And... Relax

I need to relax and stop stressing. I know that. I've been extremely stressed of late and I know that I will be even more so in the coming weeks and months as I prepare for my A-level exams which I desperately need to do well in if I want to have any chance of getting into University.  I've started revising a little bit and will be spending most of this week in college, even though it is the Easter holidays. I just need to finish off a load of coursework and go along to revision sessions.

With all this and all my current musical commitments and musical commitments I aspire to be involved in and plan to be involved in, some form of social life that I apparently have and still trying to sort things out in my head, my life is quite full... and stressful.

Trick is to try and relax, find something that relaxes me. Usually when I'm stressed, I'll play the piano, but that is sometimes the reason for stressing out, especially if I'm overworking myself with composing and performing. However, I think I've found my solution... listening to music.

I'm not a great listener of music other than listening to the music I play. I don't have an iPod and I don't buy the albums of the latest artists or even artists that I like. My solution comes in the form of Jamie Cullum, an amazing jazz-pop singer-songwriter pianist who is absolutely amazing!!! As I write this I'm listening to the BBC Proms he did in 2010 with the Heritage Orchestra (one of my favourite orchestras who also worked with Tim Minchin on his latest tour). It's absolutely brilliant and very easy to listen to.  Helpfully, it's also 90 minutes long so I don't have to keep changing songs every 5 minutes on Youtube. I'll link you to it because I think it's amazing and extremely relaxing, along with having some great comic performing moments from Jamie Cullum and awesome orchestrations and improvised solos! Featuring love songs, break up songs and a song about being a lost twenty year old, this show has everything! It even has Jamie Cullum slowly undressing himself...! In one word... Fantastic!

I feel I'll be listening to this a lot over the coming months!

Stay Strong
Michael