I haven’t posted anything for a while, but that doesn’t mean that I’ve been idle. As I write this, we’re in the middle of World Youth Day and I’ve been helping my son in a number of musical activities that have gone off very well, and I’m very pleased (and proud, too, of course) about how his music has improved quite dramatically over the past couple of years.
A couple of nights ago he was part of the band (playing saxophone) for a function for Youth for Christ at St Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Paddington here in Sydney. Now this is a lovely old church, great acoustics, and built in the traditional shape of the cross. As its name suggests, it is run by the Franciscan order and has one of the best, if not the best, classical church choirs in Sydney, rivaled only by that at St Mary’s Cathedral.
So playing modern church music with electric guitars, bass, drums and saxophone (playing into our Rode shotgun microphone) and a packed audience of around two to three hundred youth all singing and having a great time was something of an experience for the priests – I’m not sure that anything like that has ever happened in that church before.
I must admit it is not my ‘scene’ – but nonetheless you have to admire the commitment and the principles of all those involved – and I did enjoy the experience overall and David showed he could mix it musically with the best of them.
My eye is now much better, and I only have a small residual gas bubble now which should disappear totally within the next few days. I saw my surgeon again yesterday and once again he is very pleased with the progress. It will still be a few weeks before we really know how good the eye will be, but even at this stage its looking good, if readers can excuse the pun.
So my piano work continues apace and I’m close to the stage, despite the eye, where I can start recording again. Additionally, I have finally been able to get some time to start practicing the oboe and cor anglais again, and I must admit I’ve managed to get my embouchure much better this time around. So the sounds that are coming out are now much more musical and I’m beginning to think that I can start playing the oboe a bit when I help David in some of his mass singing.