Musical voices!

Some voices have a timbre that communicate to me,excite my senses,lift me up,

These voices,although not trained singer,nonetheless touch my soul.

As these voices act as familiar emotion cues to me,I relish their sounds,

Their lilts of joy make my day,help to furnish life as it should be ,in colour.

When we convert the human voices that we know to colours,then they take on a more profound depth,

Why not try it sometime,you will be amazed at its affect.

So,I will relish the voices I hear tomorrow,and listen intently to their nuances,their modulating,their inflections.

Kernowsmith!

Walked along the beach!

Walked along the beach,just to see where we could reach,

Walked along the beach,just to shot the breeze,that Summer breeze.

Walked along the beach,loved the Things that it doth teach,

Walked along the beach,I’m trying not to preach,but it’s all I can do not to please you with my piece .

My walk along the beach didn’t disappoint,you see,it never does,

Ever since I was a boy,I’ve loved the sea,and walking along it.

That special light!

Looking out of my bedroom window here in Dorset,it looks as if it’s going to be another stunning day.This rich blue sky lifts me up,and is already generating good feelings about the day ahead.Wether it’s in my mind,I know not what,but when it’s sunny ,I always feel good about the day ahead.Yes,non of us can do anything about the wether,but we can appreciate it when it’s good,it seems a positive default to me.

There isn’t much that I can say of a technical nature about how I feel the weather can affect my mood ,or why it does,but I know that my own resources have a helping hand when I can see and feel bright light and know that the sun’s rays are reaching me on the Earth.

In talking about Light and the Sun today,I want to elaborate on a special light that artists talk about who gravitated to St Ives in Cornwall.St Ives is now home to Satelitte gallery of Tate modern in Britain,and has been the home of a thriving group of artists for decades.In this famous Cornish town,they congregated because there is a special light in the bay and in the immediate vicinity.There,at St Ives,Barbera Hepworth,probably one of the most famous sculptors that this country has ever produced ,made her home.Her work is very much of the Earth,they are Tactile pieces that draw you to a side of her,but also,at the same time,to a side of yourself that you maybe didn’t realise wasn’t there.That,to me,is what true art is,as it speaks to us and it speaks to others too.

On a visit to the gallery down there,it struck me that the people who were there also touch my the nature of her work,and by her personality.Sometimes,and I find this to be true of the work of Georgia O Keefe,there has been too much said about the foibles of female artists,when all artists have foibles,as all people have.To me,artists give us in our communities something that we don’t get from commerce,industry,or Politics,they give us a perspective,a collage of the other imagination.

So,yes,light ,we all need it,some of us thrive with it,others create with it ,but I feel that we all do better with it.

So,my thoughts are with those artists in St Ives,who gave us that special school of artists,who could see that special light and Create with it.
      Thank you.
       Kernowsmith.

My Atlantic Storm!

The morning mist had descended on  the “Great Western Beach”,as my eye were telling me.To the right,Tolcarne was a picture in my memory,it was visible to me on that day.My ears were deafened by the breaking Atlantic waves,tossed and turned by the raging gale.Its anger-as that is the most appropriate word-worried me on one level,but excited me on another.

  My reaction wasn’t on that day to retreat to the safety of the mount,it was to walk towards the waves.My teenage arrogance,my puberty trauma,call it what you will,just drew me to the sound.That density,that defiance of sonic gravity pinned my ears to the frequency,that howl,that screaming ,that abundance of force,it just drew me in.From what appeared to be an age,I was transfixed,as wave upon wave crashed in to the shore,battering the innocent beach huts,with their discarded parafinailia from the summer season to the 4 ends of the earth.

Members of my family had described Atlantic storms ,and the sheer terror that the sea could throw up,but their tales were dismissed by my teenage ego,my arrogance of thinking that I know best.Now,and only now,I knew just what they had meant,as whole rocks,minutes before that were totally visible ,now became submerged in wages that I had never seen before.As I struggled to stay upright ,holding on to a ledge that was precarious and slippered ,I listened,and waited for the storm to abate.

Time in that afternoon seemed to be dynamic,as if I were running the 100 metres,it was a memory that would  have an affect on how I would navigate life.At that time,I made a pact with myself that if I could survive that storm,then I could survive anything.Well,I survived,I didn’t get swept into the sea,I had taken a risk,a huge risk,but on that afternoon ,I had witnessed an Atlantic storm,heard its roar,been paralysed by its anger,but,as they say in the West Country,I had “Lived to tell the tale”.

My walk back up the hill at great western aroused in me a sense of awe,not that I was special,but that I had felt something,a whole palette of emotions.Its one thing to talk abut things,and we are all apt to talk about  doing something,but it’s another thing to make a choice to actually see something,feel something greater than you,bigger than you,stronger than you,more wonderful than you.

On the bus home to my dreary council house,on my dreary estate,I vowed that I would always ,if at all possible ,feel inspired by the sea,and I think that I have.

That storm ,on that day,has been followed by many others along the North Cornish coast,it certainly wasn’t the worse ever,but it’s the one that i can tell you about,because I was there,and it’s sound was edged on my memory.

It would be a few years until my ears would be assaulted in a sonic attack in any way that approached that day.That occurred in a concert hall in the 1970s,the Orcherstra with the Berlin Phil,and the conductor was Herbert Bon Karajan,and the work was the symphony number 5 in C Minor.When his baton went down the that wonderful Orcherstra played that first figure,why I was taken back to that day,that sea,that storm,that sonic wave attack,that blissful feeling of being outside and alive.
Thank you.
Kernowsmith.

It’s time for Nature to Sleep!

The birds are sleeping now,their songs are silent,but their remembrance still stirs my synapsids,

My memory of the morning,but blurred by the day,my artificial light from Faraday’s mind encloses my words.

I try not to fret about what I did or didn’t do,as I did my best,I did my best,I did my best,

Now those birds are in their nests with their sonic vests,with protective crests.

Those intervals of Major 3rd,Perfect 4th,Major 6th,still in my mind,still there,

But the birds cannot do anymore,and they don’t berate themselves,but sleep on the wing.
Kernowsmith.

Taking advice!

The humidity in the air where I live here in Dorset has had its own challenges today.My goals of exercise sometimes find me with a propensity for over activity.

It all started with me with my GP,and further to him,my bowel consultant,telling me that I was obese,and that I needed to lose weight.Yes,my weight increase had crept up over the years,but as surgery will be needed,I am humble enough to have to take action to lose quite a few pounds in fact.People that know and care for me have noticed that I have lost weight,but it is a battle that I wage to lose the kilos.

Yes,there isn’t ever a valid reason for obesity I know,but I sometimes reflect on the emotions that pass through my mind as I eat,and the comfort that it gives me.As someone who uses my blog to be as authentic as I can be,I realise that comfort eating has been a part of me for many years.Now,over the past 6 months,I have endeavoured to break this viscous cycle with varying degrees of success.My impetus is a need and a natural desire to live,and to live a good life,but I’ve used the word battle with some thought.

Now,today,I’ve overdone things and this can,and has caused problems,but I’m patient -yes,vague,and aimless at times-with myself,and I have much to be grateful for in my life,so I’m going to realise that just as a sailor tacks to carry the wind,facilitating a change in the sails,so much I be willing to tack.Also,I’ve learnt to take advice more and more,to accept that there are so many things that I dnt know and to learn from others.

Tomorrow is anther day,and I have my teaching in the afternoon to look forward too.As my pupils have become a mental lifeline to me over the past few years,I realise that my health is my responsibility,and there were tens in my life where I neglected my health.

So,I hope that my own confession fr want of a better word,might help others to look after themselves even though their life might be emotionally tough,or they have a demanding job or family life.

I thank all those who read this biographical post tonight.

Kernowsmith.

Blue Skies up above!

As I awoke this morning,not with the larks as usual,I noticed the rich blue sky outside my window,it was a colour that added a lustre to my mood today.Colour tends  to do that for me,and as well as sounds,I hook unto them to inspire me and also to give me energy for the day ahead.In other words,there are times when the environment is so inviting ,so appealing ,that you just want to taste it as it were,soaking up its atmosphere.

The sky today is such a wonderful frame by which I can exist in that I don’t have need to look inward on myself.This feeling is worth trying to capture in words,because it may not last .Sensations that we get that truly energise us and envigorate us enable us to forge ahead in a positive way,making life that much better.Yes,we all have negative stuff to cope with,and,at times,these negatives could overwhelm us.However,we have to seize  the moment when something delights us,and this is the purpose of my blog this morning,the conglomeration of just a pure blue sky and the birds singing in the garden are enough for me to reflect that I have so much in my life to use as a backdrop selfie frame as it were for my day.

So,emotionally,I can frame my day by tapping in to this wonderful metaphysical scene that I see ,the blue sky up above and the presence of the moon.Magical.

Hoping that you too can have a good day,and Thankyou for your attention to my muse.
Kernowsmith.

Looking to the good in us all!

Sometimes,just sometimes,we have to look at what we have got in life that makes us happy,we have to take stock of what it is that really makes us tick.You see,we all have to work,to do something to ,as my uncle would say,”Earn a crust”,and he had to earn his mo eye in the hardest of ways,but he did it.

Sometimes,I might moan to myself about teaching but it’s only really for a short space of time,because really,I have the best job in the world.Having the chance to pass on information,to impart knowledge,to guide,and inspire people is a real privilege,and I am doing my best to guard it.What I mean is this,when we only think of the financial enumerations from teaching,then we are missing the point of why we entered a vocational profession.It is imperative to view it as the absolute service to the public,one where the public entrust you with most precious possessions,and that is ,their children.

As I contemplate this ,just before the Summer holidays take hold,and Summer pursuits detract me from these thoughts,I can get quite emotional.Yesterday,I walked along the Purbecks for maybe 5 of 6 miles with my dogs.Yes,I need to exercise more now as I am awaiting an operation and I need to lose weight.However,I thought about my ancestors,on that walk.You were,they were miners and clay workers in Cornwall,and they would have to walk that same distances all before they started work,then they would have to work a gruelling 10 hour sift of manual work.When you think about it,in the 19th century,that was the lot of man then.Now,we can,if we are from a working class background aspire to do something else,and what better thing than teaching.

So,giving my perspective on life,and I guess many ,many others would have a similar one,it’s important not to get bitter about what we do,and to be grateful that we have something that can give genuine encouragement to another person,and teaching can do just that,it can really help us and them to grow as young people and later as adults.

I’ve had my down times over the years,and there have been times when it’s been tough to keep going,but I’ve received help,guidance and support from there,and that has kept me going.So,I try to do that for there that I meet,because we all need support and encouragement in whatever we do.

So,in my opinion,teaching is the best job in the world and one where the rewards are indeed great.When we do that,we grow as people,and learn that giving may not have to be of our money,but if our time and energy.

“Oh,I do like to be beside the seaside”!

Yesterday,I went to a shop to buy an ice-cream on Bournemouth beach.It was late afternoon,and I hadn’t had any lunch,so it was a welcome snack to me at least.Ice-cream has always been a magnet to me,dating back to when I secured my first seasonal job in am ice-cream parlour in Newquay,Cornwall.

These little Kiosks that pepper the seafront from Southbourne to Boscombe were awash with activity yesterday.As most of the children were off for their summer holiday,it was lovely to see them with their families enjoying the sea tighter.It is such a simple thing a seaside holiday,but ,at the same time,it’s still seems to me idyllic.

Memories of my time came flooding back of working in the ice -cream parlour,clearing tables ,loading the dish washer and sundry activities.Somehow,I had forgotten the long hours which,for a teenager,were very draining at the time.So,I walked along the seafront there being refreshed by soft ice-cream,and I remembered that fundamentally,nothing has changed that much with seaside holidays now,as they had been then.

Just seeing whole families in the sea laughing and smiling made me think that the very simple things that children can engage in can really fuel their imagination.Yes,there were the solitary children playing on their own,with their parents keeping a discreet eye on them.Howver,those children still seemed happy,in their world of safe sand construction,their plans to build a new dwelling,a castle with a moat,a tower with helicopter pad on the top.

Maybe I would wax lyrically about a day at the seaside,but there are oh so many wonderful things for children to do,and the sea air is good for them.So,that time that I spent yesterday ,in just that time capsule,sort of transported me back to that time in Newquay in the early 1970s.Now,of course,Newquay has,at time,got a bad press for the rather I seedy side of stag parties and the like.This reputation isn’t without foundation,and it is sad when local organisations seem to be in denial.

If I could just say this about the affects of a proactive council in the work of marketing seaside towns to attract families,I feel that Bournemouth and Poole have,on the whole,done a good job in this.At the risk of repeating myself,the proof of the pudding is in the eating,and walking the 3 or 4 miles yesterday along the beach there I couldn’t see much wrong with what the council were trying to do.Yes,it’s easy to criticise,but that was a good experience for any family.

So,that was my muse from yesterday,that sheer tiredness stopped me from recording,but I hope that I have excited your senses,and I hope that your able to visit the sea-side at least in one day during the summer.
Thank you for your attention.
Kernowsmith.

“Drops of Raindrop Light”!

My eyes opened to a light that was post dawn,slightly used in its hue,

That cloud cover acted as a cloak for the emotions that we sometimes tear to express.

Textures of light seem to reach us from the sun in ways that we find difficult to understand,

As if their very presence asks a question,”What are you going to do about it?”

Yes,our choices,our thoughts,our emotions,are they pre-ordained?

Just like the birds who sing out of need,so we too have a need to express,

That need is,at its centre,an artistic drive,and with me,it’s fuelled by sound,but wth others,it’s colour,light,and materials.

So,I am happy in my conscious thought this morning,in my choices,in my reflections,

There are sounds that I hear left over from last night,the residue of Chopin,”The Raindrop Prelude”.

Some moments that happened over a hundred years ago survive as great works of art,that are then emotional expressions ,

So too,my need to be artistic is fuelled by hearing these sounds,textures,and phrases,they go to make what I do today.

As the world was a better place because truly great artist lived,so too,I hope that my emotional connection with great art and music has made me a better human,no more,no less.