Sunday saw the first two workshop performances of @firebrigademusical.bsky.social performed by the brilliant University of Lincoln MT second year students, and a creative dream team. Thank you for bringing our story to life! And thank you for the fabulous photos @briansayle.bsky.social !

Two performances of The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade coming up in May in Lincoln! Exciting times..

Went to numerous shops today in an attempt to find either a) a long cardigan or b) a normal ish sunhat that fits my daftly small head. Apparently none of these things are currently available in shops and I'll have to look online instead. But why?

Off to the theatre for the afternoon. I struggle with freezing in air con. As a result I'm one of few people carrying a cardigan on the tube in a heatwave. The theatre might not even have air con..

My printer seems to think this is an appropriate size for sheet music..

My new printer sings to me and I'm very happy about it. When I ask it to print something it plays a chord, then sings an upward scale, finishing on the major 7th and adding a trill!

Currently doing the typical composer procrastination of ignoring the music I need to be writing because I reallyreally want to write the fun piece that just popped into my head..

The London Festival of Contemporary Church Music might be over for another year, but you can listen to their LFCCM @ Home series online! On 13th May they shared an @ Home Organ Recital, featuring my Study in Five performed by Martyn Noble: lfccm.com/whatson/even...

Wrote a piece about Avril Coleridge-Taylor, her dad, and the @royalalberthall.bsky.social -- sarahwhitfield.com/2025/05/12/a...

New gardening level unlocked: Dropping of something at someone's house and taking a moment to complement their wisteria!

If you're in Southampton at the end of the month, you should go to The Stage Door and hear them sing some of the songs from @firebrigademusical.bsky.social (the musical I'm writing with @jennipinnock.com and @helenarney.bsky.social !) thestagedoor.org.uk/product.php/...

In the aftermath of my sell-out talk at Royston Museum, here's more riotous behaviour? @balhnews.bsky.social @thebhp.bsky.social @bho.bsky.social @sslh.bsky.social @hertshistory.bsky.social @hisjournalha.bsky.social @jennipinnock.com @roystoncrow.bsky.social grahampalmer.co.uk/revolting-ro...

Starting the day with a final proof read of the Shifting Seasons score (accompanied by a cup of tea!). Shifting Seasons is a new song cycle of five settings of texts by women writers, supported by the Vaughan Williams Foundation @vwfndn.bsky.social

On Sunday 29th June Leading Voices LDN are presenting 22 songs by 22 British and UK-based writers at The Union Theatre, London - and they're including Put Out The Fire from The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade! See their website for more info: www.leadingvoicesldn.com

Tonight's redrafting mainly involves adding in all the slurs.

Happy Star Wars Day! Alas we hadn't any Star Wars sheet music today, so our wind dectet added some ET to the programme instead..

Happy Birthday Hertha Ayrton! Physicist, inventor, science communicator, social activist and founder of the Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade: youtube.com/watch?v=lkiU...

‪ Today is International Workers' Memorial Day. In the 1870s many lost their lives in the coprolite diggings of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and South Cambridgeshire. There is no memorial to them. #IWMD2025 www.cracked-voices.co.uk/poo-and-pick...

The great Hertha Ayrton was born 171 years ago today. She developed a carbon arc light that eliminated the flickering of previous models, then used her knowledge of fluid dynamics to develop an anti poison-gas fan that could have saved thousands in WWI. tinyurl.com/a29cy3kz #WomenInSTEM #HistSci 🧪

A peaceful walk in the woods to start my composing day right.

Remembered to prune the wisteria at the right times and it is far happier for it. Best show of flowers yet!

Busy working on the children's musical theatre education today.

Two of my pieces will be performed as part of the London Festival of Contemporary Church Music next month. Organist Martyn Noble will perform Cassiopeia and Tanquinto as he opens the Festival's organ recital series on Friday 9th May, 6.45pm at St James's Sussex Gardens. lfccm.com/whatson/even...

Today I've written some waltz-like piano parts, some very moto perpetuo style piano parts, and have finished off the day with some incredibly stabby piano. Less piano tomorrow maybe?

Adding to @helenarney.bsky.social 's "Sometimes writing a musical involves.." series - You know you're writing a musical when at 11pm you both have ideas on how to fix two bars of a piece, and then you have to sit down at the piano to sort it out.. (while giving @mackenwells.bsky.social earworms!)

Solidarity to all others trying to juggle their work with the children over the Easter break. My house is significantly louder than it would normally be and finding brain space is even more of a challenge - even with older kids!

Very excited that @helenarney.bsky.social , @mackenwells.bsky.social and I are part of Lincoln Art Centre's Innovate Artists 2025! Looking forward to stoking more embers as we continue developing the show, and especially excited to be working with students at the University of Lincoln's MT dept!

It's the first day of the school holidays here, so composition time has to be accompanied by a cup of tea and a hot cross bun...

Since S has not yet joined Bluesky I'll give her wonderful art song blog, Liederabend, a shout-out here. The post about "Die Nachtigall" from one of my favourite song cycles, "Sieben frühe Lieder" by Alban Berg, is wonderful. You can read it yourself here: www.liederabend.cat/en/bloc/entr...

Dorico lets you choose how many new bars you'd like to add. Due to a typing error I just extended a score by a rather ambitious 220 bars..

Happy Monday! My first job of the day is to finish an arrangement of Songs of the Sea (or at least, the first section!) for a rehearsal tonight. Lots of Skye boats, Bonnies and Alive alive-oh-ing..

Just spent an hour in the garden weeding. Now wondering what the percentage of time I spend 'gardening' is actually just pulling things up. I suspect a huge factor in this is the large portion of garden that is wild garden, in which I spend up time pulling out thuggy plants so others can thrive..

The showcase recording of our fire brigade musical is here! Head to the link to see what the fabulous @helenarney.bsky.social , @mackenwells.bsky.social and I have been up to this year (aside from spending 30 minutes on single bars of music of course..)

It may have been 30 mins on two bars.. 😂 Is this why it takes so long to write a musical?! Collaboration for the win!

The magnolia is finally opening - spring is here! Currently finishing a song cycle featuring five texts by female writers all about the changing seasons, supported by the Vaughan Williams Foundation. Today I'm redrafting a wintery piece, which seems odd considering today's sun..!

I should be spending my Sunday evening proofing scores. Instead I'm playing with some really harmonically pleasing folk song arrangements..

Today, running some composition exercises in school, a pupil decided to hit the piano stool instead of clapping some rhythms. This is your regular reminder to vacuum yours. The amount of dust that flew off of it was impressive..!

I'm very pleased that we're finally at that point in the year where I can potter around the garden with a cup of tea when I get stuck on a piece.

Our fabulous fire brigade at last week's showcase! From left to right: Elena Pitsiaeli, Courtney Stapleton, Rosie Coles, Elexi Walker and Maddison Bulleyment. Birmingham Hippodrome 📷@danny_with_a_camera

Hoping this isn't a sign of how today's going to go.

We nailed those fire drills! Thanks to Birmingham Hippodrome, the entire New Musicals team, cast and crew for two amazing New Musicals Showcases yesterday. It was brilliant to share the sparks of our musical with so many people!

Enjoying a slower start this Monday morning. Many cups of tea and working on an art song at the piano.

Fighting fires, smashing the patriarchy and studying hard for a degree they won’t even earn. Our intrepid band of firefighters were a busy gang. But they also found time for fun – and one of the many activities they enjoyed was singing. Find out more: firebrigademusical.com/2025/03/02/w...

Blazing fires start with small sparks... 🔥🔥🔥 Come see the sparks of the new musical I'm writing with @jennipinnock.com and @mackenwells.bsky.social at Birmingham Hippodrome on Thursday 6th March: "The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade" www.birminghamhippodrome.com/calendar/new...

To anyone working in the creative sector: Please fill out the Government's consultation on AI and copyright (deadline today!). It's quite lengthy but there are plenty of good guides you can use as models - ISM has a particularly good one for composers.

Currently working on a short song cycle centred around the seasons, featuring texts by female writers including Marietta Holley and Louisa May Alcott. Thanks to the Vaughan Williams Foundation for supporting the commission.

Fabulously clear skies tonight over Cambridgeshire. Spent a few minutes constellation spotting and finding Mars and Jupiter. Since moving here (many years ago) Orion is always the first constellation that jumps out at me!

Many trays of seeds sown today! Some in propagators, others in a sunny spot, and a couple on a heated mat (first year trying that). Coincidentally the window sills are now all looking very full..

Just over two weeks until the New Musicals Showcase at Birmingham Hippodrome. Come along and see 15 minutes of The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade @firebrigademusical.bsky.social show we've been working on (plus five other new shows too!). www.birminghamhippodrome.com/calendar/new...

I'm daftly excited by the promise of warmer weather later this week. I've just been sorting my seeds and can't wait to get planting.. less enamoured with the thought of the bramble hacking ahead of me though.