Dear Reader –
Love, tears and Oscar Peterson today - what more could you ask for?!
Last week’s answers:
Answer to the questions in last week’s letter:
1 - C major
2 - Because the first chord is C minor (not a chord you would usually associate with the key of C major).
**All hyperlinks in bold.
The Big Thing
Theme Night #32 - The Power of Love - coming this October.
3 nights SOLD OUT (thanks to you guys)!
But if some of you haven’t got tickets yet, a fourth show (Wed 4 Oct) will go on sale here from 11am TOMORROW (Wed 26th April).
Where else but Sligo?
“Crying like f***in babies”.
I didn’t go to school in Summerhill. Yet every time I drive around a certain roundabout in Sligo now I am brought back to last February and listening in tears to Austin O’Callaghan’s commentary on Summerhill’s All-Ireland semi-final win.
My son was playing his first U-9 game of the season last Wednesday evening so I didn’t get to see more young Sligo heroes beat Galway to win a Connacht Championship for the ages. I did get to hear this description of the end of the match afterwards though. And I know that some of you asked for fewer sporting references in my recent survey, but this is special!
Then I went to see Arsenal last Friday, and apart from spotting the banner pictured below behind me (!), my favourite moment came in the 88th minute. Arsenal equalised to make it 3-3, and the two hardened middle-aged Londoners beside me turned to each other and hugged and jumped and screamed.
And I thought about it on the Tube afterwards, and apart from music (and movie climaxes when hungover!), there’s very little else that has the power to bring me to tears.
As Tadhg Coakley says in his brilliant book The Game, sport grants us shared moments of intimacy, joy and heartbreak. According to Jurgen Klopp it’s the most important of the least important things. And as Michael Parkinson said famously on the Second Captains podcast, “sport is not war, or death, or famine – it’s not that at all. It’s the opposite of that. It’s to persuade us of a life outside of that… that’s why sport’s important.”
And it’s good to cry like a f***in baby every so often!
What’s New?
CONNACHT FINAL: More potential for tears (happy and sad)! Sligo play Galway in the Connacht Senior Football Final on Sunday 7th May in Castlebar. Throw-in 1.45pm.
TEENAGE THEME NIGHT #29: It’s the big one! We’ll be saying farewell to the class of 2023 in the Hawk’s Well Theatre on May 20 and 21. Tickets available here.
ADELE: Star quality. What a writer. What a voice. Guest appearances by Mariah Carey and Stevie Wonder. And she hates musicals (but delivers an amazing version of Don’t Rain on My Parade)! Just watch it.
Finally…
Thanks to student Rory Conneally for reminding me about this beautiful piece this week. King Oscar!
Questions:
Difficulty Level 5 - Write a chord chart for the first 8 bars of the piece (up to 0:15).
Difficulty Level 3 - What are the ten bowed notes played by the bass? 0:17-0:38.
Till next time - Kieran.
