Creative

Sally Maynard the importance of teaching of languages in schools

I am talking to Sally Maynard about the teaching of languages in UK schools and the problems that are inherent in the education system and society in general regarding teaching and learning of foreign languages.

This has many parallels to the position of the arts in education and I certainly learnt something from this conversation.

Sally is an Educational Lecturer at Coventry University and has been Head of International Development and Senior Lecturer at York.

To support the podcast and get access to features about guitar playing and song writing visit https://www.patreon.com/vichyland

and also news for all the creative music that we do at Bluescamp UK and France visit www.bluescampuk.co.uk

For details of the Ikaro music charity visit www.ikaromusic.com

Big thanks to Josh Ferrara for the music

John Levett agent and promoter of live music jazz funk and soul

Today I'm going to be talking to John Levett who runs the listening room music agency. Twenty three years ago his children were budding musicians but they were struggling to find gigs and he wanted to help them nurture their talents. So he started getting them bookings, from there on he worked with more musicians, bands and venues. Today he books for events, restaurants, pubs, weddings funerals etcetera but also shares in the risk of that booking which is especially important in today's climate.

Great chat with John who I first met nearly 20 years ago. John talks about important points to do with aspiration for both musicians and footballers, and their being led to believe within society that there is a career path and how we can help in securing a creative environment for young talent.

Visit http://thelisteningroommusicagency.com/

To support the podcast and get access to features about guitar playing and song writing visit https://www.patreon.com/vichyland

and also news for all the creative music that we do at Bluescamp UK and France visit www.bluescampuk.co.uk

For details of the Ikaro music charity visit www.ikaromusic.com

Big thanks to Josh Ferrara for the music

Antony Holloway: My Life So Far 2022 Psycho punk in the Medway, Sculptures, Cellos and living in France.

This was a blast ..

The show notes have been provided by Antony so I have kept them in his voice.

I was born in 1963. Grandad on my mum's side had been a professional violinist, playing on cruise ships, in orchestras and silent movies. I have vague memories of visiting his family home, an East London terrace house with his brothers standing around singing and him rattling off "Roll out the barrel" and "My old mans a policeman" on an upright piano. My dad was born in a horse drawn caravan into the family of a traveling theatre. He was orphaned when young and the company broke up before he was old enough to join in the vaudeville shenanigans.

When I was a child, my dad would call in to pay bills and leave money for food shopping, otherwise he was absent. My mum painted and played the piano but also spent long periods of time in bed depressed. During one such depression she was seduced by a visiting neighbour and shortly moved in with him. My eldest two sisters both left home around this time so I was left to bring myself up along with my remaining sister, Louise. I was eleven and had just started secondary school, Louise was three years older.

There were advantages and disadvantages to an unconventional childhood. Nobody ever mentioned school or homework, there was never any talk about qualifications or careers. The only thing that had been pressed upon us was musical instruments. I started playing the cello when I was seven years old and throughout all of the chaos I always managed to go for a music lesson on Saturday morning. At school I was quite bright but found rules and regulations difficult. It all seemed rather irrelevant and the only lesson that really interested me was art.

In 1978 I was fifteen and my sister Louise went to art school in Rochester, at this point I was living in the house of my mums chronic alcoholic boyfriend which soon became my personal hell. Then, I think it's fair to say that post punk counter culture saved my life. I had always worn jumble, had a home cropped mop on top of my head and just generally didn't relate to other peoples experiences. Having generally been an outsider, I started visiting my sister and suddenly felt right at home. The Medway garage band scene was just kicking off, the Pop Rivets had released their first LP and I was there for the first Micky and the Milkshakes gig. I went back to Folkestone, nurtured myself on the John Peel show, got hold of an old Woolworths guitar (Satelite?) and started writing, playing and singing three chord songs.

I played guitar and sang in bands (punk/rockabilly/skiffle) around Folkestone and Dover while I got myself an Art A level at the local Tech College. I then headed off to art school in Rochester and found that the garage band scene was now thriving. I came across a busker, Tim Webster and started playing with him. Tim had a Johnny Burnette album, so we learned all the songs and played them on the streets of Kent. I soon started playing bass guitar in a band with him and Martin Waller, sax player from the Gruffmen and very early Milkshakes gigs. Originally called The Outerlimits we later became The Sputniks. We played so many gigs at pubs, art schools and parties, practically every week for three years.

The cello lessons had remarkably carried on in parallel with gigging, I think I stopped just before The Outerlimits. Even during my Foundation Course at Rochester I thought that I would probably go to music school. However, the rock and roll was just too much fun, so art school seemed a better place for me. The flexibility of Art school hours gave me the opportunity to slope off and play music and again it was somewhere I felt at home.

When art school finished and the Sputniks broke up I was briefly at a loss for what to do. However, following the birth of my first daughter I was obliged to earn some money and through relentless searching and endless job applications I quickly got myself a commission to make a public sculpture in Swindon. Following this I had a commission at the prestigious Grizedale Forest Sculpture Trail which was my passport for back to back public sculpture commissions all over England.

Thirteen years, three more daughters and god knows how many sculptures later I found that I was spending all my time on motorways or in meetings with councils and local community groups, this was not where I wanted to be. In 2000 we moved to France, I carried on knocking out sculptures for a few more years but became more interested and occupied with restoring ancient buildings.

In 2006 I had a chance meeting with Bart Coles who had played with The Escalators back in my Sputnik days and was living nearby in France. Although our paths had never crossed we had been playing the same venues and had been on the same scene. I'd never played double bass but bought one, learned how to play and started to play and sing Rockabilly music with Bart on guitar and a variety of local drummers. As The Gruff Cats we played plenty of local gigs over a six year period but eventually with no permanent drummer we packed it in. Around this time I made the decision to restart playing the cello. After a 35 year gap it took a while to get up to speed but now, six years later, I'm probably better a cellist than when I was at 18, certainly a more experienced artist and performer.

So now in 2022 I play my cello every day and have regular concerts playing baroque, blues, rock and roll or swing on cello or bass with a variety of musicians. Sculpture is on the back burner for now, but I've started on a long awaited project printing T-Shirts. Lino cuts to begin with but hopefully moving onto wood block printing and screen printing before too long. We also recently finished the 22 year renovation of the farm house we bought in 2000 so last year we moved into another ruin and have started all over again. I don't really see much difference between making stuff or playing music, all that matters is that I don't stop.

Shazzie, TV presenter, raw food guru, online business Wizz

In this podcast I am talking to Shazzie the presenter of the Sky TV series Raw Kitchen and founder of Detox Your World superfood business, which she created in 2000 and sold in 2012, after turning over $20 Million.

Shazzie is also the author of five groundbreaking books, including the world's first book on raw chocolate, Naked Chocolate with David Wolfe. She is also the author of the Sleep Easily Meditation app which has been listened to over 36 BILLION times and she has been helping people to build online businesses since 2014.

This is a great chat with Shazzie, and she discusses many entrepreneur ideas that are worth following.

For further details visit Shazzie's excellent website

https://shazzie.com/about-shazzie/

To support the podcast and get access to features about guitar playing and song writing visit https://www.patreon.com/vichyland

and also news for all the creative music that we do at Bluescamp UK and France visit www.bluescampuk.co.uk

For details of the Ikaro music charity visit www.ikaromusic.com

Big thanks to Josh Ferrara for the music

At a French Studio

In this episode I should be speaking to Chris Penfold. I just spent time with Chris at his lovely studio in France and he was asking me whether it was musical snobbery to feel that some musician fell short of ones aspirations.

This is a very interesting conversation that I'm sure would be familiar to many musicians at some point in their career. We go into quite a lot of depth about the feel and groove in music and how the drummer in particular can be the source of it being successful.

For details of Chris visit https://www.dreamfrance.co.uk/

To support the podcast and get access to features about guitar playing and song writing visit https://www.patreon.com/vichyland

and also news for all the creative music that we do at Bluescamp UK and France visit www.bluescampuk.co.uk

For details of the Ikaro music charity visit www.ikaromusic.com

Big thanks to Josh Ferrara for the music

Maddy Glen Softwood Self-Publishing, Writer

Softwood Self-Publishing was founded in 2017 by Maddy Glenn. Since then, it has gone on to be one of the most successful small business of its kind with awards and accolades from the Surrey Enterprise Awards 2018, and the Daily Mail in 2019.

In 2022, Softwood was announced the Self-Publishing Specialists of the Year in London and the South-East by the Prestige Awards and was a finalist in the Mid Suffolk & Babergh District Council Innovation Awards.

Maddy has a degree in Philosophy and English Literature from the University of Reading and is a member of the Society of Young Publishers. In 2022 she has been a guest speaker at the UK National Centre for Writing, the Atlanta Writers Conference (USA) and at the Prima Donna Festival. Her second novel, In the Dark was published in July

For more details

https://www.swspublishing.com

To support the podcast and get access to features about guitar playing and song writing visit https://www.patreon.com/vichyland

and also news for all the creative music that we do at Bluescamp UK and France visit www.bluescampuk.co.uk

For details of the Ikaro music charity visit www.ikaromusic.com

Big thanks to Josh Ferrara for the music

Steve Peach - Architect, designer, an artist of life

Steve Peach has over 30 years' experience covering a wide range of project types in the commercial and private sector and has worked in architectural and interior design practices in Portsmouth, Bath, Leeds and Harrogate in the UK.

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His core work is the architectural transformation of existing properties and the design of distinctive new build dwellings for private clients.

Steve has the ability to redevelop an existing shell and footprint and use this as a catalyst to create an updated scheme: recycling the past into the present often with unexpected and highly unique results.

We talk about the creative process and there are some very interesting ideas in this episode for the creative, great chat

For further details go to www.stevepeach.co.uk to check out Steve's work

To support the podcast and get access to features about guitar playing and song writing visit https://www.patreon.com/vichyland

and also news for all the creative music that we do at Bluescamp UK and France visit www.bluescampuk.co.uk

For details of the Ikaro music charity visit www.ikaromusic.com

Big thanks to Josh Ferrara for the music

Ravi Sawney Music from France India and Britain

I am chatting with Ravi about his involvement in folk music particularly the French music of the …

Ravi was born on India to an English mother and an Indian father after his father died the family moved back to England.

We talk Indian music, punk, and his love of the hurdy gurdy, fiddle, guitar and French folk music with all its intricacies.

This is a great chat, and we explore the health benefits of music as we age

To find out more visit

https://www.facebook.com/ravi.sawney

To support the podcast and get access to features about guitar playing and song writing visit https://www.patreon.com/vichyland

and also news for all the creative music that we do at Bluescamp UK and France visit www.bluescampuk.co.uk

For details of the Ikaro music charity visit www.ikaromusic.com

Big thanks to Josh Ferrara for the music

Andreas Kornevall Storyteller, writer and planter of trees

A welcome return of the wonderful Andreas Kornevall

Andreas grew up in South America, Sweden and Switzerland (Swedish by nationality).  After spending several years volunteering with charities around the world, he co-founded www.workingabroad.com - a non-profit volunteering and travelling site.

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Andreas also directs a charity called the Earth Restoration Service Charity, the charity aims to enhance ecological integrity, by planting new woodlands around the world. Under: www.earthrestorationservice.org  - he has signed up over a thousand schools across the British Isles whose students have planted over two hundred woodlands.   ERS's work has been endorsed and recognised by "the elders" which are made of world leaders and set up by musician Peter Gabriel.

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ERS also provided trees and ideas for the Andover United Programme that won the Environmental Observer Prize.

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In response to the sixth mass extinction Andreas co-founded the Life Cairn movement: memorials for species rendered extinct at human hands, more about that here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Life_Cairn

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Andreas' new book: Waking the Dragons, is out with Green Magic Publishing. 

As a storyteller and independent scholar of mythology, he works with old myths and fairytales that shine a torchlight on life's difficult and mesmerising journey; his stories tend to gravitate around the Northern and Greek mythological landscapes.  You may find Andreas telling a story on a hillside, by a fire, in a woodland somewhere, at a festival, or in a school.  

www.kornevall.com

To support the podcast and get access to features about guitar playing and song writing visit https://www.patreon.com/vichyland and also news for all the creative music that we do at Bluescamp UK and France visit www.bluescampuk.co.uk

For details of the Ikaro music charity visit www.ikaromusic.com

Big thanks to Josh Ferrara for the music 

Montserrat Ruiz Puigdomenech

Spanish-born Soul worker, Mentor, Doula, Childbirth Activist, Singer & Psychotherapist running a private practice in the conservatory of a wooden self-built house at the end of some woods in Brighton UK, since 2012.

Personal human deepening has always been at the core of her purpose and commitment in life since she was very young.

Before Montserrat arrived in the UK in 1993, she pursued a career in acting after graduating from Drama school in Madrid and Buenos Aires.

In 1996 after becoming a mother, taken she became a Doula and a Holistic Childbirth Educator (Birth assistant) that was my contribution to reclaiming Childbirth out of the Medical profession hands and back onto Women’s bodies and wisdom. 

From 2002 till 2012 while a single parent of two, Montserrat managed, directed and fronted a nine-piece international musical project called LaXuLa who achieved great success with gigs all over Europe including the Roundhouse in London.

Since 2013 when she finished her studies as a Therapeutic Counsellor she has been running a private practice at home. With a wealth of clinical work experience in a wide range of issues like Death, Bereavement & Grief, CPTSD, Narcissistic Abuse, Women’s issues, Men’s issues, Couples therapy, Grief Groups, Wilderness rites of Passage, Initiation, Crisis, Psychodelic Integration.

With interests in Shamanism, Psychedelic & MDMA guided Therapies, Eco-psychology, Mythology and Jungian Archetypal Psychology, she has taken part in and begun to facilitate Wilderness Fasting rites of passage.

In Montserrat’s words

‘I’ve had the honour to have learned by the feet of great human Maestros and Elders of our times some in person like Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Dr Martin Shaw, Stephen Jenkinson, Michel Odent & Meredith Little, to just name a few, and many others that equally have influenced my life and work greatly through their written legacy like Petruska Clarkson, Francis Weller, Antonio Escohotado, Carlos Castaneda, Fritz Pearls, R.D. Laing, Alan Watts, James Hillman, Starhawk, Vicky Noble, Khrisnamurty, Martin Prechtel, Eric From, Carl Jung, Antonio Machado among many many others to which I am eternally indebted.’

For further details please visit http://www.theliminaltrails.com/

and the Facebook page for her wonderful music. https://www.facebook.com/jaggedmountainlaxula

To support the podcast and get access to features about guitar playing and song writing visit https://www.patreon.com/vichyland

and also news for all the creative music that we do at Bluescamp UK and France visit www.bluescampuk.co.uk

For details of the Ikaro music charity visit www.ikaromusic.com

Big thanks to Josh Ferrara for the music