Well, it’s been a while since I’ve written a blog post but today is my birthday and I’m officially taking a day off from all things work-related so I actually have time to write one!
It’s been a busy month, which is always a good sign, and a good mix of work on. I played another Verdi Requiem with the Canterbury Choral Society – this was the gig that was tied to the one in Snape Maltings so it also meant I finally got paid for both gigs. Then of course there’s the usual function band gigs for the summer season weddings. I particularly enjoyed a gig I did on 18th July with new function band RubberSoul (they’re new to me, not to each other; they’ve been playing together for about 10 years). Not only were the guys and gal in the band really friendly and welcoming to me as a dep, they’re an excellent band (very well organised which made a nice change!) and the sets we played were full of energy. And the best bit about all of this is that this was my first Twitter gig! I got chatting to Tony from RubberSoul months ago on Twitter about various horn arrangements we were each doing for our function bands, and when they needed a dep he got in touch via Twitter and voila, a new working relationship was formed! So, he took a bit of a punt in booking me without ever having met me, without hearing me play and without any recommendation, but the gig was a roaring success (despite me falling over on the steps up to the marquee for the first set!) and thus the miracle of Twitter as an effective networking tool becomes a reality. We even managed to convince the band’s drummer of the benefits of Twitter (and iPhones) in the dressing room that night between sets, and he has recently got an iPhone and joined Twitter – so gradually the word is spreading!
And other work has been going well. July brought with it more graduation ceremonies than you could shake a stick at (never really understood that phrase, but what the hey, let’s roll with it). I spent a week and two days in Lancashire playing fanfares (four trumpets and organ) to open and close ceremonies at UCLAN and Edge Hill Universities and to accompany the processionals and recessionals. We had an unfortunate incident in the first Edge Hill ceremony where one of our trumpet players collapsed and was taken to hospital; she’s ok and feeling much better now, and if you want to see her being carried out of the ceremony check out the first 5 mins of this video! Please excuse the very unfortunate placing of a microphone directly infront of us, the sound on the video is distorted as a result.
I’m still waiting to hear about the extra teaching I’m trying to secure from September – I’ve played assemblies at two schools and have a meeting about a third, so fingers crossed for getting some more ‘bread-and-butter’ work as I like to think of it. If I could up my teaching to one full day a week that would be enough for me. It’s a tricky thing trying to balance the ratio of teaching to other work; teaching is great as it provides a regular income, but take on too much teaching and you have to turn down gigs. You can see the dilemma I’m sure.
And thus far the birthday celebrations are going well – they started on Friday night with a T.Mandrake gig at The Troubadour followed by trips to Mango Lounge and Bungalow 8 (where Quentin Tarantino was partying following the London premier of his latest film Inglourious Basterds), and have continued through the weekend to tonight when I’m going to Ladies’ Night at Windsor Racecourse with some friends – lucky me (I hope!)
