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Theatre groups always construct a ghost: new post from The Hurst writer-in-residence
Listed on September 12, 2013 by Arvon in Blogs!Theatre Groups Occasionally someone will say that the main house has a cold and unfriendly feel and that it’s John Osborne. Theatre groups move all the furniture, become convinced it’s ghosts. More than any other, theatre groups will hear the noises in the pipes. Poem created by words from Dan Pavitt, The Hurst Administrator Blue […]Read more ... -
The Dillington Mash Up!
Listed on September 11, 2013 by Dillington in Blogs!Every so often a word or phrase comes into common parlance that strikes you as new and a bit trendy. Many years ago I remember being mystified by the word ‘tad’ meaning a ‘bit’ or ‘little’ – things were a … Continue reading →Read more ... -
Fresh blood: the pros and cons of letting new singers join your choir
Listed on September 8, 2013 by Chris Rowbury in Blogs!As choir starts back after a break, you might notice a few new faces in the ranks.
Bringing in new recruits maintains the lifeblood of a choir, but what are the pros and cons?the benefits of fresh blood
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January to July 2014 programme now available online
Listed on September 4, 2013 by Benslow in Blogs!New course brochure launchedRead more ... -
September spaces
Listed on September 3, 2013 by Benslow in Blogs!These courses need YOU! And your friends...Read more ... -
Friends with Friends
Listed on September 2, 2013 by Dillington in Blogs!It is a well known that the best people to promote your business are your customers. But better still are those customers who are also Friends and Patrons. These are the enthusiasts! Read more ... -
Re-booting your choir: shake things up for a new season
Listed on September 1, 2013 by Chris Rowbury in Blogs!Many choirs will be starting back soon after a long break This is the perfect time to shake things up a bit if you feel things have gone a bit stale.
It’s very easy for singers (and choir leaders) to develop habits (see Breaking the habit of a lunchtime) – standing in the same place, singing the same part, doing the same old warm ups, rehearsing in the same choir configuration, singing the same old songs.Read more ... -
A great tree has fallen in the forest: Arvon mourns Seamus Heaney
Listed on August 30, 2013 by Arvon in Blogs!From Ruth Borthwick, Chief Executive, Arvon We at Arvon are shocked to hear that Seamus Heaney has died suddenly. Seamus was a huge supporter of Arvon, which he encountered through his friendship with Ted Hughes. In 1981 Seamus agreed to judge, with Ted, Charles Causley and Philip Larkin, the inaugural Arvon International Poetry Competition. Read more ... -
Jennifer Richardson’s Arvon Week: Several Rooms of One’s Own
Listed on August 29, 2013 by Arvon in Blogs!I spent the first week of October 2010 at an Arvon retreat at Lumb Bank. I was there to work on fashioning a manuscript from the raw material of a blog, something I started to cheer myself up a year and a half earlier when I got sick and had to spend a few weeks Read more ... -
Summer School in Somerset
Listed on August 28, 2013 by Dillington in Blogs!Summer School has just finished and it has been a great success. There is a lot to be said for getting away from your desk and the tyranny of e-mails to experience the business from other perspectives. Read more ... -
Buy song arrangements for your choir
Listed on August 25, 2013 by Chris Rowbury in Blogs!Choir leaders often ask me where I source my songs. One place you can get some tried and tested songs for your choir is from me!
I arrange many traditional songs from all over the world in anything from two to six parts. Songs are arranged for voice only, are well within the range and capabilities of most community choirs, and are suitable for teaching by ear.
Most of the songs are in the original language of the country of origin, but some also have alternative English lyrics.
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Knuston Hall Special Offer Weekend
Listed on August 24, 2013 by Knuston Hall in Blogs!, OffersFrom 30 August - 1 Sept 2013 we are offering full board stays for only £149 (no single room supplements). An ideal opportunity to use Knuston as a base and visit local attractions. E-mail enquiries@knustonhall.org.uk if you would like us to send you details on places to visit. Or just come along and do your own thing, a bit of painting, or crafting, singing or just chilling, it's up to you. Don't delay, ring us today to reserve your room on 01933 312104!!Read more ... -
Last minute opportunities for Wind Plus places
Listed on August 23, 2013 by Benslow in Blogs!Bargain rate for final few places - or even better for studentsRead more ... -
City & Guilds Courses at Missenden Abbey
Listed on August 22, 2013 by Missenden Abbey in Blogs!City & Guilds vocational qualifications cover a variety of sectors that meet the needs of today’s workplace, and help individuals develop their talents and abilities for future career progression.Read more ... -
The Opportunity
Listed on August 19, 2013 by Arvon in Blogs!The Opportunity Extract from The Founding of Arvon by John Moat 1968, the year the Revolution almost happened (Paris, Grosvenor Square, Hornsey) … I’d had a novel published, and a second collection of poems accepted; sufficient notoriety to be invited to a North Devon Schools’ Poetry Day. A building like an abandoned Fighter Command hangar. […]Read more ... -
Autumn concerts and talks at Benslow Music
Listed on August 19, 2013 by Benslow in Blogs!A host of top quality professional musicians perform in the Benslow International Recital Series, bringing world-class performances to Hertfordshire. Call the Benslow Box Office 01462 459446, or send us an email.Read more ... -
Why can’t we sing more songs in English?
Listed on August 18, 2013 by Chris Rowbury in Blogs!I often get asked this at workshops after people have struggled to get their tongues around a few foreign songs I point out that my speciality is “traditional songs from around the world in the original languages”, then I tell them that foreign songs are easier to learn. Really?Read more ... -
Helping to increase awareness of Knuston Hall
Listed on August 16, 2013 by Knuston Hall in Blogs!If ever you are amongst friends, fellow students, relatives or colleagues, please feel free to pass on our personal offer to them to call in at a weekend and see Knuston in operation. If you are free, bring them along.Read more ... -
Technical Fun at Dillington!
Listed on August 15, 2013 by Dillington in Blogs!We are in Week Two of the Dillington Summer School and, someway back along, I decided to teach two courses one on new technology and the other on the history of twentieth century art. The combination is utter mad or … Continue reading →Read more ... -
Mother Tongues: Leeds Co-operative Academy at Lumb Bank
Listed on August 14, 2013 by Arvon in Blogs!Mother Tongues is an Arvon project funded by the Gulbenkian Foundation, which encourages young people to write in both English and their mother tongue. This film shows 16 Urdu-speaking young people from The Leeds Co-operative Academy who visited Lumb Bank for a residential creative writing course led by Anjum Malik and Ishy Din (read Ishy’s […]Read more ... -
The Dovecote at The Hurst
Listed on August 13, 2013 by Arvon in Blogs!We'd love to turn this old dovecote at The Hurst into a writer's den - I am sure it could inspire some great writingRead more ... -
January to July 2014 programme now available online
Listed on August 12, 2013 by Benslow in Blogs!New course brochure launchedRead more ... -
What to do if you don’t have a ‘nice’ voice
Listed on August 11, 2013 by Chris Rowbury in Blogs!Many of us don’t like the sound of our singing voice. Some people won’t even sing in front of others because they don’t want to inflict their ‘horrible’ voice on them. Is there anything we can do if we don’t have a ‘nice’ voice?Read more ... -
In 2011 I was still driving a cab – Ishy Din’s Arvon Story
Listed on August 9, 2013 by Arvon in Blogs!In 2011 I was still driving a cab, although my first full length play, Snookered was yet to be performed, it was well into development and I had written a number of drafts and we were tinkering with the final scene. Read more ... -
Helen Cadbury’s Arvon Week
Listed on August 7, 2013 by Arvon in Blogs!When I booked my week at the Arvon Centre at Moniack Mhor, I was desperate for it to be a good experience. I’d pored over the brochure every year, listened to other writers’ tales of their Arvon adventures, but never been able to get the time off or the childcare to fit with a course Read more ... -
Singing the wrong note is not the end of the world
Listed on August 4, 2013 by Chris Rowbury in Blogs!How many times have you been standing next to someone in your choir section and realised that they’re singing something different from you? Are you wrong, or it it them? Actually, it (usually) doesn’t matter!Read more ... -
Stevie Ronnie: Why Arvon is like The Arctic
Listed on August 2, 2013 by Arvon in Blogs!Seconds after take off Northumberland is white–out cloud. We reach our height then eat in miniature before tipping to descent and the pleasantries of coffee / tea – sugar / lemon / milk. It has been a while and the tube of a cabin is new again. Read more ... -
Somerset not Africa
Listed on August 1, 2013 by Dillington in Blogs!It may look like the Serengeti but it’s actually the grass roof of The Hyde building with yew trees beyond. For the past four years the roof has needed little maintenance, just the lifting of the occasional sapling taking root. Read more ... -
Life as it should be lived!
Listed on August 1, 2013 by Dillington in Blogs!It’s the first of the month and we’ve come to the last evening of our 19th Classical Guitar Festival. These concerts are absolutely fantastic with great audiences and prolonged enthusiastic applause throughout. It’s been a great week. Read more ... -
Old v New
Listed on July 31, 2013 by Dillington in Blogs!Yesterday I spent almost the whole day sorting out our library. The books had got into a mess and there wasn’t any room for new additions donated by our students and customers. It was a day well spent. Read more ...
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Benslow Music
Residential and day courses for non-professional musicians - whether your taste is for Classical, jazz, popular, world or gospel, Benslow Music has a music course to suit you. Read more ...
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Promoting residential lifelong learning in the UK since 1983
Blogs! | LeisureCourses.net - short courses & residential study breaks in great locations - Part 15
A selection of articles from bloggers within the LeisureCourses.net community