MAGIC TO TREASURE

In my last blog I wrote a pop-up book of my life, which showed how important music, dance and the written and spoken word have always been to me. In fact I always seem to be trying to find ways to integrate these arts. And though I used to write in two distinct areas, (primary educational music resources and children’s fiction), the two are now intertwining more and more.

A highlight of my life was when the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra played the music that goes with four of my stories in the series INTRODUCING CLASSICAL MUSIC THROUGH  STORIES to audiences of 3000 children in the Philharmonic Hall. Dave Benson-Phillips from CBeebies compered, and he and I between us narrated the stories whilst the orchestra played the music that ‘goes with’ each of the stories, and the audience were also able to see the full colour illustrations from the books projected on screens above the orchestra. Dave did the narration for the louder pieces of music as we needed a powerful voice to be heard above the orchestra, but he wasn’t sure how the story fitted with the music, so I cued him by sitting in one of the boxes and pressing a button that made a light come on right in front of him, every time he had to start reading the next bit! Anthony Inglis was the guest conductor, which held particular poignancy for me as we were at college together and have remained good friends to this day. So the whole thing was MA-GI-CAL!

               

And now I have another project on the go which unites music and literacy. Next year I have four music books coming out called START WITH A STORY! I have so enjoyed writing songs and devising musical activities that come straight out of each of the stories in this series. Then there was the fun of recording the songs. I needed a bit of help from Melissa, Ellie and Annie, who absolutely loved the experience of being in a real live studio! In fact they thought it was MA-GI-CAL! Here we are!

And here’s hoping that next year brings us all at girlsheartbooks our own special little piece of magic to treasure.