Studio Days, Puppies & PJ's

How utterly and gorgeously fabulous to have this opportunity to use my studio for ME!!!

I know it sounds ridiculous but I quite honestly can not recall the last time that I was in my studio with an engineer with enough time to experiement and get comfortable. If I record my stuff usually it will be inbetween or slipped in after other people's work, community work, favours.

My Individual Mainline Grant has enbaled me to take the time to sketch songs in the studio which means I can carefully think about which musicians I want to join me on this creative journey ...

It enables me to have an Engineer to work with

on my own material!

And most importantly it gives me the luxury of sitting crossed legged on the floor of my studio, with my uke and my puppy, still in my PJ's getting down my ideas.

In these shots we're recording 'Mad Man' which is the track based in St.David's when Dafydd our main character will be stumbling to the Cathedral for guidance.

All Aboard the Gwili Steam Train!

Until last week, I didn't know how absolutely wonderful steam trains are! What fun!

I had decided that our main character Dafydd should leave the Dance of the Ribbons at The Wind Farm and travel to the next part of his quest on a train .. I have written a banjo piece to represent the chug of a steam train struggling up hill and then racing off into the distance ...

I was coming back from a meeting at The Arts Council of Wales with my Grant Supervisor when I passed a sign for The Gwili Steam Train.

I popped in and the trains run regularly throughout the day (best to look on line and check before you go though)  www.gwili-railway.co.uk

So, the next day I took my cameras and tripod and set off to throw myself back in time. I half expected to meet Poirot on the platform!

I set up myself up in one of the compartments. The Guard was lovely. We chatted about Fusion Inspire, my Individual Mainline Grant & the blog, then about his life before he retired in banking and how he now enjoys volunteering at the station as a Guard.

When we got to the end of the short track the driver, fireman and guard asked me if I would like to film 'up front in the plate room.'

This is the actual steam train bit at the front!
With the fire and the driver! WOULD I!!! WOWOWOWOWOWOW!!!!!

It was AMAZING!!!

It is from this very priveliged vantage point that I have made the film scape to go with the piece of banjo music which will be projected during this part of the story line. You'll be able to see it when you come to the production tour  in January/February next year :)

When I got off the train I immediately joined as a member/volunteer because the money raised by this, goes towards keeping a very beautiful piece of our  history alive.

It is the dedication, passion and love of steam trains from the volunteers that make it happen & live on.

They only have a few miles of track and are raising money to build further lines to link up to others, but even so, the whole experience is magical and definitely worth the £8.00 ticket.

On thursday afternoons, they bring the dining coach out and you can go for afternoon tea on the train for an extra £3.50 .. I quite fancy that, tea and scones on the steam train & will definitely be sipping from bone china in the luxury of a by-gone age!

They also have evenings on the dining coach such as Murder Mystery or 1940's which sound like really good fun.

Here's an information film about the station that I found on youtube:

Thank you so much to the Gwili Steam Railway & in particular the Fireman, Driver and Guard who made me so welcome and gave me a lifetime memory which I will always cherish :)

Recording with Elgar in Pigeonsford?

I have been back to Llangrannog quite a few times now and have recorded the sea in nearly 20 different locations so that I can go into my studio and put all of 'the seas' together as one and then listen to see if I can feel the intensity of Elgar’s composition Welsh Tune.

I am convinced now that I will feel the intensity, having heard and stood in the waves crashing against the towering rocks.

This visit I went for a good walk over the coastal path and it is a moving experience! As I went for this walk, I passed a National Tourist Board Sign telling the story of the Giant Bica who lived in Llangrannog and telling how it is his big foot steps and his raging tooth ache have cut up the land, leaving little rock islands stranded sometimes by water. So I need to think about his footsteps when composing the piece.

I saw a friend while I was down there, Yo, and she said that she thought that Pigeonsford Mansion, where Elgar is known to have stayed when he composed his Welsh Tune, is down the turning opposite the Urdd Centre site.

So we bundled back in the car and pootled off to Pigeonsford to see if we could find it. AND WE DID!!

Or at least we think we might have. It said outside that there are holiday cottages to let in the grounds of the farm so I’m going to ring them up.

Imagine if I can actually go to stay at the place where Elgar stayed and compose my piece there! I would be blown away! If I can, and if it is the right place, I will take my recording studio with me and set it up and the cottage to record it there too.

The grounds are absolutely stunning so I am hoping it is the right place. I think Elgar would have liked this. He was one of the first composers to really experiment with recordings.



Many thanks to The Arts Council of Wales for my Individual Mainline Grant. It really is giving me the opportunity not just to journey through my creative mind, but to challenge and expand it in a way I could never have done otherwise.

www.cherylbeer.co.uk

Dolphin Prince: Cadfael

Photo by  Janet Baxter : Available at Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre

One of the most exciting things about New quay is that dolphins love it here. So I had planned to go out on the little fishing boat to film them as part of the projections for Fusion Inspire but the weather has been howling so bad that not only have boat trips been laid off,  one of the moored yachts came loose and crashed into the others!

So looking for dolphins has not happened, YET!

However, when I went into the Dolphin Research Centre to find out about the trips, there was a sign up saying ‘ADOPT A DOLPHIN’

To help raise fund for the vital environmental research there are 5 dolphins that you can adopt, you get a certificate and a picture, they tell you all about your dolphin.

I figured it was a good idea to help with fund raising by adopting a dolphin with the money I had put aside for my cancelled boat trips, it felt right...

I have chosen Cadfael, because he was the only welsh named dolphin. Cadfael means Warrior Prince ...  so the dolphin that our main character meets on his Quest will be this Dolphin, I have already scripted their dialogue in my head as if it were always there ... I was literally walking to the shop sketching the draft in my notebook, I was so inspired.

Hey, just a thought folks ... Why don't you adopt a dolphin too and help to conserve our beautiful wildlife. It's only £30.00 for the year and you get a £5 discount voucher for a boat trip as part of the adoption. Here's the link to their website ...   http://www.cbmwc.org/

I was floating back down the road full of the most immense joy, 'Oh well, I thought to myself, not to worry if Mother Nature feels I should be land based this week, I will listen to her.'

But what I didn't know at this point was that the Warrior Prince was much closer to me than I thought ...

Embed Youtube Clips Training

Very excited because Melanie Phillips is here teaching me how to embed my youtube clips into my blog so that I can bring you moving images .... so I'm gonna have a go myself at putting one up ... mmm which to choose?? I know ... I'll show you Black Dog which was filmed last year with Fiona Winter & Sam Collins at Southerdown and is now part of the Black Dog Campaign with SANE to raise awareness regarding  stereotypes about mental health :))

Right here goes let's see if I can read my own notes! lol!

HOOOOOOORRRRRAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
I DID IT (Although I have to say I do still have my lovely tutor Melanie sat right next to me .. let's see how I get on when I'm on me Jack Jones!)

Melanie is not just a computer whizz but also a fabulous artist ... her and her partner do Pet Portraits for people from all over the world .. how terribley handy that they live in the next village :))) THANK YOU POPPET!

You can see their work at:
www.pet-portraitartist.com