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Phew!! Just over a week on and we have all fully recovered from a fantastic 'Feltonbury2018' weekend!!

Forward-planning and feedback from previous events means that this has been the most successful fund-raising event by far and has firmly put it on the village's calendar of events.

Deducting essential expenses we calculate that we have raised in excess of £2,000 for 'The Plot'. As the Constitution of 'The Plot' imposes certain restrictions on how we can spend the money we are currently working out how and where 'The Plot' can spend those donations to give maximum advantage to the Felton and Thirston communities that it was set up to service. Early suggestions include encouraging wider community access to 'The Plot' by improving physical accessibility, installing composting toilets and temporary shelter.

We were also delighted that the increased footfall in the village throughout the day and evening provided a significant benefit to all of the village businesses - all of whom seemed to have an equally successful day. In addition, and behind the scenes, we used, and will continue to use, village services wherever possible to ensure that revenue generation will be retained within the local community.

None of this would have been achieved without the generous contributions of artists, musicians, catering, refreshments, volunteers and businesses - and primarily, through the communities' residents and visitors donations.

Each year 'lessons learnt' are incorporated, which, in conjunction with already established features and new innovative ideas, will endeavour to make 'Feltonbury2019' - Saturday 22nd June 2019 - even better than this year. Watch this space in due course to find out what they will be!!

Once again 'The Plot' congratulates everyone for making it so successful through the 'Feltonbury' concept. Here's a short writeup in the Gazette. https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/news/fun-in-the-sun-as-feltonbury-hits-the-right-note-once-again-1-9226016

Many thanks to Christophe Chevaugeon, Ian McAllister and Mike Poremba for the photos.

GIULIO TAMPALINI - ITALIAN CLASSICAL GUITARIST - SUNDAY 24TH JUNE - ST MICHAEL'S CHURCH

Saturday 23rd June marks 'Feltonbury2018' - the annual one day 'Music and Arts Festival' at numerous venues throughout the village.

However we are absolutely delighted to welcome Giulio Tampalini as our closing act of 'Feltonbury2018' at St Michael's Church, Felton on the following evening - i.e. Sunday 24th June. 
We are especially privileged that Giulio has taken a diversion away from his North-East Concert Tour to make a repeat return to Felton to perform in St Michael's Church, Felton whose acoustics resonate with guitarist and audience alike. 
Ticket information will be announced soon but this is a unique opportunity to see and hear Giulio's stunning virtuosity

DON'T confuse the dates - so put both dates in your diaries

Saturday 23rd June - 'Feltonbury2018' - numerous village venues
Sunday 24th June - Giulio Tampalini - St Michael and All Angels' Church, Felton

Giulio Tampalini - Italian Classical Guitarist
http://www.giuliotampalini.it/en/

It is two months to go before 'Feltonbury2018' and although the updates have been a little sparse in the last couple of weeks that's only because there have been significant changes to the schedule - which will be updated very soon. What are those changes? Subject to final confirmation we will be having additional performers at new venues in the village, a contemporary dance group and a rock band as the final act in the village hall.

The rock band is local and the set-list will be arranged so that there's plenty of dancing! And now that the village hall has a licence we can sell alcohol - so there's no reason not to 'get up and boogie'! All of this has meant that the existing schedule (as well as what else will be going on in the village) is being updated and will be posted soon.

The first real blog post. Now that www.feltonmusic.co.uk is bouncing off the satellites, hopefully this update will shoot out automatically to all subscribers (if not, check you're spam/junk folder as it may end up there)....

Another website related excitement. This afternoon, Emma George patiently took me through the basics of tending and propagating one's site. More tutorials are offered and will definitely be needed. It's going to take some courage, patience and lots of practice. I always felt that anyone who wanted to be involved in teaching other people should face up themselves to learning something they know little or nothing about. 

So getting to grips with being a website custodian is firmly on my agenda for the next few months, and there's another learning project for me too – being able to learn tunes by ear. I find that really difficult, and have to resort to a convoluted process, envisaging the notation in my mind's eye then reading what I can “see”. Daft. I'd love to hear how people who can learn by ear do it – but it's often difficult to explain how you do something when it's second nature.

I think I know how instrumentalists make it happen. When you play a lot, you develop a relationship between how the music feels under your fingers and what you hear. I use that technique to help sort out tricky bits when I'm sight-singing, imagining playing the notes so I can hear how they should sound. But I can't seem to go straight from listening to playing. And what about people who can pick up songs by ear – you may be one of them? How do you hold the song in your memory – is it the sound of it, or the physical sensations of singing?

Clearly I'd have a lot of learning to do in a purely aural music culture. 

I've always worried about any implication that people or musical genres are divided into ears and eyes when it comes to accessing new tunes. It's really uncomfortable to be told that one “must” read or “must” learn by ear because of the type of music. Or that aggravating “I know you'll find it easier to do it this way”. Last summer I experienced more than an hour of frustration as a group of us struggled to get to grips with a short tune. The workshop leader played confidently by ear, and was clearly amazed that adults who played instruments couldn't pick it up that way. Finally she gave in to our pleading and let us have the printed copies. Okay if the purpose of the session had been to help us learn how to play by ear, but it was supposed to be about putting the music together and we barely had time to get onto that. 

A salutary lesson for a music reader to bear in mind.

All this stuff about ears and eyes came to mind when I was thinking about the content of this blog. One of the priority jobs on the website was adding another event to the calendar. Alistair Anderson together with one of his playing colleagues, Dan Walsh, is giving a concert at Gallery 45 in just three weeks time (click here for more details). It will be wonderful. Even in the far reaches of Devon, where I worked in long ago days, we had heard of Alistair, an internationally known folk musician. He was one of the few facts I knew about Northumberland, together with Hadrian's Wall, coal mining, and romantic notions of castles, moorlands, beaches and islands gained from Lorna Hill's books for children. Alistair came to Devon to run folk music workshops for schools and I was bowled over by his musicianship and the energy of Northumbrian tunes. A couple of weeks later Northumberland advertised for a music adviser – how could I not apply?

Alistair's one of those enviable people who can access, recall and perform music any way. If you got to “Beyond the End of the Road” in the Village Hall earlier this year, you'll have enjoyed his high energy ceilidh calling, and if you get to Gallery 45 on Thursday, September 28th, you can have another great evening.

Even Alistair must once have been at the stage of having to learn a simple tune slowly, and that's what I'm hoping we can give people the chance to do more often. We followed up the Tin Whistle Workshop with an Irish Evening in July, a grand mixture of instruments and singers and lots of tunes and songs to join in with. I'm wondering whether there might be people who'd like to get together for a regular monthly follow up. We could do it on a Felton Music Saturday afternoon. An hour and a half of working with a few tunes and songs, building up confidence and a repertoire. No plans for playing for anyone else – just for the fun of it. Let me know if you might be interested.

And it'll be fine to play by ear or by eye of course!

• Get ready for Calamity Jane on Saturday October 7, 9.30 – 12.30, Felton Village Hall as usual. There's more info about it on the calendar.

• We've sorted out the themes for the next three Drop In Singing Sessions. See the Drop In Singing page for more information. Get in touch if you've got suggestions.

• Great concert coming up at Gallery 45 on Thursday, September 28th - Alistair Anderson and Dan Walsh come to Felton - don't miss it!

• Don't forget it's Felton Music Saturday this weekend!

• Can you contribute any information for the Calendar or the Resources page? Email anything you think should go in to Alison at felton4music@gmail.com. Also, these updates should go out automatically to all subscribers, if you don't receive them - check your spam/junk folder as it may have unintentionally ended up there.

We ended an amazing June and launched a slightly less busy July with our pop-up Pirates of Penzance. What a weekend! It takes a good dose of courage even to sign up take part in the project, and buckets-full to arrive and follow it through. Nearly forty adults prepared to give up a summer weekend to work very hard to put on an instant and very entertaining show.

When I was getting going with music things as a teenager, I was rather snooty about G and S. Maybe I was put off by the performance I was taken to as a child. In my memory it was terribly long, boring and full of screechy women. There were the songs we had to learn in school choir - including Poor Wand’ring One, in order to bolster some G and S concert - more screechy women. There was the occasional orchestral experience - being passed a couple of polo mints by a bassoonist just before two pages of non-stop playing, or the wig which fell from a cast-member onto my head during a difficult bit. I enjoyed playing for “The Sorcerer” at university, but put G and S into the not-me category for years.

Then, when Felton Music was just getting going a few people said they’d fancy returning to their G and S glory days, and, with lots of input from Chris Jones the concept of the instant show emerged, with the Mikado in 2016. It would be a way of afficianados getting their fix, and a fun project for all. This year has made it clear that we’ve got the capability to put on a thoroughly rehearsed show really well, but hardly anyone has the time, so we’ll pop up again in 2018.

I’ve found it all tremendously enjoyable. The more I get into Sullivan’s music, the more I value it. Glorious tunes, and all eminently singable. Scoring the music for our resident band means one really gets to know each piece, and I’m beginning to get a feel for how Sullivan’s harmony works. Yes, lots of tumti-tum, but that allows the words through - and now I find them so funny.

Of course, the main pleasure is working with everyone involved. Those intoxicating qualities of commitment, creativity, collaboration, stepping-forwardness, good humour and generosity of spirit energise everyone. Even the electricity had to good manners to spark back into life when we were ready to start on the Saturday.

It’s been fun for me to do the directing bit. That’s something I did little of in previous existences. Very good for the waist-line too. Easier this time with a larger, sturdier music stand - I’ve bought one for myself and one for Felton Music as well so pianists using the big keyboard at the Village Hall are at less risk of the music capsizing.

I’ve learned a lot from these two G and S celebrations, and look forward tremendously to next year’s - whichever it is. Meanwhile, it’s back to business with a Felton Music Saturday coming up and the end of term Instant-Irish-Evening on Tuesday. I look forward to seeing people there - and at Felton Fair.