Nearly 60 years since The Animals recorded their iconic version of 'The House of the Rising Sun'. Such a great song.
As a kid I was stunned by it & tried to play the chords on the piano at home.
Years later as an NQT I taught the song to pupils at school.
youtube.com/watch?v=4-43lL…

Spare a thought for music hub orgs today, who find out whether or not they have been successful in their bids to become the new hub lead organisations.
Likely to be some relieved winners and some aggrieved losers.
ACE has embargoed public announcements until May.

Music education is fragmented, compounded by too many organisations in the sector, each with their own vested interests & power bases.
The faux concern for the 'big picture' is a fog. Devolve all of the money locally to music hubs.
That's where it'll make THE big difference.

Matt is entirely right about excellence coming in many forms, and the strain on the infrastructure.
The 'whole picture', though, is so fragmented and hard to see. It's like a 3D jigsaw, with 1000s of pieces, that no-one can do.

The rise of 'organic metal'!

theguardian.com/music/2024/apr…

Announcement of new music hub leads - a succinct summary by ISM.

DfE/ACE's embargo on the announcement for a month demonstrates collective naivety of how music education's communications channels work.

And is another example of the lack of transparency in this process.

Happy birthday L.
The youngest son of my best friends. I had lunch with them all earlier and a lovely celebration with his extended family tonight.
L is a former piano pupil, and now one of England’s best swimmers for his age.
A pleasure to know him and his family.

I found a bag of euro coins in a drawer today, which I'd completely forgotten about.
30+ euros.
A nice little bonus to spend on a couple of beers on my trips to Germany 🇩🇪 later this year.

When will the country be rid of these cultural vandals?

They have brought music and arts education to crisis point in (and out of) schools. Now it's the turn of HE to face more wanton and reckless cuts.

theguardian.com/education/2024…

This is amazing.
I❤️Kings Return

Thanks to DVLA for the prompt refund of the road fund licence for my previous car.

Why does it have to be a cheque? A real faff to pay it in with Virgin Money app - took 5 attempts.

Or maybe I'm just rubbish at tech 😅

Interesting though unsurprising where music sits in the responses.