april news for rae and sunwrae...

phew! it's april already?! the story of my life at the moment.. it's going too fast! where did the time go? a month since my last post?! ok i'm over my outburst. i have had some adventures though..

march was crazy busy with projects.. first and foremost was the dance and music collaboration with choreographer chris scott and 8 dancers from the london contemporary dance school, along with jenni wright, a fabulous french horn player from the guildhall school of music & drama. i wrote the music and played piano & vibraphone.. my london debut performances!! it truly was a great project to be involved in. chris and i were on the same page from day 1 (that's pretty rare i think!) and so hopefully we'll create something more in the coming year or two.. maybe to tour?! that's be good too! we were the finale act ( i like to think that's a compliment! ) and i think the audience liked it too.. wish i could post it here, but i haven't got the dvd (hoping to soon tho). here's a pic tho from my practice sessions...

next up.. my orchestral work was premiered on march 18.. apparently it was great but i haven't heard the recording yet!! hopefully they'll send me a photo too.. i'll be back with more when i know..

then... i had two weeks break (from my masters classes), which consisted of writing essays, project proposals and funding applications (fun stuff eh?).. but also an easter trip to st ives, cornwall.. the beach! now it wasn't exactly beach weather, but it didn't stop the pomms from gearing up in wetsuits and surfing what looked like not even a foot of surf. i laughed out loud sipping coffee from the warm of the beach cafe out of the rain, but gave them points for the effort.

next stop.. denmark! the home of lego!! legoland was awesome.. it's an amusement park with rides for kids and adults!! and so many amazing lego sculptures..
here's a very short but hilarious video from our trip there...

and some pics... couldn't resist this one..

there's even an underwater world with real sharks, fish and all sorts!

crazy that they're all made from tiny lego block huh!

mmm. so not much else on the cards, oh but ah! that's right.. i've taken up a new hobby.. bouldering! couldn't resist taking a picture of my shoes with the view from my flat in the background too..  ha! not that i'm climbing buildings, just walls and boulders so far. it's indoor too here, but maybe the wild outdoors will call when i'm somewhere with good rocks ;-)

mmm. so next musical venture is a short gig for sunday in the apartment.. then onto a project with an illustrator, idris hussain, to make an animation film... stay tuned for updates!!!

til next time, r

ANZAC Day

i played the last post and reveille this morning, for the buninyong rsl. and what a lovely and moving ceremony it was. a new initiative for this year (by vic bradley~ a member for 65 years!), there were 206 white wooden crosses next to the cenotaph, each representing a deceased local anzac. the sun was shining, clear blue skies above and many people gathered to pay their respects. over a cuppa & scones afterwards, i figured out with the local rsl members that it has been 17 years since i joined them. it was 1994 when i first played the last post on bugle for the club, in my school uniform! i remember asking my dad if i really had to wear my uniform on a holiday!! and i'm still there (not in my school uniform though). wowee.

and now as the sun goes down, i'm back home practicing piano, preparing for the first sunwrae 2011 tour rehearsal tomorrow. can't wait! got some new tunes to put in front of the fab four (the string quartet that is).. just gotta finish a few bits and pieces on their parts/notations tonight and i'll be ready. the fire is lit and i have a bottle of red at the ready too, so i'm set for the evening!

better get back to it. stay tuned for more news soooon!

a whole new world...

so recently i joined twitter. and i upgraded the sunwrae group to a 'page' on faceybook (with a little help from some computer-friendly friends ). it's a whole new world in the social stream for me and frankly i'm not sure i can keep it up, but i'll give it a red hot go for the sunwrae tour (you'll notice, all four of you that are reading anyway, that even this blog is out of date.. you see? i tells the truth). anyway, back to tweeting. still not sure exactly what i should tweet. afterall, who wants to know that it's past 11pm and i'm still working? don't i have anything better to do? well, at the moment, no. just tour stuff. i updated my website, the faceybook thingemy, i tweeted about limelight mentioning the sunwrae tour, drafted an e-mailout to the subscribers, replied to way too many emails, had a skype meeting with my fabulous tour manager KJ and it'll start again all tomorrow. i suppose however, that the most part of the day (until 4) was spent (finally) at the piano... i want more days like today!

i'm nearly finished writing the string parts for 'sem duvida', a brazil-inspired work. can't wait to perform it... but there's a long way to go on my other new pieces before they'll get to the stage. still, tomorrow will again be at the drawing board (literally, it's where i'm writing music, with a big screen, laptop & midi keyboard, next to my grand piano), with less business, more music.

my playing has been given a rev-up the past month, with me practicing some crazy scalic runs. trying to train my let hand to be more like my right. i think it has become a little lazy after the summer silly season. but you get that. well, i do. the book's called 'the virtuoso pianist'. apparently it's meant to be playable (up to speed) in an hour. freak, if anyone can do that, with this book, including the repeats, they deserve a medal (it'd want to be a big one and i'm not paying). but good luck to them with having any kind of life. i don't think it's possible anyway. and if someone challenges me (that probably means one of your four as i'm not sure anyone else reads this), go for it. i'll give some kind of special prize. if you have suggestions, bring them on.

oh. and trumpet practice this week too. of course, anzac day is coming up and i'll be suitably celebrating the day (well, commemorating) with the buninyong rsl in victoria. i think this, 'the last post', my community service, now stands at 16 years (or thereabouts).. who would've thunk i could have lasted that long?

other stuff...
played a gig with david ross macdonald last week, an album launch at the northcote social club. lovely show all round, playing with some fab muso's.. and i'm happy to say that my name is now on a vinyl release. it's definitely inspired me to release something of sunwrae on vinyl. sometimes it's all i play at home (vinyl that is, not sunwrae, that'd just be weird).

and last thing for tonight. lordy how many things i'm learning, day by day, i can't believe it. even if it's to nod, smile and back away from people who you know aren't going to listen. or to double check that last move in that hard sudoku (you feel crap if you mess it up in pen). or practice makes perfect (or does it?!). whatever the case, i'm listening and learning and can't wait to turn off my computer and fall asleep. if anyone is still reading this, thanks. you've made my day, and certainly the blog, worth writing.

i'll leave you with an image i found from the archives... from the apollo bay music fest in 2007.. sketched by kellie o'dempsey during our performance there... not sure who took the photo..

tour dates..

ok. so tour dates have finally been announced. phew! check out the website for details.. sunwrae.com
please subscribe to our mailing list, help spread the word!!

it was a busy week's end on friday gone, licking stamps (how fun you say), stuffing envelopes and organising the distribution of tens of thousands of flyers and posters. i can now happily say that they'll arrive in your letterbox today or tomorrow (not all of them)... and that is, if your name is on our mailing list already!

then it was off to the ballarat acoustic music festival on saturday. and what a lovely festival it was.. a great range of music performed entirely acoustically (how refreshing!) in intimate venues & cute coloured tents at the ballarat observatory. mel robinson and i performed two sets (cello & vibes) for a very attentive audience.

and now it's heads down. music creation time. hoping to post some mp3 snippets here this week if i can work out my recording device... fingers crossed.

and good news...
rabbits without spleens album is finished... finally... 6 years later (i never thought i would take that long to finish something!).
as well as my improv album with eugene skeef! yay! hoping to have both albums pressed for the tour, or at least the melbourne show. we'll see.

10-4.
r