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Six Week Summer Shred - Chapter 1

Fri, 19 Jul 2024 22:32:58 GMT

Full Body Review 1

Just like a lot of people, I've always struggled with managing my weight and body. Being a performer doesn't always help. Being a mother certainly doesn't help. Neither does enjoying food and drink!

What's the story?

About 7 years ago, I lost a staggering 3 and half stone through Slimming World - I looked great, but little did I realise it was because I was actually really poorly. It was at this time I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, a form of Irritable Bowel Disease. Turns out all the healthy food had caused my gut to go into overdrive and the high fibre diet was causing all sorts of issues. The only way to 'fix' a flare is by taking steroids. Lots of them. Cue moon face and weight gain.

Then it turned into 2020...

What else was there to do apart from support our local take away services and drink copious amounts of tonic water (I had read that the tannins in it could ward off Covid) flavoured with gin.

So by the time freedom arrived I had skilfully put all the weight back on, and a bit more. yay.

April 2023 I joined Earl Street Nutrition. It didn't take long to loose a stone and then focus on looking great for my 40th Birthday in March 2024. But since then I've managed to maintain the loss but not make any great advances. Currently I've lost 9kg, 4.1% Body Fat, 1.5 litres of visceral fat and 37cm.

What to do?

Start a Six Week Summer Shred of course, and why not document it on the way!?

So where am I now?

Height - 165cm

Weight - 78.8Kg

Body Fat - 39.7%

Body H20 - 42.7%

Muscle Mass - 45.5

Bone Mass - 2.4

Base Metabolic Rate - 1473

Metabolic Age - 55

Visceral Fat - 7.5

I also had measurements taken:

Neck - 33cm

Bust - 104cm

Arm R - 31cm

Arm L - 30.5cm

Waist - 88cm

Stomach - 101cm

Hips - 110cm

Thigh R - 53cm

Thing L - 53cm

don't worry - these aren't measured every time!

The Plan

2 x Herbalife shakes a day

2 x high protein snacks

High protein meal

A LOT of Water - like crazy amounts.

Herbalife Aloe Vera

Herbalife Herbal Tea

Herbalife Multivitamin

Herbalife Phyto Complete

Basically I'm aiming for about 90 grams of protein a day and at least 2 litres of water.

In the near future I will explain more about these products (and I'm not sponsored or endorsed by the company or Earl Street Nutrition) and I'll be honest. I'm also planning on living my life which includes raving in London tomorrow, work BBQs, a wedding, potential holidays and surviving with 2 kids and a husband who work shifts.

But why share every detail?

Accountability. As a teacher, I love the summer holidays. As a mother, I hate the summer holidays. This is purely a project for me and this blog will hopefully keep me motivated. I'm human, I like chocolate, and bread, and gin and Prosecco. I don't like exercise. I do like sleep.

Now, if I epilate my legs will that remove a pound or two...?

The Shoe Collection: The First Pair

Sat, 02 May 2020 12:41:53 GMT

Black Killer Heels with a green makeover.

Date acquired: 2009 ish?
Place acquired: New Look
Maker: New Look
Cost: can’t remember, but probably c£20
Comfort: 9/10 - I know!
Heel Hight: 4.5”
Platform Height: 1”
Usage: These were my first go-to pair for gigging, going out, concerts, etc and the pair that I learnt to walk/jump/run/dance in!

I can’t actually remember buying these, but I do know they were my first pair of super sexy shoes and they are from New Look. Originally they were all black, they definitely pre-date meeting my husband, and I do have photographic evidence of me wearing them on September 6th 2010.

The memories. These shoes were paramount to a change in look I went with during my time as a trainee backing vocalist with The Draw. Typically I would wear a smart black skirt with a smart black top, but the purchase of some wet look leggings encouraged an experimental change. I remember walking into the venue and the boys couldn’t look at me. Was it that bad!? Turns out that they just weren’t too sure where to look (such gentlemen), and I swear these shoes are what gave me the confidence to pull off a sexy rock chick look.

I absolutely love these shoes, so much that I wanted to cry when I finally had to come to term with the fact that I had scuffed the platform beyond acceptable ‘oh no, are they really scuffed’ wearingz. And then a miracle! Pinterest! DIY glitter shoes…oh, yes please. Don had recently acquired his very shinny and green fender, and I opted to bling them up with a bit of green glitter and Modge Podge.

The strap is part of the key to my love of these, as they keep the shoe attached to the foot! Ridiculously obvious, but when you’re on stage, losing a shoe is not idea! I love the peep toe, which in the pre LED stage light days would help with circulation of air. The subtle rose on the out side of the strap adds just the right amount of detail and distraction.

Conclusion: these shoes will always have a special place in my heart. They don’t get the outings they used to do due to the bits of damage (including the heel support inside the shoe which I had forgotten about until I tried to take these pictures!) but are always available in case of emergency!

Guten Tag! ARO in Germany 2019

Wed, 03 Jul 2019 15:16:03 GMT

June 29th to July 1st 2019 - AmieMusic joins the Arden Recorder Orchestra for concerts in Bermatingen and Radolfzell in South Germany.

After much preparation, practice and packing, I’m finally at Stuttgart with Recorders at the ready, waiting for my lift to Bermatingen to meet up with other Arden Recorder Orchestra players for a weekend of performances. It’s all part of an Early Music Festival hosted by the town. Conveniently for us Mirjam’s sister is involved with the planning and due to their wonderful German efficiency and organisational skills we will all be arriving in time from various places across south Germany and Switzerland.

Personally I am looking forward to some child free time, which is why I am sat at the airport McDonald’s opposite one of the many kiddieland play areas. I’ve already completed a geocache, had a nap on my very early flight from Birmingham and enjoyed some glorious European sunshine.

Rehearsals, rehearsals and more rehearsals.

Wow it’s hot. Even in the usually cold Saxon church of St Georg, it’s still warm. However, stunning acoustics and amazing frescoes make it more than tolerable. It’s so rare in England to even get a glimpse of how our religious buildings used to look before everything was white washed. The altar and main church are covered in the vibrant blue and orange remains of biblical stories, apostles, angels and saints with the glint of gold and silver adorning the statues on the pillars. The altar is raised high, which is fun for our conductor if she gets too excited and steps back, but the audience will get a great view.

It takes a while but we finally got through all of our pieces, borrowed big instruments taking a while to adjust to and the heat playing havoc with our tuning. A relaxed lunch later, including a bit of impromptu mediaeval dance tune playing for the Re-enactment farmers outside, and we get to meet the fantastic kids from the local music school. Who would have thought the Thomas Tallis Canon could sound so interesting - next time we really should go for Spem in Allium!

Concert 1, St Georg, Bermatingen, 29/06/2019 (alright, and Concert 2 at Musikschule, Radolfzell, 30/06/2019)

With the temperature still pushing the mid to high 30s, the coolness of the old church offered much welcome relief to performers and audience alike. A brief introduction from the local mayor preceded the mass playing of the full orchestra and the local recorder students blasting the typically English recorder melody of Thomas Tallis’ infamous canon. Unison, four part and eight part rounds echoed through the cavernous venue - so simple yet so effective.

ARO moved straight into Gabrieli’s Canzon XII which delicately introduced the Renaissance contrapuntal sound world to the audience before the more raucous arrangements of medieval tunes. Santa Maria, Strela Do Dia, originally accredited to Alfonso X El Sabio from the 13th century but presented in this arrangement by Steve Marshall, has a wonderful melody that Steve places around the orchestra, sometimes with embellishments, using the lowers parts to create a distinctive rhythmic drone. The addition of Katyza, the local recorder teacher responsible for bringing all the children, with her bass crumhorn added yet another dimension to the soundscape. Another 4 Medieval Tunes also arranged by Marshall ensured that the orchestras requirement of medieval music was truly met.

Three short trios were presented on gemshorns to also ‘tick’ the medieval box, with varying success. We had to borrow two instruments and with them being notorious for their individuality meant that they were challenging to play. But they were certainly novel.

My personal favourite in the programme was Alan Davis’ Heavenly Fire . It is based on the Gregorian chant ‘Veni Creator Spiritus’ and tells of the Holy Spirit descending upon the apostles during Pentecost. One can really sense the apprehension felt by the men locked in a room in the opening bars before coming together to pray, and then the madness and confusion during the 13/8 section where the descents and basses are continuing the original plainchant in 6/8 with a 13/8 canon occurring in the other parts. Sustained chords with a rubato sopranino floating of the main theme creates a pivotal place in the middle of the piece as the rhythms and harmonies start to come back together, as the apostles start to make sense of their experience. A rising motif in a fanfare style gives the impression of celebration with most parts eventually joining in, with a climatic suspension in the final bars resolving to a satisfying cadence. I truly love this piece!

Vivaldi’s Concerto In G minor brought some tonal comfort and the orchestra played this well with some fantastically virtuosic playing in the top three parts. Personal I am still undecided on recorder orchestra arrangements of baroque string orchestra pieces but I suppose the recorder is synonymous with the baroque and therefor it is to be expected.

An emotional performance of Brightness Falls by one of AROs original members, Andrew Meville, saw a John Taverner ‘In Nomine’ used in a traditional way with comfortable modern harmonies built around it. The piece swells up with long sustained notes eventually subdividing, before a contrasting middle section with a repeating homophonic theme accompanying the sopranino presenting the In Nomine. This then returns to the original ideas with the shorter note values giving way to the long sustained notes, and slowing fading out instrument by instrument, eventually leaving the tenors on the final note of the In Nomine. Sadly Andrew passed away early this year and our performance was dedicated to him. Today I think we did him justice and he would have been proud of us.

ARO then returned to the renaissance with the popular The Leaves be Green by the infamous William Byrd. Typically the piece is performed by 5 instrumentalist but in a true ARO way we attempted something different. Taking the idea from pieces such as Staeps’ 'Berliner Sonate' we tried doubling the parts at the octave. The purists obviously would see this as sacrilege. Of course, this gave the group more challenges with tuning and had varying degrees of success. A beautifully rich and complex sound was created but it could be argued that some of Byrd’s detail and clever use of inversions became insignificant. However, it was a useful inclusion to the programme due to final composition.

The penultimate piece saw the children return to the stage to lead the orchestra in a specially commissioned arrangement of the round Sumer Is Icumen In . Although a slower tempo was used in comparison to the orchestras version within the 4 Medieval Tunes , it was a pleasant performance. Finally, ARO member Anne Martin was able to hear her composition Fantasia on ‘Surrey Leaves’, a charming piece based of the melody of Byrd’s The Leaves Be Green featuring an easy descant part ideal for including children.

Something that always catches me off guard is the generosity of applause and the gratitude of German audiences. My host for the weekend, who has kindly provided Beth and myself with accommodation, caught my eye during the applause and had such a look of pride towards myself and Beth that made me feel so appreciated and grateful to take part in such wonderful events.

The programme was repeated the following day at the music school in Radolfzell in a very different setting. It provided the children with a much more intimate experience of being part of the orchestra and they produced a wonderfully confident sound in the acoustic of their regular performance space. For us, the combination of the extreme heat and the modern acoustic of the purpose built performance room gave us some issues, specifically with tuning in the Byrd for which we can only learn from (mixing renaissance and baroque bores of various woods and sizes in heat is not a good idea). However, I feel that we inspired the children and parents to continue their recorder studies, and we had fun!

Post Concert Cool Down

A day of travelling back to Stuttgart airport and a bit of hanging around has given me a good chance to reflect, chill and enjoy the last moments of freedom, adulting and alcohol. We had an hour and a half on a boat cruising around a small section of Lake Konstanz/Constance before the rehearsal and concert on Sunday and I have to admit that I hadn’t felt that relaxed and calm for a long time. The journey to the airport involved a few changes but a two hour stint gave me chance to write the full concert review, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I do like writing and reflecting and must make more time to do this.

Observation 1 . How beautiful is South Germany!? We discovered this two years ago when we came over but it really does extend across the region. It was so quiet - Beth observed that she heard someone sneeze, that’s as loud as it got. I walked back from Sue and Alison’s ‘digs’ at midnight, only a two minute walk, but it was so safe and just not an issue. As for around the lake, I could move tomorrow. OK, extreme weather may have had an affect, but the buildings and cafes and museums and churches don’t change. I appreciate that we are incredibly close to the Swiss border, but it does feel like a Swiss chocolate box picture. Not the Germany we have in mind following our history lessons.

Observation 2 . Music education! I was in utter shock when we walked through the Radolfzell Music School. Well equipped practice rooms with every instrument taught by a specialist teacher or two, a smaller rehearsal/recital room with adjoining kitchen, and a purpose built concert hall complete with a full orchestral percussion line. I lost count of the marimbas, glockenspiels, vibraphones, metalaphones etc. Tubular bells were placed next to the four pedal timps, with a drum kit, Latin percussion set up, and other random percussion. There were grand pianos everywhere, and a spinet hidden in a corner. My understanding is that this is all extra curricular and parents pay for various lessons as it’s not provided in the standard school curriculum. However, I believe there may be some form of government subsidy. Talking to other maturer ARO members, they recall similar days in the UK. Our German representative, Katyza, implied that things aren’t as good as they seem but unfortunately we didn’t have the opportunity to discuss this in depth. However it’s certainly better than the current state of instrumental music education in the UK. I trained and worked in the development of ClassBand, based on the BlasserKlasse system used in some German secondary schools and fell in love with the German system. Hmmm...

Observation 3 . It’s so important to mix with a wide variety of people as you can not only learn so much, but potentially help them too. As an extrovert I need to spend time with people, and some are naturally drawn to sharing themselves with me, be it having an opportunity to discuss and explore their faith, or offload their challenges and ideas discovered in their studies, or sharing experiences of children, or even just having just one ,eine grosse bier bitte’ and letting all their inhibitions go (which will be forever known as ‘doing a Sylvia’ by me and Beth). Life is so short and precious so make time to laugh, drink good wine and eat great food. And make sure you use bug spray.

Tonight’s Performance Is Brought to You By…

Mon, 10 Jun 2019 13:42:02 GMT

So it’s 8.15pm ish, the performer finally stands up to the microphone and presents their act. Forty-five minutes later and it’s all over. They collect their payment. Not bad for less than an hours work!

At least that’s what a lot of people think, or at least a lot of performers think a lot of people think, and lets face it, many performers aren’t the most secure when it comes to real, deep self-esteem and self-worth. So what does go into a typical performance?

Let’s work backwards on tonight’s gig.

As deserts go out I venture to the glamorous dressing room, also known as the ladies toilet, and don my shoes, then dress and earrings. A quick squirt of perfume, more lip gloss and throat lozenge and we’re ready to go.o

I arrive at the venue at 6.50 to cart my gear in and get it set up as quickly as possible so that I’m not disturbing the guests whilst they are enjoying their meal. I would have done this much earlier in the day but unfortunately family had other ideas and after taking my kids with me to set up before I am NEVER doing it again! My gear includes my Yamaha Stage PAS 400i, speaker stands, mic stand, cables, laptop, music stand, bass recorder and most importantly, iPad. Oh, and my dress, shoes, earrings and lipstick. I packed my car up at 4.30, which also involved removing a pushchair, shoes, a scooter and two empty boxes. Due to teaching commitments 5-6.30 I need to have everything ready to go as soon as I kick the last student out. And it involves teaching in full stage makeup.

I did a blog years ago (which I will make available again one day!) about changing from a Mummy into a Rock Star, and I would love to make a video of how do my average stage makeup face, but here are the basics:

Bare Minerals foundation, concealer, more foundation, mineral veil, blusher and bare minerals ‘warmth’ followed by more veil. Then to eyes. A change to my previous routine due to tiredness and ageing involves white kohl eyeliner on the bottom lids as this really opens up the eyes. Then various powders on the top lids, including shading and making sharp lines with paper, a flick of liquid eyeliner, more powder to blend, mascara, eyebrow pencil and ta da! Some gigs involve glitter and using wet eye shadow but as today doesn’t involve stage lighting and is a more intimate and close up gig I don’t need to go for the full clown look. Lips. Urgh. I’m still working this one out but today I applied lip liner, a red lip stain, patted with tissue and then used a small amount shimmery pink gloss. Without major distractions I can do this in about 20 minutes now.

My hair attempt usually starts before makeup as it is my weakest skill - I would love my own hair stylist. No back combing today, but instead tried a sophisticated knotted thing with a lot of hair grips and hair spray. I’d love to tell you more but I’m not entirely sure what I did. But it took about 15 minutes. If it goes wrong it can take a lot longer.

Normally getting dressed is the last thing I do after hair and make-up but due to the afore mentioned teaching and not wanting to lug all my gear around in a fancy dress and heels, I need to prepare the ‘base layer’. Due to a recent bought of steroids and two weeks in Texas, my waist line needs a bit of help to fit in my dress so I squeeze everything in to my new hold everything shorts from Shapermint. They’re great - thighs, bum lift, tummy tuck and a waist band up to my bra. Ok, it doesn’t make things smaller but it does make my dress hang smoother and psychologically it makes me feel more confident and attractive, which I need for this ‘role’ on stage. Obviously I would normally then put the dress on but instead it’s smart but comfortable trousers and t-shirt with ankle boots. Some gigs it can take an hour of throwing clothes around in a tantrum because I have NOTHING to wear, or the tights I need are in the wash/been laddered/have a toe hole, other days it can take seconds. Today was mid range as I did spend a lot of time thinking about what I was going to do and how I was going to do it.

The afternoon before the gig I spent a good hour or two going through my musical options deciding what I wanted to perform, what they might like to hear, what I need in my back up arsenal and, this is the rare bit but a favourite bit, practising! There’s a particular bit in ‘Cabaret’ that I could never quite get into sync with the backing track so it was nice to spend a bit of time really working on that, and it paid off. I set up an iTunes playlist and fiddle with the order. For me, the opening and closing songs are the important ones. I also make set up a setlist on my iPad. I use an app called ‘Setlists’ and although I don’t put every lyric of every song on it, it is nice to have a few cues for the bits I forget. Yes, I should probably know everything from memory but when you have hundreds of songs you need to be able to perform at the drop of a hat with various different groups, meh. Beside, David Bowie always had a folder of the lyrics on stage with him.

Then of course there were the emails and conversations with the organisers to secure the gig, find out what they want, the time I’ve spent building a strong relationship with the client, the time learning the songs in the first place, purchasing and downloading the backing tracks and entering the lyrics into the iPad. Not to mention making sure I have public liability insurance (thank you Musicians Union!), completing my tax returns like any other self employed individual and everything else that the sole trader has to do.

After the gig I get to break the gear down and cart it back to the car, drive home, empty the car, remove make-up (which is a skill in itself and will be a future blog) and drink some gin, but it’s all worth it. I love performing and making people smile, and I got two more gigs out of it. I got to introduce some more people to the amazingness of the recorder and perform some songs that I haven’t done for a while which I really enjoy singing.

Not bad for forty-five minutes.

Hiya!

Mon, 29 Apr 2019 12:34:26 GMT

Where to Start...

(OK - so I actually wrote this a couple of weeks ago before jetting off on holiday but issues with he website blah de blah, but now I'm home and the kids are at school/nursery I can finally post)

My head is full of so much stuff that I need to pour out, be that ideas about music education, wanting to share what happens after a gig or my thoughts on my shinny new Roland Ax-Edge Keytar, that I feel necessary to maintain this blog on my website. I need to increase my online and in person networking profile as, quite frankly, I need some paid work (unfortunately my mortgage provider and power supplier don’t quite get that being a creative, artistic person is more important than paying them). So hopefully through sharing some of my thoughts, opinions and activities you can get a better understanding of me, AmieMusic and what I do, and hey, you might even pay me to do something for you!

As a reminder for me as much as a guide for you, some of the things I do want to cover include reviewing my day at the Women In Music Conference held by the Musicians Union (Oh my - so much to think about!), what I’m doing to get my WeSing book published and the headaches that copyright and trying to follow the rules create, small group private instrumental teaching for key stage 1, my shinny Keytar and how to work the damn thing, maybe the stories of my shoes (yes, each pair has a story) and loads more. But don’t panic! I promise not to bombard you everyday - in fact I’m going to start by aiming to publish something once a month.

Of course your feedback is more than welcome, presuming you’re not a bridge inhabitant that likes to scare billy goats, and if you ever have any ideas on what you want me to share with you then shout out.

Right, brain frazzled from catching up with accounts, coffee 2 nearly finished, scrummy jaffa cake pie vanished and small person needing to be collected from nursery…

Enjoy your day,

Amie x

10 Reasons You Should Love Blogging

websitebuilder@1and1.de — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 16:40:38 GMT

Blog posts are a great way to get recognised within your community and share your voice. Here are the top 10 reasons you should love writing blog posts.

Anyone can make one:
For better or worse, anyone can write a blog post about anything they want. Everyone has a voice and the best voices will rise to the top.

The writer can show their personality:
In blog posts, the writer has more leeway to add in their voice and personality than other types of writing.

Blogs are a great form of mass communication:
You can help people, learn new things, entertain your audience— the possibilities are endless and amazing. Blogging opens up all of these to a very wide audience.

You can make money:
Get the right blog going and you can make a lot of money through advertising and sponsored posts.

It allows people to craft better thoughts:
Instead of reading haphazard, uneducated Facebook statuses, it’s much better to see people’s thought process in a well-written blog post.

You can establish a community:
Blogging allows you to connect with other individuals who share the same interests. Sharing ideas and opinions within your community helps establish yourself as a thought leader.

Good for SEO:
Keeping content on your site fresh and relevant, you can use your blog to boost the search engine ranking (SEO) of your site and your business.

It brings people back to your site:
If your blog is strong enough and updated regularly, people will come back looking for more and bring traffic back to your site as well.

It’s free:
It costs you a grand total of zero dollars to post to the blog, so if you have something to say, there’s nothing to stop you.

You can establish yourself as a thought leader:
A blog is a great place for your original thoughts, and it can be a wonderful way to show off your individuality. If people like your ideas, you can become a thought leader in your industry!

What else do you love about blogs? Let me know!