Category: Music

  • A Knitting Song

    A Knitting Song

    The company, Chappell & Co., began life in England in 1811, selling sheet music and musical instruments including pianos from its premises in London’s Bond Street. By the 1970s it had expanded its operations worldwide to include the North America and Australasia. Chappell and Co. began concentrating solely on its publishing business in 1980, selling…

  • Travels in the South

    Over the festive season we travelled through the central part of Te Waipounamu/ the South Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. The journey of more than 1,500 kms, once all the side trips were taken into account, took ten days and covered some of the most spectacular scenery and sights of the island. One of the…

  • This week’s Spotify playlist

    Each week a new playlist is created on Spotify, the music streaming platform. The playlist either follows the blog articles or is about current affairs and you can listen to it below. Anyone with a subscription will hear the uninterrupted music, while those who have a free subscription will be able to hear the list…

  • A January concert

    To begin the year’s programme of music there is to be a short concert in the town of Hokitika, south of Greymouth, at the end of January. The concert is a duo of works, Songs of Travel by English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams and Sings Harry by Douglas Lilburn. The latter, a New Zealander, studied…

  • Of a scarf and a song

    On Thursday this week the new choir met as usual. Being so close to Christmas, with all its activities and dinners, there were only a few of us, but more than one is still an opportunity to sing together so we met. When I arrived at the usual venue the alarm kept going off and…

  • Christmas 2023

    Christmas 2023

    It is time for the blog to take its annual rest for the Christmas celebrations, and this will be the last one for a few weeks. Thank you all for taking time to read, write and comment over the last year. Your support has been tremendous and I have loved discovering a different rhythm to…

  • Workshops for summer 2024

    Over the next few months – after the Christmas and New Year break – the Southern Hemisphere summer really gets into its swing with workshops. Over the next few months there are lots of events and activities in Aotearoa New Zealand. Here are a few that are happening up and down the West Coast. Down…

  • This week’s Spotify playlist

    Each week a curated list of songs and sounds from Spotify is made for the blog. The pieces are chosen because they relate to something from the blog or because of current world events. This week’s list is largely about the festive season. To listen to the playlist click on the the play icon on…

  • The last choir meet for the year

    This Thursday at 6.30 is the final choir meeting-up for the year. We have had a great few weeks with lots of fun and laughter and we are looking forward to next year. If you fancy joining us for a singsong please come along on Thursday to the Left Bank Art Gallery, Greymouth. A koha…

  • This week’s Spotify playlist

    Each week a Spotify playlist is curated that references items on the blog and/ or current events. To listen to this week’s playlist you can click the play button below. If you have a paid subscription you will hear the whole playlist, uninterrupted. Those with a free subscription will have advertising every so often and…