September 2013
Dates for Your Diary
Friday 27th September – Saturday 5th October:
I will be away for this week and so there will be no lessons at all. It’s back to normality in week beginning Monday 7th
October, just in time to oversee your final preparations for…
Student Concert! – Sunday 20th October, 2pm
Another opportunity for whoever wants to play their funky music (all of you!) for the kind folk of Bristol (my other students). It is in the same place as the last concert and your music exams, the Bristol Music Club on St Paul’s Road, BS8 1LP. and will be hosted with a friend of mine, Katie Williams. Katie teaches voice and piano, so with a mixture of you guys and her students we will have a fantastic selection of music to listen to. It’s great to have an audience to play to so invite all of your friends and family and tell them it will be cheaper than last time! Any money the concert does make will go to Cancer Research UK. This is one of the Make Sunday Special days, which means if you’re driving then you can’t come via the centre.
Musicianship Workshops
With my friend Katie Williams, I will be hosting a series of Musicianship Workshops on Saturday mornings over the 2013-14 academic year. Each workshop is one hour long and they are specifically aimed at musicians from complete beginner to an approximate grade 3 level, though musicians up to grade 5 will benefit.
There will be four units in the series, with each unit having four one-hour sessions on consecutive Saturdays during the school term. Workshops will be on Rhythm, Aural Skills, Music Appreciation and From Practise to Performance.
For more details check out my website www.joshuabishop.co.uk/workshops
Exciting Musical Events in Bristol
Bristol is overflowing with great venues and concert halls attracting phenomenal musicians every night of the week. I urge you to use and visit them. Highlights over the coming months will be pianist Stephen Hough (21st Sept), James Lisney (29th Sept), guitarist John Williams (11th Oct) and the Night of Spanish Guitar (29th Oct) – all at St George’s, just off Park St. Also, the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra visit Colston Hall on 10th Oct – an orchestra of consistently high quality. If you ever want to go to a concert or gig which clashes with a lesson, just let me know and we will reschedule – I cannot stress how inspiring it is to watch musicians live. Check out the Colston Hall, St Georges, the Old Duke, Tobacco Factory or any of the rest for your musicy sustenance.
Also, the big screen in Millennium square will be broadcasting the Last Night of the Proms, a bombastic and raucous affair, it is most definitely an iconic cultural landmark. If you don’t want to get cold or wet, you can watch it on BBC Four, 7th September.
QUIZ – What is this cracking musical example, lad?
Let me know the name of this tune at your next lesson and I’ll enter your name into a prize draw to win a bar of chocolate of your choice! And if no one guesses correctly, then I get to eat the chocolate.
JoshuaBishop.co.uk
After the cheeky plug earlier in the newsletter, I am delighted to officially announce that I have finally created and launched the website I have been saying I will make for the past year or so. JoshuaBishop.co.uk has only just gone live, but over the coming months it will grow and become a useful resource to help you with your music education. On the site you will find helpful links and where, for my sins, I’ve started a music blog. Leading Note (named after the 7th note of a scale, for all you theory geeks) will see me post regular practise tips and other useful information to help you get the most of your music making. Be sure to check back regularly and read the latest posts.
And lastly (that’s why it’s lastly…)
Please let me have your email address so that I can do these lovely newsletters over the interweb and save those lovely trees which keep us alive.