The Nativity Blog

So, as I was saying, before a server problem erased the post – recently we’ve been getting vocal at Redhead Music – or rather, Charlie Cooke has – she’s finished recording the vox to my two new musicals Bethlehem Baby! and The Tiptoe Nativity. Sorry, no samples just yet, but trust me, she sounds – and looks! – beautiful; you can see her below in action with mic and headphones . Also there’s me with AD, the lovely producer of The Tiptoe Nativity, enjoying some early-evening fresh air outside Runway Studios once the final session was over. Look what gorgeous countryide surrounds her studios..

Both musicals are coming soon to a good music shop near you! Or online: www.redheadmusic.co.uk

Sheila.

Did you miss us? We missed you… our website and blog have been offline, due to some sort of catastrophic problem at our server (see below for details). The website came back first – good news for teachers in Scotland, to whom we say Happy Christmas Term, and hope you had a good summer break!

The blog limped back today, minus a few photos, and minus the most recent post which I will re-write if I can remember it (just joking, of course I remember it…)

Anyway – many apologies to anyone who was inconvenienced or frustrated – it really was out of our control, and trust me we were frustrated too. Meanwhile, I can tell you the new brochure’s looking good – more on that soon – and the new musicals are looking great. But for now, it’s simply nice to be back …

Sheila. www.redheadmusic.co.uk

I took a break from proofing and recording this year’s Christmas music, to work with four lovely schools for a concert in the park in Marlow. The sun shone, the river twinkled, balloons floated around and the audience picnicked – it was a great day. Each choir sang individually, and we sang four songs altogether – two from New Millennium Heroes (the anthem Children want Peace & the finger clicking Jericho Road (Live)), a specially adapted Run, run, run away (live, adapted) away from The Selfish Giant, and a new song I wrote for the event called Children of Hope (live). The links lead to their live recordings. I don’t know why people joke about working with children, because the hundred or so in our performance were absolutely brilliant! (And the teachers were pretty well behaved too, hahah)

Okay, back to Christmas for me: time to check the first draft of the ‘Bethlehem Baby!’ play before my editor Chris Hussey works his magic on it…

Sheila. www.redheadmusic.co.uk

Sheila and friends from Burford, Bisham, Sandygates and Holy Trinity schools.

… at Redhead Music! Well, not quite, but nearly. Since March I’ve been writing two new Christmas musicals, and this week Charlie (the excellent vocalist who sang The Star Attraction), is recording the vocals for the first of them, Bethlehem Baby! It’s for key stages 1+ and 2, with a few challenges thrown in (like 2-part singing and a round), but still very adaptable for a simple or more impressive show. We rehearsed it in preparation today with the windows wide open, thanks to the wonderful ongoing heatwave. Heaven knows what anyone walking by thought about the Christmassy lyrics in early July! (Though hopefully they agreed with the angels about peace on earth). But we’re committed to getting this musical into the shops for the September rush of teachers hitting the busy Christmas term running. So if you and your lovely children perform it in December, spare a fleeting thought for us musos sweating our way through it in airless studios in the summer heat! We’ll definitely be thinking of the many great and varied Marys, Josephs, wise men, Herods et al as we lay down their tracks, and be smiling.

Oh by the way, Bethlehem Baby’s available now for pre-order if you’d like one thing less on your September to-do list…

Season’s greetings, Sheila.

People often ask if there are harmonies or two-part singing in various musicals, and sometimes, because I try to keep things simple for younger children, there’s only a little. But one of my latest, Bethlehem Baby!, is bursting with harmonies throughout, plus a four part round; it’s been great, indulgent, fun writing it! There are two duets so far – one between Gabriel and Mary, and another between the Innkeepers and Mary/Joseph (with the choir helping everyone out). All the songs can be sung in unison instead, of course. At the moment the musical’s in the process of being edited and recorded, but for me two tasks remain: scoring the fifth song, and composing the finale. It’s being published in August, and can already be pre-ordered on our website. In fact, I really should stop chatting and get on with it … ‘bye.

www.redheadmusic.co.uk

My first pre-school nativity musical is nearly on the shelves, yay! I’ve composed and arranged the songs and the play, and am currently correcting the first proofs; the backing tracks are being recorded; and the musical is up and running at my Distributor’s (available to pre-order on 01202 724294). I’m just finalising its write-up for various brochures. The wonderful Jackie Marks, who illustrated my first Redhead musical ‘Rock around the Flock!’, has illustrated ‘The Tiptoe Nativity!’ beautifully. Her drawings of children are heart-achingly good, and as usual she’s interpreted the spirit of the musical perfectly… in this case, an early-years fest of sweetness and fun – a bit organised, a bit charmingly chaotic, hahah. And her lamb nearly steals the show. Would you like to see it? Of course you would!

Life has returned to normal – I’ve finished my initial brochure work and handed it over to more experienced hands, my multi-talented designer, Nick – and am back to composing nativites again, ‘as you do’… Things are charging ahead: I have the first proof of my pre-school musical (The Tiptoe Nativity) back from Chris (multi-talented editor) to peruse; it’s always nice when something changes from my hand-drawn dots on staves, to printed music. And yesterday I composed song 5 of 6 from the new KS1-2 (Bethlehem Baby), a very tongue-in-cheek rock’n'roll duet between the 3 wise men / and Herod & his soldiers, who are in hot pursuit. Once again, I chuckle over my Very Strange Life And that hopefully excuses the terrible pun above, for which I apologise …

Sheila. www.redheadmusic.co.uk

I’ve put the enjoyable task of completing my second new musical on hold for a couple of weeks, whilst I do new write-ups on all my existing musicals (around 50 now) for the new brochure, which will be out in August. I’m trying to answer most of the questions which customers ask when they contact us, such as the number of speaking parts, and which musical would be best for their particular sized school or group. Also, which musical they’d like next if they particularly enjoyed this one or that one. The spread of papers (50 plays) has got too big for my desk as I cross-reference, and it’s all very messy, but hopefully a pleasing sense of order will emerge!

If you have a particular favourite and can verbalise why, or if, having performed one (such as Hosanna Rock!) and then found another you particularly like, please do email me to let me know, as it’s all helpful information!

Also, if you have anything you’d like to say about one of them (such as Christmas Stars (The Xmas Factor), The Star Attraction, The Christmas Code…), please let me know as we usually add a few helpful quotes to the brochure and website each year.

Anyway, back to work before I drown in paper … all the best, Sheila.

www.redheadmusic.co.uk

Now my pre-school musical has been composed, scored and is being engraved, I’m wondering how to catagorise it in my next catalogue. Personally I’ve been calling it KS -1 and I reckon this ought to catch on, but in truth I’m not sure if people prefer pre-school, early years or reception. If you have an opinion or actually know the answer, please email to let me know…

And if your school has a dept. for 3-5s, please let them know about the forthcoming sensation ‘The Tiptoe Nativity’. It’s being published in August, but advance orders are now being taken! It’s great for little ones: fun, catchy, poignant, easy to learn and hard to forget – as my insomniac nights can verify, hahah…

Sheila.

PS And like all Redhead Music musicals, it’ll be downloadable from iTunes.

If I seem a bit blank when you’re talking to me at the moment, it’s because I’m writing two-part harmonies in my head. Usually at any given moment, 365/1, I’m humming something in my head, analysing the chords, and ‘playing’ it with my fingers or – yes – toes, in my pockets or shoes. But from Easter each year I’m doing the same with my own compositions, plus trying to fill in missing lyrics. This sometimes makes me a little slow in conversations – I’m still listening and partaking and enjoying the company, but a few seconds might pass whilst I ‘filter’. But when it comes to two-part writing, such as I’m doing now, much more concentration is required, and I probably seem plain rude. Or stupid. C’est la vie!

The reason for such musical self-indulgence is that, because I’m bringing out a pre-school musical this Christmas, my second one can be more complicated than usual (it’s more KS2 than the usual KS1-2). What fun! Composer fun.

The only time it’s not even worth trying to get through to me is if I’m writing a three-part round in my head– and it’s been a year or two since I last did, so I think I feel one coming on. (Sorry, did you say something?)

Sheila

It’s ‘all systems go’ now in Redhead Music 2010  … the timetable for the new musicals and brochure has been drawn up and agreed amongst myself and the two most crucial other people at this stage: my designer – a term I surely don’t understand, because in this case it seems to mean the person who knows absolutely everything / and ties absolutely everything together – I’ve even occasionally asked him if he knows the title of the next musical I’m going to write, since he knows more than me about everything else – and it turns out he does have a file, atleast a mental one, of potential new musicals – anyway, that’s the wonderful Nick Flower … and my wonderful editor and engraver, Chris Hussey, who also knows way more than me technically about music and grammar, and has developed a meticulous inhouse style over the last few years for all my music books and plays. Between them they are daring to holiday and move house (not together, that would be strange) at outrageously inconvenient times, so I’ve got a choice between being organised early or having a summer meltdown.That’s why it’s ‘all systems go’, because I’m aiming for the former … but don’t hold your breath! For now, though, time to find out what Nick’s title really is. Oh, and since you ask, the (working) title of the pres-school/KS1 musical is ‘The tip-toe Nativity’ (orders now being taken!); and the KS1-2 title is … just being finalised. (Well, we don’t want too much excitement in one post, do we?)

Best wishes, Sheila.

Although I’m mostly thinking about and composing Christmas music now, I interrupt this flow of thought with some news: as of this week, my Easter musicals have joined my Christmas ones on iTunes! That’s Easter Praise, Easter Children, and Here Comes Jesus, along with Oscar Wilde’s The Selfish Giant, which has turned out to be rather a popular alternative to the traditional Easter story, sensitively combining the themes of death and resurrection within its beautiful children’s story.

All the Easter songs can be used individually in assemblies, as well as with readings or the plays in Easter services.

And of course they’re all available on our website too … www.redheadmusic.co.uk

Sheila.

Yes, it’s official: Redhead Music’s getting younger (just like me – okay, that’s not official). Whilst enjoying a few weeks of snowed-in-ness at the start of the year, I started to write my first ever early-years nativity. I lost track ages ago of how many customers have enquired of me and my various distributors if I’ve got one – well, from this August the answer will finally be … yes! So, if you’ve enjoyed ‘Hosanna Rock‘ et al, please spread the news to any nursery and pre-school teachers you know. I’m just firming up the title – got to make sure no-one else has used it – before ‘releasing my IP’ (yikes, almost a luvvie!). Watch this space.

Sheila. www.redheadmusic.co.uk

PS If you’re awaiting a new KS1-2 nat., don’t worry, that’s coming too

Last year Redhead Music was only available in English, now 2010 is but 40 days old, yet I find I’m published in Welsh and (okay, the title gave it away) Korean! Again, this topic is a bit off-piste for a nativity blog, but it’s not the kind of thing you can drop into casual conversation very easily so I may as well have a blog perk or two. Yes, ‘Easter Praise’ and ‘Resurrection Rock’ are both going on sale in Korea this month, following a request from a publisher there. I haven’t seen the translation yet but if I can I’ll attach a scanned page for anyone else interested to see what children’s lyrics, narration, stage directions etc. look like in Korean. Or to find out what the Korean for kazoo is. I feel I’m on a [rock and] roll now, so I’m wondering what the next translation might be…

Sheila. www.redheadmusic.co.uk

There’s been exciting stuff going on at Redhead Music this fortnight – the first (known) translation of one of my musicals into Welsh has just been completed. It’s an Easter one, so, hmm, maybe I shouldn’t write about it here at nativityblog.com, but, well, it’s my blog so I guess I make the rules! I’ve been meaning to look into getting Welsh translations done for several years, then with a burst of New Year determination, I found (with a bit of help) a translator who could not only translate the words but also rearrange the song lyrics poetically so that they still rhyme AND fit to the melody lines. This clever lady is Sian Jones, and her finished work is just about to appear on my website. Yes, Easter Praise is now available in English or Welsh! I’m really pleased about this, and am planning to add a Christmas and a harvest musical to my Welsh repertoire later this year.

To keep this blog well on topic, here’s some more breaking news: this January I’ve written the songs for a new nativity; it’s a bit of a departure for me, but more about that soon …

I’d really like to sign off with a few words of Welsh, but I haven’t learnt any yet. There’s another New Year challenge!

Sheila.

We’re planning to put some photos of productions into our next brochure. I’ll be contacting the schools I visited directly, but if you staged a production of any of our Christmas shows (see the list below if you’re not sure!) then we’d love to see them. The best way to do it is either to write to us at info@redheadmusic.co.uk attaching a photo or two, along with your school name and the production, or to reply to this blog doing the same (particularly if you’d like them to be posted on the blog too, to inspire other teachers here). Don’t forget that permission will be required from parents of any children in the shot.

Thank you! Sheila. www.redheadmusic.co.uk

Christingle Rock! Christmas Praise! Christmas Presence Christmas Stars! (the Xmas factor) Holy Joe! (the unsung hero) Hosanna Rock! jesus@bethlehemstable.com Little Angels! Mary, Mary Nativity Nightmares! Rock Around the Flock! Rock the Baby Scrooge (a ghost of a chance!) Seven Lessons and Carols Sheik, Rattle and Roll! Stable Story! The Christmas Code! The Star Attraction!

Welcome back to school, all ye teachers. I hope you had the wonderful Christmas you deserve. Have you recovered from Nativity Exhaustion?! I hope so. If you’ve got snow like we (still) have here, then presumably you too had a few extra days off last week and started back properly yesterday. I was snowed-in on holiday in Wales for ten days after Christmas – what bliss! But no phones or internet, hence a rather long gap in the blog. The last two weeks of the Christmas term were pandemonium, rushing from Nativity to Nativity (‘as you do’), but such fun. Every performance was lovely. The most invitations I had were for ‘Christmas Stars!‘ (aka The Xmas Factor), which I published the year before, and which seems to have caught the imagination even more in 2009. One which I attended locally, at Danesfield School in Medmenham, was performed with great style, and included four children coming on half way through dressed up as Simon Cowell et al, temporarily bringing the show to a halt as the audience fell apart. The costumes were fantastic. It was an evening of laughter and excellent acting and singing, yet still, amazingly, it ended with a poignant tableau and lots of quiet sighs before the encores and bows took off. Each show is so different, depending on the way the school embraces it. I’ll write about a few others I saw, too – all great. Thanks to those of you writing to me here or via our website to tell me about your performances: I love hearing about them.

Seeing something you’ve written ‘come alive’ is a most wonderful experience, and so December is undoubtedly the happiest (as well as busiest) month of my working year.

Happy new year! Sheila. www.redheadmusic.co.uk

I’m having such a lovely fortnight, rushing here and there, playing or guest-ing at about twelve performances. Each has been brilliant, with the children constantly surpassing expectations. The first I’ve got to mention was a performance of ‘Rock the Baby’ by The Cathedral School, at Southwark Cathedral. What a truly beautiful and awesome place. The whole school took part, and from the very beginning it was breathtaking. The quality of the singing was amazing; so were the costumes; and the readers and actors were just fantastic. I have to confess that I choked up once or twice, as well as smiling and laughing and applauding at all the appropriate times. When I wrote the musical, a fair few years ago, I couldn’t possibly have imagined a more moving and outstanding performance! Well done to everyone involved, and thank you to the school and the Cathedral for making me so welcome.

According to my inbox, this is the week when performances begin all around the country. Rehearsals of ‘The Star Attraction!’ are at full pelt at my local school, St Peter’s, with Thursday as the ‘big day’… The big project in the remaining two days is to polish up the rap! Mary, Joseph and Gabriel are already shining like the little stars they are.

Talking of which, last night I went along to a fantastic performance of ‘Christmas Stars’ (aka The Xmas Factor) at Carrington Junior School – gosh, talk about multi-talented! The cast and choir were all brilliant, and the costumes were amazing. Reub and Ish (the host angels, in Blues Brothers style) could have been in the Royal Albert Hall, with their comic timing and delivery. Many congratulations to all the staff and children.

By contrast, I’m looking forward later this week to joining the parents of children from The Cathedral School, for a performance of ‘Rock the Baby’ at Southwark Cathedral. It’s a simple nativity rather than a show, and the children always make it absolutely charming. It’s the one, along with ‘Hosanna Rock!‘, in which I notice the most (surreptitious) audience tears.

Good luck, everyone, and thanks for all the emails I’m getting telling me how you’re getting on. (If you’d like to write to me here instead, please feel free!) I’m looking forward, as always, to meeting some of you and watching your children’s performances in the next fortnight as I travel around a bit…

With warm best wishes, Sheila.

This is the week of the Christmas term when a different sort of miracle starts to take place in schools everywhere … children transform, at the absolute last minute possible it seems  (causing maximum breakdown levels amongst the staff), from sometimes tongue-tied, self-conscious, word-forgetting, non-projecting, apparently deaf, fidgety actors and singers, into supremely confident performers who have more courage than most of their parents and teachers to stand centre-stage, sing solos, embrace the character and recite their lines by heart. Some of them are as young as five. Some leave it until the actual performance itself to finally pull it out of the bag. But it always seems to come together wonderfully … I love it! It’s especially great when you discover a talent you never knew was there, or suspected but had never seen evidence. It’s also a time of deep satisfaction for the casting staff, whose choices are vindicated. Well done! Happiness all round. The end is in sight … good luck, everyone!

Sheila.

PS Don’t forget the songs are now on iTunes for last-minute practising, or post-performance nostalgia for the children…

Every year in March I enjoy going to the Education Show at the NEC, where I get to meet and chat with teachers from round the country. Hi, if you’re one of them! Sometimes, if asked, I play excerpts from my latest musical. Other times a few of us have a sing-along, which is great fun (well, you take your fun where you can get it, at exhibitions!). I think we had a whole coachload of enthusiastic teachers, once, singing their rendition of  ‘Hosanna Rock!’ at the top of their voices whilst energetically doing the handjives!  It drew quite a crowd.

As soon as a few teachers get chatting, they often seem to start swapping ideas and stories about how they staged this musical or that musical, what worked best, and what nearly gave them a breakdown! I’m going to start collecting these stories and bits of advice more carefully now, but in the meantime, if you’ve had a good idea or a good experience, or a funny one, and would like to contribute it, why not add it here? It just might make a big difference to someone else! Even quite simple things… for example, my local school dressed their choir up as Teddy boys/and girls for one musical (Sheik, Rattle and Roll, I think), which made a nice change, plus it actually looked very smart, with the little straight ties and quiffs and headscarfs, and seemed rather ‘in-keeping’ with the hand-jives.

Some teachers are bursting with creative ideas, and others pull their hair out for a new idea each Christmas, so … either here, or when you next see me, do share your ideas! I, and a host of teachers, would love to hear from you.

Thanks! Sheila.

Hot off the press… If the children in your choirs have MP3 players, or listen to music online, they can now sing along with our Christmas songs to their hearts’ content, because all the Redhead Music Christmas songs are now available on iTunes! It’s a great way to get those lyrics learnt … and to practice the handjives at home. It’s pretty useful for the helpers, too.

Searching by Sheila Wilson, or the name of the musical, or the name of the song, should all work fine. Children should ask their parents’ permission, of course. It’s 79p per song.

Here’s the link: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/sheila-wilson/id339036190#

Hope it’s helpful, Sheila.

PS. If you’re looking for inspiration for Christmas assemblies, we have original new carols and assembly ideas in Seven Lessons and Carols; a traditional Christmas Carols CD/songsheet, with backing tracks (including a fun Jingle Bells/Rudolph medley); and a piano/guitar book of 60 new and traditional Carols called Love Shone Down…  All are on our website www.redheadmusic.co.uk

I wrote the musical Holy Joe partly because it’s rather disarming to turn an insult into something nice, but also because I often think Joseph gets rather a raw deal in many nativity stories. With all the focus on ‘new men’ a few years ago, it struck me that Joseph, as well as being an un-sung hero, was surely one of the original new men? Happy to stand by his girl in the most unlikely of circumstances, happy to support her as she went down in history as one of the most special women in the bible, immortalised in art, literature and music (not that he maybe understood this immediately, but it must have dawned on him as the story unfolded that he was the third most important of the three people in the stable!) He features so little in everything, it makes me sad! I sometimes give him a love song to sing to Mary, but this isn’t necessarily very popular with the young actors…it’s often bad enough for them to have to hold hands with Mary! On the other hand, if you’ve got a stage-school boy in your class, then Holy Joe could be the musical for you…and he features in at least five of the songs, one way or another.

We think he’s great, that’s why we’re here/If you love Holy Joe then give him a cheer!/No more standing in the second row/Come forward and take a bow, it’s: Holy Joe!

S.

www.redheadmusic.co.uk

Auditions have begun in the schools I know, and all over the country, to find the right Mary and Joseph…and I’m always interested in the choice. Voice projection (or amplification) helps of course, and singing in tune is nice, but after that, a big question for me is … should Mary be beautiful? My research tells me that usually the answer is yes. I confess, though, to really liking the schools where teachers have picked one of the less ‘traditionally pretty’ girls. In amongst the hundreds of shows I’ve played at or visited, and enjoyed, two stand out particularly in my memory … a rather overweight Mary, in one, and a Joseph with a speech impediment, in another. Why not?! All the children are lovely. I doubt Joseph (snr) was a Brad Pitt!

I’ve got some more thoughts about Joseph, actually, but … that’s another blog! Sheila.

I suppose I’m in the right job, because there’s something about nativities, and children, that always make me grin. If you’ve staged a nativity anywhere, anytime, I bet you have a funny tale to tell, too – I’d love to hear it. I put some of mine into a musical I wrote for Faber (Nativity Nightmares), and it caused a ripple of similar responses from people. In fact, the Sunday Times contacted me and published a small interview about it. (It’s always a shock when you’re queuing in the Post Office and the Sunday Times calls!) It included the un-named school who were performing ‘Rock around the Flock!’ when a sweet child got an upset stomach and was carried off mid performance – not good at anytime, but there really aren’t that many circumstances when a poor boy is dressed up in white tights as a lamb… (he was fine afterwards). I was playing at a performance of ‘Hosanna Rock!’ one year, an extra show at a big business event, where the star was in a different place. When the time came for the wise men to jump up and point at it, two managed successfully, but the middle one faced and pointed the wrong way entirely, shouting ‘LOOK!’ and earnestly pointing at a bit of strip lighting. This is one of my favourite moments ever… because no-one minds, and the audience (including me) are always 100% with, and for, the wonderful children.

Of course, I’m impressed by talent and brilliance too … I never fail to be impressed by the high standards that teachers draw out of their children in such a busy, short time from half-term to Christmas … nor at the lovely children themselves, who act, sing, dance and memorise lines with such flair. Sometimes people are nervous if I’m in the audience or at the piano, yet the truth is that I’ll be the one who minds the least if something goes ‘wrong’, I’ll just be adding it to my happy list of memories.

Sheila.

Q: is this the title of my next nativity , or a reference to the ongoing postal problems? A: The latter (‘though come to think of it, maybe the former too – I’ll slap an IC (intellectual copyright) on it, just incase!) If you haven’t ordered your Christmas music yet and are wondering how you’ll ever get it if the post-strike goes ahead, don’t despair. You can order online at www.redheadmusic.co.uk or by telephone 01202 724294 or by fax 01202 712913, and if you ask, we can routinely arrange to have your order delivered by courier. Because of the volume of sales, this doesn’t work out much more expensive at all – just enquire when placing the order, and we’ll let you know the cost, according to the weight.

There’s one other small thing on my mind – when I was at school we were taught to spell dilemma ‘dilemna’ – quite incorrectly, it seems. What’s that about?!

Sheila.  That’s ‘i’ after ‘e’ except after She…

How’s your post? It seems that a quantity of our 25000 brochures got caught up in the strike at the start of September, and are going out late/or delayed. If you’re waiting for one, do give us a ‘call on 01202 724294 and we’ll send another out, ‘post haste’. It’s particularly frustrating for schools wanting to get hold of harvest music quickly (like our new festival, ‘Harvest … it’s a little bit CORNy!’) … but it’s in stock, as are all our Christmas musicals, so if you ‘phone or order online at www.redheadmusic.co.uk , we can get it despatched immediately. Meanwhile, we’re all hoping that sacks of brochures get moved along the way swiftly… because there’s no doubt about it, Christmas is in the air, for Primary school music teachers at least. Next year maybe we should try reindeer post!

Sheila.

We’re off! All the new Christmas (and Harvest) books and CDs are in the warehouse(s), along with new stock of all our other musicals … advance orders have been despatched … and after all the hectic busy-ness of scoring, recording, proofing, reproofing, and signing off, the urgent action now moves from me to the distributors. Hurray!

Here, I’m starting to move a mountain or two (or ten) of red-inked proofed-pages into the fax paper-store to recycle, and can ALMOST see some surfaces in my office again. Even the floor was disappearing.

And now I can play the piano without feeling guilty about all the admin I should be doing! Question is, what shall I compose next? …

Sheila.

I literally have dots before the eyes, but hurray it’s the last time for a short while (before Christmas at least!), as I have, in my hands, the final proof of The Star Attraction. It’s the printer’s proof – and it’s lookin’ good! Proof reading is my least favourite part of the process (not that I don’t enjoy the whole job in general), checking that a zillion dots (music notes of course) are correct on my score. Fortunately, my engraver & editor, Chris Hussey, is very good, so there’s not usually much to pick up on, but still, it just has to be done!

Anyway, I’ve approved this final mock-up, so the press can roll (do printing presses still roll? I’ll find out), and meanwhile the first few thousand copies of this musical get delivered to various warehouses next week! All pre-orders and new orders will get sent out asap… And if you’re one of the pianists playing The Star Attraction this Christmas, it’ll be your turn for dots before the eyes!

Sheila

The start of September always makes me chuckle, because whilst most of the country is winding down from summer holidays, or even still lying on the beach, there’s a whole subset of people (*primary school teachers, responsible for school singing!) who start the term at 100mph and are thrown circumstantially into a Christmas music panic as the catalogues arrive (watch out for Redhead Music‘s) and the term’s busy timetable hits home.

I like to think of us as a small but very special community! The phone sometimes rings off the hook with queries about numbers of angels, delivery times, how (say) Hosanna Rock! compares to Rock Around the Flock!, size of stage, etc … all of which, and many more questions too, we’re more than happy to answer to make the panicky September rush a bit easier! We’ve just uploaded audio samples from each song in The Star Attraction! onto our website (just click on the song name) (oh, and turn on the volume – a common query to our helpline!), so this will help with some of the enquiries. On numerous occasions before this facility was up and running for all our musicals, I’ve played excerpts from songs over the phoneline from a keyboard!

Well, that shouldn’t be necessary this year… Meanwhile, if you’re a *PST(rfss), sincere best wishes for the start of your term, and I hope you find The Star Attraction! excerpts inspiring. Oh, and by the way, if there’s Harvest panic breaking out as well, we have a brand new ready-made harvest festival: Harvest…it’s a little bit corny! (Sorry about the title – I just couldn’t resist it.)   Sheila.

Some people (ok, me too) moan when Christmas stuff comes into the shops straight after Halloween, but in truth it’s Christmas all year round at Redhead Music (though without the presents, ah well…) Early August found me in a recording studio with Charlie (great new vocalist), AD (excellent studio engineer) and a set of backing tracks hot off the press (by Jeff Leach, who performed & arranged Christmas Stars so brilliantly last year) … listening to Charlie singing her heart out. It all sounds great! The rocking tracks rock, and the gentle ones are dreamy. At last ‘The Star Attraction!’ is out of my head and actually exists – it’s a good feeling!

We had a burst of fun towards the end of the recording session – we decided that the ‘no room at the inn’ track (‘Your Chances are Slim!’) could do with some Inn revellers on it, so the three of us sang some extremely merry spontaneous backing vocals. I can promise you we weren’t really at the Inn, and that only tea and evian had passed our lips, but, we had been in the studio for about 7 hours and were probably punch-drunk with tiredness and lack of oxygen. It woke us up, anyway, and you can hear us laughing in the background…

And yes, if you heard sleigh bells in August, that was us too! Sheila.

‘The Star Attraction!’ (for ages 5-12) will be available through www.redheadmusic.co.uk (where it can be pre-ordered) and at www.musicroom.com and in all good music shops in three weeks’ time!