It may have escaped your notice if you’ve been hiding under a rock for the past couple of months and didn’t see any of my posts about it on this blog or Facebook or Instagram or Linkedin, or any of the 100 posters I distributed round South Manchester, or the feature I got in the local paper, or the events websites I listed it on, or the endless promo videos I posted on YouTube, or my posts about it in a myriad of relevant Facebook groups, but last week I put on a concert! It was the debut performance of my suite of twelve ‘Miniatures’, and now, a full seven days on from the event, I thought it would be nice to write a few words about how it went for anybody who wasn’t able to attend on the night.
Here’s Jack playing da piano, and if you look carefully you can see my image spookily imprinted on the side of the instrument.
The performance took place in the magnificent Emmanuel Church in Didsbury, and it was a real treat not only to hear these pieces played live on a real piano (which believe it or not was a new experience for me), but especially to hear them on a grand piano in such a sumptuous acoustic. Tinkling the ivories with aplomb as ever was Mister Jack Mitchell Smith, who put in a real shift giving beautiful renditions of a full 50 minutes worth of music. I almost felt guilty for just sitting there and watching him do all the work!
Well, not quite all the work… On the posters I had boldly promised ‘commentary from the composer’, and therefore before each piece I prattled on a bit about any relevant inspirations behind it and any notable features people may want to listen out for (aided by Jack for the occasional musical demonstration). It’s always hard to tell in these situations whether anyone’s actually invested in what you’re telling them or whether they’re bored stiff, but I rambled on regardless and from what I gather it was in fact appreciated by the audience. I think it does help especially when people are listening to such a large quantity of brand new instrumental music in one go, to give them a bit of context and some pointers to help them get a foothold in what they’re listening to.
Speaking of audience, I’m pleased to say that there was one – not huge in numbers I’ll admit, but of excellent quality and very appreciative. I saw a lot of unfamiliar faces who had been drawn in by my posters and online promotion, and to whom I am grateful for choosing to take a gamble on music they didn’t know and may not have liked! Judging by the extremely positive comments I received at the end (and by the fact almost everyone left their email addresses to be contacted about future concerts) it was a gamble that paid off, and I’m pleased to say that as far as I can tell everybody was fully satisfied with their evening. Hooray!
This is by no means the last you’ll hear from the intrepid duo of Smith and Grant, as we are already casting our minds to the future and dreaming up new innovative ways to build on the success of this performance. But for now, I hope y’all enjoy this little video I’ve put together featuring some clips and photos from the evening, to give you an impression of how it all went:
