diary is (thank goodness for the iPhone/Google Calendar sync technology!).

Hopefully I’ll have enough fun work to blog about and which will be of interest to anybody other than me (and my landlord and my bank manager).  If this week’s anything to judge by (and I hope it is!) then that shouldn’t be a problem – more on that later…right now, I have to take my dog for a walk.  She’s been listening to trumpet practice and beginner trumpet lessons all afternoon and is now giving me ‘that look’ – the ‘please can we go for a walk now, PLEASE?!’ look.  I’d better take her out!