What a great way to start the new year and the new century!  200 singers came together in Newton Abbot with one thing on their mind - The amazing music from Les Miserables!  The enormous choir was made up of rock choir members from all Devon and Cornwall and we also welcomed a large number of singers from other choirs as well as people who just fancied to start the new year with a good sing!  It was amazing!  It was emotional!  It was so uplifting!  Richard arranged bespoke versions of the hits 'I dreamed a dream', 'Bring him home', 'Castle on a cloud' and 'At the end of the day'.  The choir rose to the challenge as we knew they would!  There were many many beautiful musical vocal moments in the three and a bit hours we spent together.  We sang, we laughed and we cried together.  Les Miserables Vocal Workshop 2020 was a huge success!  What shall we do next time?

Lovely Christmas wedding at the very beautiful Langdon Court. Congratulations to Laura and Matt on a lovely wedding. Busy one for me (as I like it!). Violin for the ceremony (All of me, I will wait and Best day of my life). Upbeat tunes and songs on the violin for the drinks reception. To finish off the day I played some background piano classics for the wedding breakfast. Phew! That is it for the year now.

We played at the very beautiful Ottery St Mary Church today for a festive Christmas wedding. Although the weather was awful outside there was a warm and festive atmosphere inside. This was a wedding with all the trimmings. String Quartet, Organist, Choir and Bell Ringers. Pachelbels Canon for the brides entrance and then some of Handel's Water Music for the signing. This was our final gig of 2019. We would love to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a huge thank you for following us this year and in fact this decade. 2020 is already looking like another great year for the Exe Valley String Quartet. Happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year everybody!

On Sunday we had another trip to Tavistock with the Rockies from Plymouth and Saltash.  Following on from our successful visit in November and the Tree Lights switch on event we joined Miss Ivy Events again to sing in the Christmas market and festival.  It was cold and wet and very windy but in true Rock Choir fashion we just got on with it and sung our hearts out!  Well done everyone and Happy Christmas.

Last night we played as part of the Light up a life service in Exeter Cathedral and as always it was a real pleasure to be a part of such a special evening. We played a new arrangement of 'Something inside so strong' as the book of memory was brought forward and the congregation spent time reflecting and remembering loved ones.

Well, in all my years in the music business I have performed and conducted in some wonderful venues but this is my first ever performance in a YURT in December!! A huge shout out and well done to Rockies from Saltash and Plymouth with one or two very dedicated rockies from Torquay and Newton Abbot for not only turning out to sing in awful weather - well done for finding the Yurt!! I have to say though it turned out to be a cracking night with a great audience. I know I am biased but I think we sounded particularly good last night. The singing was full of passion, intensity and energy. Really good! On to Tavistock on Sunday. Thank you Miss Ivy Events for a gig with a difference!

I always enjoy a traditional church wedding. On Friday I was at St Johns Church in Exmouth to play for the wedding of Stevie and Ryan. It was beautiful. The acoustics were great and the guests were very appreciative. I was on the piano for the hymns and the violin for the pre ceremony, brides entrance, signing of the register and wedding party exit. It was so nice to play Ave Maria, Air on G string, Greensleeves and Canon in D. I then played a bespoke and incredibly unique arrangement of Beyonce's Crazy in Love!!! What a job - so cool!

Wow Wow Wow!!! What a sound, what a gig, what a choir! We had a brilliant day in Newton Abbot singing for the Christmas shoppers and raising some serious money for Guide Dogs South West. 100 Rockies singing passionately is a privilege to stand in front of and direct! You were all awesome and I am very proud of you all this evening. Huge thanks to Phil at Prosound Solutions SW Limited for doing us proud again with the sound. A wonderful Rock Choir vibe today. We go again at Cockington Court tomorrow at 1pm. Harrison is putting together a video of the day which I will share with all when finished!

Rockies from Teigmouth, Newton Abbot and Torquay had the pleasure of rocking Teignmouth at their Christmas Tree Light switch on event last night. It was a lovely festive afternoon and evening with live music, stalls, festive food and drink and a lantern parade. The rock choir rounded off the event and as always looked and sounded superb!  Well done rockies on another great night.

We had lovely day out yesterday in beautiful Tavistock. We went as a family to look around the markets and the historic town which was a really nice thing to do in the lead up to Christmas. I then joined 60 rockies and rocked Tavistock in the evening as they turned on their Christmas lights. It was so nice to see some past rockies in the crowd supporting the choir. Considering there was no sound check for anybody we sounded fab! Yvonne and the children who were in the crowd said it sounded great! Well done everyone and thank you Tavistock.

Great evening at Somerset County Cricket Club last night. I played live electric violin for the drinks reception event for the Devon and Law Society Devon & Somerset Law Society. This was a pre drinks champagne reception before their meal. I played a mixture of contemporary covers as well as a set of new light jazz classics like I've got rhythm, The girl from Ipanema and Summertime. Enjoyable evening. I even got to meet Beefy Botham (kind of!)

I have just come to the end of another busy weekend as a wedding and event violinist and pianist. I spent the weekend in Somerset playing at the very lovely Coombe Lodge at Blagdon and also today I had the pleasure of playing at Clevedon Hall. Both stunning venues (even if Saturday was very wet and windy.) Two lovely weddings and as always a privilege to play at both. Requests included All of Me, A Million Dreams and A Thousand Years. I also played on the grand piano at Coombe Lodge for the drinks reception including a bit of Bob Marley for the bride! Congratulations Sherrol, Chris, Rhiannon and Sam.  Nice to be back in Weston Super Mare as it gave me the chance to catch up with mum and dad and my sister Sarah.

I have just returned from three days on the Pont Aven sailing from Plymouth to Santander. We all had such a great time and it gave me a real insight into being a musician on a ship.  Tiring and demanding but a whole load of fun! This is Rozzy Turner the entertainment manager for the mini cruise.  She is ace and has an amzing voice!  I directed the Rock Choirs as we flash mobbed the passengers and sang three more full sets rocking the ship (literally!).  We also sang around the piano and I even managed to play a 30 minute set on my electric violin which was great fun!  Until next time!

I had a lovely afternoon with @ExeValleyStringQuartet yesterday. Even though the weather was wet we played for a really beautiful wedding ceremony and reception at Rockbeare Manor. We played the wedding theme from 'Up' which is gorgeous and then we wrote a bespoke arrangement of 'Came here for love' for the bride and groom which is another great tune for strings to play.

I had the privilege of playing at Beth and Francis's wedding yesterday at the very beautiful Haldon Belvedere (Lawrence Castle). I used to work with Beth at Isca Academy and it was lovely to see her so happy on her special day. I played an arrangement of 'For the dancing and the dreaming' from How to train your dragon which is such a lovely melody. Congratulations to you both and best wishes for your future together.

What a special gig that was today. An absolute pleasure and an honour to run a workshop with the lovely young people from play torbay. Over 90 rockies joined the Play Torbay team for 'The Quest' at The Dartington Hall Trust as we sang together and shared the love of singing and all the good that it brings to us as human beings. We taught the children 'This is Me' and then we had a great time singing Footloose, Im still standing, Dreams and of course Hallelujah which sounded so beautiful in the Great Hall with its superb acoustics. A different experience for all the rockies but one we thoroughly enjoyed (judging by all the tears!) . Thank you and well done everybody!

Wow! What a weekend we have just had. We spent the whole weekend playing at the amazing South West Bride and Westpoint Wedding Show in Exeter. We talked to lots of lovely couples and their families about their music for their special day. We have lots and lots of couples to get back to this week with details of all our wedding packages. Its all very exciting!! Thank you to everybody who came to see us.

I have just had the privilege of playing at a beautiful October wedding in Spreyton near Crediton. A real traditional feel today with a church choir and a traditional wedding ceremony set in a lovely Devon Village. The violin stayed home today as this was a piano gig. I played the Prelude in C by Bach for the guests while they settled down. Pachelbels Canon on the flute with piano accompaniment was the entrance music then I accompanied the Spreyton Singers as they sung the very pretty 'Songbird' by Eva Cassidy and the rousing 'Best Day of my life' for the exit of the bridal party. Congratulations to Tasha and Chris on a lovely ceremony. Best wishes for your future together.

What a wonderful Rock Choir night we had at the The New Continental in Plymouth. Rockies turned out in their numbers in torrential rain to support the Stroke Association Charity Dinner last night. We discreetly arrived and prepared our Flash Mob which was so much fun as the guests had absolutely no idea we were coming. Well done Andrea for leading that for us - you were awesome! We then performed a short but very lively set of songs for a very enthusiastic, lively and keen crowd who had a great time singing and dancing with us! Many of the guests had only just recovered from a stroke so to see their energy and thirst for a fun night was so inspiring. One of our most enjoyable gigs I think - thoroughly rewarding! Well done 

Well it was one thing having the opportunity to perform at the BBC Proms in the Park 2019 on the Hyde Park stage with the BBC Concert Orchestra but it was something completely different to get the opportunity in the lead up to this enormous show to go and work with the orchestra in the Abbey Rd studios!  I am a huge fan of The Beatles and love their music so have the chance to go and work in the studios where those iconic and world changing songs were created is yet another magical experience that will remain with me forever! As we pulled up to the front gate you could feel the atmosphere and then when we entered the studio building it was everywhere!  There was a very tangible feeling of history, creativity and nostalgia!  This is where a lot of their music was created and I am woking here this morning!