Buying swing music electronically

I’m a Swing DJ.  Well, I’d like to call myself a Swing DJ.
But what is a Swing DJ?  The word DJ might conjure up visions of 2 turntables, a cross fader mixer, headphones…
In the swing dancing scene, a Swing DJ is less glamorous – no we don’t “mix” one tune into another.  We don’t tamper [...]

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Dear Dad

Another wonderful Father’s Day has passed in Australia.
I woke on Sunday to whispering and clanging in the kitchen as the kids prepared breakfast in bed for me.  The sun was shining through the window onto the bed, the smells of french toast wafting through the house. 
I lay still in bed pretending to still be asleep [...]

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Playing the notes vs Performing

We entered our Miss 10 into a performing arts festival – her first one playing on the cello!
She’s not on until next week.  The piece is pretty under control – she’s been playing it for a while.
But what we have been rehearsing on in the last few days is performance.  Walking onto stage, bowing, making [...]

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Orchestra recording session experience

I recently participated in an orchestral recording session.  I’ve done a couple before with WASO and the ABC, but this time still struck me as a very unusual experience.  
So after signing in, I walk into the studio.  It’s basically a really large room with very high ceilings, dimly lit and set up for a full [...]

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Fairytale Violin Sheet Music

It was great to see so many string instruments featured in the different songs for Eurovision this year.  I remember a few years ago, it seemed that large African/Oriental drums were the “fashion”.   This year, it seemed to be violins and cellists who played standing up!
As a treat for Eurovision fans who play the [...]

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Your milestone piece

Do you have a milestone piece?   You know, a violin (or insert your instrument here) piece that you heard when you were young and just wanted to play when you were older?
One video I used to watch when I was young, was a blurred VHS tape of Itzhak Perlman playing Bach’s D Minor Partita, recorded [...]

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YouTube Symphony Orchestra Audition Prep – Day 16

It’s ALL DONE!
My YouTube audition videos are finally online!   Although, when I checked this morning, they weren’t listed on the YouTube Symphony Orchestra audition videos, but I’m hoping that this is due to some delay in approval, etc.
Here’s video  1 of the Tan Dun Internet Symphony No. 1.

And here’s video 2 [...]

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YouTube Symphony Orchestra audition prep – Day 12

The deadline is fast approaching!
I haven’t had much practice lately, but the other day, my wifey took some time out to give me some feedback. I hadn’t realised yet, but I haven’t really played the Paganini for anyone else properly yet! I figured there was not enough time to get a violin [...]

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YouTube Symphony Orchestra audition prep – Day 8

The deadline for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra is coming up soon. And unfortunately practice hasn’t been going so well.
Two evenings of having friends over meant I could only play through the Caprice instead of doing a good practice session. I designated Saturday as a day of “rest” (and cleaning the pool), leaving Sunday [...]

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YouTube Symphony Orchestra

I can’t believe I just found out about this yesterday.   It seems that Google/YouTube have started a project called the YouTube Symphony Orchestra.
You basically submit 2 videos – the first video has to be of yourself playing a piece composed by Tan Dun for this project.   This video will be mashed into a video of [...]

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