skankdelvar

My advice to the OP would be to conduct any conversation at least six to ten feet away from whoever's running the audition. They'll feel more comfortable if he's not towering over them. If that fails, he might point out that (i) nobody watches the bass player anyway and (ii) he'll be stood at the very back of the stage. Small / Far away, see.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1396056271' post='2409604'] Well look back at this thread. You started it before I did. [/quote]

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1396047559' post='2409540'] Do you honestly believe that they want to expand the best opportunities to the widest possible social spectrum? [/quote] I neither know nor care. Most of the time I just come to BassChat to discuss music and have a laugh with normal people. If I wanted to read diatribes about Tory education policy I'd go elsewhere. Politics is the bane of this forum; and now it's spreading out of OT. Way to go, enlightened moderation policy.

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1396043590' post='2409497'] Like i said, that's one not for Basschat. I appreciate you wish me to make a definitive statement but (after tonight's events off Basschat) I haven't really got the energy to deal with what it will ensue. It's clear that my opinion opposes those of other members and further comments will just continue to antogonise. I can't really be arsed with the cyclic arguments. Let's just say I disagree with the current direction of our education system and I'm probably wrong. The end. [/quote] Absolutely fair enough, Sir. Maybe we can revisit the specifics of musical education another time.

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1396021169' post='2409141'] My dear Skej - is it a matter of syllabus, approach, resources or established musical education philosophy which holds back the budding [s]Vanessa Mae[/s] YoYo Ma? Ignoring Mr Gove for a moment, what could be changed for the better?[/quote] [quote name='skej21' timestamp='1396022158' post='2409158'] I'm not sure there's an approach that does work and with that in mind, I think Gove has a difficult job. However, he needs to realise that the best way to create a rounded approach is to take a consensus of opinions from people who have dedicated their life to researching teaching methods and compound as many of the successful findings into an approach that can be fairly assessed but more importantly, get the best possible outcome from EVERY pupil. It's not about acheiving a perceived standard of success, it's about acheiving what is the best possible standard for each individual (which isn't the same thing!). Goves idea of 'teaching standards should be like they were when I was little' shows his lack of knowledge in the area. He wants us to revert to a lesser teaching standard because he is familiar with it. What he should be doing is admitting his lack of knowledge and drawing on the expertise of people in that area to move things forward. However, that means he'd have to lose face and that's where the problem lies. Politicians don't like to show weakness as it belittles their position in the eyes of the public, meaning we're less likely to vote them in again.[/quote] Perhaps. But that seems mostly to be about Mr Gove's failings in the wider arena which most would agree are open to rational criticism (unless one is a performer in Dingus's troupe of agit-prop drama queens where anyone to the right of Trotsky is a moustache-twirling baby-eater in a top hat). But like I asked: As a music teacher what would you do to enhance standards of musical education? Blank page, new start. Surely you must have a view, even if it's something like 'Do away with trombones'. I'm genuinely interested, as another teacher popped up in the last Gove thread and mentioned his disquiet at childrens' musical ability and understanding.

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1396019377' post='2409114'] I'm not saying it's a poor approach but that it's a poor approach for EVERYTHING. A mix of assessment types for different subjects would be much fairer. A one-off maths assessment is fair as it show the working out and knowledge needed to answer the question. A subject like design or music is different. [/quote] That is an excellent point. Any system which imposes ubiquitous inflexibility is a bad system. One assumes that a conservatoire pursues a policy of 'mixed' assessments; if so, it would be logical that earlier stages in the process feed in to the approach adopted by the supervening educator. The problem is many faceted; public perception, media coverage, political agenda, resource allocation all play into the process before any child even enters the school music room. Valuable insights such as Skej21's are lost in a blizzard of (no pun intended) playground abuse from both sides of the political spectrum. We do ourselves no favours by reducing the debate to charges of 'Being a bell-end'. It permits politicians to shrug off criticism as being 'froth'. My school music lessons were a very long time ago. A former cruise-ship pianist turned pedagogue would sit at the Joanna in the corner, smoking an uninterrupted succession of cigarettes down to the stub and roaring 'Sing, you stupid boys!'. Then he would hand out a collection of dilapidated violins good only for kindling and charge us 35p each per week for after hours 'orchestra' lessons which did not even involve tuning the damn things. I suspect more musical careers were blighted by this dreadful, grasping old toad than any government policy. But let's focus on solutions. My dear Skej - is it a matter of syllabus, approach, resources or established musical education philosophy which holds back the budding [s]Vanessa Mae[/s] YoYo Ma? Ignoring Mr Gove for a moment, what could be changed for the better? [color=#ffffff].[/color]

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1396017848' post='2409090'] That would be a VERY long document and probably not for Basschat lol. [/quote] I very much take your point about the lack of clarity regarding music as a non-compulsory (optional?) subject. If a lack of forethought and clarity harmed not only teachers' careers but also educational development then Mr Gove and his department are at fault. Being somewhat of an Old Bob, I may be at variance with you in respect of coursework and single assessments. While sympathising that some may suffer unduly in certain circumstances, I think that learning to cope with a degree of intense, short-term pressure is a good thing in life, particularly if one's inclinations lead one to public performance in the back bar of The Cat And Bagpipes on an unruly, beer-fuelled Saturday night.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1396011376' post='2408981'] Proving that good production is mostly subtraction, not addition. [/quote] Amen to tha

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1396015844' post='2409071'] True. Fortunately, I don't have to believe what I read. As a music teacher, I saw first hand what Gove has done to our education system and it's awful. It's taking people out of the profession and driving standards down, leaving a large number of our young people with no hope of having the support they need to succeed. Although that's fine because when he's on tv he's really nice so who cares! :-) [/quote] Realising only now that you are a music teacher, I sympathise with your reservations about Mr Gove's policies and the possible outcomes. Nobody likes 'dogma-driven change' and education has been a political football for too long. Based on your experience, which of Mr Gove's measures do you feel has been most damaging in terms of music education? And in an ideal world and given a blank page, what could be done to improve musical learning in schools?

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1396010481' post='2408967'] Yes I did. There's only one reason that tw@t can't sing and it's the same reason thousands of our young people will never pursue a career in music. His total disregard for the arts. [/quote] That's the excuse I shall use when asked if I can manage some backing vocals. 'Sorry. I cannot sing because I have a total disregard for the arts.' It is a well-documented phenomenon. Those who disparage the works of Mr Damian Hirst are incapable of singing in the keys of Bb and D; opera-haters can only sing the notes comprising a C Major triad. I might continue this riff but it would be to Labour the point. The brief clip evidences Mr Gove to be a cheerful, self-deprecating sort of chap, entirely at odds with the image of 'Destroyer Of Hope' as propagated by his political foes. Proves one shouldn't believe what one reads.

After I joined a band one time the drummer kept going on about the previous bass player. Lazy, bad ear, poor technique, 'flashy' gear, unreliable and a 'totat twat to work with' (the drummer's words). The band even had to pull out of a gig [i]while they were sound-checking[/i] when the drummer stood on the guy's bass lead and they'd had a massive row. Yes, it was his brother he was talking about.

[quote name='barneyg42' timestamp='1395926030' post='2407996'] Her dad is in Wales and has nothing to do with us apart from last time when it blew he went apeshit at her... [/quote] [center]The Welsh National Theatre presents a play in one act:[/center] [center][size=5][b]Dos i chwarae efo dy nain[/b][/size][/center] [i]Scene: A cottage kitchen. A tin bath hangs by the door. The mantelpiece is dressed with Welsh dolls. On a wall hangs a portrait of JPR Williams. An elderly man with a beard like a hedge is whittling scrimshaw at the table.[/i] [i](SFX: Male voice choir rendering 'Men Of Harlech' to - fade)[/i] Enter Myfanwy: Myfanwy: 'Allo, Da. Da: (Grunts) Our Myfanwy... Myfanwy: Da ... I dunno 'ow to tell you but ... Da: It's that shinach, Evans' boy, intit? Giving him a swydd chwythiant behind the wine bar, were you, like the strumpet you are? God be thanked yer Ma is gone this ten year, she'd die of shame, look you. Myfanwy: No, Da. It's the PA. It's gone again. Sounds like a fel rhech jet. Da: Pwdin blew! Were you letting that lembo of a bass player use it? I've told you before it's a Dynacord. A precision tool designed to accommodate only the female human voice. Anything below your range and it'll be cacging planciau in its fuse-box. Myfanwy: Well, he's gone on the inter-Llweb, see, and these people reckon its something else and you're an interfering old corris. Da: Dammo! My bluff's been called. Sit down, love. It's time for some truth in this house. Myfanwy: (worried) What is it Da? Da: When I told you I'd been the soundman with Showaddywaddy and I'd nicked your PA from their storage after The Aberystwyth Incident ... well ... I lied. Myfanwy: Oh, Da! Da: No. I knocked your PA up out of some winding gear, a one armed-bandit and a pit-pony. That's why it's dim gwerth rhech dafad Myfanwy: But why, Da? Da: After your Ma died, well, I just wanted to do everything for you but you went off to the bright lights of Surrey and I was ashamed Myfanwy: Oh Da, I love you. Da: I love you too, Myfanwy (They fall sobbing into each others arms) [center][i][b]Curtain[/b][/i][/center]

Just lovely. And a Stunning repro of the H logo by Snicks. In a parallel universe Howard would justifiably enjoy as much renown as one such as Mr Dan Erlewine. He is a man at the height of his powers.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1395675339' post='2404917'] One of my all-time favourites, but with lyrics which (in one place at the very least) were pretty damned borderline even in the 70s and wholly unacceptable now ... [/quote] There is that. Definitely. Edit for: I looked up the lyrics and ... worse even than I remembered. The past is another country where they do things differently.

Passionately loved his work up to Long After Dark. Then he seemed to enter a prolonged wobbly patch - collaborations with Dave Stewart and Jeff Lynne, The Wilbury's, acting. And - tbh - Mojo was not quite the 'stunning return to form' some held it to be. Top TP tracks (maybe) not already mentioned: Strangered in the Night One Story Town Something Big Straight Into Darkness Even The Losers Rebels

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1395509202' post='2403246'] I have little hope ... [/quote] Nil desperandum! I [i]won't[/i] be auditioning so there's one hurdle overcome straight away. I listened to his stuff (22 secs of track 1) and decided it's a bit too ploddy and predictable for me. (Buffs fingernails on lapel, wanders off singing 'I Walk The Line').

Good on yer, mate. Eloquent, measured and entirely selfless. Your next band will be fortunate in many ways.

Bolt cutter in case of extended guitar solos.

I went into Tesco's one time and they'd mis-priced their sandwiches at a pound less than they should have been. So I bought sixteen of them and sold them on at the right price, thus furnishing myself with the funds to buy a chromatic tuner. You know the rest.

Similar thing happened to me once buying a chromatic tuner. £16 down to £12. Got myself a £3.99 meal deal at Sainsburys - gave the change to a tubercular Victorian prostitute who cried: 'Gawd love yer, Sir! Now I can repair my barrel organ.' [size=3]The fruits of charity[/size] [size=3].[/size]

Maybe more for next year, but Oxfordshire's usually knee-deep in slightly chi-chi and / or trust-fund boho [url="http://www.festivalsforall.com/festivals-in-oxfordshire"]festivals[/url] from late Spring to early Autumn. Given the stuff that occupies the middle-lower reaches of Cropredy and Cornbury, you'd storm them.