Tristan Mackay playing in Leeds City Centre - notice the crowd!

Tristan Mackay (and his band, The Bedroom Orchestra) is one of the real gems on the Leeds busking circuit!  In his mid-20’s, he has all the class and quality you would find in a highly polished professional.

I first stumbled across him, when he was busking in Leeds City Centre, one sunny Saturday afternoon last year.  Despite being in a mad rush to get loads of jobs done, I bought a coffee and stood listening to his silky voiced performance in awe!

Ever since then I have been a keen fan.. Although, sadly, I haven’t made it too one of proper concerts yet at the Faversham or the Cockpit, why are they always on a Tuesday or a night when I am in concert somewhere?!

Tristan regularly plays the Leeds circuit and his songs have even featured in some Channel 4 TV programs!  I have to say that his rendition of, the now overly slaughtered (thanks X-Factor ), “Hallelujah” is outstanding and so true to the Jeff Buckley version with Tristan’s own little stamp on it, I have even seen people dashing down the street to listen to him when he has sung it!

Check him out and listen for yourself at his website , MySpace or Facebook.

Your swish is my command!

OK, so it may not have a Phoenix feather in it, but this little gadget is still pretty cool.. I’m not a massive fan of Master Potter (ok, I do quite like the films) but if this is the sign of gadgets to come then maybe I can roll with it for now!

The Kymera Wand, from The Wand Company Ltd is a new remote control which works using 13 preset actions ranging from tapping it with your finger to full Wii style swinging and swiping.  It can be programmed to work with any standard remote control operated gizmo.

So if you really want to impress the ladies, lads, simply whip out your wand and, with a little bit of wrist action,you’ll have things turned on and pandering to your every movement in no time!

Available now from firebox.com

Battery Requirements:

• Requires 2x AAA batteries (not included)

Dimensions:

• Wand measures 35.5cm(L) x 2cm(D)

Features/functionality:

• 1 – Rotate anticlockwise (typically used for “volume down” function)
• 2 – Rotate clockwise (typically used for “volume up” function)
• 3 – Flick upwards
• 4 – Flick downwards
• 5 – Flick left
• 6 – Flick right
• 7 – Tap on top
• 8 – Tap on side
• 9 – Big swish
• 10 – Push forward
• 11 – Pull back
• 12 – Double tap top
• 13 – Double tap side

Modes:

• Practice mode – allows the user to practise making the gestures and verify that they have been recognised correctly before learning associated IR data.
• Sleep mode – the wand will enter a low-power sleep mode after 60 seconds of inactivity.
• Learning mode – you can teach it one or more new codes for any of the possible gestures.

For now you’ll have to settle for this blurb I’ve nicked from Wikipedia.. I will do my own version at some point, honest!

My Euphonium and Me

The euphonium is a conical-bore, tenor-voiced brass instrument. It derives its name from the Greek word euphonos, meaning “well-sounding” or “sweet-voiced” (eu means “well” or “good” and phonium means “voice”). The euphonium is a valved instrument; nearly all current models arepiston valved, though rotary valved models do exist.

A person who plays euphonium is sometimes called a euphoniumist, euphophonist, or a euphonist, while British players often colloquially refer to themselves as euphists. Similarly, the instrument itself is sometimes referred to as eupho or euph.

The euphonium is pitched in concert B♭, meaning that when no valves are in use the instrument will produce partials of the B♭ harmonic series. In North America, music for the instrument is usually written in the bass clef at concert pitch (that is, without transposition), though treble clefeuphonium parts, transposing down a major ninth, are included in much concert band music.^{[note 1]} In the British-style brass band tradition, euphonium music is always written this way. It can also be written in tenor clef at concert pitch, which is usually done to prevent too many ledger lines in case it is a high part. In continental European music, parts for the euphonium are sometimes written in the bass clef a major second higher than sounding.

Professional models have three top-action valves, played with the first three fingers of the right hand, plus a “compensating” fourth valve, generally found midway down the right side of the instrument, played with the left index finger; such an instrument is shown in the above picture. Beginner models often have only the three top-action valves, while some intermediate “student” models may have a fourth top-action valve, played with the fourth finger of the right hand. Compensating systems are expensive to build, and there is in general a substantial difference in price between compensating and non-compensating models. For a thorough discussion of the valves and the compensation system, see the article on brass instruments.

The euphonium has historically been and largely still is exclusively a band instrument, whether of the wind or brass variety, where it is frequently featured as a solo instrument. Because of this, the euphonium has been called the “king of band instruments”, or the “cello of the band”, because of its similarity in timbre and ensemble role to the stringed instrument. Euphoniums typically have extremely important parts in many marches (such as those by John Philip Sousa), and in brass band music of the British tradition.

Other performance venues for the euphonium are the tuba-euphonium quartet or larger tuba-euphonium ensemble; the brass quintet, where it can supply the tenor voice, though the trombone is much more common in this role; or in mixed brass ensembles. Though these are legitimate performance venues, paid professional jobs in these areas are almost non-existent; they are much more likely to be semi-professional or amateur in nature.

The euphonium is not traditionally an orchestral instrument and has never been common in symphony orchestras. However, there are a handful of works, mostly from the late Romantic period, in which composers wrote a part for baryton (German) or tenor tuba, (most notably, Holst’s Planets Suite, which has many solos for baritone and euphonium) and these are universally played on euphonium, frequently by a trombone player. In addition, the euphonium is sometimes used in older orchestral works as a replacement for its predecessors, such as the ophicleide, or, less correctly, the bass trumpet, or the Wagner tuba, both of which are significantly different instruments, and still in use today.

Finally, while the euphonium was not historically part of the standard jazz big band or combo, the instrument’s technical facility and large range make it well-suited to a jazz solo role, and a jazz euphonium niche has been carved out over the last 40 or so years, largely starting with the pioneer Rich Matteson (see “List of important players” below). The euphonium can also double on a trombone part in a jazz combo. Jazz euphoniums are most likely to be found in tuba-euphonium groups, though modern funk or rock bands occasionally feature a brass player doubling on euphonium, and this trend is growing.

In Britain the strongest euphonium players are most likely to find a position in a brass band, but ironically, even though they often play at world-class levels, the members of the top brass bands are in most cases unpaid amateurs. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of brass bands in Britain ranging in standard from world class to local bands. Almost all brass bands in Britain perform regularly, particularly during the summer months. A large number of bands also enter contests against other brass bands of a similar standard. Each band requries two euphoniums (principal and 2nd) and consequently there are considerable opportunities for euphonium players.

So you’ve found my blog eh?  Blimey you must be bored!

You don’t know me, I don’t think, if you do – sorry!  I won’t go into all the detail here, you can read about me on the About Me page (surprisingly!).

I am, how shall we say, different – unique! But then aren’t we all?  I live a simple life in a complicated way!

This site is meant to be my outlet for all the things which clutter up my brain and buzz around my insomniac head on a night.  I’ll simply dump it all here and see what you lot think about it too!  You, okay with that?  If not then you’d probably better run for your life now, as this place could get pretty mind-blowing surreal at times!!If you like, computers, the Internet, music, brass bands and food and drink then I think we may just get along fine!

More later, I am supposed to be working you know!