- J Whyne (Dec 5th 2009)

Something to think about…

I’m not really one for celebrating birthdays, and I struggled in the run up to the day to answer the question that came from a few as to what I was going to do. My general response was that I wasn’t that bothered about doing anything in particular, happy to go with the flow and just see what offers came along.  I did, though,  sense that it should be marked in someway, and that it definitely wasn’t going to be marked by me hoovering on my birthday

When the day came, I enjoyed spending quality time with my immediate family. My brother, sis-in-law (and bump) came round and made brunch/lunch. We started with fresh coffee and pastries, then had a full on West Indian version of a big breakfast, with an additional twist.

This was followed by relaxing on the sofa till almost 5pm, at which point  I left them chillaxing and went up to the National Theatre  to enjoy some  music, and some chilled out chat over wine and crisps with a good friend. – She had called around 10am to find out what was occurring, and “made me an offer I couldn’t refuse”.

Occasions should be marked, and what makes an occasion can be different for all of us, but in some way they should be marked  in order to help capture and retain the moment.

Writing is a great way to mark an occasion, sometimes just a few words – and at times even one – can sum up and encapsulate the moment, marking it forever in the minds of those involved, and those you invite to be involved. It’s like the punchline of a good joke, the ending of a good story, that spontaneous one-liner…

As a writer, I am trying to return to the habit of  having a notebook with me at all times in order to capture those occasions as they happen; the old man on the bus who talks loudly on the phone, the couple on the tube so obviously in love, the tension of the city when certain news breaks…

I have so often lost the opportunity to mark an occasion. as I haven’t written down what I’m seeing or thinking as and when it is happening. Leaving it till later, I find that when later comes, the moment has often passed, and I can no longer remember or capture what was happening or going through my mind at the time.

This is tragic for a writer or any creative person, as I would imagine the same applies for an artist or photographer etc. 

I am aiming these thoughts first at myself, then humbly suggesting they may have value to you. Feel free to comment, and also enjoy a look at a few more pics, taken to mark the occasion.

My good intentions were delayed by my body demanding a power nap – one minute I was looking at the laptop, next minute I was waking up

It was a looooooooooong day yesterday, but it was really cool, touching, and humbling to see how both Bishop and my brother put in hours of work, and are preparing to put in even more when they begin mixing the tracks – Oh Yeah, we have done all five!

I also need to shout out to Doug who was in the studio till 2am  Wednesday night/Thursday morning laying down the bass.

Sidenote: The rest of this post is a day out due to sleep deprivation and having to get back home and straight into some meetings yesterday (Fri 17th) 

So how did it all end?

My brother didn’t get any sleep, I had half an hour, – our combinded total of sleep can’t have been more than 10 hours – Bishop and G began mixing the tracks at around 8am, and we jumped into the car at around 10.30am in order to get back for planned appointments. – Needless to say, the stereo was blaring on the way back, and I am thankful to God that we got back safely!

Some mixing still needs to be done, so a trip back up to Wales may happen later today – I love my brother!

Hope you’ve enjoyed hearing about some of my showreel experience, look out for some samples of the tracks once they are mixed!

Bye-Bye Wales

I didn’t think we’d be able to do all the tracks and suggested we drop one of them. But, my brother – who at around 3am Thursday morning went to bed for the first time since waking up Tuesday morning- was adamant that we should stick to the plan.

His determination (pigheadedness) has reaped rewards. All the tracks are now done vocal wise, two have almost full instrumentation, and according to some friends who dropped by – it’s all sounding very nice.

I must say that these past 2/3 days have been challenging, sometimes frustrating, and confirmed that I definitely prefer live gigs to studio work, but I am feeling very rewarded by the experience. I am also excited to see what may happen next as I step out once again into the world of music, session singing and explore seriously my song writing.

It’s amazing what a chain of events a simple question can lead to.

Recording vocals can be hard work, and there is really no getting around the fact that it generally takes up a considerable amount of time. Yet, it is very rewarding when you hear what you have done. There is an art to studio work which some singers can find easier to master than others, and the same is true of  singing live.

Of course you have to able to sing in both situations but that’s where the similarity can end.  If you make a mistake in a live performance, often nobody, but the most musical of people will notice. In a good live performance, those performing and the audience can see and hear each other and feed off of the energy in the room. This dynamic is often great for adding to the real emotion that one gets in a live performance, and can be hard to create in the rather more sterile setting of a studio.

In the studio you can hear every sound you make, every missed pitch, every slide to a note, every breath you take. – I proved this point in a big way as we listened back to a vocal I had just done and found ourselves hearing an unmistakable loud gulp I had taken in between two notes.

There can also be a sense of pressure in the studio. Generally it is just you and the engineer and possibly a producer, and when you as the singer stand in the vocal booth, you can feel as  if you are under a microscope. Whenever I have done studio work I have felt so conscious of wanting to get it right as quickly as possibly. This can lead to not feeling relaxed, and probably making more mistakes than is necessary. One of the ways in which to try to combat this  is to really know your songs well, put in the time to practice before you get there, and don’t bank on getting those golden ‘one-take wonders’. Even seasoned singers will often have to do more than 2 takes.

It should also be said that it isn’t a great idea to be recording vocals at 3am in the morning! But when needs must – we still have 3 tracks to do and as I type it is after 7 in the evening and we haven’t begun to vocal the 3rd track yet as drums and guitar are being recorded on the tracks from yesterday. Well, at least I have manged to write the 2nd verse for the 3rd track, and even come up with an outro which I tried to record on two phones in order to capture all the harmonies – can you picture it?!

So why make this mad trip?

Ans: A simple request for some singing sessions, followed by the question “do you have a showreel?”*, began a chain of events which started as a plan to do a simple recording at my brother’s and has become an ‘out of orbit’ plan to record 5 tracks of varying styles, with lead and backing vocals, drums, bass, keys, guitar and whatever else is inspired along the way, ready to take home early – first thing early – Friday morning!!!! – Whatever happened to pressing record on a tape recorder and if you had a mic you felt stush

Before heading for bed, we had a look at the studio, it’s looking good.  Bishop’s guitars are looking impressive on the walls, the desk looks ‘da business’ without being pretentious, and the vocal booth looks inviting. – I haven’t recorded vocals for a long time, so I hope I settle into my new home really quickly. ‘One take wonders all the way!’…

Tiredness began to set in, so instead of going to sleep, I started trying to figure out a 2nd verse for one of the songs. Needless to say, I fell asleep somewhere along the line, until awoken by birds chirping crazily outside my window at 5.34am.I couldn’t believe the sound of them. So loud and so many, definitely haven’t heard that in a long time and most definitely haven’t heard that in the city.  After my initial wonder, I really wanted them to pipe down! Umm, maybe they had a 2nd verse LOL.

Well it’s now 7.32am and I am well and truly up, so I have to get on with that 2nd verse and get ready for this day. – No hours to waste! I also have to hope and pray, this blocked nose feeling is going to go away!

I’ll update on progress tonight, and look out for some samples of the finished work come Friday…

*Here’s a link to some information about creating a showreel and why it is important. – It is geared towards composers for TV/Film, but the essential principles are the same. Showreel

I was due to meet a friend at Charing Cross, but she had been held up. As I mused about what I going to do, the choice seemed to be just nipping to a coffee shop across the road or going to a really nice coffee shop on Monmouth Street. – I haven’t actually been there yet, but some serious coffee drinker friends of mine highly recommend it, and I have been to the one in London Bridge. ( Monmouth Coffee Company)

Anyway, I digress..

I then remembered that I had wanted to check out The Crypt at St Martin-in-the-field, which triggered another memory, which was that I’d read somewhere that they have free lunch time concerts.

So off I went to see what I could find out, and was pleasantly rewarded by finding out the lunch time concert (held on a Mon, Tues, & Fri) was starting at 1pm. With 15mins to go, I headed back up to the church, where I had not long passed through a throng of people going in. – I think I had assumed they were tourists or going in for a service!

I became a part of the throng, and with my concert sheet in hand sat down in anticipation, hoping I would get some of the concert before my friend arrived.

Click for a list of March Concerts

I took a seat at the back, mainly because I knew I’d have to slip out early. However, had I wanted a closer seat, the pickings would be slim, as the church was pretty much full of a diverse throng of people.

From where I was, I could see the the open lid of the grand piano. I sat there taking it all in, and my thoughts alternating from thinking how beautiful the church was, to “maybe I should change my seat”, to snippets of the partially overheard conversation of the two mature ladies mature in front of me . – I got the distinct impression that at least one of them was a regular.

I did eventually move to one of the side cubicles. I still couldn’t see the extraordinary pianist, but did feel I could slip out more discretely.

From my new vantage point, I was intrigued by the 2 oriental gentleman, their heads laid on the back of the pews in front of them. This sight spoke to me of the need of a safe haven, their need of a place to rest, to literally ‘lay their heads’…

Caught up in the reverie of sound, I closed my eyes. My total abandon to what I was hearing only disturbed by my anticipation of my phone going. I had it held in my lap, the reception kept going, and my friend didn’t know where I was. – This distraction also made me aware of the drilling sound from outside.

As it was, exactly at the moment of applause – signifying the end of the first part – my phone started ringing. I popped my small donation in the bucket and went off to further enjoy the rest of the day.

*As well as the free lunchtime concerts, there are Evening concerts and Jazz Nights in the Crypt. – There is a cost for theses.

Hungry to be Heard by Jarra McGrath (click on picture for full explanation)

I’d suggest that we spend our days trying to be heard in one way or another.

Some of us use writing, some music, art, dance, photography etc and even our silence can speak loudly for us.

I would also suggest that in our daily life our jobs speak for us, our relationships with family, friends, work colleagues and even the passerby speak for us, our choices etc. Sometimes not in the way we would like or intend, yet speaking for us nevertheless.

I started this post because I had been inspired by a young lady who has had problems with her throat for which she had to have an operation. Since late last year, she has literally not really had a voice. I think she may have sung before, but at present that is not an option for her. (I will hopefully include more about her in another post).

I can only attempt to imagine how frustrating that might be, and how it might feel to have your voice taken away.

So as I thought more about this post I decided to do a search online under: “finding your voice”. I was hoping to find some piece of research to include that talked about how important it is to be heard. The majority of the results were related to finding your voice as a writer, actor or artist, and also some related to organisations or efforts to help those who have no voice or need others to speak up for them.

I then decided to try another search: “need to be heard”. This produced a mix of results from those related to people, groups, causes, and countries where there is some injustice that needs speaking about, to personal blogs where people express their ‘need to be heard’. (It was during this search that I found the above image by Jarra McGrath ).

I eventually ended up clicking a link which referred to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need*, in particular the ‘ego need’ – original classification ‘esteem needs’ – stating that it involved ‘the need to be heard, to be appreciated, and to be wanted’.

I studied Maslow’s model at school, and this had me delving into different articles on his model and his work, and slightly sidetracked from the focus of the post.

So how can I tie this all together?

I repeat my opening line that I believe that everybody wants to be heard. Add to that our ‘dip’ into Maslow, and the suggestion one of our needs is to be heard… Also consider my google searches:

• ‘finding your voice’ 103,000 for “finding your voice“. (0.31 seconds)
• ‘need to be heard’ 4,060,000 for “need to be heard“. (0.17 seconds)

And finally, I’ll go back to the young lady who was mentioned earlier and the original inspiration for this post.

Unable to use her literal voice, she has taught herself a new craft – crossstitch. She is making works of art that are expressing something of her creativity, and I would suggest that she has found a new way to find her voice.

Have you found yours?

*Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) was an American Pschologist who developed this model (originally proposed in his paper ‘A Theory of Human Motivation’ and initially developed during 1943-1954). It’s aim was to look at, and provide an framework to understanding human motivation. His model was, and to a great extent is still widely accepted as a valid model and has been particularly used in the business world, for e.g. management training, workplace environment, enablement of employees to fulfil their potential.

If you want more information an online search will provide you with lots of links, or you could check out one of the articles I read here: http://www.businessballs.com/maslow.htm

This is such a great walk at whatever time.

I knew about the London Eye, the London Acquarium, County Hall etc, but probably would have seen them as independant entities which occupy the same space.

It has been great to discover the ‘nooks and cranies’ it has has to offer: The skate board/bike space just after the National Theatre, the art displays sometimes outside the National Theatre, the street artists, from dancers to human statues, the little cul-de-sac of shops just before the Oxo Tower, the free art in the gallery along that walkway, the different stalls and festivals that happen – always a pleasant surprise as I hardly ever know beforehand that they are happening! All this is just the tip of the ‘iceberg’.

Just the diversity of people you will see milling about, enjoying a meal, or trying to weave through each other if you are a runner or cyclist are enough of a draw, especially if you are a people watcher.

I also find that the South Bank is a great place for inspiration. So if you’re creative in anyway: a writer, photographer, musician, artist etc you are guaranteed to find something that will get the ‘creative juices’ flowing and cater to the right side of your brain.

So why not take a stroll along there. I am certain you won’t be disappointed.

http://www.southbanklondon.com/

We joined an eclectic group of friends, tourists, locals and theatre goers in the National Theatre Foyer. They have free concerts every evening Monday-Saturday in the ‘Djanology Concert Pitch’. That Saturday the fabulous musicians were Errol Linton and Jean Pierre Lampe.

Under their names it simply said ‘Blues and Reggae’, which in the words of one review of them I have since read, are ‘unlikely bedfellows’, yet done successfully.

Errol and Jean Pierre were a delicious blend of harmonica and double bass.

In addition to this Errol was foot stamping, singing and did a stint on the piano. Jean-Pierre held nothing back, evidenced by the sweat that washed his face.

Errol mentions at one point that they are usually a 5-piece band. I am glad it was just the two of them. They had a harmonic distinctiveness that was so engaging.

The eye contact between them was effortlessly artless, showing them to be a proper partnering of talent. Vibing off each other and giving us the listeners, musical synergy which was sweet to the ear. Enjoy your city!

People of every hue were joined together in the enjoyment. Feet tapping, heads bobbing, bodies swaying, almost in complete unison. People were sat wherever they could find space, changing position, shuffling along to make more room, dipping in for a bit, staying the course. It could be described as poetry in motion.

I berated myself once again for not making more use of this kind of an opportunity. Stuff like this handed to me on a plate, and in the present financial climate. Come on!

My favourite sights:

The little girl sitting on the stage steps.

Stamping her feet in time to the rhythm and enacting the songs. She brought a smile to my face. So uninhibited, what pure enjoyment. Something to cherish and desire in oneself.

The old black woman jamming on the balcony as if she were in church. – I love her! She enjoys her city. I’ve seen her here before, I reckon she is here a lot. I could learn from her. My friend later noticed she had a Tesco’s bag, such an insignificant detail, but it still struck me as something to note down. Maybe it was the normalcy of it, here was a lady, enjoying something the city has to offer. Maybe that bag held her daily shop, or maybe just carries whatever she needs while she is out and about.

Other listeners:

The boy with long blond curly hair, in his red converse, tapping his feet.

The Mum on the floor, her toddler holding onto a chair, bending away, his baby sister or brother asleep in the buggy.

The threesome passing juicy fruit.

Lovers, friends, onlookers, passers by…

The lady in the orange shawl, waiting for a play, tapping on the balcony rail.

The diners in the Mezzanine Restaurant and Terrace Bar, conversing to the backdrop of sound.

The guy in a bow tie and evening suit playing air guitar. He is studying the positioning of his fingers, which makes me believe he knows how to play. Maybe he is trying to work out the chords.

The girl beside me clicking her fingers. Her hands crossed and her professional camera on her lap.

The music ends and I wanted to tell them how good it was. Bar a short break, of 15mins at most, we had an hour and a half of London’s finest. My friend wanted to offer them a tissue, but sees they are prepared with a black flannel. I still encourage her to go.

I wished I could buy a CD, and was tempted to spend what I had not gone prepared to spend. The young woman across for me – who read her book in the short interval – gets out her patent yellow purse, checking to see if she can afford to buy a CD. She could, and she did.

If you’re not already doing so, do more with your city. You may be surprised at what it has to offer.

Errol Linton is also an artist. If you want to check out more of his work click either of the links below: myspace.com/errollinton