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The number of new music acts breaking through to the big time has over the past two years dropped by more than 30%.

But 15-year-old singer Birdy is releasing her first album this week and hopes to perform in front of a stadium audience one day.

She launched her career at just 12 by winning Open Mic UK and now balances her music career with schoolwork.

She told the BBC’s David Sillito that her cover version of Skinny Love attracted more than six million hits on YouTube.

Source: BBC NEWS>> Read full article and comment

Jules O’Riordan’s stage name Judge Jules is a nod to his previous life as an LSE student of law and organiser of illegal warehouse parties

Whenever the police turned up it was he who was expected to deal with them and put his legal knowledge to the test. Newspaper reports earlier this year claimed he had passed exams that would enable him to now practise as a solicitor more than 20 years after finishing his degree.

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The Mini Band’s cover of Metallica’s Enter Sandman goes viral on Youtube.

A children’s band from Thatcham, in Berkshire, have become an internet hit with a cover of Metallica’s Enter Sandman.
The Mini Band – made up of eight and 10-year-olds – were performing at the Bucklebury Beer Festival and a video of the song on Youtube attracted 350,000 hits in its first four days.

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Boy who survived meningitis FIVE TIMES regains hearing thanks to implants

A boy who survived five bouts of meningitis has heard his mother’s voice for the first time in years – after he was fitted with cochlear implants.

Troy Probert, seven, lost his hearing as a toddler following his first battle with the potentially fatal disease.

But in July this year doctors at the Bristol Royal Hospital for Children ‘switched on’ cochlear implants they had put in Troy’s ears – allowing him to hear.

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We’re still waiting for the government’s response to the Henley review on music in schools. So let’s make some noise

It’s the plan that time forgot: remember the national plan for music education, the government’s scheduled response to the Henley review of music education? Don’t worry, you’re forgiven if you don’t. Here’s a quick refresher: back in February, Michael Gove announced that this plan of plans would be published later in the year to realise Henley’s aims for an efficiency-saving but better-targeted culture of music education in England. And we’re still waiting. The latest runes from Whitehall say that the document will be published at the end of October/beginning of November-ish, with probable emphasis on the “ish”.

Source: GUARDIAN>> Read full article and comment

The Duchess of Kent has spoken movingly of her “love” for teaching at a state primary school in Hull, after ill health forced her withdraw from official royal engagements.

In a touching television interview, the 78 year-old spoke of her excitement teaching music, mostly anonymously, for eight years at Wansbeck Primary School.
The Duchess, whose husband the Duke of Kent is the Queen’s cousin, admitted she got a “tickle” of excitement when she recognised talent in pupils.
Known as “Mrs Kent” to her students, the royal said she was proud to have given some the confidence to go on to university or pursue careers that previously would have been unachievable.
But she said she feared for the future of music in the English school curriculum, which could deprive underprivileged children of valuable stimulation.

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Aspiring musicians will study how to become the next Morrissey or Liam Gallagher when a new Brit School for the performing arts opens in Manchester.

The city, famed for its musical heritage, has been chosen to site a partner academy to the Brit School in Croydon, south London, which groomed Adele, Amy Winehouse and Jessie J for stardom.

Speaking at the school’s 20th-anniversary celebrations, Ed Vaizey, the Culture minister, said the state-funded institution had been a “fantastic success”, with its graduates selling 65 million records. He now wanted “a Brit School in every major city” in Britain.

Lord Baker of Dorking, the former Education Secretary who persuaded Baroness Thatcher to give permission for the Brit School, announced plans for a second academy. The institution would be one of a new wave of University Technical Colleges, which the Government has committed to funding, for 14- to 19-year-olds. Lord Baker said: “We hope to establish a new Brit School in Manchester as a University Technical College. The curriculum would be 50 per cent performing arts and 50 per cent technology. The technology and engineering skills that students need to work in the music industry are changing every six months.”

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Meet the amazing eight-year-old piano prodigy who is totally blind, yet has no trouble breezing through Tchaikovsky and Mozart concertos while most children her age are getting to grips with their times tables.

Naturally blessed Ying-Shan Tseng, from Boksburg in South Africa, is years ahead of her peers and only took up the piano three years ago, aged five.

And last year she excelled her competition after being named the top junior instrumentalist in the five- to 15-year-old age group at the South African Championships for Performing Arts. In contrast to sighted performers who are able to read music as they play, Ying-Shan must first learn each individual piece by braille before committing it to memory.

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School teacher and radio presenter accused of spreading false reports that gunmen were attacking schools in Veracruz

A man and a woman are facing 30-year prison terms in Mexico for allegedly using Twitter to spread panic over a series of child kidnappings.

Gilberto Martinez Vera, 48, a private school teacher, and Maria de Jesus Bravo Pagola, a radio presenter, were accused of spreading false reports that gunmen were attacking schools in the south-eastern city of Veracruz.

The resulting panic caused dozens of car crashes after parents rushed to save their children from schools across the city and jammed emergency telephone lines, which “totally collapsed” under the pressure.

Source: GUARDIAN>> Read full article and comment

Millions of parents have been forced to dip into savings set aside for their children’s private education in order to cover the rising cost of living, new research has found.

A survey found nearly three million families were forced to withdraw more than a third of their saved “educational funds” in order to fund day-to-day living costs.
Researchers found that just one in five parents were in a position to replace the money as a growing number of households face unprecedented financial pressures.
The ICM survey found a quarter of families have reduced the amount they spend on their children’s private education while 109,000 parents have pulled their children out of public school altogether.

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A new survey shows one fifth of parents have taken an under-five to a festival. Is this a good idea? And if so, how do you make them sit through the Low Anthem? Try these tips …

It was early Saturday afternoon at Larmer Tree Gardens, home of End of the Road festival. The Broken Family Band had taken to the stage and, as their opening chords rang out, my son – then five years old – flung himself to the ground at my feet. He clutched his hands to his ears and screamed: “No! No! No!”

It’s not the kind of experience that leaves any remotely diligent parent thinking they’ve made the right choice about the weekend’s family entertainment. Nevertheless, according to a survey of 1,500 parents conducted for the baby and parenting website gurgle.com, a fifth of mums and dads have taken an under-five to a music festival in the past year.

Source: GUARDIAN>> Read full article and comment

A community opera written by Lee Hall, the creator of Billy Elliot, has been cancelled after parents complained about its homosexual content.

Beached, the culmination of a £170,000 project staged by Opera North, was due to feature 280 children from the local Bay Primary School in Bridlington. The main character, a retired painter, is gay.
On the eve of the production and after six months of rehearsals, Opera North has withdrawn its support for the project after parents voiced their disapproval.
The local education authority said the content was inappropriate for children as young as four and “goes against everything we teach in school”.
A furious Hall accused the local education authority of homophobia. “I am fighting to keep the opera on. It will be a scandal if it is not performed – not just because of the public money wasted, but because ignorance and timidity will have won the day,” he wrote in The Guardian.

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Scene in Beached, written by Billy Elliot author Lee Hall and involving 300 primary school children, deemed ‘inappropriate’

What began as a promising and non-controversial community project between the writer of Billy Elliot, Opera North and the people of Bridlington has become a bitter row over whether explicit references by a gay character to his sexuality can be included in a work that involves primary school children.

The plug was pulled at the weekend on the opera Beached after months of rehearsal involving 400 residents of Bridlington. The writer and playwright Lee Hall, who wrote the libretto, said he was asked by Opera North to remove explicit references to the sexuality of one character. He refused.

Source: GUARDIAN>> Read full article and comment

Linking the two is fascinating – and completely misses the point.

By Ivan Hewett

People just love the idea that there’s a connection between music and maths. Or rather, frighteningly brainy music-loving mathematicians love it. They’ve been saying it since Pythagoras’s day, and right now the idea is enjoying a new lease of life, encouraged by fresh insights into how music stimulates the brain.
Next month the Cheltenham Festival jumps on the bandwagon with a series of debates between mathematical and philosophical luminaries including Marcus de Sautoy, Tim Gowers and Roger Scruton.
But is music really a kind of “unconscious calculation”, as the philosopher Leibniz once described it? I’m sceptical.

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His talent for piano at such a young age will undoubtedly lead to comparisons with some of history’s greatest musicians.

By Daily Mail Reporter

And now a young self-taught pianist aged only eight will be able to nurture his skills at a top music school.

Callum Hilton will study the instrument, alongside the cello, at the Chetham’s academy in Manchester from September.

The youngster is one of a only handful of children his age to win a scholarship to the prestigious academy, which is famed for producing world class musicians.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

BBC Worldwide has struck a deal to roll out 50 In the Night Garden…-themed pre-school teaching centres in China, confirming the hit status of Igglepiggle – or Yigu Bigu as he is known locally.

By Amanda Andrews

The idea is to use the pre-school characters from the British toddlers’ television programme, which was launched in China two years ago, to create so-called “edutainment” centres.

Under a membership scheme, pre-schoolers will visit the centre for two hours and take part in a range of activities, such as reading and dancing.

The first teaching centre, which the BBC is launching in partnership with local licensee Ladder, opened in Shanghai over the weekend. Four more are planned for this year in Eastern China and a further 45 will open across China over the next five years.

Source: TELEGRAPH

Rivals Cornbury Festival and the Wilderness Festival are battling for the title of ‘Poshstock’.

By Clover Stroud

Even before David Cameron pitched up at Cornbury in 2008, festivals were becoming essential fixtures in the middle-class summer calendar; the hiptastic equivalent of Cowes Week, Royal Ascot and Glyndebourne.

No longer simply “music” festivals, these weekend knees-ups provide a healthy dose of hedonism and debauchery dressed up as art appreciation and intellectual betterment.

And what festival-goer has not dreamt, organic cider in hand, of one day organising their own event in the grounds of a chum’s stately pile – or their own, even?

Source: TELEGRAPH

More needs to be done to stop sexual violence and harassment being part of a ‘normal’ night out for female students

By Julie Bindel

Leaving home to go to university is an exciting time. Often, the taste of freedom can be intoxicating. It can also be one of the most dangerous times in a woman’s life. Young women are particularly vulnerable to sexual assault. Studies have found that females aged 16-24 are at high risk of sexual violence and harassment. However, policy on violence against women during this and the previous administration has made no specific reference to students.

In 2010, a nationwide survey on female students’ experience of violence conducted by the National Union of Students (NUS), found that one in four respondents had experienced unwanted sexual behaviour. Hidden Marks, the first study of its kind, also found that one in seven women students had experienced a serious physical or sexual assault while at university or college, and over two thirds had experienced some kind of verbal or non-verbal harassment. This included groping, flashing and unwanted sexual comments. As one respondent said: “Almost every time me and my friends go out to a club you can guarantee that one of us will have some kind of violence or unwanted attention forced on us by drunk men.”

Source: GUARDIAN

To the tiny students at this dance studio, the moves are totally innocent.

By Tom Kelly

In fact, they are being instructed in the sleazy art of pole dancing. And their age? As young as three.
Child protection groups yesterday labelled these images from the classes ‘deeply disturbing’.

Parents pay £5 an hour for their daughters to learn pole dancing at the Little Spinners classes.
Instructor Carly Wilford insists it helps youngsters keep fit and boosts their self-esteem.

Source: DAILYMAIL

School holidays needn’t be financial hell. Britain is bursting with free activities – from arts and crafts, festivals, music, cinema and much more

1. The Bristol International Balloon Fiesta is one of Britain’s biggest free events, typically attracting half a million visitors over its four days. This year it takes place on 11-14 August and the schedule includes several “mass ascents”, when more than 100 hot-air balloons will take to the skies (weather permitting), “nightglows”, where 30 or more balloons “glow in time to music”, plus a variety of arena and air displays. It is held at Ashton Court on the edge of Bristol.

2. Four days in August will see Stockton-on-Tees in the north-east of England transformed into a vast performance space when the 24th edition of the Stockton International Riverside Festival rolls into town, bringing with it aerial performers, dancers, comedians and street theatre acts. “Expect the unexpected” is the mantra of the organisers, who promise “a stellar lineup of co-commissions, UK premieres and international artists”. The event attracts around 250,000 visitors; your diary dates are 4-7 August. Most events are free.

3. If you want to see flying squirrels, skateboarding cows and Incredible Hulks throwing themselves off Worthing Pier to see who can “fly” the furthest, aided only by non-motorised “wings,” make a beeline for the Worthing International Birdman event, taking place in the West Sussex seaside town on 13-14 August. This annual competition for “human-powered flying machines” is always a big draw. Many flyers take part to raise money for charity, while others have their eye on nabbing one of the cash prizes on offer for flying the furthest.

4. It’s billed as Europe’s largest free city-centre music festival (organisers claim 320,000 people came along last year), is one of Liverpool’s flagship cultural events, and it’s free. This year’s Mathew Street Music Festival takes place on 28-29 August, and will see bands from all over the world perform on six outdoor stages, from 11am until 6pm. Tribute acts are a speciality; if you don’t like the Beatles, you might want to give this one a wide berth.

Source: GUARDIAN

Jai McDowall, a care worker from Ayrshire in Scotland, has won TV talent show Britain’s Got Talent.

By Michael Howie

The 24-year-old singer, from the village of Tarbolton, defeated the hot favourite, Ronan Parke, who came second in the Britain’s Got Talent public vote.

The care worker won £100,000 and the opportunity to perform before the Queen at this year’s Royal Variety Performance.

McDowall, who developed his talent in local karaoke contests, was not expected to win but overcame his nerves to emerge victorious in the final.

Simon Cowell, one of the show’s judges, said: “We said tonight there was going to be a shock result.

Source: TELEGRAPH

Music videos featuring inappropriate dance moves and sexy clothes with adult slogans must be kept away from children, a Government review is expected to recommend.

By Rosa Prince

While retailers and television and music executives are unlikely to face legislation, a voluntary code is expected to be drawn up to ensure that children are not bombarded with sexual images.

Parents will be given more power to express their concern when youngsters are targeted with overtly sexual or commercial messages, with a new dedicated website which will allow them to report anything they find inappropriate.

The review, chaired by Reg Bailey, chief executive of the Mothers’ Union, was asked by David Cameron to examine ways of protecting children, amid fears that they are being pressured into growing up too quickly.

Source: TELEGRAPH

Music videos should have age ratings to protect children from sexual images and lyrics, an inquiry is to say.

By Angela Harrison Education correspondent, BBC News

The review – into the sexualisation and commercialisation of childhood – was commissioned by the Prime Minister David Cameron and is due out on Monday.

It was carried out by Reg Bailey, the head of the Mothers’ Union, who says parents are unhappy about “an increasingly sexualised culture”.

There has been recent controversy about music videos by Rihanna and Lady Gaga.

Source: BBC NEWS

Raunchy music videos by the likes of Rihanna and Christina Aguilera will be banned before 9pm under plans to be unveiled next week.

By Tim Shipman
Last updated at 1:00 PM on 3rd June 2011

Adverts that use sex to sell will also be banned from sites near schools.

Pop videos in which pop stars flaunt their sexuality are also to be given cinema-style age certificates. The proposals are contained in a hard-hitting report by Reg Bailey, the first male chief executive of the Mothers’ Union. Ministers are expected to adopt the radical proposals to put a stop to the creeping sexualisation of children.

The plans mean that television channels that show highly sexualised images of singers like Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Christina Aguilera will have to carry a 15 or 18 certificate if they involve nudity or sexual role play.

Source: DAILYMAIL

Logos to be introduced before songs and videos on services such as Spotify and YouTube that contain explicit material

By Mark Sweney

Parental warning logos are set to be introduced before songs and music videos on services such as Spotify and YouTube that contain explicit material, following recent concern about the amount of risqué music content too easily available to children online.

Music industry body BPI is to update its 15-year-old Parental Advisory Scheme – which is responsible for the well-known warning symbol appearing on CDs, DVDs and records with strong language, sex or violence – to “bring up to date what happens on the high street to the digital age”.

The BPI is implementing an updated set of guidelines to expand the scheme for the logo to appear with songs and videos available to stream or download on UK digital music and music video services.

Source: GUARDIAN

Fat suits, fake ears and Amanda Holden’s embarrassing problem – behind the scenes at a monster musical

Last updated at 9:51 AM on 27th May 2011

Amanda Holden has gone a little Princess crazy. Every inch of her dressing room at London’s Theatre Royal in Drury Lane —where she plays Princess Fiona in Shrek The Musical — is either pink, gold or fluffy. A velvet chaise longue rests against one wall; there’s a rug on the floor that looks like pink grass, and even the fridge is covered in flowery wallpaper. ‘I got a friend who’s an interior designer in and told her I wanted it to look like a princess’s boudoir,’ says Amanda, while cackling in a less-than regal manner. ‘I’m rather proud of what I did with the fridge — it’s special stuff you can buy to cover your wheelie bin. I should be on Blue Peter, really.’

Source: DAILYMAIL

Taking your children along can make the festival experience even more rewarding, says David Taylor

24 May 2011

One of the highlights of last summer was watching my three-year-old son Krishan’s rapt expression as the children’s procession wound its way around the Womad festival site on the Sunday. The rainbow-coloured ribbon of smiling toddlers and teens, parents and helpers was accompanied on its twisting tour of the festival by a variety of musicians, oversized puppets and cheering crowds.

Every child who had made something in the myriad of free workshops over the weekend was invited to join in the parade with their artwork. And you couldn’t help but get caught up in the moment. It’s a real celebration of the festival – and childhood – and perfectly illustrates why a festival can be the ideal place for a family holiday.

Sadly, there are always going to be bitter naysayers and armchair critics out there who criticise parents for daring to take their family to a festival. Even a cursory internet search for “festivals and children” reveals a surprising amount of vitriol aimed at anyone who has the temerity to suggest that summer festivals and children can go together like strawberries and cream.

Source: INDEPENDENT

Schoolgirl wins right to use her iPod in exams as she can’t concentrate unless she’s listening to music

By Daily Mail Reporter

23rd May 2011

A schoolgirl has won the right to use an iPod while sitting her exams – after claiming she can only concentrate while listening to her favourite music.

The girl won the unprecedented concession after threatening legal action against her school and examination authorities.

The Mary Erskine School for girls in Edinburgh, where boarders pay nearly £18,000 a year, has been forced to buy a new iPod that is loaded with the girl’s choice of music by a teacher – to ensure no exam answers are hidden among the tracks.

Staff had initially refused the request, fearing it would open the door to the possibility of cheating.

The girl’s parents then took her case to the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) examination board, which also ruled it out.

Source: DAILYMAIL

MTV has been accused of having a pro-abortion agenda after it pulled a series of pro-life adverts.

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:20 PM on 21st May 2011

Heroic Media launched its campaign ‘We Can Help’ on April 30 at an event attended by the staunchly anti-abortion Republican Sarah Palin. But the TV adverts – which were due to run on MTV for several weeks – were axed from the music channel after just one airing. Heroic Media claimed an MTV sales representative had blamed a conflict of interest with the channel’s deal with Planned Parenthood.

Source: DAILYMAIL

As the Flintstones prepares to return to television screens, here are ten top facts about the cartoon.

17 May 2011

1. The original title for the Flintstones was going to be The Flagstones. The title may have been changed to avoid confusion with The Flagstons, characters in another comic strip.

2. The show only ran for six years, between September 1960 to April 1966, but has been oft-repeated.

3. After the show was cancelled, a movie based on it was created. The Man Called Flintstone was a musical spy caper that parodied the James Bond films.

4. There was also a live-action film in 1994, starring John Goodman and Rick Moranis, and a prequel, The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, starring Stephen Baldwin, in 2000.

5. Initially, the show was sponsored by Winston cigarettes and the characters smoked during advert breaks. Winston reportedly pulled their sponsorship when Wilma Flintstone became pregnant.

Source: TELEGRAPH

Cassandra Jardine weighs up two poles of parenting and settles somewhere in the middle.

By Cassandra Jardine
17 May 2011

That’s it then. I shall unlock the door to the room where my children have been practising their musical instruments for five hours a day. Emerging blinking into the sunlight, they can now slob in front of the television eating pizza for all I care because, the latest parenting guru on the block is telling us that none of that pushy Tiger Mother stuff makes any difference.

Children, writes Bryan Caplan in Selfish Reasons to have More Kids, will turn out to be how their genes, not their parents, intended. In that case, he argues, we might as well stop wasting all this time and money on helping them to succeed. It won’t make a blind bit of difference, even to their teeth, if we nag them. Oh really? So the five-year-old who used to live next door to my cleaner had no front teeth because it was in her genes, not because every time I saw her she was clutching a bottle of fizzy drink?

It’s only a few months since Amy Chua told us in her Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother that her children were playing the piano in Carnegie Hall and top of the class purely because she had shown no mercy to slackers. When her daughter came second in a maths test, she made the child practice 2,000 sums that night so it would never happen again. It’s the Chinese way, she explained, failing to mention that she and her husband and herself were both Yale law professors which might have something to do with her children’s ability to succeed.

Personally, I would be thrilled to have a child come second at maths, and would be delighted to hear any of my offspring play the piano at home, if not Carnegie Hall (too far; too expensive to get there). Occasionally I wonder what might have happened if my brood had been adopted by a tough woman like Chua who would not allow sleepovers, social networking and all the other time-wasting activities – which, after all, serve a vital educational purpose in that they teach children how to rub along with other ratty, critical but essentially endearing people of the same age.

Source: TELEGRAPH

Diners at Elsing Hall in Norfolk might feel they have fallen down a rabbit hole this week as the grounds of the great estate near Derham are transformed into Lewis Carroll’s imaginary world.

Monday, 16 May 2011

Dining with Alice is the Mad Hatter’s tea party on a grand scale, a delicious concoction of theatre and gastronomy in which the audience are both guests at the table and participants in the startling antics and verbal conundrums that take place around them.

The Wonderland hosts escort their guests around the grounds, watched over by the ever-vigilant Alice, who steps in whenever their behaviour becomes too unruly to make sure everyone gets what they deserve.

Conceived and directed by Hilary Westlake, Dining with Alice was originally commissioned by Artichoke co-director Helen Marriage for the 1999 Salisbury Festival. It spearheaded the trend for immersive theatre and proved groundbreaking.

With text by David Gale, music by Frank Millward, production design by Simon Corder, and a cast including Di Sherlock as the Queen of Hearts, Gary Stevens as the White Rabbit and Trevor Stuart as the Mad Hatter, the 2011 production reunites the original cast and production team to weave their magic in the wonderful location of Elsing Hall, a 15th century moated manor house set in serene parkland and normally off-limits to the public.

Source: INDEPENDENT

Best festivals to take children to this summer.

By Daisy Bridgewater
16 May 2011

THE BEST FAMILY–FRIENDLY FESTIVALS

Wychwood Festival including the Children’s Literature Festival, June 3–5, Cheltenham Racecourse (wychwoodfestival.com). Rock, indie and folk music mix with the children’s authors Judith Kerr, Jeremy Strong and Korky Paul. Adult weekend camping: £115; 10–15: £55; 5–9: £15; 0–4: free.

Cornbury Festival July 1–3, Great Tew Park, Oxfordshire (cornburyfestival.com). Aka Poshstock, this is an easygoing event in beautiful grounds. Adult weekend camping: from £160; 13–17: £70; 0–12: free.

Source: TELEGRAPH

Star lobs the opening shot in the backlash against those who ostentatiously worship their pregnancy

By Zoe Williams
Monday 16 May 2011 20.00 BST

It’s sometimes hard to work out the significance of Lady Gaga’s wardrobe. It’s all very well saying “directional”, fashion ladies, but you never seem to specify which direction. On Sunday night, she emerged from a gold coffin, on a stage in Carlisle, wearing a prosthetic baby bump. She did one song – Born this Way – and then flung it off. Having said she’s hard to read, I think we can decode this a bit more easily than the meat suit. I think she’s saying “enough with the bump-fetish, ladies. Enough with the Elemental Woman fandango. Sure, it’s something to celebrate, the giving of new life, but do we have to start celebrating before it’s even arrived? Whither the modest smock dress?”

Demi Moore’s seminal bump, the one who started all this (I don’t know if we can, in fairness, blame Scout Willis), is now 19. Like the world’s first test-tube baby, she’s important not because she did anything, but because she marks the age of the trend. It is as unthinkable now to expect a woman to cover her bump as it was, 20 years ago, to expect her to pose naked with it. But the mood is probably going the other way: not all the way back to Lady Di in box pleats, just some of the way, towards a point where a bump is accepted but not worshipped.

Source: GUARDIAN

Children should be allowed to eat pizza and watch more television, says a parenting guru.

By Kate Loveys
Last updated at 11:57 AM on 16th May 2011

Dr Bryan Caplan believes parents try too hard when bringing up their offspring and advises a more relaxed approach. He claims ‘investment parenting’ – music lessons, organised sports and educational games – does not make the slightest difference to children when they become adults.Instead, the academic says, parents should ‘cut themselves some slack’ and stop trying to control every aspect of their child’s lives. He calls for a relaxed and fun style of bringing up children dubbed ‘serenity parenting’ which involves parents taking a backseat role.

Source: DAILYMAIL

A teenage music prodigy has astounded tutors with his ability to expertly play the most complex piano pieces in a few hours despite being unable to read music.

By Laura Roberts 3:25PM BST 15 May 2011

Samuel Osmond, 19, has never had a piano lesson but can pick up pieces by composers such as Chopin and Beethoven in minutes because of his note perfect memory. The teenager from St Austell, Cornwall, who is studying Law at AS Level along with Sociology and Music Subsidiary Diploma Level 3, had intended to pursue a career as a barrister. However, his teachers have urged him to make his future in the field of music instead. Osmond learns a piece of music by listening to it in sections and then working out the notes.

Source: TELEGRAPH

The new model is more likely to serve sea-salt and smoked olive oil flavour cones than a soft-serve 99 Flake. Holly Williams climbs aboard

Saturday, 14 May 2011

In Bath’s Victoria Park, picnic blankets and wicker baskets pepper the rolling green, children run around excitedly while grannies get out the deck chairs. And across our pleasant land this summer you can expect to see plenty more scenes like this, as we collectively indulge in a national fondness for community-centred, often nostalgia-themed, outdoor gatherings.

There will be village fêtes, foodie fairs, music festivals (now just as likely to be family affairs as lost weekends), country shows and vintage fairs. And all one needs on a nice sunny day (or even a damply grey one, as Bath’s patriotic residents discover) is a good old-fashioned 99 Flake.

Source: INDEPENDENT

Aged nine, Lang Lang, the virtuoso Chinese pianist, was told by his ambitious father to kill himself after his teacher ‘fired’ him for having no talent. He tells Rosanna Greenstreet about the extreme pressure put on him to succeed

By Rosanna Greenstreet

When Lang Lang was nine, his father told him to kill himself. Four years before, his father had decided that his only son should become the No 1 classical pianist in China. He gave up his job as a policeman and took his son to live in Beijing, leaving Lang Lang’s mother behind, planning to get the child into the prestigious Central Conservatory of Music. However, his teacher in Beijing, nicknamed Professor Angry by Lang Lang, had other ideas. “Professor Angry didn’t like me and she always gave me a hard time,” he remembers. “One afternoon she said that I had no talent, that I shouldn’t play the piano and I should go home. She basically fired me before I could even get into the conservatory!”

Source: GUARDIAN

Microbloggers are sharing their favorite childhood and teenage memories with the Twittersphere on the morning of May 11 with the hashtags “#teenagememories” and “#childhoodmemories.”

Thursday, 12 May 2011

Twitterers’ favorite memories include “Those nice times when ‘future’ and ‘job’ and all these evil words weren’t on ur mind most of the time,” “Adding salt, pepper, ketchup or anything else to my friends drink while they aren’t looking,” and “when pokemon got banned from school cause everyone was robbing eachother.”

“#icanttrustyouif” makes it into first place on Twitter’s most talked about topics list. American sitcom “Kenan & Kel” is in fifth place, American TV series “Human Target” is in sixth place, and American music video program “BET Uncut” is in ninth place.

Source: INDEPENDENT>> Read full article and comment

‘Pared-down’ musical opens at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane after failing to wow the critics on Broadway

By Mark Brown, arts correspondent

Merchandise stalls are still being painted in the foyer, teams of ushers are being put through their paces and three blind mice are rehearsing their routine. Despite the activity, the Theatre Royal Drury Lane feels surprisingly relaxed. But of course it’s not. On Friday night previews will begin of the West End version of Shrek the Musical, a big-budget show that closed early on Broadway in January 2010 after a year.

Source: GUARDIAN>> Read full article and comment

Like one in five women, MANDY APPLEYARD has missed out on motherhood. Here, with unsparing honesty, she lays bare her regrets

By Mandy Appleyard
Last updated at 11:50 AM on 5th May 2011

The world’s worst party was in full swing, and there I was, standing in a roomful of 40 people wishing I were anywhere but there. The music was bad, the food worse, and all the guests were married with children and engaged in conversation about family life. Since I am neither married nor a mother, I had little to offer the conversation. ‘So, I hear you’re a career woman.’ What sounded like an accusation was being made by a corpulent guest I’d never met before – a plain woman in beige who looked like she badly needed a holiday. I replied that yes, I was a journalist. ‘Don’t take this the wrong way,’ she continued, ‘but I can’t understand why a woman would ever choose work over family life. It must be such a lonely life without children. What’s the reason to get up every day? I don’t want to sound rude, but you must become so selfish when you’ve only yourself to think of.’

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What makes the ideal school? After entries from all over the country, Dea Birkett reveals the Children’s Manifesto of ideas, from comfy beanbags to soothing music and pets.

By Dea Birkett

In January we launched the School I’d Like, asking schoolchildren what would make their perfect school. Hundreds of young people let us know in emails, essays, poems and pictures. From these ideas, we’ve compiled the Children’s Manifesto for the school we’d like, overseen and edited by a panel of 10 children. Some of the ideas are blue-sky thinking: horses and sheep in playgrounds may never be the norm. But many are small and easy to implement. First-aid lessons, a choice of uniform and music instead of bells at break time involve little cost or effort.

Behind these specific, modest requests lie big ideas. The most important aspect of education children want changed is the timetable. They wanted their educational experience to be tailored to them. Sausage-machine schooling, with a one-size-fits-all schedule, is their biggest complaint. They don’t want to do less work (although Friday afternoons off was a popular request). They just want work that enthuses and means something to them.

Source: GUARDIAN

From milk cows to after-school clubs, ideas flooded in from children all over the country about the kind of school they would like. Here is their manifesto.

By Dea Birkett

★ Active – with lots of different sports, including judo, dance, karate, football and abseiling, and a swimming pool with slides. Playgrounds with climbing frames and treehouses where you could learn about nature. ”Rock climbing could help your education because you have to think where to put your hands and feet.”

★ Calm – with a chill-out room; music instead of bells, and a quiet place inside at playtime for drawing, reading and board games.

★ Comfortable – with beanbags, big enough chairs, small enough chairs, slippers, and somewhere personal to store things. There should be cold drinks in the summer and hot drinks to warm you up in winter.

Source: GUARDIAN

Teenagers are being warned about the dangers of listening to loud music for long periods of time.

2 May 2011 Last updated at 13:41 GM

The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) will meet year 12 pupils at St Cyres School, Penarth, in the Vale of Glamorgan, on Wednesday. It is one of several events being staged by the charity around Wales to raise awareness about hearing loss. The RNID said there were 480,000 people in Wales who were deaf or hard of hearing.Events marking Deaf Awareness Week will also be held in Cardiff, Swansea, Wrexham, Welshpool, Powys, and Dolgellau, Gwynedd.

Source: BBC NEWS

Amanda ready for a musical Shrektacular.

By Baz Bamigboye
Last updated at 2:01 AM on 2nd May 2011

She covered the royal wedding for U.S. television – and now Amanda Holden has become a princess herself. Dressed in a shimmering emerald gown, Miss Holden, 40, poses as Princess Fiona ahead of Shrek The Musical’s first West End preview on Friday. But she had better enjoy the fairy-tale makeover while it lasts, as fans of the DreamWorks animated films upon which the show is based will know the beautiful princess, voiced on screen by Cameron Diaz, is eventually transformed into a hideous green ogre.

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Ten-year-old Holly is the winner of our competition to complete Francesca Simon’s short story. Here’s her nail-biting tale.

Monday 2 May 2011 07.00 BST

“Hey get off my feet!” squeaked an angry voice.
Jesse and Ava froze. They couldn’t see anyone in the darkness.
“What are you doing here?”
Jesse grabbed Ava’s arm. “You tell him”

Where to begin….Ava tried to recall the events of that morning; the car-boot sale that Mum had dragged them to, the weird man and his musical box who seemed so keen that they have it for nothing. Their disappointment when they realised that rather than playing a tune, it simply juddered and made a strange ‘tick-tock’ noise and finally, their efforts to shake off Daniel, her beyond annoying brother. “Look Daniel,” she started. “Please promise you won’t tell Mum – she’ll kill me!. I will sort this mess out.”

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While countries like Japan, Canada and Australia hand out “baby bonuses” to encourage people to have children, couples in one part of India are getting cash to do just the opposite.

Monday, 2 May 2011

Maharashtra state is paying newlyweds a so-called “honeymoon” bonus to delay starting a family, with the twin aims of slowing population growth and improving women’s health. Rajia Sayad was 20 when she married her husband Shakil in 2007. The couple lives with his parents in Shendurjane village in Satara district, about 250 kilometres (155 miles) from the state capital, Mumbai. Money is tight and not always regular. Rajia is an unpaid housewife and Shakil is a musician, earning 200 to 2,500 rupees ($4.40 to $55) a month during the wedding season. His father earns about 3,000 rupees a month selling fruit. The young couple signed up for the scheme soon after they were married.

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Could computer games be the solution for persuading children with cystic fibrosis to complete their physiotherapy?

By James GallagherHealth reporter, BBC News

The genetic condition leads to the build-up of thick mucus in the lungs. Physiotherapy, including breathing exercises, is used to clear the lungs and open up the airways. Carys, aged 12, from Glasgow, has two sessions a day, – but as her mother, Michelle McMonagle, says: “There is a conflict between what she wants to do and what she knows she has to do.” For Carys, computer games, drawing, music, drama and movies are all more appealing.

Source: BBC NEWS

Parental involvement is the key to academic success, according to a new report. But there’s a big difference between encouraging your children and micromanaging their every step. Too much pressure can have devastating consequences, warns Anna Moore.

By ANNA MOORE
Last updated at 4:32 AM on 1st May 2011

Right up until the day Mark Alexander murdered his father, he had been the model son. An only child whose mother left when he was very young, Mark did all that his father expected of him – and those expectations were extremely high. Samuel Alexander, a retired university lecturer, isolated his son – friends were a distraction – and moved him to ten different schools. Mark excelled academically and musically, winning a scholarship to Rugby at 16. Here, he recorded the highest A-level ICT (information and communication technology) mark in Britain in 2006, and went on to study law and French at King’s College, London. Samuel continued to steer Mark’s life, insisting that he carry on living with him in Buckinghamshire. Though the next stage of Mark’s education was due to be at the Sorbonne in Paris, Samuel refused to allow him to live on campus, and instead searched for a ‘host family’, unaware that  Mark was planning to move in with his girlfriend, a fellow student. Apparently, rather than confront his father to negotiate his freedom, Mark – who at 22 had never before defied him – battered Samuel to death at some point between August 2009 and February 2010, buried him in concrete and pretended he was still alive. The gifted student whose life once held such promise is now serving a life sentence in prison.

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When her mother died, Kate Lloyd discovered that the person she knew was really someone else. She had walked out on her family after the war, changed her name and reinvented her past. But why?

BY Kate Lloyd

My mother painted a sensational portrait of her early life, saying she had been an orphan brought up by a cruel aunt after her mother was killed in a riding accident and her father died of a broken heart. This was high drama and seemingly played out in the context of landed gentry at least, if not the aristocracy. She said they were Irish Catholics, that she and her sisters had gone to a convent school. She certainly played the part, not that she went to church, but she had a rosary and used to go on about the nuns.

She told me her father was moved to tears by music, that he took her to hear a Wagner opera when she was much too young, which was why she didn’t like it. At the time I never doubted what she said, even if it verged on melodrama. When I asked her why one of her toes was a bit squashed, she said: “My race horse stepped on me.” The horse had run away with her and ended up in the centre of Cambridge, and she fell off in one of the colleges. Now it all sounds so improbable. Maybe I should have asked why there were no family photographs, or even any relatives on her side of the family. But my father seems to have accepted her account of things and as I grew up there seemed no reason to question her stories. It wasn’t until much later that I started to realise how odd it sounded.

Source: GUARDIAN