NEWS
Concerts/Works in Progress/Other
JULY 2022
It’s been a while since my last update in April so I thought I’d better let you know what’s been happening!
Music
As well as working on some new choral arrangements, I have been mainly focusing on two areas:
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Signing up for streaming services and
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Developing and expanding my merchandise
Streaming Services
As you may or may not know, you can now find some of my music on streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes and 22 other platforms (many of which I’d never heard of!).
Here’s a link to my Spotify page and if you like what you hear, please do follow as you’ll get alerts when new tracks are uploaded.
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Merchandise
If you're interested there are now two routes to purchase my merchandise. One is via my Bandcamp Merch page and the other via my website.
The list of merchandise includes postcards, mugs, canvas prints and the most recent addition, sheet music for my piece, With You, Without You.
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Don’t hesitate to email me if you have any queries regarding products or postage.
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Choral Work
I was so pleased to finally meet all of my choirs in person, following on from Crescendo being the first to meet up at the beginning of April.
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The Citi Staff Choir and Sing For Life Community Choir began face-to-face rehearsals in late April/early May, followed in June, by the Belfast Trust’s Here4U Staff Choir meeting twice before their summer break.
And the pressure was on, especially for Sing For Life, as their first public outing was taking place in Belfast Cathedral on 15 May for the cancer charity Pause for Hope. Below are some images from the rehearsal before the service:
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Earlier that same day a smaller group from Sing for Life performed in the Moravian Church to celebrate our former choir member, Derick Woods, reaching the milestone of 50 years working as a lay preacher. Here's an image of us outside the church after the service before making our way down to Belfast Cathedral:
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This was then followed by Sing For Life's first public concert on 30 June, at St Patrick’s, alongside the Mill Creek Chorale (Seattle) and Cantabile (Lurgan). Images below:
Citi Staff Choir were asked to perform at an Arts & Business NI event at the Oh Yeah Centre. The theme for the day Reconnection- supporting staff cohesion and wellbeing.
The choir performed two songs followed by a singing workshop for all conference attendees led by myself! Images below:
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APRIL 2022
Contact Info/Platforms:
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You can now see a list of the current platforms on which you can find my music, information and even link up with me or subscribe (remember if you subscribe on YouTube hit the bell as well, as you'll then receive notifications for when a new video is uploaded):
Bandcamp: https://keithacheson.bandcamp.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxJ6zkkiVo30z1PvF6yeRVQ
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KeithAchesonMusic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Keith_Acheson
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/keith_acheson/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kjacheson
Of the platforms above, the least well known to some of you will probably be Bandcamp.
Bandcamp is basically a massive marketplace for artists to sell their music and merchandise.
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New Videos:
Over the past few weeks I have had some time to add two new videos to my YouTube channel.
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1. Naše srdce se propletla (Our hearts entwined) - A wedding gift for some Czech friends written back in 2019:
2. With you, without you (For cello & piano) - Written during the first summer of the pandemic:
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Current Work:
As we all know, the pandemic has had a massive impact on us but thankfully the light at the end of the tunnel is appearing ever more larger and brighter.
Over the past two years all of my choral work has taken place over Zoom, who'd have thought two years ago phrases like these would become the norm:
"You haven't switched your video on Sam"
"You're breaking up there Mary, you'll need to log off and log on again"
and the classic:
"You're on mute John......John....unmute yourself!"
It was with real delight that finally one of my choirs, the Crescendo Community Choir, based in the Colin area of Belfast, met face-to-face for the very first time in over two years:
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To be honest, and despite the odd technical difficulty, I don't know where we'd have been without Zoom over the past while, and it really has been amazing to see and hear what can be achieved through its use.
For example, if you click here you can view some of the choir videos. For each video all of the music was learnt over Zoom, so the production of them is a real testament to each and every choir member's patience, concentration, dedication and hard work.
And finally...
Please feel free to use (or ignore!) the code aprilupdate2022 on my Bandcamp page. This will entitle you to 50% off anything there when you enter the code at the checkout (the code is redeemable up until midnight this Sunday, 10 April).
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IN PROGRESS
xxx