Today is the feast day of St Cecilia, patron saint of musicians. I celebrated with a concert of English music, in Sir Henry Wood's church 🎶

We don't set students exercises and homework because there's a shortage of essays in the world...

Working from home today - with the heating very much on. Am I allowed to be a little bit jealous of those who have snow while I just look out on rain and general drear? 🌧️

This really is a fabulous place for an orchestra rehearsal

Once in a while, it's fun to actually LISTEN to a gig I'm not playing in. Yesterday, Flook at the Junction in Cambridge

How do you instantly terrify any musician? Spot them walking into a concert and ask if they'd mind page turning for the accompanist! 😬 I think I just about got away with it...

I finally made it to my destination at 0030, after trying a further three chargers. One of these refused my car as it wasn't a Tesla, one was a slow charger which took half an hour to charge me enough to get to the next stop, and the final one eventually worked flawlessly. What a night!

I normally love my electric car but it's currently 10 miles short of range, the first two charging stations I found were out of service, and the third has just caused my card to be blocked as suspected fraud. So right now, I'm having a bit of a sense of humour failure!

In Birmingham today, for the Lab Innovations trade fair

Rather depressingly, I live in the small part of the UK which is closer to space than to the sea

Over the past four days, I've read and shortlisted no fewer than SIXTY-SIX profiles of Presbyters and Deacons for ministerial positions within our church and circuit. Fascinating process to be involved with, but I'm done with reading profiles for now, thanks 🥴

Tonight, I'm being a Little Mermaid 🧜🏻‍♀️

After a busy concert last night and accompanying a church service this morning, my xylophone and I have made it to Sudbury for a quick Shost 5, before driving back to conduct tonight's rehearsal 😵‍💫

This outfit screams "professional orchestral percussionist", right? Right...??

One of the less frequently discussed perils about being a performing musician is that sometimes you have to start rehearsing Christmas music in October 🎅🏻

Pointless change to the government's visa rules, aimed only at hurting students while pandering to the right. Graduate-level employers don't WANT new hires to be limited to 2 years, or 18 months; we want to enable people to build their careers here with us www.gov.uk/government/n...

Quite a setup for the Lindberg clarinet concerto we rehearsed tonight - and this is just the half of it that I played. Let's just say the car was rather full

Enjoying a well-earned cider after conducting my first rehearsal of the season. Glazunov, Rachmaninov, and Edward German - it's going to be a good one!

There's nothing like realising, on the afternoon of my first orchestra rehearsal, that the print shop has inexplicably failed to print any horn parts. Trusty laser printer and roll of sellotape to the rescue...

About *a third* of global fossil fuel CO2 emissions emitted during the Industrial age have occurred in roughly the last 17 years. The previous third was emitted over a period of roughly 26 years. The first third was emitted over a period of about 131 years.

Is this one of these 'crisis actors' we've heard so much about...?

After a long pause, I've just done another England Covid & NHS update as we head into the autumn/winter season. TLDR: we're in a significant Covid wave now, the NHS is stretched, get boosted if you're eligible. christinapagel.substack.com/p/england-is...

If we have copyright laws to moderate how human creators are allowed to borrow and steal from each other, why are we ok with allowing big companies to do it in the name of AI 'progress'?

If I had twice the time, I’d still be time-broke because I’d find twice the things to not have time for.

Conductor: "So, the dotted demisemiquaver of the old tempo becomes the triplet semiquaver of the new tempo" Orchestra: ...😶😶😶😶 Bassoonist: "Is that... faster... or slower?" #thingsconductorssay

My car has a nominal battery capacity of 52.5 kWh and (according to the internet) a real-world capacity of 47.8 kWh. Last night, I drove home from my parents. I stopped at a SLOW motorway charger, and calculated just how long I had to charge to just make it home. Today, my charger added 52.1 kWh 😬

#Solar becomes main source of electricity in the #EU for first time. More than half of the EU’s #electricity in the second quarter of 2025 came from #RenewableEnergy www.independent.co.uk/tech/solar-p...

This evening, I've driven four hours north for a family gathering... right into the path of Storm Amy. It's Very Windy up here 🌬️

Objectively, I know how hemispheres and seasons work. That didn't stop me looking out at the autumn rain here in the UK and idly hoping we might have got past the RECORD TEMPERATURES EVERYWHERE IS ON FIRE ALL OF THE TIME phase of 2025. Sigh...

In some programs, Ctrl+Alt+E gives a Euros symbol € and sometimes, an accented é. Invariably, I want the other one. Can't we put € somewhere else on the keyboard? #minorrants

This is so telling. A spreadsheet is a quantitative, analytical tool. If Microsoft's AI can't be trusted with 100% accuracy, it has no business being part of Excel. Also, how hard do you have to work to make a computer bad at maths??

"Now when the low instruments come in, it sounds like you're playing behind. Partly because you are." 😬 #thingsconductorssay

I spent three hours formatting orchestral parts in front of the TV last night and I've just taken them to the printers. Nearly time for the season to begin...

Five years ago today: our first wind band rehearsal back after the dark times. Half the hand, sitting two metres apart from each other in a freezing village hall with the windows open. That figure on the right, visible around the pillar, is the distant conductor. Interesting times...

I'm working from home today and enjoying watching a rare black squirrel running back and forth along my fence. I might try to catch him in a photo for you all, but suspect I won't succeed

Another wonderful - if very long - evening at the opera 🎩🎶😁😴

Back the the Royal Opera House for the second time in a month! This time for Verdi's 'Sicilian Vespers' - all four hours of it 😬😁

I'm officially old enough to be team article

Do I want to be paid to play Shostakovich 5 in a couple of weeks, bring-your-own-xylophone? Why yes, yes I do

Ooh, Flook are in Cambridge in November *books tickets immediately* 🎶

Just discovered that the machinist who taught me how to use a mill and (metalworking) lathe has passed away. He was a grumpy sod at times but he knew his stuff and is a loss

Is the 'Discover' feed down for everyone?

Nope, I give up: I'm putting the heating on

Ooh, new reading material 🤓

Had an electrician come by earlier to discuss installing new electrical sockets in my workshop, so I can power the lathe and router table without trailing extension leads. So that's exciting

Amazing gig tonight from Fascinating Aida. Laugh out loud funny, poignant, and impeccably delivered

That may be one of the best function gigs we've ever done. Really enjoyed that. Knackered now though! 🥁 😎

All set up for this afternoon's gig with Cambridge Wind Band. Come down and hear us on Parker's Piece!

The latest incremental upgrade to the workshop: these bins will tidy up and organise so many of the little bits that clutter up the space and make it all that more usable

"Let's go from figure X, for... Twitter" #ThingsConductorsSay