Castaway From Clatford Magazine.
Task: You’re a Castaway stuck on an deserted island and you have capacity to listen to 8 pieces of music, have 1 book and 1 luxury item. What would they be?
From an early age, music has been a strong influence on my life. As a peripatetic music teacher, specialising in brass and early years piano – I found this a tough question! How can I possibly narrow down my eclectic taste to just eight awesome pieces?
Well…
My first would be Main Theme from Star Trek Into Darkness, from the movie of the same title, written by Michael Giacchino. Growing up, Star Trek was a staple in my family and when they resurrected the series into films in 2015 I was hooked again. This piece is my favourite as it has a brilliant trumpet part and an epic lower brass section.
Next up is The War of the World by Jeff Wayne. I’m counting the whole album as one as the music never stops! This would be played on road trips to visit family or other trips, and my sisters and I would sing along to our hearts’ content learning the whole soundtrack by heart.
Adiemus by Karl Jenkins is one of my calming pieces, made famous by the British Airways adverts. In the late 90’s I went to visit my sister in Mali, as she was there with Wycliffe Bible Translators. One evening, the generators went out and we were plunged into darkness. The answer? To whip out the score for Adiemus and sing it in a six-part harmony group. It will always stick with me as its effect was amazing.
As a mum, you tend to sing along with the Disney hits your children watch. I was a Disney mum before I became a mum! Having worked in toy shops for many years, and being Tigger obsessed, falling into the world of Disney was very easy! One of my favourites is Moana – specifically You’re Welcome, sung by Dwayne The Rock Johnson. He sings about how he’s an awesome demi-god and everyone loves his hair – our daughters get highly embarrassed when I start changing the lyrics to be all about me!
Musicals are one of my great loves too. The King and I is one of my favourites. I performed in it at school, I’ve played trumpet in the orchestral pit for it many times, I’ve seen it on stage multiple times and I’ve played various songs from it in orchestras. My favourite song though has to be Getting to Know You. It’s a simple song, but one that I often start humming and burst into song with.
The Promise by Girls Aloud. This song stuck with me from the moment I first heard it playing on the radio. I used to work nights as a project manager, and all my staff would know that when I played this over the tannoy system, it was break time. It was also my ringtone at one point too!!
I am a huge film music fan. So no list would be complete without a bit of John Williams. I love listening to them, but I much prefer to play them, and my favourite to play has to be Pirates of the Caribbean. It’s got some lovely melody lines that soar over the top of the underlying strings and some really hard driving rhythms that are fun to keep up with.
My final piece is another epic film composer – Hans Zimmer. When Gladiator came out I was young and carefree. The song Now We Are Free had been made into a dance track and I absolutely loved dancing to it in the clubs! Nowadays, I just love listening to the original, the way it builds but stays calm.
My book? Well I fell in love with the series by J. M. Auel called Earth’s Children . It’s about a young girl growing into adulthood during Stone Age times. She is adopted into a different people group as a child and learns how to live off the land and what herbs are safe for medicinal use. I’d take the first one, Clan of the Cave Bear – I recently found out all the medicinal remedies described actually work, so I could put it to good use!!
And my luxury item? Well it would be a pillow. I can sleep anywhere – but I always struggle with the right pillow! So I’ll bring my own.