Tag: ukulele

Freelance Reflections #123

News

I’m in a local coffee shop, Galão, and just bumped into a parent with an ex-student! I didn’t recognise them at first, but when I did I waved and just did a hi-how-are-you, but I always feel a bit awkward! I was actually planning to pop to an exhibition today, but then double-checked and realised it’s actually closed today! So, back to my essay I go.

Galão

This week, I’ve mostly just worked – whether on my essay, placement or work-work. However, I also had the first Forest Hill Stanza group at the local library, which was nice. It had the usual people as well as a couple of others.

Mix and match take away with home cooked food

The worst part of the week – still an ongoing source of stress – was when I found out I had missed the notification that my payment had failed for the DBS update service. After wasting an hour crying down the phone to robots, I had to accept there was nothing I could do but reapply for another one for £38. I’m now waiting for a response about checking my documents. When I get it and put it on the update service again, then I will make sure to put an annual note in my calendar to check the payment! So, now I need to wait to see what is going on with my application as I emailed a bunch of people from uni to arrange verification, but haven’t had a reply yet.

Toilet protest art

I really wasn’t in the mood to tutor after that, but thankfully I started with a boy I hadn’t seen for a while and it was really rewarding working with him. Aside from the usual, I also went to CPIFF (Crystal Palace International Film Festival). It was a night of International Shorts and I though they were great. I was also taken by surprise by one called Corruption on Earth that felt really uncomfortable and surreal that showed Iran winning an award for its regime, and had me in tears by the end. I also was uncomfortable with a more experimental film called King, that was mostly dance to music, but the choreographer came from Denmark to speak and her and the audience articulated so well that it enhanced my enjoyment of it.

Cakes, cookies & plantain crisps on placement

I’m still ploughing my way through the ACE application, and really hoping I can get that and my current essay draft done this week, then I can focus on reading more texts to put into said essay, and get started on writing my next one! Rather than watch a film or anything, I managed to do a bit of a ukulele practice after the gym – how’s that for a wild Saturday night!

Watching: Atlanta, Life & Beth, The Simpsons, Travel Man, Da Vinci’s Demons

Reading: Trauma and The Avoidant Client by Robert T Muller, The Revealing Image by Joy Schaverien, Little Boxes by Cecilia Knapp

Podcasts: Things Fell Apart, WTF with Marc Maron

Music: Kate Nash, Taking Back Sunday

Again, if you’re able to share or donate to my crowdfund as I train to become an Art Psychotherapist, or buy some books, please do!

Freelance Reflections #113

News

Last week I was unwell, and then after thinking I had recovered, I then got a whole lot worse over the weekend and had to cut my second day at uni short (we had four hours of experiential groups on two days, and I had to work after the Monday).

I managed to have a day off placement, but it was really difficult as I had to cancel a client. The next day I was determined to go in for the client I’ve been seeing and had my first official art therapy session. I felt a lot more comfortable and feel like I’m getting to grips with the role.

Secretly an Ashnikko Santa Hat 😂

I’ve been trying to help my partner with their essay too, as it really helps to have a body double with ADHD and they haven’t got access to medication, plus English isn’t their first language and they have dyslexia, so I can help with proofreading. However, this has also taken time away from my own studies and come the new year, I am readying myself to focus on work and study at a new level.

The only exercise I’ve done this week is yoga, plus a fair bit of walking for commutes. I’m hoping to pick it up again this week, easing myself into a little home dance now before an online lesson. Speaking of picking things up again, I’ve also picked up the ukulele again and want to at least spend some time playing once a week. I think it’s been over a year, which is really shocking as I have it in my diary to do and just delete it every Sunday!

I also had the Forest Hill Stanza Open Mic on Thursday. It was a quiet one, but Alain English made an appearance, which was nice, and we reflected on all the people we met back when we started out in poetry: Cat Brogan, Hollie McNish, Ray Antrobus, Dean Atta etc. It was admirable that he was plugging away and mentioned going to so many open mics. I wonder whether I will have the energy to do this after my course, or if I will be able to make more time for creativity.

Watching: Travel Man, Wonka

Reading: Imagine Animals by Caroline Case, The Revealing Image by Joy Schaverien, Endgame by Malorie Blackman, Inheritance by Jasmine Cooray

Podcasts: Griefcast, Diary of a CEO

Music: Christmas playlist

Early morning sunrise

Again, if you’re able to share or donate to my crowdfund as I train to become an Art Psychotherapist, or buy some books, please do!

Carmina’s Cantata #12

Carmina's Cantata

Just one more podcast episode to record next month and then I can focus on actually putting it out there! I have another project I’ll update about soon that requires a lot of my time at the moment, and I’m still waiting on some elements of the first episode to come together, so it may be out a little later that I hoped. If I manage by February to put them out every fortnight, that’ll still be enough time until the project ends in August.

Meanwhile, I’m still making time for my little red uke. I’ve been tired, I’ve been happy, I’ve been cold. I spent a lot of time doing ‘Ring of Fire’, which was good for some chord changes, and I’ve even learnt a bit about sharps and flats… I don’t know if my bed is the best place to do it, but that’s clearly where I tend to be!

Carmina’s Cantata #11

Carmina's Cantata

I’ve recorded my penultimate podcast episode! Soon all that will need doing is the editing, and then working out Spotify and putting it out there! This has been my favourite part of this project as I’ve got to have some really interesting conversations and also caught up with poet friends that I haven’t seen in a while!

I’ve been dedicating more focussed time to playing the uke, and doing some tricky stuff in terms of both chord transitions and trying to play along to a metronome. On days where I have been able to have balance and do this, I have been feeling much more fulfilled and happier in what has felt like and up-and-down time. And apparently, only now mercury’s in retrograde.

Carmina’s Cantata #10

Carmina's Cantata

I did take my ukulele with my on my travels to see family, but alas, I still have not perfected ‘Jingle Bells’. I’m looking forward to starting my routines again, as I ease into the New Year. I’ll be booking a monthly in-person lesson to add to my Fender Play practice. With my goals being about rest, balance, healing and joy, I hope to dedicate more focussed time to playing, which will give me fulfilment as I learn more and more.

I’m also going to record the penultimate podcast episode and begin to edit all the episodes to start putting them out by the end of the month, on a fortnightly basis. I’ll also need to figure out how to get them on Spotify. After listening to lots of podcasts on dating and sex, and grief and mental health, I’ve now been enjoying more poetry podcasts, including those from Apples & Snakes, Faber, and Dead Darlings.

Carmina’s Cantata #9

Carmina's Cantata

So, the ukulele has become more of a New Year’s Resolution, but I did my first online lesson in my local area and it went so quickly! It turns out when you focus, time flies! We looked at Jingle Bells, so I’m going to get my boyfriend to have a go with me, taking turns to do the chords and the “melody” (just learnt this term). I hope to do hourly lessons in-person and then keep up 30-minutes a day as part of my more balanced schedule come January!

Meanwhile, I have completed my City Lit Logic Pro course, and have a pretty decent first podcast episode. I also really wanted to steal these pink, orange and green headphones. One of the group knew that I’d like them as another said they looked like they were for kids… I do often find myself being attracted to the bright colours of the kid’s section! So, next year will bring more editing and more strumming!

Carmina’s Cantata #8

Carmina's Cantata

I have another podcast interview this Friday, so I’m going to try to actually use the Scarlett interface to amplify the sound being recorded. I had a nightmare last night, which, amongst other things, involved me forgetting the microphone. The last City Lit Logic Pro class was online, and sadly the next will be as well. I have one more key thing I need to learn and enough time to try to edit an episode independently before the end of the course.

The ukulele has been on the back-burner a bit, and I want more balance in my life to make time for these important activities that feed my creative practice. Meanwhile, I went to see Grant Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit at Rough Trade, leaving with a copy of ‘The Work: The lyrics of Scott Hutchison’. I went with the friend who introduced me to the band, but I think I will save my copy for after the holidays. I’m going to be away from my partner, and really struggled after the first week last time, so I might take it out during January, when life inevitably becomes a little blue.

Excited to have a little ukulele play.

Carmina’s Cantata #7

Carmina's Cantata

Things are really full on at the moment, so I’ve been struggling to put the time into my ukulele practice. I’d rather do it in the day time, as I can feel really tired by the evening, so it doesn’t feel as productive. However, something that has changed is that I’ve now been focussed on one song, and whilst previously I kept on moving on quickly after a few times, I’m now having the opposite problem: I want to perfect it and as I keep making mistakes, I’ve not been able to move on. How long should I spend on one lesson or song?

I’ve been learning a lot and playing around on my Logic Pro course at City Lit. It’s my third lesson so far, and it’s great as it’s specialised to the students on it and the different things we want to do. Today we’ll be doing more about editing, and how I can make the volume more consistent, and put different files together on one episode. In some ways, it would have been good to do the course prior recording interviews, but on the other hand, the whole point of this year is to learn as I go along. It would be good to know how to attach the Scarlett amplifier whilst recording. Things are intense right now, but hopefully he hard work I’m putting into various thing right now will pay off next year.

I last recorded in Brighton, and it was nice to take a trip down memory lane, as my gran used to live there. It was so nice that I have managed to convince my mum for us to go there for our annual Christmas shopping trip (which is really just an excuse to spend time together and eat nice food). I’m glad I managed to go away as I feel like I would be a lot more stressed and overwhelmed if I hadn’t. Like language learning, learning music is actually really good for managing stress as you are forced to be present… of course, it’s possible to get distracted, but when you get into the zone, you brain has to concentrate so much that there isn’t room for other things.

Carmina’s Cantata #6

Carmina's Cantata

I can’t believe it’s now November! So, I’m about half way through recording the whole of the podcast series interviews! I’ve been to Leeds, Sheffield, and Bristol so far, with the last couple being in London (Dalston, and today in Greenwich). Pirate Studios is great as it has a lot of locations and it’s really affordable due to the way it’s staffed, but today I had to switch rooms in attempt to get away from a really noisy band, with sound bleeding through to the whole building!

We ended up in a rehearsal room, so at the end of the interview, I ended up playing on the drums. Sometimes I wish I went to the BRIT school or something as I would have loved to have been able to play more music. The arts are definitely my thing as I just love every art form and wish I could do more. When I retire – if artists every really retire – I hope I’d be able to just learn a bunch or random instruments I never got to!

Alas, I am sticking to the one instrument, which I picked up as it goes well with spoken word and I was told it was easy! As I enjoy learning the ukulele, it can be something I do in the evening when I don’t have time in the day. But then I have found, I’ve been so busy lately that I get tired, so carving out time in the day is the way forward. As is the repetition of the same things, which is a lot more fun when it’s songs that just doing different kinds of notes. I have trouble with focussing at times, so I can definitely dedicate more time if I don’t get distracted whilst doing it!

Carmina’s Cantata #5

Carmina's Cantata

It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve written update as I’ve been busy with the other aspects of the projects. I’m currently writing this in break between podcast recordings in Bristol. I’ve got one more to go, and despite some nerves at meeting certain poets, it’s a pretty cool way to spend the day. I’m looking forward to meeting a couple of other Bristol-based poets for dinner later too. Another poet friend has also recommended a gig, but I may be ready for bed by then!

The other week, I recorded the first two podcast episodes in Leeds and Sheffield, which means I’m almost half way through getting the interviews recorded, which is wild. The final interview is scheduled for February, so the rest are more spread out, but I’m hoping I can do one or two extra episodes as so many more poets spring to mind now, and so I think I will redistribute the funding that was meant to be for another music production course. Meanwhile, I have been doing a little ukulele practising, but would like to dedicate more time to it, valuing repetition more, rather than quickly going through the Fender programme, being on Level 2 already.

Ukulele in various poses.

My next podcast interview recording is next week, and the first one in London, though this and another are with Berlin-based artists. It’s interesting that a lot aren’t taking place in London, though I wish I had more time to stay and explore… and part of me wished I did have an excuse to go back to Berlin for a weekend of recording! Though I am taking a much-needed holiday soon in sunny Spain.