Dear Reader –
I’m back on Irish soil and ready for the summer!
Some exciting announcements in this week’s letter, but first one more holiday snap for you all (probably for me actually as I look out onto grey skies)!
**All hyperlinks in bold.
The Big Thing
One more holiday story too…please indulge me.
Just before we left to come home I had an amazing couple of hours.
I had read a book called The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle a good few years ago. It was one of the first books that drove home the message of how the right type of work and practice can trump talent any day. A parent of one of my students gave it to me at our end-of-year concert a few weeks ago – she thought I might like it.
Anyway I brought it on holidays in case the mood took me, which it didn’t, until 3pm on our last day. We were due to check out at 5 and I was out for a walk when for some reason the thought entered my head that it might be a good time to have a look at this book before we left for home.
And boom! Two amazing hours flicking through the book and dozens of ideas about how to be a better teacher flying back from it into my head and onto a (now) well-protected sheet of paper. I think I could feel my mind was ready to go, which is why something in my unconscious told me to read this book.
I call it golden time - when the mind has rested, been coiled up for a while, and all of a sudden bursts into action again.
So the new teaching term is now sorted ideas-wise anyway – I look forward to working on them over the next few months, and to telling you all about what’s going to be happening.
Where else but Sligo?
It’s the year of the comeback. “For the first time in three years, X is back”.
And it’s great to see it.
The latest to announce is the Sligo Summer Festival. And we were thrilled to be asked back to our usual Thursday night slot.
We have a huge band, a brilliant line-up of singers, and a full set of Summer Anthems coming your way. Also featuring supporting acts exclusively drawn from Teenage Theme Night graduates. More details in the coming weeks.
What’s New?
THEME NIGHT #30 (MUSICALS): I had a look this morning and there aren’t many tickets left for these shows. Thankyou to you all for the huge response to the announcement. And if you’re on the fence it might be time to make your mind up! Details here.
JUST LIKE A MOVIE: Current TY and Teenage Theme Nighter Pro Murray released his first single recently. It’s the song he performed at our Young Songwriter’s Showcase earlier this year. It’s called Just Like a Movie and it’s great! Listen here.
MEASURING FESTIVAL CROWDS: I heard of a great hack this morning. When event organisers are measuring crowds, they look for waists, shoulders and heads. They have measured the space and know if they can see people’s waists that the size of the crowd is X. If they can see shoulders it’s bigger and if all they can see if heads then it’s packed.
Finally…
So what size crowd is it when all you can see is arms?! This is an iconic performance of a great song. Thanks Micky Downs for playing it this morning!
Till next time - Kieran.
