One of my favourite British singer-songwriters is a guy by the name of John Howard. You will probably never have heard of John. He goes back to the swinging sixties and is just a few months younger than myself.
He was tipped to have a massive future and to be as good as Elton John. But for a number of reasons things didn't go quite according to plan and he found himself ditched by his record label. He is still making music and distributing it himself and he is very talented. Seek him out on Spotify and You Tube.
I have met John on a few occasions and he really does value his fans and interact with them. The reason I'm telling you all this, apart from giving John a plug, is to mention one of his songs which was about the disappointment of his piano teacher when he wrote his own words to Fur Elise by Beethoven which ended with the teacher refusing to give him any more lessons. Excuse the pun but this struck a chord with me.
I reckon I was around six years of age when I went for my first piano lessons. That rather suggests it was my parents idea rather than mine. I used to walk up Reepham Road in Norwich to go to this elderly lady in Overbury Road. As I was so young, perhaps my father gave me a lift although I can't remember. I don't have too many memories of these lessons but I certainly didn't get very far. When this teacher gave up I went to another lady for weekly lessons about two miles from home which necessitated a bus journey.
This woman imparted nothing to me. It was classical music all the way and the only thing I can remember doing was taking pieces home to practice during the week, playing them in her front room and that was about it. There was no teaching or guidance and the woman spent most of the lesson chuntering to herself under her breath. I played so many wrong notes, my timing was all out and as the great Eric Morecambe said "I played all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order."
It really is a wonder to me how I continued playing after she died. I didn't have any more lessons but my grandmother started to buy me sheet music and the hits of the day. I still have quite a collection and still play much of it. There can't be many people playing "Message to Martha" by Adam Faith. Incidentally music charts used to be based on the sale of sheet music from 1947 to 1952 when record charts started. This was because sheet music outsold records. The first single record to reach number one was the 1952 song "Here In My Heart" by Al Martino but technically the first ever number one in 1947 was "Among My Souvenirs" by Frank Sinatra.
So for many years I have believed that the Al Martino record was number one on the day I was born but now find it was "The Homing Waltz" by Vera Lynn - a record I have never heard but which I checked out last night. Dame Vera had one of the all time great voices whatever you think of her material.
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I have been busy over the past couple of days putting some photo galleries on my You Tube channel. Yesterday I put in collections for Felbrigg Hall, Cromer, Sheringham, Hethersett and Norwich.
If you want to view them you can go to
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb81ln0MKA7-IbJYIKbmVnA
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Finally today, a couple of my articles appeared in this week's Wymondham Mercury. Cuttings below.