Has spring sprung??

What a glorious day ! Fingers crossed that that is the end of the nasty winter weather...
Hope all you students are progressing well - looking forward to seeing the results on Friday!
Keep up the good work! :)

What a fantastic afternoon!

What a great band today - the group were fantastic...with some stand-in singers etc...
Right, next week, no excuses... end of project...!

It's Sunday - have a break! :)

Go on...you can spare an hour or so!
Instead of sitting in your room, all alone with a coffee, come to the Eagle Tavern this afternoon, and have a coffee there! You never know, the excellent live jazz might just inspire you some more...

I will be in there from abour half past one, and it finishes at about half three...but of course you don't need to stay for the whole set. Remember, it's free to get in! (But there is a raffle - £1 a strip - which goes towards paying the band.)

Today's band is the Quentin Collins (trumpet) and Brandon Allen (sax) Quartet. Haven't seen this lot before, but looking at the biogs, they have played with some pretty big names, so they should be able to hold a tune! :)

http://theeagletavern.org.uk/

Hope to see you there!

Haiku

For some reason, I woke up this morning with the need to write Haiku!
I have never tried it before, and am not quite sure that this qualifies properly, but it was there in my head already formed, so I wrote it down quick!


A moment together
the air fills with song
my heart sings



I think maybe it's quite a useful exercise in brevity. I found a good website, if anybody else wants to give it a try -

http://www.ahapoetry.com/haiartjr.htm

- but be warned, it could be addictive!
The overall aim, it seems, is to say something meaningful 'using an economy of words to paint a multi-tiered painting, without "telling all".'

Please send me your efforts !

One of my favourites...

This is one of my favourite pieces of music, played here by the scrummy Johnny Depp... originally by Duke Ellington. I like this version better !

Caravan, from the film Chocolat.

I thought I would add this for good measure - come to think of it, the whole soundtrack is pretty good!

Read the book, if you get the chance... much better than the film, although the film is brilliant!

Yesterday's lecture...

...don't forget, you can hear it all again on the podcast on myUCA!
If you go to the lecture material, there is an extra bit that Chris did not get round to discussing, which is interesting as it relates to Norman Bates in Psycho...

After a spot of self-psychoanalysis, I have decided that my tripartite identity is out of balance, and my Superego needs a kick up the backside!

A fairytale cottage...

...taken in January in Bremen.