1. Sad news about the George Sand committee on rencontresdeluthiers.org — I don’t know exactly what this means for Chateau d’Ars but I’m assuming it’s either not going to continue, or will continue in a diminished form.

    Attending for the first time last year was one of the most intense and enjoyable trips I’ve ever been on, filled with wonderful instruments, music and even more amazing people. Whatever happens to the festival, those things will remain.

  2. Project for Chateau d’Ars (and maybe Halsway) in 2014: fit gurdy with wheel speed measuring device, record traces of different peoples’ trompette styles.

  3. Twelve Days of Show of Hands Christmas

    On the first day of Christmas Steve Knightley gave to me the Keys of Canterbury
    On the second day of Christmas Phil Beer gave to me two Tracks of Words…
    On the third day of Christmas Steve Knightley gave to me three Cutthroats, Crooks and Conmen…
    On the fourth day of Christmas Phil Beer gave to me four Beaten Bushes…
    On the fifth day of Christmas Steve Knightley gave to me five Bristol Slavers…
    On the sixth day of Christmas Phil Beer gave to me Six O’Clock Waltzes…
    On the seventh day of Christmas Steve Knightley gave to me seven Galway Farmers…
    On the eigthth day of Christmas Phil Beer gave to me eight Blind Fiddlers…
    On the ninth day of Christmas Steve Knightely gave to me nine Silver Daggers…
    On the tenth day of Christmas Phil Beer gave to me ten Preachers on islands…
    On the eleventh day of Christmas Steve Knightly gave to me eleven Crazy Boys…
    On the twelfth day of Christmas Show of Hands gave to me twelve Twats Twittering…


    Rejected lyrics included “sallys free and easy”, “gallons of red diesel”, “inane youtube videos”, and “old jokes”. Songs: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

  4. Looking to join/start a casual recorder consort in Reykjavík — anyone know of one, or people who might be interested in joining? Preferably with a focus on early music, not vital though.

  5. EEEEVIL:

    “Council can now steal instruments from . civil disobedience campaign begins” [1]@indyrikki via Jovian Salak

    As reported by: Ham&High News Change org

    Threatening to fine someone £1000 is bad enough, but for musicians, confiscating instruments is much more than theft — an instrument is an extremely personal extension of your body.

    Of course, no-one wants excessive noise pollution, but charging buskers a yearly fee and holding legal threats above them is going to achieve the exact opposite goal, by putting acoustically playing children and amateurs off, leaving more room for the serious buskers - the ones who can make troublesome noises with all their amps and equipment.

    As a long-time busker in the UK I’ve always found the police to be supportive and helpful (once memorably dragging a drunkard off me at Christmas late night shopping). Hopefully the police in Camden are equally reasonable and won’t strut around intimidating children.

  6. Recorded an unnamed tune yesterday + saw for the first time today = easy tune name! Lights In The Sky:

    Want to play it? Have a peek at the sheet music.

  7. Brave has some of the best Pixar film music since Ratatouille, and an excellent depiction of a lute — placing it alongside Ghibli’s Whisper Of The Heart for interesting (non-tropic) music.