geraldinegreen.co.uk

HI guys,

Who the heck is Mr. Thinn, I hear you shout? Well, it’s the name of my latest magnum opus, haha! It is a little 4 and a half minute long waltz for strings, again written for Gary Woolf and the Banda di Musica, and only just completed in September gone. All being well, it will be played just before Christmas, and as soon as i have a recording it will be up for you to hear. “John Thinn and Son” was actually the name of a small hardware shop in Buncrana, Co. Donegal, Ireland, way back in the 70s when I was there on holiday with my folks. I found the name so amusing it brought a tune into my mind and quickly Mr. Thinn, for me, became a magic-toy maker in my over-active child’s imagination. Far too young to have any clue about writing music down, I just hummed the tune for years, keeping it alive, as I did with all of those early melodies, until I had gathered enough musical knowledge to scribble it down on paper. So, now at last Mr. Thinn the toy-maker has found his home in this little light hearted waltz, which I hope will be enjoyed by any young musicians who play it.

Also in September just past, Gary Woolf and his trio played the 1st two movements of my Trio for Flute, Piano and Violin. I will try to get the recording up soon, if I can only get my act together. These days I blink and a fortnight has passed – it’s scary!

I’ve just finished reading “Sybil” by Flora Rheta Schreiber – a wonderful, facinating, incredible story. My hat comes off to Sybil Dorsett big time!!!! Oh, and also to Dr. Wilbur who helped cure her!
I’ve now just started “South Riding” by Winifred Holtby – another one of my mother’s books. I’m always amused by her disapproving glares as she sees me reading yet another horror, so I’m reading this one to calm her down!
All for now and i’ll be back when I have more news.

Hi all,

Just back from 3 weeks in Ireland staying with my parents in my home city, Belfast. It was a lovely break, despite the daily rain. Ireland is not called the Emerald Isle for nothing, you know. We took a holiday house on the foothills of the beautiful Mourne Mountains and how lovely it was to sit and drink my gallons of tea in the pretty back garden and stare longingly at those awesome mountains. They seemed to jump on you they were so close! So majestic.
So, now it’s back to work again and the latest news is that the Nocturne for flute and piano is now officially published and out there, free. It is in a book called “Vocalaise”, by Clare Southworth and is published by Astute Music Ltd and can bought from their website. I’m so delighted about it – champagne a commin’ out!
We are hoping to get a CD together of all the short string pieces which Gary Woolf and the Banda di Musica have been playing over the past few years. The plan is to try to get them published, too. I honestly feel that junior string orchestras, school orchestras, string orchestras for intermediate adults, and even professionals could all enjoy them, so why not try? We’ll send the CD to a few publishers and see what happens, you never know. One must always try.
In late September Gary hopes to play for the first time the first 2 movements of the Trio for flute, Piano and Violin, and then later in the year the whole piece, and there also may be something in the pipeline for the Septet, we’ll see. I’ll keep you posted on this.
Over the past few months I’ve read loads of great books; Jean Sibelius by Guy Richards, Richard Strauss by Tim Ashley, It Must Never Happen Again by John McShane (very harrowing story of poor Baby P, which has affected me deeply), Parenting Without Power Struggles by Susan Stiffelman (trying to make myself a better mum!) and now I’m into Brother Odd by Dean Koontz, another one of those horrors my mother highly disapproves of! As you can guess I love reading and will give nearly anything a go.
Well, must go now, and I’ll be back when I have any more solid news.
Bye.

Hi all,
This is just a quick update to let you know that the Suite for clarinet quartet is now published by Alea at www.bassclarinet.org and can be purchased from their website from the “quartet” page. It’s for 1st clarinet doubling Eflat, 2nd and 3rd Bflat clarinets and Bflat bass clarinet with extended range required. It’s a jolly, light hearted work in 5 short movements based on the tunes from “Sea Shanty For A King”, one of the 4 Herne Hill School musicals I wrote (Phyll Bennett, the head mistress at the time, wrote the script and all the song lyrics – I can’t write lyrics to save my life!) in the 1990s. See the “Compositions” page for further details if you’re interested.
I am so happy that another piece has escaped out into the wild. Alea are so quick and thorough – wonderful people to work with!
I may have more news soon about other music, but I’ll keep you frothing at the mouth a little longer!
Bye.
Gerry.

Well, either I deserve a huge pat on the back or a severe telling off, depending on what way you look at it – I have at last completed that poor, neglected piano reduction of the Recorder Concertino. It only took me 21 years! Writing this Blog is probably my greatest un-doing, as anyone out there who may be remotely interested in working with me, on reading about how impressively slow I can be, would be instantly put off! But there you go, at least I am open and honest, and I’m so relieved to finally get the job done. So, now I can officially say that this piece is done and dusted and ready to fly free – we’ll see!

There are a few new recordings up now that I promised you a while back; Oakmount Nocturne, Sparrowhawk Tango and the Adagio from the Septet, arranged for the Banda di Musica. They played it exquisitly. I need say no more, have a wee listen.
We are hoping to have a professional CD of all the 7 short string pieces played by the Banda di Musica and conducted by Gary Woolf out by Christmas. This is currently in progress, so I’ll try to remember to keep you updated on it.

The Suite for Clarinet Quartet is in the process of being published by Alea in America, so I’ll let you know when that’s available also.
And the first Nocturne for flute and piano is also nearly ready, published in Clare Southworth’s new book “Vocalaise”, which will be out very very soon. Again, I’ll let you know when it’s available and where to get a copy.

So, lots of good things happening, and there are more in the pipeline, but I’ll only tell of them when I’m sure they’ll be occurring.

To end on a funny note – my husband and I played vaccuum cleaners in Malcolm Arnold’s Grand grand Overture with the Bolton Symphony Orchestra just 2 weeks ago – this was his (my husband’s) classical orchestral debut! He doesn’t read music at all (but plays great folk guitar and is a very fine musician!) and relied completely on me to tell him when to play and when to stop. Turning a vaccuum cleaner on and off was new ground to him in itself, never mind doing it in the middle of a huge symphony orchestra! Ouch, dig, dig – I’m in big trouble now!! He simply couldn’t believe that there were really proper printed parts in the piece for 3 vaccuum cleaners and a floor polisher! Nuts! It was hilarious, especially as we were dressed up as 50s housewives with aprons, rubber gloves and head scarves. We looked like Mrs. Doubtfire!!!!! Just as well we were “shot dead” by our conductor at the end!
That’s it for now, folks. I’ll be back when I have more news or funny stories.
Gerry.

Oh dear! I’m only back from Germany but 24 hours and I’m already on the blog! Could be messy – I’m still well up on cloud 9 so please bear with me while my excitement runs its course!

The professional recording of the Alte Philharmonie playing the flute concerto on April 3rd 2011 is now up on the recordings page at last. I think it’s marvellous, so please have a listen. They played it again on May 15th just gone and it was even better! They are such a good orchestra, and of course Gary Woolf’s flute playing was a sensation. Thank you to all who played, and thanks to the audience for coming to hear it. It truly was wonderful.
After the April performance I added some more details to the score, like articulations and dynamics here and there to help clarify a few bits and this made such a huge and positive difference to the May performance. A musical score is a bit like a painting – you can poke and prod at it for years trying to make it that tiny bit better each time it’s played. I have learned gallons and this excites me terribly, for I am eternally greedy for knowledge. I feel so lucky to have had this piece played 3 times by such good orchestras and each time it has got better and better. I can feel it “growing up” with each performance – like a little child developing and finding its feet. The German reviews have been very positive and encouraging, for my good old Irish Catholic, Convent up-bringing had me fully prepared for a complete flaying to the bone. And I felt I could cope with a total slaughtering from the critics because I now know this piece is right, good and honest from my heart, I mean every note and I believe in it whole heartedly, so I have no problem with the thought that it won’t be to everyone’s taste and there’ll be people who won’t actually like it. That’s fine with me. Having said that, it was still a great feeling that many people did like it very much, the critics included, and that was so lovely for myself, the music and the wonderful people who worked so hard and played it so passionately and with such electric, bristling vigour.

After our rehearsal on the Saturday night Gary had another wee surprise in store for me. He whipped me back from Graven into Munster, frog-marched me into a large building so fast I had not even time to fathom where I was. In the huge foyer I glimpsed a sign saying “Konzert” and I thought we were dashing straight into a concert and that this must be some big main munster concert hall. But no, up the stairs Gary ran 3 at a time, me running to keep up. I could hear people practising in rooms all around and it suddenly reminded me of my college days.
“Where are we, Gary?”, I asked, as he kept opening many doors to look inside, clearly searching for someone or something. He had this little smirk on his face, too, obviously enjoying my extreme puzzlement.
“Munster Conservetoire of music”, he replied casually, and I gasped in shock. Lord God!
Suddenly he sighted a man at the end of the corridor, fleetingly introduced him to me as Sebastian Kurz and whipped us all into a large practice room. I gasped again in shock, for Sebastian Kurz and Gary have played my 1st flute and piano nocturne (on recordings page) and they’re working to perform other pieces of mine, too, in the future. I was pleasantly ordered to sit and next Gary was whipping out his flute again as Sebastian strode to the piano, placing up on it a load of music I couldn’t see from my angle. My God, they were going to perform to me now! What were they going to play?

My heart started racing like mad and I was positively shaking in my seat. I hadn’t even recovered from the concerto rehearsal yet, for God’s sake! As soon as Sebastian played the 1st chord my breath caught and I thought I was going to faint. Really, I did. For they played for me my Oakmount Nocturne I had written for them nearly a year ago and now they’re going to premiere it in a concert in early July. Apart from only ever hearing it in my head and on computer playback, this was my 1st ever hearing of it live, by real musicians – and I nearly fell over with shock! What a gift they gave me that night! Oh God, what a dream! It was so beautiful how they played it and had mastered its character and personality so expertly. That’s great musicians for you – I am in AWE!

So look out for their recording of it some time in July and I’ll soon put up the concert details on the Forthcoming Engagements page.
So, as you can see I’m still in airy-fairy land and smile my way through the days as I relive my wonderful Germany weekend over and over in my mind. I must keep writing and working as hard as I can, for I’m so greedy and spoilt rotten now and I want more and more of this music-spirit-freeing.
Onwards and upwards!!!!!!!
Gerry.

Hi, I’m back!
Now, I really will try not to be too long winded here, but I’ll probably fail miserably. I deliberately waited a few days before coming onto the blog in order to calm down, because if I had jumped on as soon as I arrived home from Germany I would’ve written an entire 400 page novel about the flute concerto German premeire! So, count yourselves lucky I did wait.

It was brilliant beyond belief! The orchestra were simply fabulous, and of course so was soloist Gary Woolf. They played the piece wonderfully and gave it serious fire and brimstone. They were so friendly and treated me so well and we all dived into an Italian restaurant after the concert for a meal. After 2 glasses of wine and a bit of persuasion from a friend I whipped out Gary’s tin whistle and played them all(most of the orchestra) a few Irish folk tunes right there is the restuarant. It seemed only fair that after what I’d put them through with the mad Irish reel in the concerto’s 2nd movement I should then do it back for them as a gesture of thanks. Believe me, trying to play top speed Irish reels after 2 glasses of wine is not an easy affair, but I did my best!

I could go on all night about the intricate details of the performance it was so good and thrilling – so wonderful that I have taken the liberty of booking my flights back to Germany to see it played again on May 15th! Gosh, what self-indulgence! Oh well, it’s gotta be done, I’ve waited my whole life for something like this and I’m not missing it. It’s financial madness, but the bottom line is I can always make more money(I hope!) but I can never get this experience back if I miss it. I might never hear or see the piece played again, so I’m not going to lose this golden chance.

The performance was professionally recorded, so when I recieve a copy of it I shall put it up on the recordings page. The May concert will also be recorded, so what I feel to be the best of the two will go up for you all to hear.

Thank you, Alte Philharmonie, conductor Thorsten Schmid-Kapfenburg and soloist Gary Woolf for letting my music soar again! And thanks to the recording engineer, too, as I didn’t get a chance to thank him personally.

On the way home there was a bit of a dash for the 2nd plane at Munich airport, although nothing on the humdinger scale of the last time. My first flight back from Munster was an hour delayed so when I landed at Munich I had 5 minutes to get the connection. After a huge sprint through airport corridors and many flights of stairs I arrived at Gate 32 nearly dying from lack of breath only to be told I’d missed the Munich-Manchester flight by minutes. I could actually SEE my plane pulling away from the stand! Oh well, at least there was no snow! Luftansa are great though and they stuck me onto a 9.30pm flight that night so I got home to Bolton at midnight. I had a lovely relaxing evening waiting and just took it in my stride. No point in getting angry – just chill, man.

So, goodnight and I’ll be back soon with more news when I have some. Bye the way, the new book I’m now reading is
“The Wild Rose of Meath” by Carey Cleaver. Only just started it. My Mum lent it to me and said it’s about time I “read something nice instead of all those aweful horror books”. I’ll read anything so I’ll give it a go.

Bye.
Gerry

Hi guys,

It’s been a while, I know, but I’ve been hard in industry. Since I last posted I’ve been entering a clarinet suite into the computer. This suite was written (see “Compositions” page) way back in 1992 for clarinettist Michael Bryant. It was played but never recorded, sadly, but I thought I should offer it to Alea Publishing in America, who have already published the bass clarinet concerto. They said they’d be intersted in seeing it, so I’ve spent the last 2 months or so getting it ready. I revised it quite alot, too, and kept poking at it like an artist at a painting, until finally I felt it was the best I could make it.
Well, I sent it to Alea just a few days ago, and to my utter delight and amazement they said they would publish it in a few months when they’d completed their present projects.
You may wonder why I am amazed. Well, when one spends their whole childhood dreaming of setting music free into the world for others to play and enjoy and then that starts to happen for real, then that is amazing. For me it’s setting a spirit free somehow, to go and do what it must do in the universe, in the whole grand scheme of things. And every time a wee piece of mine gets published I feel it’s another wondrous little spirit of someone or something gone free so it can have its chance in the world to do its thing.
So, I’m very happy about that and will keep you informed about when it’ll be ready for all.

It’s now Sunday night. This coming Friday I once again board the plane for Germany. This time I hope to God the weather will be better and there’ll be no humdingers of delays and panics. On Sunday 3rd April the flute concerto will recieve its German premiere in Munster (see Forthcoming Engagements page) and I’m going to see it. I cannot wait! And I’ll tell you all about it when I’m back.

I’ve just read “127 Hours” by Aaron Ralston – about the climber who gets stuck in a canyon and has to take some very drastic measures to solve his problem. I’ll not give it away in case you haven’t read it, but it is a fantastic read. It is an unbelievable tribute to the wonders of the Human spirit, and I take my hat off to Mr. Ralston in the greatest respect for being able to channel his thoughts and energies into how he dealt with that terrible situation. If, God forbid, I’m ever in an awful predicament like that I hope I’ll remember his book and call on his words for strength.
Must go now, but I’ll be back soon after 3rd April to let you know how the flute concerto went. I have every faith. It’ll be soaring!
Gerry.

Happy New Year, World!

Hi guys, it’s been a while since I updated so here goes, and I do have some excellent news for you – a second one of my babies is about to fly free out into the Wilds!
What on earth is she on about now, I hear you groan. Well, I have just signed a contract with Astute music publishers in Cheshire, UK to publish my first flute and piano Nocturne (just to confuse you further, there are 2 flute and piano nocturnes; the first is called simply Nocturne and the second is Oakmount Nocturne). I will tell you the details at a later date when it is all out there and ready to go as the book in which it will be included is still being put together. But it’s all really happening at last and this is part of the good stuff I have been hinting at for some time now that might happen. The ball is starting to roll and I’m a very, very happy camper!

More good news is that the flute concerto is to be played twice this year in Germany by the Alte Philharmonie with Gary Woolf as the soloist. The concerts are in April and May – see the “Forthcomming Engagements” page for the details. I am planning on going over for the April performance as this will be the German premiere. Of course I’d dearly love to attend both but I don’t think that will be possible unfortunately – shame. But I feel so lucky and grateful – if it wasn’t for marvellous Gary Woolf none of these wonderful things would be happening at all for it was he who kind took me under his wing and believed in my music in a way I never thought possible except in dreams and fantasies or times gone past. He has given me the boot up the derriere I so badly needed! Writing the music is the “easy” bit (and as you may know that’s not one bit easy at all, really), but when it comes to getting out there and promoting it that’s when my abilities stop dead! So, Gary, thank you a million fold!

So, now we’re well into 2011 and the new term has started. My teaching has resumed, the kids are back at school and again I’m back to the grindstone trying to get as much done as I can. I have great concerts coming up with my 2 local orchestras where I play clarinet and cello and I still have to complete that poor blessed piano reduction of the recorder concertino – God, am I still saying this? How long have I been at that poor thing? Disgraceful!
I’m also going to orchestrate the Sparrowhawk Tango for the Banda di Musica in Germany – 2 jobs I had planned to have done before Christmas, but I seriously underestimated the Christmas rush and how it can chomp up all your time and mental energy.
So, I’ll say bye now and i’ll be back with any updates as soon as they filter in.
I wish all the folk in the world who are fighting and hating each other could just stick the kettle on, make tea, get out a few instruments and play some music together and forget all the quarrels. Wouldn’t it be great if life was that simple? Oh well, we can but hope. Come on, guys, the world is too beautiful, let’s be kinder to one another!
Bye.
Gerry

HI guys,
Boy what a month I’ve had! I know to many far greater and busier people out there my antics will seem laughably tiny, but to me they mean a great deal. Way back near the end of October I had a friend stay for nearly 2 weeks with us – poor girl, but she coped very well. As we only met last Christmas I felt I had to warn her what a wild household we have but she seemed unpreturbed, so over from Germany she flew. And we had such a lovely time together. She’s a marvellous fiddler and came along to my Bolton Chamber Orchestra where I play cello. As she did not want to travel with her beautiful, highly expensive violin I told her no worries – I have a violin she can use. Great! The only thing is – my violin is 20 years old, cost £70 and is the cheapest of the cheap and nasty. Try as I did when I bought it ( I wanted to learn violin to improve my knowledge of string writing) I could never get it to stay in tune more than 10 seconds – the pegs were so abismal. So, with my life already too busy back then I gave up and the poor violin got put away and forgotten. It lay untouched all that time without ever having had one single tune played on it. Then, I suddenly get it repaired in my local music shop, give it to my new friend (God, it must have been dire for her after her lovely fiddle back home!) and out we go together to crash through Beethoven’s Eroica for 2 hours! Amazing. My orchestra made her so welcome, which I’m very grateful for – they’re such a nice bunch. And what’s more – the violin held out and didn’t crash to pieces in my friend’s hands like I half expected! I had a horror vision of the bridge suddenly scooting out from under the strings and a great twanging noise ringing out as all the poor old unfit strings snap. We also played Irish folk music together and she sight-read straight off all those fast jigs and reels. A few nights practising in the house and then out to her first ever pub session – mad and great fun! She was also fantastic with wild Meg and Ed.

So, the day after my friend left to return to Germany, we all rose at 5am, drove 20 miles to Fleetwood and jumped on a boat to Ireland. 9 hours later we were at my parents in Belfast where we stayed for the next week. Poor wee Meg was very seasick, but say no more! Immediately we returned home to Bolton I had the craziest week of rehearsals every night with my 2 orchestras before finally playing with the Bolton Symphony in a most wonderful Sibelius concert on Saturday just gone. We did the Karelia suite, Karelia Overture, Finlandia and the 2nd symphony. Wow, the 2nd symphony! Now, what can I say about that piece? I didn’t know it at all and made a point of not listening to it in advance because I love gradually getting to know a piece in rehearsals and letting my imagination run wild. As you can imagine I absolutely adore it now and WILL get a score to soak in for months to come. I need to see what that music looks like!

For me it was very Lord of the Rings – huge, expansive, tragic, fury alternating with repeated grasping for hope and positivity. How Sibelius didn’t wind up in a mental institution with music like that inside him is beyond me! Its modal quality made me think of vast New Zealand landscapes – lush and wide and green with endless forest and mountains. And, oh God, that 4th movement big tune! Now, that’s the engine I’m talking about. Underneath that heart wrenching melody is a great and mighty throbbing in the bass line, driving the music forwards and upwards relentlessly. It was like some enormous flying thing trying desperately, with heavy laboured flapping, to become airborn. Flap, flap, flap, slow, slowly rising, up, up until the mountain summit barely slides underneath your belly and you finally soar over its ragged top as that melody escapes out into open sky and space. I wonder did Sibelius ever fly over mountains in a hot air balloon? Utterly wonderful stuff.

Please forgive me for rambling and imposing on you my views of the great music, but that is some of what Sib. 2 said to me this week. That’s the wonderful thing about music – it will say something different to everyone, or maybe nothing at all. It just is. I’m afraid I cannot help seeing music as potential film music and imagining all sorts as I hear it. But I think good old Jean is a great engine man!
I’d better go before I write a book!
Back soon with more musicy chats.
Bye.
Gerry.

Hi guys,

On Sunday 3rd October the Banda di Musica, conducted by Gary Woolf, studio recorded Humdinger in Germany. There were 7 takes and I now have to listen carefully to each one and pick the best one. This will be tricky because they’re all really good. I was thrilled when I first heard Take 1. It sounds full and beefy, tight and bursting with life and fun. The orchestra now have the fast tempo exactly right and they have captured the hugely michieveous character of the piece perfectly. As soon as the final mix has been done the chosen take will be up on the Recordings page for you to hear. We are hoping to put together a CD of all the short pieces the Banda have played over the past 2 years, and that will be a wonderful thing to have.

More news. I have finished the piano version of the new Tango, called Sparrowhawk. It has been heavily inspired by the formidable bird of prey. Where we live sparrowhawks are a daily excitement. Numerous times I have been standing in my garden drinking a cup of tea when a sudden whoosh past my head has made me jump out of my skin. A dark shadow has skimmed through the garden, an inch above the ground, all the birds have gone deadly silent except for a few forlorn descending whistles from blackbirds – the warning call. But this particular whistle a Blackbird only ever makes when seriously disasterous danger is imminant. The sparrowhawk, swoops up over our hedge, dives down into the next garden and then sometimes the dreadful scream of a bird being caught. Often not though, for most hunts end with no catch. The sheer speed and stealth is awesome. Nature is harsh, but I have the highest respect for wildlife and things must take their course. Poor blackbird, but the hawk too must eat.
Anyway, so somehow a Tango came to me from the sparrowhawk. Why? How? Who knows? Spirit, I guess. I will orchestrate it for the Banda di Musica and they will do their magic with it. I’ll keep you posted.
And yes, before you ask, I HAVE started that piano reduction, at last! Whew!
Reading James Herbert’s “Portent” at the moment. Very good as usual. James Herbert and Stephen King – I like!
All for now. More news soon.
Gerry.