It's Sunday Again!

This week seems to have so gone quickly! Perhaps because the weather has been warmer and the sun has shone - it was really warm out of the cool wind. There's nothing quite like the warmth of sunshine after a cold winter.

In spite of this, we've managed to get out and about. The European Union Chamber Orchestra gave a stunning performance last Tuesday. The first piece was Handel's Arrival of the Queen of Sheba which I've always adored but feel an especial fondness for since we had it at our wedding :)

Saturday was a trip round Hidcote Manor Garden to see what was growing. The sun was bright, the wind cool and blustery - a typical March day.

And last night we saw A Dangerous Method with Keira Knightly, Michel Fassbender and Viggo Mortensen. I've never been very interested in Freud (played by Mortensen) and Jung (Fassbender) so I was surprised when I enjoyed the film so much. It was beautifully filmed, great dialogue which was dryly amusing in places.

Writing
Revision of Mystery in Morocco has suffered because of everything going on this week; and I've had little time to focus on the comments about my short story which arrived at the beginning of three very hectic days and evenings.

I'm just taking a break from going through the comments - it's exciting to see my work through the eyes of someone else.

But right now, on a Sunday afternoon, after lunch, I'm sitting nodding over the keyboard. Better get up and move around before I slump forward and all you see is o4w9t 9u 9d d efi oy jtuk trtusrtoi/zrib\ rou5te4nuae46 uUrhoih'aorh 5oih5oi h5iahie hi,fm fdljj :i {P I[d#r;kg :)

Music...and British radio

Oh my! What a day. I haven't done much writing (composed two haiku though) but...BUT...
I found out who composed Elizabethan Serenade: Ronald Binge.

Thanks to Google I found he also composed Sailing By. This piece of music is always played on Radio 4 before the shipping forecast at 00:50. They play various length bits of it, sometimes all of it, depending on how much time there is to fill after Book of the Week has ended.

I imagine sailors round the coast of Britian with their radios on, doing whatever sailors do and then hearing this music and racing to the radio to hear what the weather has in store for them. Maybe a storm is coming. Maybe the storm they're battling is going to pass. I'm usually snuggled under my duvet and thankful to be warm and cosy.

The other thing I think is wonderful is after the shipping forecast and before the National Anthem (which indicates the end of Radio 4 broadcasting and hand-over to the BBC World Service), the newsreader always says goodnight. They've even been known to say 'Good night and if you're about to sleep, sleep tight'. I love it! :D

Music and Atmosphere

Heh! I triumph over technology and have sorted out the problem with Firefox.

I'm listening to Turkish music right now; tracks from the film 'Crossing the Bridge'.
This track is by Mercan Dede and may not be to all tastes but listen long enough (about 1 min 20 seconds into the clip) to hear the breathy, haunting sound of the woodwind instrument. I don't know what it is. I just know that this music evokes the desert for me and is just right for Mystery in Morocco in a strange sort of way. The rhythms of the music almost mesmerise me.

Do you find music helps create atomosphere when you're writing? And if so, what have you found 'fits' your story?