Lovely small intimate wedding today at Bovey Castle Music requests included Ed Sheeran Perfect, Can’t help falling in love with you, At Last, The first time ever I saw your face and Celebrate by Kool and the Gang. I also stayed and played for the drinks reception out on the balcony with the beautiful Dartmoor as the back drop. #musiciandevon #weddingviolinist #devonviolinist
Dawlish Carnival 2023. This has to be one of our favourites gigs in the summer calendar. Always a special atmosphere in the town. Our South Devon Rockies were on fire today and sounded brilliant. Apparently we could be heard down by the sea! Thank you to everyone who sang their hearts out, thank you to those rockies on their first gig, thank you to those rockies who travelled long distances to be with us today and thank you Dawlish Celebrates Carnival for another fantastic event. #proudchoirleader #torquay #newtonabbot #teignmouth #plymouth Rock Choir.
Busy weekend with Exe Valley String Quartet. Saturday we played at Deer Park Country House and Sunday we played at Rockbeare Manor It was lovely having the chance to play through lots of our pop and rock repertoire. From Pachelbel to Coldplay, The Beatles to Ella Fitzgerald. #exevalleystringquartet #exevalleystringquartet #devonviolinist #musiciandevon
Buckfast Summer Fair 2023. What a fantastic afternoon that was. Buckfast Abbey is a gorgeous Devon venue with lovely helpful staff. There was a huge audience today who really appreciated our singing. I absolutely loved conducting you all today and I think we all gave it 100%. Great gig. South Devon Rockies take a bow! Great community gig - just what Rock Choir is all about!
Lovely wedding up near Collumpton yesterday. Upton Barn & Walled Garden. The bridal party came in to ‘The Better Half of me’ by Tom Walker. Slightly different arrangement this time as I improvised a subtle violin counter melody around the original acoustic version of the song. I had a good workout on my electric violin playing for almost three hours. Lovely wedding at a lovely venue. #weddingviolinist #musiciandevon #devonviolinist
We had the pleasure of playing at the beautiful Poltimore Church on Saturday. After a lovely wedding service the quartet played a variety of pop pieces at a private venue for the drinks reception. We finished the set with a rendition of Sweet Child O’ Mine including a fabulous improvised solo from Richard our 1st violinist.
What a lovely way to spend a Sunday morning. Our Plymouth Rockies supported this amazing event in Central park. We sang lots of our favourite songs, danced, clapped and cheered as the participants ran by. This event is like the Race for Life but with some added obstacles, water and mud! We all stayed dry and clean though and had a very rewarding time together. Onto the summer workshops now!
I played for a special wedding yesterday at Powderham Castle. Congratulations to friends Michelle and Alan on a beautiful ceremony in the music room in the castle. Wow! Great acoustics and it was a pleasure to play The Lark Ascending for Michelle. Bit of a pressure gig though as Michelle is not just a friend she is also a professional musician and we work together often. Hope it was ok! Lovely wedding at a lovely unique venue.
Great gig in the lovely Devon village Abbotskerswell. We had a lovely time singing and supporting the local primary school and local community. The weather stayed dry and the rockies enjoyed a bit of country dancing with the band. We all had a great day together and the singing was fantastic!
Beautiful wedding today at one of our most popular venues Bovey Castle. Bit wet today so we played indoors. A set of classical favourites before the ceremony followed by a few gentle pop songs and ballads during the drinks reception. Always lovely to hear a live singer sing during the signing of the register! The rain couldn't stop us having a great day playing music! Lovely day with the Exe Valley String Quartet. #weddingquartet #exevalleystringquartet #weddingmusic
Lovely summer wedding at the very beautiful Deer Park Country House with Exe Valley String Quartet One of our favourite venues. Unfortunately we had to play indoors because of the showers but we still had a great time playing a set of pop and rock classics. Lovely to play Gabriels Oboe for the bridal party entrance - such a beautiful piece of music - perfect for strings! #weddingquartet #WeddingMusic #exevalleystringquartet Also the ladies of the quartet got to wear their new dresses today. Very smart!
Another beautiful sunny day for a Devon summer wedding. This time I was playing in the beautiful surroundings of Elfordleigh in Plympton. Electric violin day today with lots of pop and rock covers including Coldplays A sky full of stars. The A38 didn't beahve itself today so I had a few detours down the Devon Country lanes but we got there in good time.
Teignmouth Airshow 2023. What a great gig we had yesterday at the Teignmouth Airshow. Great atmosphere on the Den and the Teignmouth Rock Choir where fantastic. What a great sound. Lots of great feedback from the crowd and well done with our new songs - I think that they went down really well! Special shout out to Pam, Wendy, Jeanne on your first gig with Rock Choir. You were amazing! Four gigs in three days - Loved them all but glad they are all over now!
Two wedding gigs in one day today. First up I joined the Exe Valley String Quartet and played for a lovely traditional church wedding in Dunchideok. We played A Thousand Years and Canon in D as well as Blinding Lights and Abba! A real mixture. After that it was a quick change and off down to the Royal Cornwall Hotel for a solo gig playing for the wedding breakfast. This time on electric violin and lots of rock and pop classics. Busy day filled with lits of music!
A wedding with a twist today. A lovely traditional church wedding in Woodbury where I played a new arrangement of ‘kiss me’ by Sixpence non the Richer. Then off to Branscombe beach for an hour of electric violin tunes including lots of film and Disney classics. A real Devon wedding!
Plymouth Armed Forces Day 2023. A very warm gig but an exceptional performance from the Plymouth Rock Choir! I am so proud of each and every one of you for being so professional! You sounded fantastic and the audience loved it! You also looked very smart (well done - I know it was hot). Thank you for being awesome at such a special event for Plymouth. Big shout out to our newest rockies performing at their first gig! You smashed it! Rock Choir #plymouth Plymouth Armed Forces Day.
Lovely sunny June wedding. This time over at the very beautiful Beaconside House . We had a host of pieces for the entrance of the wedding party including 'Everything' by Michael Buble, 'Ain’t no sunshine' by Bill Withers and 'At Last' by Etta James for the brides entrance. Lovely ceremony with a beautiful singer as well. Drinks reception included requests 'Come on Eileen', 'Crazy in Love' and 'Take on me'. A great time was had by all especially me playing these fun songs on electric violin.
Absolutely awesome morning singing with our Plymouth Rockies (and a few guest rockies) at the Cancer Research UK Race for Life on Plymouth Hoe. One of my favourite gigs in the summer calendar this one as we support hundreds of amazing people doing the Race for Life for all sorts of different but very personal reasons. We sing, we clap, we cheer! You all looked and sounded brilliant and well done for singing so well in the humid conditions. I am yet again a very proud choir leader!! Rock Choir.
The South Devon Rockies were on fire today singing at the English Riviera Airshow. Thank you each and every one of you for your professionalism and of course your amazing singing. We have had lots of great feedback from the audience. I hope that you have all cooled down a bit now after a warm sing in the sun. Brilliant singing - thank you all for being amazing! I'm a very proud choir leader this evening!