Music genres featured on the blog
Since lockdown, I have gained a steady interest into soundscapes and relaxing music.
I recently discovered the music of Aroshanti – exclusive music for meditation purposes, that has been created, composed and produced by multi instrumentalist Nick Truch.
Continue reading “Meditation Music Review: Illumination by Aroshanti”
Call Me Unique is a talented Birmingham based singer / songwriter & guitarist. Her music is influenced by jazz, soul and jazz scat-singing. Merging sounds of Ed Sheeran, Lauryn Hill, Ella Fitzgerald & Lisa “Left-Eye” Lopez.
For the first time, ABRSM will make a selection of pieces from its Piano syllabus available as digital sheet music downloads.
ABRSM’s Piano syllabus 2021 & 2022 was launched on 9 July, and comes into effect on 1 January 2021. The new syllabus has completely revised repertoire choices and list structure, with lists defined by musical characteristics rather than period of composition. 48 pieces are now available as downloads, and will provide a broad selection of the diverse choice of inspirational pieces from the lists for Initial to Grade 8. As the new repertoire lists are the same for the long-standing Practical Grades and ABRSM’s new remotely-assessed Performance Grades, downloaded pieces can be used to prepare for both exams.
Digital downloads can be viewed on any device or printed, and are available from ABRSM’s online shop and all major digital retailers including Sheet Music Direct, Musicroom.com, Sheet Music Plus, and an extensive network of online and in-store digital retailers. The downloads complement ABRSM’s best-selling printed editions of its supporting resource, Piano Exam Pieces, which was published on 9 July, and is available worldwide.
Always So Blue is the first release on the uber-cool Gentlemansunion label for Hertfordshire-based songbird Peregrine Brown, taken from the self-titled debut album (released 10th July).
Peregrine Brown is the alias of multi-instrumentalist DJ Carter (Psychic Kids, Silver Shields) and the first offering under the new moniker.
Recorded in the first two months of COVID lockdown, the album is a mixture of whimsical rock, dreamy pop and darker acoustic experimentation that evokes chaos and clarity, reflecting the strange and uncertain times that the nation currently finds itself in – and our battle to ground ourselves, and stay peaceful and well, within these difficult circumstances.
Continue reading “Peregrine Brown releases debut single through Gentlemansunion”
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)
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.
Continue reading “Douglas MacGregor – Songs of Loss and Healing”
Jem Girl at the Piano 