My Life's Magic

'Performance'   is a word that I find challenging, partly, I suppose, because of it's usage. In  daily news we see the term arise regularly, in connection with car reviews, school exams, hospital treatment, economic policy variations, crime solving rates and so on. Often associated with comparison and the  recognition of 'success' or levying penalties for 'failure'. At work or school our performance is gauged, assessed, compared with others and consequences arise. Even personal relationships don't escape reflections upon one's 'performance'. Thus, in the website  www.businessdictionary.com  'performance' is helpfully defined in terms of 'accomplishment' and 'fulfillment' : The accomplishment of a given task measured against preset known standards of accuracy , completeness, cost , and speed. In a contract , performance is deemed to be the fulfillment of an obligation , in a manner that releases the performer...

Three months without a blog post suggests mental atrophy, but I argue that it's more a case of delay... a blog on 'performance' will follow at some point. However... a vital spark has emerged from other quarters! It's Good Friday today, a mix of emotions and opportunity for devotional reflection as the axis of Christian belief is chewed over far and wide, and its relevance to modern life affirmed or rejected. My preparation to date has happily involved attending performances of JS Bach's St Matthew Passion [in German] and St John Passion [in English], as well as cleaning the 'Eagle' Lectern brass at the local Cathedral, [to make it nice and shiny for the many services held there over Easter]. I thought this year that I would also attend a local country church advertising a service  ''The Road to the Cross'', complete with Church Choir ['tenors and basses needed']. Fair enough... but first  Simnel Cake  preparations intervened. ...

'Do you have any targets...?'...asked a friend after my first recent blog entry. 'Well, no actually'. I hate targets set by others - often 'controlling'- but my own are a little vague. Instead, this morning saw the sun streaming through the window, frost on the ground (hence no exercise run just yet) and a mound of music by my bed. For reasons mentioned below, I felt the urge to write..computer/coffee/Handel's Solomon/Andreas Scholl playing..away we go... Last night was spent at the first rehearsal for a concert by Gloucester Choral Society in March 2014, performing music by child prodigy Mozart in Gloucester Cathedral. Now, my 'sight singing/reading' only started about six years ago, building on fragile knowledge of music from schooldays (saved for another later blog..) . More recently I've had to study it to cope with singing choral and solo music and ABRSM exam grades. Sight reading  - reading and singing directly from a music score ne...

The old encouragement that 'every journey begins with the first step' becomes ever urgent as the weeks tick by since setting up this blog page. A New Year is a bigger kick to finally get going, as well as friends who started their own sooner I'm hoping that this successful little faltering step will lead to more! 'More' of little snippets about daily life in wonderful Gloucestershire, England, a cathedral city not far from the magical River Severn. Of music,singing, exercise, people's funny ways and some photos along the way, maybe even a bit of poetry and humour. No politics, some personal experiences but hopefully not opinionated ones. I strongly adhere to the notion that life should be a rich tapestry, the pattern for which is ever evolving. After too many years as an accountant ( nothing against them but my wife happily helped me by using 'Deadly dull boring suburban and insular' as a mnemonic for some audit definitions in my professional exam ...