A challenge

I went into town today to get a couple of refunds on stuff I couldn't be arsed to try on before buying, and the music shop lured me in with its pretty saxophones in the window. While I was there I thought I'd have a look for some clarinet music to play at Emily's wedding next month (nerves a go-go, I'm terrified, but she was one of my best friends at school and I can't afford a half decent wedding present, so if she wants me to play, then play I will). The clarinet music was a bit of a fail, partly because I got distracted by the piano books.

I feel like I've spent the last few years using up half my energy on wishing I could play piano better. I've been playing since I was five, but I stopped having lessons (and as such, stopped improving) when I was eleven, and it hit me this morning that that means I gave up HALF MY LIFE ago. I couldn't help but feel a bit sad about that. I love piano. SO. I've set myself a challenge. Why don't I stop wasting my time wishing I was better at piano, and use the time I save by not doing that on actually doing something about it?

There was a whole shelf for the Trinity Guildhall exam books. I know ABRSM is the exam board that most people use - and it's who I did all my clarinet exams with - but a) I did grades 1-4 on piano with Trinity and b) this shop didn't have any of the AB books in. (Also c) Trinity don't ask for as many scales and arpeggios and they attribute more marks to your pieces than all the exercises that I'm crap at, like aural, so it's a slight cop-out. Hooray :P) So I've gone back to Trinity. I had a look at grade 5 and it actually looked fairly easy, so I put it back. Grade 6 - with some hard work, it looks achievable. Grade 7 - sold out. Grade 8? *snigger* I know - as if. But I had a look anyway and while it does look hard, it doesn't look as hard as I thought it would. It doesn't look impossible. With some time and effort...oh, I really want grade 8. DO IT, CLAIRE, BUY IT BEFORE YOU CHICKEN OUT.

I'm now the proud and slightly apprehensive owner of Trinity Guildhall Piano Grade Books 6 and 8. I have summer at home with my piano, and I'm going to get grade 8. Even if it kills me.

Music just ain't what it used to be...

Emma and I are having an epic cheesy music of our childhood nostalgia session. So far:

A1 - 'Just one on one, that's the way we do it baby...'

Dodgy - 'If it's good enough for you, it's good enough for me, it's good enough for two...' (What a CLASSIC)

911 - 'You got my body shakin', sends a shiver to my soul...' (I've just looked up 'How Do You Want Me To Love You?' on youtube - oh dear, I used to fancy Lee, how embarrassing)

Peter Andre - 'Woooooooooooooooooah, mysterious girl, I wanna get close to yooooou...' (You can't not, really)

Space - 'I've never thrown my knickers at you, and I don't come from Wales...' (Well, me neither)

Another Level - 'I love the taste of whipped cream, spread it on top of me...' (How that ever got released to an audience of pre-pubescent girl fans, I will never understand, it is FILTHY)

Eiffel 65 - 'I'm blue, dabadee dabadiiii...'

Babylon Zoo - 'Spaaaacemaaaaaaaan, I always wanted to you to go, into spaaaaaaaace maaaaaaaaaan...'

East 17 - 'Baby if you've got to go away, don't think I can take the pain, won't you stay another day...' (STAAAAY NOWWWWWWWW!)

Boyzone - 'Love me for a reason, let the reason be love...'

B*Witched - 'The rain goes on, ooooooon and on again...just blame it on the weatherman...'

Billie Piper - 'Because we want to, because we want to...'

They just don't make music like that anymore. (Whaddya mean, 'For good reason'?!) God bless you, 1990s <3

Memories! *happysigh*

There's a video of Jamie Cullum at Cheltenham!
www.skyarts.co.uk/video/video-sky-arts-at-the-cheltenham-jazz-festival-2010

I WAS THERE! SECOND ROW, DEAD CENTRE! Thank god it's not in HD, or you'd be able to see me screaming and crying and jumping up and down with my arms flailing about and generally making an idiot of myself. I can see where I was standing but it's a blur!

It was a wonderful gig, worth waiting over four years for. He sang so many of my favourites, made me jump up and down even though I had a bad knee and had promised myself I wouldn't, then made me cry just minutes later. And, having worried that it wouldn't be the same without Geoff and Seb...well, then Chris came on and I was faced with my now recurring dilemma - 'Do I look at my IDOL at the piano, or the pretty on the double bass?!' I left the gig amazed and elated and genuinely speechless. My hands shook with excitement to the point that the most eloquent text I was able to send read something like 'BLOODY HELL THAT WAS EPIC'.

Afterwards we met him, and he was so incredibly friendly, and then we got back to the hotel and the vending machine accidentally gave us buy-one-get-one-free on hot chocolate and Mini Eggs (BONUS!!) There was giggling and not-being-able-to-walk-straight and grinning to the point where our cheeks hurt and it's a bit hazy now but I think I even jumped up and down on the bed. It was one of those days when everything goes your way.

Good, good times. The best.