Search Results

Hello friends Thank you for reading and coming back to me blog. I am currently in Sydney as I write this and have been to the Sydney Opera House. A bit of a tinge on events is that its storm season in Australia so lots of Thunder Storms... Last week as I had aimed to improve my habits and had picked three habits to stick to: Drink a bottle of water as I get up Exercise before 10 am Read & Journal before bed I have been reading up on the benefits of it all and want to share why this is helpful. Having a glass of water first thing in the morning helps rehydrate yourself after a sleep and also: Increases your energy levels - it helps activate your adrenal system which increases mental and physical performance early in the morning so ultimately you will feel better and I am feeling more awake because of it. Also, having a tea or coffee (caffeine) in the morning I have found out is forcing you to stay drowsy and forces you to have another tea/coffee later on (the mid morning coffee). Water in the morning is better for you than tea/coffee contrary to popular thought. It curbs and hunger or cravings - you are prone to consume less food throughout your day so is lighter for your body and your wallet. I have started already to eat less food, having better sleep and feeling more awake in the morning due to this change. BEING OUTSIDE BEFORE 10 AM This has been pretty straight forward for me as I am in travelling in new places at the moment but if in the standard 9-5 it can be a bit monotonous... I have felt better and its because of Vitamin D which can help improve your immune system, make your bones stronger and lower your risk of developing cancer. You will sleep like a baby as you have used your body productively early doors and can help with regulating your mood and serotonin levels which can lower your potential levels of depression. Gratitude Journalling I have become much more thankful and appreciative of the quality of life we have in Scotland. I have met lots of people from around the world and when I am tell them I am Scottish... the awe that people have. "Your country is beautiful.." "Aww... family anscestors are from Stirling..." "Such lovely buildings in Scotland..." When you grow up somewhere you see the faults however taking a step back.... or out of the place... you see features. We Scots have such a rich history... So many old and wonderful buildings, churches, cathedrals, castles. Such a strong sense of culture and identity that is our own and the world I am finding out is thankful for us to make communities in places such as Australia and New Zealand. We have built the world and here is some of the things we are known for... https://www.businessinsider.com/products-of-scotland-2014-9 Gratitude: Your brain cant be grateful and anxious at the same time. So being internally recently quite an anxious person... this has helped me this week is seeing day to day positives and I am learning how to be grateful. This is helping in levelling out my thoughts, my emotions and is slowly aligning my priorities. Three from this week: "I am thankful to have family wanting to look after me" "I am thankful for having been raised with good quality food" "Free lift in Napier when I wasn't feeling well" What are you thankful for? Let me know please and I would highly encourage anyone to do this. Cheers Jack

Now usually this piece is talked about America... but this has been done before. This piece always gave me visions of spontaneity to that of the movements of animals so will attempt this. MUSIC STARTS: Our main character (piano) is a Zebra alone trying to get back to find his own kind, there one problem... he doesnt know he is a zebra... He walks up a little hill and can see this view in the distance... The alone zebra can see lions, toucans, flamingoes, hippos, zebras and many others all chilling in the Saharan Desert sun, drinking and bathing in the pool oasis... there is one thing... where does he fit in? The solo piano plays, our little young zebra is walking through the animals, asking himself "Where do I fit it?" "What am I?" (3 mins 45secs) The jungle doesn't stop to help... the orchestra starts to alert our isolated animal and the rules of the jungle... (4mins 6 secs) danger arises as he goes too close to the lions... (4mins 15secs) Walking past the pond beside some monkeys, antelope, flamingoes boogieing in the water. (5 mins 20secs) as the music slows he meets some hippos, giraffe chilling in the sun The slow giraffe makes the zebra realise he is tired and thinks he should stay here as its a thing in common and tries staying here tentatively to see if he fits in with the group in the shade out of the sun... (8 mins) However the piano/zebra sees the shadow of himself and realises he is a different shape to the giraffe. He must be different so starts moving away. (9mins 10secs) He sees excitedly a group of black and white animals in the distance that look roughly the same shape as the shadow he saw... he walks over. (10mins 13secs) The orchestra plays as he walks through the herd. He is home with his kind... but still doesn't know himself... SOLO VIOLIN (11mins 02 secs): He sees a beautiful female zebra beside the lake and joins in. As he meets more he starts knowing himself more and plays the same song as the rest sound like. SOLO PIANO: He is a zebra and fits in however something is missing. He knows he is an individual and doesnt want to be just fitting in. Who is he? ORCHESTRA/PIANO: The zebra moves and sees some other animals, hyenas, lynx, bison, and other animals but makes him fond of his own kind. Danger lurks... best to be back with his own kind ENDING: He has found his herd again and the animals are in unison at the the oasis

Hello friends! This week I have started to become really grateful of all the conversations I am having while travelling. There are so many wonderful people around the world that have weird and wonderful interests, hobbies, jobs, opinions... I had a brilliant conversation with a guy from Vancouver Island, Canada. Being honest... I wasn't in the mood for having a chat but he introduced himself and I was didn't want to be a bad guy for saying no. Within 5 minutes, I am talking to one of the Youngest tree specialists in Canada and finding out about root structure, algae networks supplying nutrients and Sequoia tree roots. This is not the only interesting conversation I have had so an idea came to me to start maybe recording them and seeing what happens. This is not part of this but maybe both interconnect somewhere along the road. I'm currently in Wellington and met two boys from England and Schoolie from Canada. A spontaneous dip into the Bay of Plenty at 8pm at night. A bit of a metaphor for jumping right into things so this is why I am writing this newsletter. I am going to write about three things I have learned, that is helping me improve or that have stuck with me and would like to share in the hope it might help somebody. I'm far from perfect... this will be me sharing things that make me slightly less imperfect. #1 - "The quality of my life is the quality of my habitual emotions" - Tony Robbins. Tony Robbins is an American motivator/businessman/entrepreneur/speaker. This has hit me deep being honest. My daily habits are pretty poor. I have usually been just been on time or late to things previously in life. Pretty irregular with going to bed at the same time. Easily distracted by phone... (typical millennial). I have read James Clear Atomic Habits recently and would like to implement a bit of accountability on myself. Things I am committed to this week are: Drink some water as I wake up Exercise before 10 am every morning Read before bed every day Gratitude Journalling before bed every day. #2 - Tree roots General Sherman is the largest tree in the World and can be found in California. It is a Giant Sequoia and has a height of 83.5 and has an age of 2,300-2,700 years old. You would think the roots for such a massive tree would be very deeper however it is known that Sequoia trees are relatively shallow underneath the "Sequoia redwoods function as a community. Each tree is dependent on the other trees as their roots are intertwined. Through these dense networks of roots, they share support and nutrients. Because of their root systems, sequoia redwoods can withstand wind, fire, earthquakes, and storms. They have been doing all that effectively since before our calendar started counting forward" (p.27) - John Eckert in Just Teaching This has impacted me that travelling is not the be all and end all... this is just a short phase... building roots and being part of a community that you engage in and participate with regularly is the most important to the meaning of life. I know trees are not a new phenomenon with talking about roots but this stuck with me and also particularly that they manage to share nutrients. If one is dehyrated... the roots and ground network sends messages to send water... MAGIC! What are you doing to connect with your local community outwith your job? #3 - Cover the roads with leather Excerpt from Zen Golf - Dr. Joseph Parent - p12-13 In ancient India, there was a kind whose feet were very sensitive. He complained constantly about the kingdom's roads, which were rough and rocky. Finally, the king decided he would have all the roads covered with leather so that he could walk on leather anywhere he wanted to go and his feet would be comfortable. He invited the best craftsmen in the land to bid on this formidable project. One replied, "I can do the job, but it will cost all that is in the kingdom's treasury." Another said, "I can cover the roads with leather for half of what is in the treasury." Then an old woman came to the king and said, "I can do the job for ten rupees. I'll just strap a piece of leather under each of your feet, and you'll be walking on leather wherever you go" This is used in a golf mindset textbook however could be used for self help as well. I have been prone to being a complainer... even internally about wanting the conditions to be absolutely perfect... however that hasn't lead to anywhere apart from more inner frustration. Instead of that, recognising that everyone has to play the same course of life. Sure there are times when people have a bit of a head start, whether it be upbringing, financially, body shape, etc... So what? Life isn't fair on a day to day basis. But those good and bad break even out longer term so the purpose or even the test is to adapt yourself to play whatever conditions you find yourself in. Cover your feet with leather and you'll be walking comfortably no matter what the conditions are... DO RE MI - Music Being from Scotland and musical, I am a big fan of Scottish Music and find it is vitally important to our National identity. Being in New Zealand and understanding the Māori culture and also realising there is a big Pipe Band culture here due to immigration... I am finding the average New Zealander knows more about their musical culture and heritage/heritage of immigration than that of the average Scot... that's disappointing. I am also classically trained as a Violinist and have been a conductor previously. I feel if I could share a piece of traditional and classical music to something that I have listened to, my hope would be that somebody who hasn't listened to it would enjoy it. Plan: One Classical Piece of Music One Traditional Piece of Music One of podcasts Doh - Dvorak 9th Symphony This piece was written about the USA! Have a read of my article about it relating it to politics of USA today here Re - No Way Out by Assynt Award winning instrumental folk trio ‘Assynt’ are former BBC Radio Scotland Young Musician of the Year finalists, Graham Mackenzie (fiddle) and David Shedden (pipes/whistles) alongside BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award winner Innes White (guitar). 2018 saw the official launch of the band, the release of their debut album ‘The Road to the North’ and were awarded ‘Up and Coming Artist of the Year’ at the MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards. Inspired by the great piping, fiddle and Gaelic traditions of the Highlands of Scotland, Assynt’s self penned melodies are “refreshingly contemporary” (Folk Radio UK) while remaining true to the music traditions they are rooted in. The group have come to be recognised for their tight-knit fiddle and pipe playing blended with intricate guitar lines and grooves. This powerful and intuitive musicality continues to be showcased throughout their second studio release ‘Where From Here’. Mi - Dan from Germany I have started what could be a podcast... (depends if people actually listen to it...). I am interviewing random people that I have met then asking them "This is mental... would you like to be on a podcast?" Some have said yes funnily enough... here is my first one... Let me know what you think? The fade out... Well this has been the first one... firstly if you have made it to the end. Thank you! I hope it has brought something of use to you.

“Space... The final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilisations. To boldly go where no one has gone before.” These are the famous opening words of Captain John Luc Picard from  the beginning of each episode of the T.V series Here is the intro: The beginning is what interests me… It sounds like the Universe, it sounds like being in space looking at stars, it sounds vast. It is the same note played at every point, very low and everything in between to very sneakily high all together and really quiet. 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep and the spirit of God was hovering over the waters” - Genesis 1:1 The beginning of the bible starts like this. If you believe this, and if there was music to the audiobook... I would image the music would start something like the beginning of STAR TREK. Where did he get his idea from? GUSTAV MAHLER! (Well actually Beethoven but for another time) Symphony No. 1 is the first symphony I heard as a teenager and the beginning is what hooked me. At the start of Symphony No. 1, you can hear the entire orchestra playing one note all at different points really low to really high like the beginning of Star Trek. Then we hear TWO notes; “Let there be Light”! - Genesis 3:1 The tune develops… Let there be a vault between the waters”… God called the vault “Sky” and called the dry ground “land” “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it” - Genesis 1:11 Earth was starting to take shape and then adds plants and animals that can be heard with the intensifying of the themes together and the Cuckoo motif played in the woodwinds. At 4 minutes the first main theme is introduced and a man is alive and is exploring the beauty that God has made. It is the most perfect Garden on the most beautiful day! Imagine peeling the branches away to walk through and first thing you see is the most perfect garden; some plants, a stream and pond, animals, fish, birds flying, insects, colourful flowers all for the first time… "Isn't it becoming a fine world?; Chirp! Chirp! Fair and sharp!; How the world delights me” (lyrics from the same melody used in a previous song also written by Mahler) - so much so Mahler lets us listen to it twice! After the second time, we wind down for the the day. The animals go home as the fun for the day is. The man doesn’t know this but is saying bye to all the animals. Its the end of the day, however the ominous one note reappears and it is different to the beginning… Having to walk through the trees…the sun is lowering and night is coming amongst us. Walking through the garden has become a slightly more dangerous place. Like in the jungle book… Mowgli meets a snake, like Scar in the Lion King, Hyenas lurking. Doubt has started to creep into our character here. He is not sure where exactly to go. The single note continues as birds high up in the tree keep singing “CUCKOO” like the beginning but is almost startling because of the change in mood. Trying to follow the light out of the trees and danger we get to the edge of the Forrest and the Horns bring first fanfare... he has reached a gap in the trees and can see the stars. A touch of light within the darkness. THE MOON and the STARS! The world is still beautiful and is still active at night much to the fondness of our character but is slightly more subdued in the evening with new guests, an OWL, a bat, hedgehog, badgers, two hippos in the pond and lasts with the new theme until he sense trouble amongst our furry friends! The night time animals all of a sudden start to be scared however. They start running away. WHAT IS HAPPENING!? Then SMASH! BREAKTHROUGH! SUNRISE!! DAY has arrived and can see the garden that we fell in love with the animals from the day reappearing. GOD speaks with the Horns… ALL IS WELL HUMANS - EARTH - GOD all in Harmony. “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” - Genesis 1:31

Belief, a train through the countryside & Hitting BOMBS... The start of 2024! HAPPY NEW YEAR! You find me a touch lost… but also a touch closer to being found… I know that makes zero sense but for some reason make absolute sense to me. As some of you may know, I decided a while back to quit my job and go travelling. This was a very difficult decision to make for a number of reasons. Some of them I will share with you now: Something has been calling me to see more of the world rather than currently settling in my hometown of Dundee. The job I had had lovely colleagues and lovely pupils and all support was in the right places and for the first time I felt the values in my job aligned with the values I have. I have 14 weeks holiday a year… every year… and 1 hour and 10 minute lunches. Nobody else has that... However it came down to this… I felt I needed to make a jump. Even though I was scared, deep down I have had to trust it would be all fine. I know I am unsettled and unhappy so I decided to go travelling and currently am in New Zealand and I have a complete blank canvas for the next stages of my life. Why have I come here? In two words… Golf and Sun. I feel I have all this space and time to heal my mind of all the overthinking and doubts, see new places and fundamentally find out what I believe and figure out next, and also grow in certain aspects that maybe I have neglected in my life for a while. My plan is this: NEW YEAR, NEW ME... to grow in different things I have learnt each week, document them in the hope it might be useful to somebody else and gives me accountability. “When you read and write you learn how to think” - Jordan Peterson I am going to write about three topics this week. FAITH Sibelius HITTING BOMBS FAITH I have never read the bible. I have never liked reading. I have always enjoyed being outside and with people over being alone and inside. I have also felt like the generic thing of, I can watch the movie when it comes out which in hindsight is a blanket statement that hides a sense of impatience (Just as well THE CHOSEN is out now). Also, I hated English in school so was more of a reason to loathe reading was to be forced to read. I got my higher English and got out. When University came, it was slightly different. I studied Music so chunks of my course was performing and composing so (less reading) it was more varied. That's maybe why I chose Music, because it was less reading… I recently saw a video of a man claiming that nobody is an Atheist. This was confusing for me as in school you are taught there are three options: Believer, Agnostic, and Atheist. Script from the Video: A: Do you believe God exists? B: NO A: Could God exist? B: Theoretically God could exist A: So God could exist or not? B: Sure A: So you are agnostic… Basically, either believe or not sure if you believe was the premise of the video... WHO THE HELL WAS JESUS Over the past year I have painstakingly and at the same time begrudgingly been trying to find out who the hell was Jesus?, like literally… there are buildings in hundreds of countries dedicated to a guy, but people don’t know who he was. So the first thing I did as a standard millennial was Google "Who was Jesus?" and “What does Jesus mean?” GOOGLE: Jesus means in Hebrew: ‘God saves.’ At the annunciation, the angel Gabriel gave him the name Jesus as his proper name, which expresses both his identity and his mission.” I didn't go to church when I was young and have forgotten everything in school since. Basically, the story is he saved everybody, including ME and YOU. I have been so tough on myself for the past 5 years and have thought really poorly of myself and about four years ago I was told by my friend (Hi Peter!) That I AM FORGIVEN! And since then deep down I have been trying to find out basically if its true and am I forgiven… am I? WHO THE HELL was this dude? WHAT THE HELL? To be continued… MUSIC As some of you know, I did my University degrees in Music, my masters project was in conducting and in part working with the University Orchestra’s, Choirs and Bands. It was a great time and got this incredible appreciation and love of reading and listening to Classical Music. I now love trying to analyse and explain the music through reading it and how every piece tells a story. From growing up listening to music of mainly the taste of my parents music, it consisted of Scottish Celtic Rock band “Runrig” and other folk and rock bands of the 70s and 80s, I feel I got the most varied and wide palette of Music listening experiences. I didn’t like Classical Music when I was a teenager… it was long and sounded the same… It was however when I got to University came that I started to understand it more and got interested in Classical Music. I realised that people didn’t love or listened to Classical Music because people didn’t understand it. Behind each piece of Classical Music there is a story to be told. I don't mean the story of how it was made, for the majority that is boring and I can see why. I don't mean technically either... "The exposition modulates from D Major to the relative minor in bar 74" NO! I mean the narrative story! Each piece in some way (thats well written) yes will do all the technical bits correct but through this conveys a specific narrative. Potentially a story, an emotion, an image. That's why I didn’t enjoy it when I was younger, I didn't know how to interpret what the music was telling me. When understood, I believe Classical Music is the highest form of Music that can evoke more complex emotions that current music can't get to. “Classical Music is for everybody, they just haven’t found out about it yet” - Benjamin Zander I believe this statement and am now passionate that the story can be told and would love to share the passion I have for these pieces of Music that I am listening to. First Piece: The train through the Countryside Sibelius is from Finland in the 19th/20th Century and is known for his music having developed a specific Finnish sound (roll with me here) and identity during its struggle from independence from Russia. The opening three ascending notes (F#, G and A in first line of diagram above) are repeated and is setting the scene of a nice day. Personally, when listening to it gives me strong imagery of a view of green fields (like passing by the old Microsoft screensaver on a train) and reminds me of the train journey between Aberdeen and Dundee. The main theme starts with woodwind (second & third line of diagram) and tells me that all is well in the countryside on a nice day - blue sky with some clouds - but by the third line something is wrong and the train stops as there is a warning of something ahead on the journey. The train carries on and we are going but something has changed… We are going in the wrong direction and cant go back as its a train has to get to the destination. Such is life with a bit of regret and doubt of what is the right direction now we carry on a tad more tentatively but the sound has changed and we are trying different musical keys to get back on the right path like the beginning. We find ourselves in a cave, starting to find our feet and confidence back and move forward through the night. With trepidation for a few minutes, we attempt a few different directions (new melody), desperate to find ourselves back on the right track. We find ourselves with a new theme Have you ever had that internal struggle and doubt of making the wrong decision in your life when you are full of doubts? It feels like every option has negatives and your don’t know which way to turn. Think of that moment in your life… Maybe you made the wrong decision… then where are you… in chaos… The only way back through that is by trying stuff out, probably failing then move on to the next chapter… and probably falling ad nauseam. In short, the process of learning from your mistakes is the suffering of life and this I feel is what is happening in this music. It starts on the right path then gets lost… musically its in D major then moves to various centre grounds A Major, G Major, B Minor, G#, F#, A flat, B flat, to name a few. The music is trying to find the centre ground it knows before it lost its way at the beginning. At the 6 and a half minute mark we find ourselves managing to fly in the night sky with this triumphant new theme, it has found a route home and can make our way back to the right track of D Major. We land back gently on the track and in a new day with the sun shining again. Doubt keeps trying to creep in with the previous warnings but from our learned experience, of all that failing we manage to keep ourselves on the right track to the very end where we find - home. If you listen closely there is something missing in that opening theme, the full theme at the end is the same as the beginning but with the Double Bass (red circles in diagram below) playing in the space. The train journey is ended. The learned experience and suffering of the journey forces you to get your act together and thus become a more complete person. I would like you to listen to this piece and do TWO things: Follow the tune from D major at the beginning, how it looses its way and gets back to D major. AND Think of a moment in your life where you have been going on all fine then lost your way, think back to all the decisions that you might have struggled or even failed in making the correct ones and eventually of did you get back on? Listen to Leonard Bernstein’s interpretation with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. https://open.spotify.com/track/3h17eAlSx9J6pgHgJlgcz4?si=5c8d833046d246a0 RYPSTICK WARNING! Golf nerds will only find this interesting… I have started speed training GOLF Style… I have bought A RYPSTICK. For the non golfers, this is a weighted club without a head and removable weights and you swing it as fast as you can to try and get faster swing speeds for your golf game. There are specific exercises that an attached app on your phone gives to try and increase your swing speed both normal direction and the other direction. Review: The app is brilliant, gives you a wee warm up to do and Youtube tutorial videos for doing each exercise. I did my baseline, broke my landlords washing line by accident on swing two… OOPS… and recorded an average of 90mph. Would recommend so far… bought off Amazon. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rypstick/dp/B08QRR79KP?th=1&_encoding=UTF8&tag=jgchristie-21&linkCode=ur2&linkId=bfb0c178c8d2fed2bbe07893ebfa8154&camp=1634&creative=6738 Will keep you updated on my quest for hitting BOMBS! EPILOGUE Well I have reached the end of my first installment of my first ever blog… GOD only knows if I will do another one, GOD only knows if anybody will read it... Thanks for taking the time to read and I will be separating it all from now on. Best Wishes Jack

Life is not fair. We all die…! Harsh but true. When Beethoven was writing his 7th Symphony in 1811/12, Napoleon was preparing a campaign against the Soviets much to the dislike of Beethoven and also he was starting to loose his hearing as majority of people know, he was deaf by the time he died. With that hopelessness and potential injustice that could be personally construed from his personal and political issues of the time, what can be the conclusion one can get to from this situation… We all suffer and it all does come to an end. THATS the harsh reality of life. Have you ever felt guilty of doing something or to someone that you probably regret doing? Or have you felt a sense of injustice at something that didn’t go your way? BOUM BOUM-BOUM BOUM BOUM is the first phrase heard and is heard by an instrument at every moment of the 8 minute piece and it starts in A minor. Its like a funeral march to the inevitable conclusion that Life is suffering and its not fair. I think that the second half of the opening section is repeated only to hammer home this uncomfortable truth. It sounds simple, complicated and repetitive at the same time. I’m not adding a THATS LIFE to this one as well ;) The new melody played over the original is played first by the cello is then handed to the violins as it builds up and woodwinds are then added as the movement grows. I personally feel this melody is the individual narrative of your life. This is you telling your story of life over the normality of traditions that the first theme brings. What is your story? What is the issue in your life that haunts you? Did somebody wrong you? Did you wrong somebody? Do you wish things could have turned out differently? The intensity grows and the intensity of the emotions of regret and resentment grow. At 2 minutes 37secs it begin to decline because as you know its in the past. Suddenly, you remember the good times and have nostalgia for the past. The joy that those particular times brought to you and overall chapter of your life. But as it finishes… you remember and acknowledge your part in the breaking of that and how you had to move onwards. The original theme comes back and illustrates you cant turn back time and you still have to live your present self. As you can hear, the theme is slightly different with a more frantic (arpeggiated) accompaniment in the strings with two lines talking against each other like conflicting thoughts both positive and negative. This all climaxes back in the present day at 6 minutes 13 secs where you realise that the tragic story that has been written so far in your life has got to where you are right now and it feels like nothing has changed. The second theme comes back again in perfect timing for the positive feelings we all crave to keep us going and with a few big chords from the orchestra we have got the final stage of acceptance. The pizzicato ending sounds eerily exhausted and frail by the end, the theme has been used so many times that it knows that its the end and it knows what happens next when you get to old age. Death. When listening to this piece do TWO things again: Listen to the theme, then the addition of the new melody on top of it and how it’s passed around the orchestra, it looses its way into the nostalgic sections then back to the theme before ending. AND Think of a time when you have felt a sense of resentment or injustice and as the melody plays, speak your story out in your mind, as the different instruments play out the melody at different times, try and play out the different angles to that particular situation…

"I'll be there in the morning m'lady. Don't worry" - Mr Carson, Downton Abbey Have you ever been in an old House... castle, mansion, stately home. I remember being in Bamburgh Castle for the first time... huge building with huge ceilings, big portraits on the wall and also large Mirrors to make the light (pre electric) brighter in the rooms back in the old days. Wood everywhere... Large windows, paintings, portrait of the Duke from 300 years ago, chaise longue, four poster bedroom, the kids play room with dolls etc. The life of luxury! There was a room for everything - entry room, sitting room, games room, library, kids room, dining room, music room, bathroom, dungeon...! How quaint! However there was also the workers quarters Galley kitchen, workers dormitories, no windows, no lights... much gloomier affair... Imagine living in those days... Imagine yourself having the daily routine of getting up in your jammies, breakfast served and reading the newspaper in the living room, bath time, into the library, out into the walled garden. Then imagine the life as the worker. Hectically preparing meals, helping washing the family, entertaining the kids and putting them to bed. Any classical music I listened to prior to University was pretty much what I thought happened in these types of places. Posh people paying poor people to play for them to continue to live poshly... Mozart's Violin Concerto No.5 last movement is in a form called Rondo with different sections of the movement. Section A - Happy Section B - Stately Section A - Happy Section C - Frantic Etc Pretend to be walking through the different rooms and daily life of the house in the happy sections of the music. Start in the living room and look at the artefacts. Follow the changes in music as you move to another place/room. What do you see? What is happening? When it gets sad feel the frantic nature in the kitchen as a worker preparing for the day ahead. AND Listen to the original theme different sections and follow it back to the original theme as you go back to the living room every time. Hear the changes on Mood with changes in Key.

"The second star to the right Shines in the night for you To tell you that the dreams you plan Really can come true The second star to the right Shines with a light so rare And if it's Never Land you need It's light will lead you there" I've always been interested in flying. Its one of those things that people would love to be able to do. The thought has crossed my mind several times (definitely when I was older than I should have been thinking about something else). Imagine sneaking out the house late at night as kids. Parents are asleep (like in The SNOWMAN) out in to the back garden then lift off... YOU CAN FLY! That is what I imagined when I first heard the first few minutes of Vltava by Czech composer Bedřich Smetana. It actually was a mixture of that and THE SNOWMAN. The sounds ominous but then the opening melody looks like this: E minor if anybody is interested... I personally feel it is like the motion you get when you are taking off and looking out the window at night... you see the nights sky and you can see the world, street lights, maybe snow, people and cars over bridges. What else do you see? You think of what everybody might be doing in that city. As all flights, after a few minutes you have to land. At around 3 minutes the flight is starting to land.. and you find yourself walking in the streets of Prague. Beautiful buildings, lots of people, some dancing. This new theme in in C major: For a brief moment you feel happy seeing other people being happy dancing in the streets and maybe celebrating a wedding. You get to a quiet road close to the water and look up at the nights sky. You see the most graceful thing... a boat flying across the sky You fly up to join it and its empty. You look back down to the city and now it seems all quiet and peaceful during this quiet section in the music... You decide to start sailing the empty boat as the original theme starts again to continue your adventure but halfway through you meet some turbulence and the music gets dramatic as you sail through the storm... You come through the storm and it is MORNING and you have found your way home! THE MUSIC ENDS IN A TRIUMPHANT FORTE AS YOU ENTER THE HARBOUR. Your friends and family are happy to see you. WHAT AN ADVENTURE! I would like you to listen to this piece and do the same two things but this peace of music is quite descriptive I feel so follow your story adventure. This one was mine above but you may have your own. AND Listen to how the main theme starts, goes away, new one starts the new scene, but the original theme keeps reappearing as you move on the journey. It starts minor but sometimes changes to a happier sound. Feel the difference and what does that do to your characters adventure? Let me know in the comments below what you hear/see!

MUSIC As some of you know, I did my University degrees in Music, my masters project was in conducting and in part working with the University Orchestra’s, Choirs and Bands. It was a great time and got this incredible appreciation and love of reading and listening to Classical Music. I now love trying to analyse and explain the music through reading it and how every piece tells a story. From growing up listening to music of mainly the taste of my parents music, it consisted of Scottish Celtic Rock band “Runrig” and other folk and rock bands of the 70s and 80s, I feel I got the most varied and wide palette of Music listening experiences. I didn’t like Classical Music when I was a teenager… it was long and sounded the same… It was however when I got to University came that I started to understand it more and got interested in Classical Music. I realised that people didn’t love or listened to Classical Music because people didn’t understand it. Behind each piece of Classical Music there is a story to be told. I don't mean the story of how it was made, for the majority that is boring and I can see why. I don't mean technically either... "The exposition modulates from D Major to the relative minor in bar 74" NO! I mean the narrative story! Each piece in some way (thats well written) yes will do all the technical bits correct but through this conveys a specific narrative. Potentially a story, an emotion, an image. That's why I didn’t enjoy it when I was younger, I didn't know how to interpret what the music was telling me. When understood, I believe Classical Music is the highest form of Music that can evoke more complex emotions that current music can't get to. “Classical Music is for everybody, they just haven’t found out about it yet” - Benjamin Zander I believe this statement and am now passionate that the story can be told and would love to share the passion I have for these pieces of Music that I am listening to. First Piece: Sibelius Symphony No. 2 1st Movement...The train through the Countryside... Press play and read at the same time. Sibelius is from Finland in the 19th/20th Century and is known for his music having developed a specific Finnish sound (roll with me here) and identity during its struggle from independence from Russia. The opening three ascending notes of the first movement (F#, G and A in first line of diagram above) are repeated and is setting the scene of a nice day. Personally, when listening to it gives me strong imagery of a view of green fields (like passing by the old Microsoft screensaver on a train) and reminds me of the train journey between Aberdeen and Dundee. The main theme starts with woodwind (second & third line of diagram) and tells me that all is well in the countryside on a nice day - blue sky with some clouds - but by the third line something is wrong and the train stops as there is a warning of something ahead on the journey. The train carries on and we are going but something has changed… We are going in the wrong direction and cant go back as its a train has to get to the destination. Such is life with a bit of regret and doubt of what is the right direction now we carry on a tad more tentatively but the sound has changed and we are trying different musical keys to get back on the right path like the beginning. We find ourselves in a cave, starting to find our feet and confidence back and move forward through the night. With trepidation for a few minutes, we attempt a few different directions (new melody), desperate to find ourselves back on the right track. We find ourselves with a new theme. Have you ever had that internal struggle and doubt of making the wrong decision in your life when you are full of doubts? It feels like every option has negatives and your don’t know which way to turn. Think of that moment in your life… Maybe you made the wrong decision… then where are you… in chaos… The only way back through that is by trying stuff out, probably failing then move on to the next chapter… and probably falling ad nauseam. In short, the process of learning from your mistakes is the suffering of life and this I feel is what is happening in this music. It starts on the right path then gets lost… musically its in D major then moves to various centre grounds A Major, G Major, B Minor, G#, F#, A flat, B flat, to name a few. The music is trying to find the centre ground it knew before it lost its way at the beginning. At the 6 and a half minute mark we find ourselves managing to fly in the night sky with this triumphant new theme, it has found a route home and can make our way back to the right track of D Major. We land back gently on the track and in a new day with the sun shining again. Doubt keeps trying to creep in with the previous warnings but from our learned experience, of all that failing we manage to keep ourselves on the right track to the very end where we find - home. If you listen closely there is something missing in that opening theme, the full theme at the end is the same as the beginning but with the Double Bass (red circles in diagram below) playing in the space. The train journey is ended. The learned experience and suffering of the journey forces you to get your act together and thus become a more complete person. I would like you to listen to this piece and do TWO things: Follow the tune from D major at the beginning, how it looses its way and gets back to D major. AND Think of a moment in your life where you have been going on all fine then lost your way, think back to all the decisions that you might have struggled or even failed in making the correct ones and how you got back on track?

https://open.spotify.com/track/0Dq5mDsJYXz9oLF1tGXrBM?si=dWXU2ZsdQReSMviwFAcDQA When you were a kid. Did you ever have friends over for tea? Imagine you are young 6-10 years old and remember those friends. What mischief did you get up to? What mischief did you try and do without your parents hearing it? Picture a doll house. The music starts in the kids room with the strings. Kids are jumping on the sofa... "TIG YOU'RE IT"... maybe tip toeing up the stairs, maybe HIDE and SEEK in the rest of the house... As the strings are playing, what time can you remember, what game were you playing and who are you with? The intensity of the game... Tip towing up the stairs... Back down the stairs... trying to be quiet... holding your breath when hiding... Think of all those feelings when you were young and remember a specific occasion... Meanwhile, as the woodwinds start, the parents are catching up over dinner. The woodwinds are the hosts of the house, general catch up small talk is occurring then start complaining about work and the traffic as the music gets more intense. The brass are the visitors... a little more positive and upbeat on their news. Some extended family member has a new baby or getting married... the conversation between both continues. Clarinet: Oh excellent news! Mother/Woodwinds - "DINNER IS ALMOST READY, YOU GUYS OKAY?" Kids/ Strings - "Yeah I'm fine, will be down in 5" The game continues... Check mum and dads wardrobe for any roque 7 year olds... NO! Behind the curtain... NO! Behind the bathroom door... NO! Under the bed... NO! Tip toe back down the stairs... to check the downstairs toilet... where can they be!? Mother: "Dinner is ready. Come through" The kids are coming through one by one out of their hiding spots... "YOU DIDNT FIND ME" Mum: Who won? One of the Kids: Me Other kid: No it's was me Guest: You both won First kid: No it was me! Seeker: We will start again The game will continue after dinner... food is served...

With all the craziness of the news these days... Music helps me go to a time when things are perceived to be aiming upwards than downwards to hell. I want to take the story to finding the land of America! Its hard not to think of America with this piece after all it was written about it. SLOW SECTION: The story starts with leaving Europe. Leaving family... with a warning of it won't be all sunshine and roses. We set sail... CRASH THE WAVES OF THE ATLANTIC as nighttime ensues... the waves calm... then we start to see something in the difference. We are getting close... what could it be? FAST SECTION: A land and an opportunity! We land on it, walking through the streets in the middle of night... its quiet. The excitement, anticipation is thrilling, but also there is a of sense danger lurking. "THE AMERICAN DREAM" - as the theme is past around the orchestra. We find a new part of town as the tune changes to being calmer. What city or street are you in? Where are you? For me it is NEW YORK even though I have never been. The music gets more excited as we find the countryside... Long island maybe.. or appalachia. The flute gives the original theme in a calmer and brighter tone like we are settled. We move on... and hear some of the issues of America... big divides, guns, high crime, biased media... A sense of shame has come from this however we long for the original dream and mission that we originally found as we set foot on this land. Follow the two tunes, the aggressive one and the calmer one being past round the orchestra. AND With both tunes where do you find yourself? What are you doing? What are you imagining? Is it positive!? Think of the current state of affairs in US and does anything in the music resonate with these moments? The last section reminds me of the current state of affairs in America. Super aggressive and angry and polarising . Moving onwards it could go either way... which is worrying. Maybe you need to listen to the other movements to see where it goes...

Those who don’t know… actually if you don’t go and look it up. Tara Iti is the golf course child of multi billionaire American Rick Kayne. Opened in 2014, it is on the North East Coast of the North Island of New Zealand and is about 90 minutes north of Auckland. Par 71 and designed by Tom Doak. There is three golf courses there now Tara Iti, Te Arai South and Te Arai North. They all have been getting rave reviews. Tara Iti was first but I left feeling underwhelmed if I am being honest… maybe it was the hype… I have played Tara Iti Golf Club while here in New Zealand… and my verdict is… I THINK ITS OVERRATED… The first top tier links course I played was Royal Aberdeen when I was 18 years old. Its the first golf course as I was driving through the gates I was feeling nerves and excitement. This was the view from the first tee. Awestruck is the answer to this view and begins some of the best stretch of opening holes in the world. I would even go so far to say that holes 1, 2, 3 (before remodel), 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 (top tee), 14 & 18 are WORLD CLASS. RAGC on the top100courses.com is the Ranked #63 in the World. GOLF Magazine doesn’t have it in the Top 100! So… bearing in mind this is my first solo experience travelling, first time in Southern Hemisphere. Rave reviews. Seen all the Youtube videos… HIGH EXPECTATIONS and the stage is set! And this is the view of the first hole. You can see a maintenance shed, practice range and a house. The clubhouse gets the views and is 100 yards behind the position of the photographer. The hole is a nice hole, par 4 with slight movement to the left. I just expected more. As you go through the front nine, it gets better, the first hole which is interesting is the 3rd. Long par four, slight dogleg with the topography all funneling to the green which is like a bowl (3rd at Royal Aberdeen was like this but for some reason they got rid of it and made the hole worse but that's for another time…). 4th is a drivable par four then you get a strong view from the Long Par 5th tee. 6th is one of the best par 4’s you’ll ever play and is closest to the sea out of any of the holes and like the 5th is straightaway. 7th is actually my favourite hole on the golf course. Drivable par four with the smallest green Tom Doak has ever designed and is on a tiny plateau. Sand dunes each side are strong penalties. 8th heads away from the sea and is straight. 9th heads back in opposite direction is straight. In the opening nine I was WOWED 3 times… 3rd, 6th and 7th. Back nine starts with a par 3 which is a bit strange. 11th is the first time there is movement in a golf hole as a slight dogleg right par 5. 12th is a blind drive to 90 yard fairway to a green similar to the 8th hole so felt a bit deja vu. The best view however is the 14th tee at the highest part of the property: The signature hole is the 17th Hole. 18th finishes with a par 5 and has a blind tee shot that heads up towards the club house. Very good golf course, lots of visually stunning topography however down to the nuts and bolts of it… most of the holes are quite far away from the sea, only 4/5 holes are WORLD CLASS and two blind shots on the back nine. I think the land has potential of being incredible. The other thing I found out from the experience is that I am a stickler of of tradition and that maybe causes some bias but none the less. GOOD GOLF COURSE. 17/20