Nature Notes October 2018 Music and Nature. The natural world. My favourites sounds are Bird Songs and Calls but I also love the echolocation made by Bats . We can’t hear this sound until we relocate their high frequency calls to our own hearing levels. Bat detectors do this and I used one recently for my Rocla Arts Soundscape at Redhouse Park in North Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes. The bats I recorded are Noctule bats. They sound like beat-boxing. I love it, a Bat drum machine! You can hear some extracts from this soundscape on a new video I’ve made.see link. Also, Starling Poem. I’m writing my memoirs right now. Searching through my old press-cuttings and photos has been fun but also a little sad as some of the people who figured large in my life in the early seventies have died. Judith Piepe was introduced to me via Sandy Denny. I first met Sandy at The Black Bull Folk Club in Barnett in north London in early 1968. I was the resident singer at that club getting £2 a night! On the night Sandy was the guest my guitar was playing up. I was playing a nylon strung guitar called a TATAY. I’d been using a plectrum on it and the strings were bouncing out of the nut at top of guitar neck and wouldn’t stay in tune. In the interval Sandy came up to me and said “I can fix your guitar for you. I had one of those once and Paul showed me how to stop it going out of tune”. Not sure who Paul was I was grateful for Sandy’s help. She took out her packet of cigarettes and tore a small piece of cardboard ,folded it and then loosened the string, placed it under the string at the groove in the nut.I was most impressed and really grateful. We chatted a bit and she told me to get in touch with Luthier and guitar repairer Stephen Delft who lived with Judith Piepe in Stepney. “You must have seen them around the circuit” says Sandy. “He wears ankle-length Kaftans and has long blond hair like a Medieval troubadour” she giggled. Sandy gave me her phone number saying ring me and I’ll give you their phone number. At the end of the gig Sandy collected her fee and said to me “Crikey, I’ll spend this on the cab going back home!. They must have made a fortune tonight!”. They had. It was rumoured the couple running this club made so much money each week they paid off their mortgage. There were indeed, many other folk clubs in England that did well out of the folk scene’s popularity back then. A very different scene today. Judith and Stephen became really good friends and supportive during my early days in the London Folk Scene.I discovered who the ‘Paul’ was that Sandy referred to. It was Paul Simon who lived at Judith’s flat in the early sixties. Judith played host to so many folkies back then. Judith and Stephen emigrated to New Zealand in the mid 80’s and continued promoting folk music around Wellington. They even had their own radio show. My first tour in New Zealand was arranged by Judith.

I’ve decided to restart my direct email Newsletters.

I truly believe this is the most sincere way to stay in touch rather than rely on social media, which, 

these days ,is fraught with problems and not to mention insidious advertising.

If you want to unsubscribe please email me with ‘unsubscribe’ in the subject box.

Music and Nature. There is so much music in the natural world. My favourites sounds are Bird Songs and Calls but I also love the echolocation made by Bats . We can’t hear this sound until we relocate their high frequency calls to our own hearing levels. Bat detectors do this and I used one recently for my Rocla Art Trail Soundscape at Redhouse Park in North Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes. The bats I recorded are Noctule bats. They sound like beat-boxing. I love it, a Bat drum machine !

Listen to my Starling Poem above

Autumn…I went out early this morning to my local Nature Reserve in North Buckinghamshire.

The leaves are just starting to turn red and gold but the sun is still warm. The water levels of

the lakes at the Reserve are low. and some of the ditches have dried out completely. It was a quiet morning with only  the ‘bell-like’ piping contact call of the male Wigeon echoing across the water. It is a friendly sound that charms the soul of an autumn morning.

. Now featured on my Soundpost at Redhouse Park Rocla Arts Trail in Milton Keynes UK

You can hear some extracts from this soundscape on a new video I’ve made.see link.https://youtu.be/urKNC4U-74k

I’m writing my memoirs right now. Searching through my old press-cuttings and photos has been fun but also a little sad as some of the people who figured large in my life in the early seventies have died. Judith Piepe was introduced to me via Sandy Denny. I first met Sandy at The Black Bull Folk Club in Barnett in north London in early 1968. I was the resident singer at that club getting £2 a night!

On the night Sandy was the guest my guitar was playing up. I was playing a nylon strung guitar called a TATAY. I’d been using a plectrum on it and the strings were bouncing out of the nut at top of guitar neck and wouldn’t stay in tune. In the interval Sandy came up to me and said 

“I can fix your guitar for you. I had one of those once and Paul showed me how to stop it going out of tune”. Not sure who Paul was I was grateful for Sandy’s help.

She took out her packet of cigarettes and tore a small piece of cardboard ,folded it and then  loosened the string, placed it under the string at the groove in the nut.I was most impressed and really grateful. We chatted a bit and she told me to get in touch with Luthier and guitar repairer Stephen Delft who lived with Judith Piepe in Stepney. 

“You must have seen them around the circuit” says Sandy.

“He wears ankle-length Kaftans and has long blond hair like a Medieval troubadour” she giggled.

Sandy gave me her phone number saying ring me and I’ll give you their phone number. 

At the end of the gig Sandy collected her fee and said to me

“Crikey, I’ll spend this on the cab going back home!. They must have made a fortune tonight!”.

They had. It was rumoured  the couple running this club made so much money each week they paid off their mortgage. There were indeed, many other folk clubs in England that did well out of the folk scene’s popularity back then. A very different scene today.

Judith and Stephen became really good friends and supportive during my early days in the London Folk Scene.I discovered who the ‘Paul’ was that Sandy referred to. It was Paul Simon who lived at Judith’s flat in the early sixties. Judith played host to so many folkies back then.

Judith and Stephen emigrated to New Zealand in the mid 80’s and continued promoting folk music around Wellington. They even had their own radio show. My first tour in New Zealand was arranged by Judith.

Next month – December – I will be reducing the price of my own CDs and Vinyl on my website www.motherearthmusic.co.uk. 

It’s a very competitive world out there at the moment so look out for bargains in time for Christmas.

Many people ask if I will be making another CD soon. Well, yes I am working on some new guitar tunes at the moment and thinking of a 2019 release.

Meanwhile, I travel regularly around Southern England with my two music and digital images Presentations:

Milton Keynes to  MIssissippi

&

When Birds Sing

See my website for more details. I have a youtube channel too.Put my name into the youtube search and you’ll find me!

Enjoy the beauty and sound of Autumn or , if you are in the Southern hemisphere, enjoy the 

oncoming spring!

Please feel free to write to me, I love to hear from people I’ve  met at gigs over the years and who have bought my albums.

Stay well and safe

Saffron x