March is always a busy month, but this year particularly so. On March 5th I went to Lampeter University for the 1st performance of my orchestral setting of poetry extracts – ‘A Day on Temperate Earth’. The conductor was David John, & the narrator Gillian Elisa, a very popular Welsh actress. She read the poetry extracts so beautifully, and the music came is just right, that I found I was holding my breath. We all celebrated in the local Indian restaurant afterwards, & made plans to do more of this sort of thing.
The following Friday I was off to my yearly gig with Dorset Chamber orchestra, & the actor Martin Clunes, who always acts as narrator for when the orchestra plays my setting of a story by Richard Baker,for which I compose music every year.The conductor is Robert Jacoby. This year there were special parts for 35 children who’ ve just started learning string instruments to give them the memorable experience of playing with a real orchestra, & of course meeting Martin.
This event was very enjoyable, as always, and I always write myself an alto sax part, as I really enjoy playing with this orchestra.
At the schools we’ve had our final rehearsal of my ‘Rainbow Island ‘ with the orchestral musicians from Ealing Chamber Music Club, & about 200 children. It has been going incredibly well, and the performances are next Wednesday & Thursday March 30th & 31st. The kids particularly like the song ‘Insects, Birds & Fish’, in which each group sings its own song separately, and then all 3 totally different songs are sung at the same time, in 3 part counterpoint, with orchestral accompaniment.
We are also rehearsing for the 2nd part of the Samba & Song performance, also at the Acton School, and a special musical performance for the Centenary celebrations of the Wembley school.
It is physically hard work rehearsing so many children for 5 performances of 3 different events, in 2 different schools, all happening between March 30th & April 7th, but hopefully all will go according to plan. I’ll report back in my next blog – if anyone out there is reading them !
Liz Sharma 
Dear Liz, do you remember working for East Sussex back in the eighties and being driven around Brighton by me? You popped in my mind this morning and I googled to see what you were up to – wow, what a lot of wonderful projects!! So glad to see all is going well and hope it continues to do so. Lots of love – I’ll never forget you pulling off a last minute arrangement of I Will Survive for an East Sussex schools concert when the lovely music service led Roger Durston started to be so disrupted by budgets and changes in structure. Best wishes from Polly Hitchcock x
By: Polly Hitchcock on August 5, 2022
at 7:02 am
Hi Polly great to hear from you. I sent a reply this morning by email – I hope you got it. My website is badly out of date & I really need to sort it out, but my web manager has stopped doing that sort of thing so I’m floundering.
My son, wife & 3 grandchildren live in Brighton so I go there quite often , & remember the great days of being driven from school to school. You had a baby boy then ? Or am I confused?
What areyou up to now? Love Liz
By: Elizabeth Sharma on August 5, 2022
at 3:18 pm