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Singtastic Recording of Just Like You at Teignmouth

On Sunday 24th July over fifty enthusiastic singers aged 5 to 70+ gathered at the crack of dawn to record Just Like You, an anthem written by David Haines for 2012.

"Just Like You celebrates the inspiration that sporting endeavour can bring to all of our lives. Its message is to admire the superhuman feats of top athletes, but also to remember that us mere mortals can translate what they do into more modest efforts of our own, whatever our age or ability." said David Haines.

The edited video will be ready by the end of August and the aim is to share it on the internet as widely as possible. Sheet music and practice tracks will be available free of charge from Singtastic.

Performers: Teignmouth and Ivybridge Community Choirs, members of TYKES and Bishopsteignton Primary School
Recording took place upstairs at Take 2 by kind permission of Russell Hailstone
Musical Director - David Haines
Audio Recording - Mike Gluyas and Christian Newman
Video Recording - Spiders and Milk Digital

Jam, Jerusalem plus Stargazing and Queen Bee at Charity Garden Party

A garden party held on 17th July at the home of Teignmouth Community Choir member Willi Armes raised almost £600 for Rowcroft Hospice.
The event was in memory of Willi's friend Pam and choir member Stephen who both died recently at Rowcroft. Teignmouth and Ivybridge Community Choirs sang while party-goers enjoyed their cream teas.

They sang Stephen’s favourite song, Stargazing, by Musical Director David Haines, plus 'Jerusalem' to celebrate Pam’s membership of the WI. David's song Queen Bee was sung in memory of Joyce Brandon, Ivybridge choir's founder member who died on 1st June aged 78.
Queen Bee was Joyce's favourite song and she kept her copy of the song at the back of her folder...just in case!

Many choir members will remember Joyce whenever they sing Queen Bee, especially those who sang it at her funeral.

MIT APPOINTS WORLD’S FIRST SCIENCE FESTIVAL SONGWRITER-IN-RESIDENCE

Teignmouth composer David Haines is thought to be the world's first Songwriter-in-Residence with a major science festival - in this case, Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Director of the MIT Museum, John Durant (himself formerly the world's first Professor of the Public Understanding of Science) invited David to be involved with the first Cambridge Science Festival in 2007, and the Teignmouth-based composer has had his work performed at each annual festival since then by community choirs centered on North Cambridge Family Opera, led by Doctor of Chemical Engineering, David Bass.

This year, John Durant invited David to become Songwriter-in-Residence, facilitating his meeting with prominent scientists so that he can respond to their enthusiasm and research in the form of science songs, several of which will be premiered at the science concerts taking place on 1st, 7th and 8th May as part of the festival.

Already David has corresponded with the world-famous Linguistics Professor, Noam Chomsky (who approved the accuracy of David's lyrics about his work) and equally well-known Experimental Psychologist Steven Pinker. He's had meetings with:

Physicist/Science Educator Sanjoy Mahajan, author of Streetfighting Math

Astrophysicist Sara Seager, whose speciality is the atmospheres of exoplanets (planets beyond the Solar System)

Marine Microbiologist Colleen Cavanaugh who studies life around deep ocean thermal vents

He is looking forward to meeting Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer with SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), and Engineer Amy Smith whose work on developing appropriate technologies for the developing world earned her recognition as one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people.

David says "This is my dream job - to have the opportunity to chat with some of the world's leading scientists about their work and do my best to interpret their work in a medium which makes it accessible to all - songs which are lyrical and catchy, yet have real scientific content that will leave both performer and listener informed and enthused. What strikes me about the scientists I've met so far is the overwhelming passion they have for their subject. The old stereotype of a dry, dull academic is the complete opposite to what I've found. These people are full of energy and vitality, and are excited by the chance to get their message out to an audience that may not hear it otherwise."

In a separate but associated programme, David is working in all the Elementary Public Schools in Cambridge, delivering the experience of collaborative songwriting – mainly on science topics – to hundreds of local children. Dozens of the songs thus produced will be included in the list of one hundred science songs that punters will be able to choose from when David and his friends perform as a Live Jukebox from 12 noon to 2pm at the Science Festival Carnival on May 7th at Cambridge Main Public Library.

New Science Oratorio at the 2011 Teignmouth Science Festival

David Haines is writing an oratorio about the science of communication. This new work will feature many songs written in collaboration with local students and members of the Teignmouth and Ivybridge Community Choirs. The oratorio will be premiered at the Teignmouth Science Festival.

The 2011 Teignmouth Science Festival will take place during National Science and Engineering Week from Friday 11th March to Sunday 20th March.

Details of the festival at teignmouthsciencefestival.com

Texas singer/science journalist has featured Singtastic

Texas singer/science journalist Jacqui Sutton has featured the Singtastic song 'Black Hole' on her new album, Billie and Dolly.

David he says he's "Over the moon - no! - over the galaxy!" about Jacqui's "amazing" interpretation and the remarkable arrangement. "I love it when performers take one of my songs and really make it their own to the point where I can hear it and appreciate it afresh", says David.

You can hear Jacqui's version of Black Hole on her MySpace page at along with all the other beautiful tracks from her new album.

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