Me and my tuba

Following on from my initial dabbling with tuba, Hog and bass amp at Supersonic Festival this year, I have decided to take it up properly. Not only that but myself, Ben Waddington and Stuart Estell have formed a tuba trio, around a great idea. More on that as things develop.

Luckily Stuart is a tuba player of some merit already. In fact he’s a really amazing musical all round and he’s kindly offered to teach us. It’s all pretty damn daunting but it’s also one of the most exciting instruments I have ever attempted to play. It’s a full-body physical experience! It’s also pretty chuffing hard. Nobody can deny that I have a mountain to climb. I am taking on the dual tasks of learning a new instrument to performance standard and learning how to read music (bass-clef). Apparently I am off to a solid start but it is definitely time for some serious practice. Wish me luck!

Ooh, and here she is:

(now that is HEAVY METAL!)

And relax…kinda

With the completion of another hugely successful (and fun) Theremin Day workshop last weekend, I have decided it is time for a rest from public-facing events for a while. 2010 has been a very busy year for me. As well as my full-time job I have committed to and delivered so many projects that my time for reflection and learning has been severely rationed. That’s not to say I haven’t learnt stuff through the things I have done this year. I have learnt a lot of stuff! To think that I had never built a circuit from scratch until this year is still pretty amazing to me, especially given the confidence and knowledge with which I ran the workshop last weekend! Also, 2010 has been about planting seeds for the future, working with people I admire on projects that inspire me and generally trying new stuff out. I am more than happy with the outcomes!

I have a couple of major projects in the pipeline that need some time devoting to them, plus I want some studio time to try out some ideas I’ve been pondering. Add to that the various conversations I am having with some inspirational and influential people and I hope there is some really exciting stuff to come.

I leave you with a few pictures of people enjoying the workshop last week and of what they created…plus one of me going boggle-eyed trying to find a fault ;)

Thanks to Martin at DMC for the images and for organising the workshop!