Author Archives: Damian Oxborough

Early Christmas for Women’s Institute Choir

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North Yorkshire West Federation: Rock Choir The Women’s Institute North Yorkshire West Federation are in the process of establishing a rock choir…  well, in fact, three rock choirs that will occasionally come together to perform as one group.  And, I’m honoured to be the Musical Director of one of them – rehearsing every third Wednesday evening at Hellifield Village Hall,… Read more »

New Music Project: Otley Community Orchestra

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This poster caught my eye this afternoon, in the window of a bookshop in Ikley: It seems that Otley is starting a completely new musical group: The Otley Community Rock Orchestra, open to people who play any instrument.  Looking at the tag line do you STRUM BLOW PLUCK PICK BOW SQUEEZE or play a musical instrument in any other way… Read more »

Today’s ABRSM Exams in Crossflatts, Bingley

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Today I went to Windstruments Music House to accompany my friend Matthew’s ABRSM grade 3 trumpet exam, which was probably the most fun I’ve ever had in an exam room.  A bit of background: Matthew is someone I’ve known since childhood – we met at Salt Grammar School in Saltaire as we started our studies towards GCSE Music, continued on… Read more »

You Raise Me Up

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In June 2017, my wife and I visited New York City to celebrate our 40th birthdays. On one of the mornings there we walked from our hotel down Lexington Avenue and into Central Park. After grabbing a bite to eat we decided to explore a little more, strolling from one famous site to another: a movie set here, an iconic… Read more »

Carleton Ladies Choir’s 5th Successful Summer Concert

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I’m always proud to tell people that I am the Musical Director of Carleton Ladies Choir, but never more so than after evenings like last night: the concert we put on at Carleton Village Hall was an enormous success. Accompanied at the piano by Peter Gunn, the choir performed a really varied programme of songs.  These included Take These Wings by… Read more »

Breathing Exercise – The ‘Candle’ Warm-Up

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Over the years that I’ve been teaching singing in schools and theatre schools (and singing in choirs and other vocal groups myself), I have witnessed, led or taken part in hundreds of vocal warm-ups. Often these can be formulaic: the same pattern of exercises run through week in and week out, rehearsal after rehearsal, often taught as a matter of… Read more »

Carleton Ladies Choir – Summer Concert 2018

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Carleton Ladies Choir hold their annual summer concert this Saturday evening, from 7pm at Carleton Village Hall.  There’s lots of music, including an Abba song performed as a flute solo, a medley of British rugby songs sung by a male voice choir, a wide variety of choral music from the choir themselves, plus lots of audience participation (should you wish… Read more »