Author: jemgirlatthepiano

Music Journalist

Music is a Mindful activity

Having recently rebranded the blog, I am fortunate that both topics that I talk about, correlate and integrate well with each other. Music is a very mindful activity and can be used as a mindfulness tool that helps us stay in the present moment, as much as possible.

I am sure many of you that are currently working from home, or while performing any kind of cumbersome task, will prefer to have some music on in the background, to allow your mind not to be focused on the boredom that maybe there, in the task at hand. This indicates that music is used as a distraction, a mood booster and also requires you to stay in the present moment, as you listen to a song or two.

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Gig in the Goil announces Virtual Festival

Argyll Holidays boutique festival Gig in the Goil has announced full details of ‘The Virtual G’ – its first ever online event.

The award-nominated weekender – which has moved its fifth birthday to Halloween – will play host to almost 40 live acts from across the country between 1st – 3rd May – the dates when their festival was initially due to take place.

Highly tipped Mark Sharp and Luke La Volpe are among a diverse line-up which also features Stewart Douglas from rising Edinburgh outfit Wrest, Britain’s Got Talent semi-finalist Kerr James and former UK chart-topper Ted Christopher. The festival has roots in traditional music and members from Scottish trad bands Heron Valley and Trail West will also appear over the weekend.

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Douglas MacGregor – Songs of Loss and Healing

ALBUM RELEASED 22nd May

Music from the deep, meditations and manifestations of grief, loss and healing: Seven highly intimate original guitar pieces in one landmark work from award-winning multi-genre musician and writer Douglas MacGregor. This is music that speaks of love, loss, death, yearning for the irretrievable, and, also, hope.

“intense, intimate and moving” / “a landmark”From the Margins

“evocative, urgent, and extraordinarily beautiful” Alex Neilson (Alex Rex /Trembling Bells)

Douglas Macgregor – Songs of Loss & Healing

MacGregor lost his mother to cancer when he was just seven and, with that, a whole way of life. It wasn’t until twenty-five years later that the supressed grief of this world over-turning experience brought an emotional collapse that submerged him for almost two years. Throughout this time, music was the guide and lifeline, the method of making sense of the unfathomable.

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Bristol Plays Music launches Virtual Academy for music tuition

Bristol Plays Music, the city’s award-winning music hub, has responded to the closure of schools and need for lockdown learning by creating a Virtual Academy, providing existing and new music students with individual music lessons.

The new Virtual Academy is an online music lesson programme, covering most instruments for children and young people currently learning at all levels, aged 7-18.

Bringing Bristol Plays Music tutors to homes via video calls, lessons will be 20 minutes long for primary aged children or 30 minutes long for secondary aged children, delivered individually online.

Bristol Music Trust

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Cassie and Corey A Drum and Bass Musical Podcast About Eating Disorders

A Drum ‘n’ Bass Musical Podcast About Eating Disorders – Released on all social platforms on Sunday 19 April 2020 at 12pm Headline: Drumstick & Bass: world’s first smartphone musical podcast tackles rising eating disorders among teens and young adults. At a time when young people in lockdown may be increasingly susceptible to anxiety that fuels eating disorders, a new online comedy musical has been launched to help those affective or at risk, talk about the problem.

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