Annie Reviewed

I am pleased to announce that Annie at Pewsey Vale School recieved a rave review from local reporter Nigel Kerton. The band, of which I was part, was described as "excellent".

A full review can be read here

One could be a bit miffed that the orchestrations, backing tracks and general amazingness of yours truly was given only a line, but Treacle the dog recieved an entire paragraph. Did Treacle spend 3 months preparing and carefully studying the score to create a dramatic and fresh new interpretation of the music? Did Treacle have a solo that opened the show? No, Treacle did not. All Treacle did was walk around the stage (not always in the right direction) eating dog biscuits that were dropped on the floor for him. But who am I to criticise? Clearly this dog deserves a paragraph for eating.

This marks my second collaboration with Pewsey Vale School, the first being their production of Bugsy Malone which I wrote about in my blog here.

In that article I described the school being at the start of its journey. What was great to see is that prediction turned out to be right and the school is definitely moving onwards and upwards in terms of bigger, more demanding productions... and pulling them off! What is also so rewarding to see, looking back at my article then is that I said that I had never had so much fun on a show in my life. The same is true for this run of Annie. I laughed so much that I that my stomach has never been so toned (allbeit under the layer of flab!). On the downside, I am still trying to learn to play the saxophone. 13 months on - nothing has changed. So what has?

Well the kids who were involved in Bugsy Malone have come on leaps and bounds, not only in their personal development but also in their performance which is wonderful to see. It was so much fun seeing some familiar faces and getting to know new kids. In such a small secondary school it was amazing that such a talented cast could be drawn. My own secondary school was approximately 3 times the size, but in terms of talent, was probably inferior.

Secondly, it was great to use the technology and tools of my craft to augment a 4 piece live band. With Bugsy Malone you can kind of get away with a minimal set up, but Annie, which requires nearly an entire orchestra of woodwind specialists (in the original orchestrations one instrumentalist has to play flute, piccolo, alto flute, 2 saxophones and clarinet I believe), you really can't scale it down without decimating the impact. The set up which I normally just use at home received its first road test in a live performance setting and worked incredibly well. With a bit more investment in the technology and honing my skills I believe that this could be a great solution for other small scale productions.

Also new was....

BREAK IT DOWN WITH XANDER - An Interactive Vocal Warm Up (Coming Soon to DVD)

Ok, so I was originally only contracted to orchestrate this show and play flute/piccolo in it which is cool but as I entered the consultation/production process nearer the date I started to help the musical director with her heavy workload in rehearsals. This included offering to do a vocal warm up with the kids, who at that point in the proceedings were feeling pretty scared and low in terms of general morale. NOW, I am the world's worst singer and not particularly confident when it comes to teaching kids anything so the only way I thought I could a) get the kids excited and warmed up and b) not look like I take my self too seriously when I suck big time at singing, was to basically make a fool out of myself and have fun. I started thinking about the various warm ups that I've been taught in the past particularly as a kid as well as ones I know are used in professional circuits. By far the most popular was one where you exercise your face by pretending you are being pulled in different directions by magic strings. The first time I did this, the kids probably thought I was on drugs (and judging by the amount of caffeine in my blood stream at that moment they probably had a point) and spent most of that exercise laughing but in laughing it did achieve it's aim of getting them to work their facial muscles and raise their spirits. By the end of the run, this warm up had developed to do more traditional breathing and sound production exercises as well as just for fun stuff. Kids are funny when you can make them do things. Personally, I was quite suprised at what I could do with my voice after the week but it has inspired me to.

TOP 7 THINGS XANDER LEARNT ON THIS PROJECT

1. If your microphone is on, people can generally hear what you are saying.

2. (Therefore) saying "F*** me!" when your computer crashes in front of 30 children aged between 11 and 16 in a secondary school, 3 teachers including one senior teacher and a local reporter is probably not a good idea.

3. Drummers will take the piss out of you because you don't use correct drumming terminology but they don't actually know the terminology themselves.

4. Even guitar tab users don't understand how tab works.

5. If you are gonna teach anything you need to know what you are doing - apparently children can't read your mind.

6. Listening to a click track and playing in time with a metronome is actually difficult and mastering it is like learning a new skill as a musician.

7. To be really effective in these situations - I need to play the piano so I can help out a musical director.

Top Inspirational Quotes

I thought I'd share some quotes I find really inspirational. I've collected them over a year or so from various sources ranging from interviews, books, other people's quote boards, newspapers and so on. They inspire me. I hope they inspire you.

1. It's easy to make a buck. It's a lot tougher to make a difference. (Tom Brokow)

2. If you're handed it, you can handle it (Shoshana Bean although it may have been someone else.)

3. Many of life's failures are people who did not realise how close they were to success when they gave up. (H. Jackson Brown Jnr)

4. Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times. (Anon)

5. If you are doing your best, you won't have any time to worry about failure. (H. Jackson Brown Jnr)

6. Every performer dreams of having his or her name in lights, but the best performers aim to make someone in the audience feel they way they did when they first saw someone great. (Shoshana Bean paraphrasing someone else)

7. Why any kid would chose to be an orphan is beyond me. (Miss Hannigan, Annie)

8. Opportunity dances with those already on the dance floor. (H. Jackson Brown JR)

9. The great thing is in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving. (Oliver Wendell Holmes Snr)

10. Success is getting what you want. Happiness is liking what you get. (H Jackson Brown Jnr)

11. The only person you should compete with is yourself. You can't ask for a fairer match. (Todd Ruthman)

12. Don't ask for the task to be easy, ask for it to be worth it. (Jim Rohn)

13. Be the change you want to see in the world. (Ghandi)

14. To excel at something foresight, effort and desire must all be evident in the first place to exceed our own expectations or those of others.

15. If people aren't laughing at your dreams, then you're not dreaming big enough. (Unknown)

16. I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world". (Albert Einstein)

17. Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There's plenty of movement, but you never know if it's going to be forward, backwards, or sideways. (H. Jackson Brown Jr)

18. Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement. (Mark Twain)

Broadway Baby Says Goodnight

I am delighted to announce that I will be leaving the Broadway Theatre at the end of the month to join the Barbican Centre in central London. I will be joining the HR department of the Barbican as an HR advisor. My feelings are difficult to articulate.

I have spent the last two years at the Broadway and it was my first professional industry gig if you like. I started as a part time administration assistant and over the course of a year was promoted twice to a senior management positions. I have joked that working at the Broadway and commuting over 4 hours a day has been rather like having a baby - it's taken the best years of my life, destroyed my figure and kept me up all night.... but you love it any way. Of course, there is a profound sense of grattitude that the theatre has given me so many opportunities but I cannot get over the pain I have experienced.

There are parts of me that are very angry and frustrated that I haven't been able to do what I wanted with the role and some of that I blame more senior powers or colleagues for, but I realise that 80% of it is is probably down to the nature of the place and my experience as someone who is very young in their career and has a lot to learn about the business. Nature's way I guess. The Broadway's unstable future was not really a factor in my decision to leave and I've never been worried about whether the Broadway would close in a year's time or whatever. It was more about career development as you say (and a pay packet that reflects the workload/level of responsiblity).

The Barbican HR department is undergoing a restructure at the moment so it will be a great opportunity to get in and do some project work and help to build a new department and provide a high standard of customer service. Most of all, it is a fresh start and I get to escape the image of the "office boy" who got promoted way too fast to a senior management position. I think some of the other SMT have had a real problem with adjusting to that - and the resistance is a bit soul destroying sometimes. Having said that, I will miss some people but I know I will keep in touch with them.

This Broadway baby says goodnight on 29th February 2008.