The Maple Leaf Rag for Beginners

Just how hard can it be? Scott Joplin's iconic ditty is etched into the minds of classical music buffs the world over but what exactly does it take to be able to play it?

It's this basic question that prompted me (who cannot play the piano) to embark on a musical experiment extraviganza. Just how much time and effort would it take for a 'non-pianist' to polish this merry little tune. And so begins a journey which will end, hopefully in me being a whole £100 pounds richer as my wife seems fairly adamant that I can hardly scale the back door step let alone this musical masterpiece. Little does she know I have a very precise plan of attack: As follows.

1. Obtain the music. (already done thanks to pianopublicdomain.com)

2. Obtain some kind of suitable instrument (I'm working on this: Serious offers greatly appreciated on pthurst@gmail.com)

3. Find out what 'key' its in (its got four little 'b's on the music... pthurst@gmail.com once again for answers from all you 'muso's') Once I know the key, I will begin practicing the 'scale' unless I don't have a piano, in which case I'll practice in the apple store on their's...

4. Locate a patient, kind-hearted piano teacher who voluntarily will surrender their time teaching a complete beginner a piece of music that's on the 'Trinity Syllabus' at grade 8... Whatever that means.

5. Ply said individual with alcohol and anything else within reason until they agree to oversee this wonderful feat of human achievement.

6. Practice every day.

7. Weekly reassess my progress.

8. After I can play half, take a month out to ponder my achievement thus far (and prepare myself for the really difficult bit).

9. Attain note perfect recital abilities.

10. Perform in public. Become world famous and possibly audition for a TV talent competition where my unique abilities can be appropriately demonstrated.

And so, I begin the task. I've given myself six months to do all this which by my reckoning will allow me to learn 180 notes if I learn one a day. That means that even where you press more than one button at once, I should still be able to learn it... Eventually...

Updates to follow!

This blog ranked 215 for UK politics...

I had a surprise email yesterday, apparently this blog ranks quite high as far as UK politics goes.

At 215, I have been told that my blog is worthy of a badge that has been duly added. In the meantime, let's not forget some of the big political UK based blogs out there such as Guido Fawkes and my facebook buddy, Iain Dale.

Politics makes an ideal focus topic for bloggers an politicians alike. Still leading the way is webcameron which leads the way as far as political blogging and citizen (style) journalism goes.

From Flickr to Japan

The wonderful thing about flickr is that it shows your work to a much wider audience than those who may flick through your photo album on your coffee table. I had first hand experience of this after one of my photographs was published by a Japanese fashion/art magazine.

Ing Magazine featured my photograph of Antony Gormley's 'Angel of the North' across a double page spread and they also sent me a copy so I could see the results for myself.

This new web 2.0 age in which we live opens up a much wider marketplace for people such as myself, however if you'd of told me as I set up my camera in Tyneside that my photograph would feature in Japan, I still would of had a hard time believing you.

My new photography website

I've been busy searching through some of my favourite photographs from the past three and a half years and here's the result.

www.paulhurstphotography.com features some of my most popular work along with some of my personal favourites. Let me know what you think, and if you have your own photoblog or photowebsite then why not post a link here for other visitors to check out too.

'Jollies'

Well, it's that time of year and this year its of to Cornwall for nine days of sun (?), sand and surfing!

I'll be having a break from the blog too but I will be maintaining my photoblog so you can still see what I'm up to.

The link for my photoblog is here.

Blogging in schools

Today has seen the official launch of a school blog after six weeks of training with sixteen students.

Pupils from St Peter's High School in Orrell have been finding out all about blogs as part of their english coursework and ICT across the curriculum. They have had lessons in Creative writing, journalism skills and of course web safety and security.

You can have a look at their school blog and their write-up of the course here and as the team continues to create more content, I'll be back in the school to work with more students and staff in this exciting area of creative education.

As most of you may know already, a lot of my work centres around the use of podcasting, blogging and photojournalsm in education and I set up the Rock FM bus blog as part of my vision for journalistic skills such as research and presentation to be featured more prominently within our schools.

Students love the challenge of creating podcasts and school blogs, especially when they can work alongside creative professionals and broadcast partners such as Rock FM so if you're connected with a school in the North-West of England and you'd like more information or maybe like to meet for advice then feel free to email me.

pthurst@gmail.com

Photo Portfolio from Paul Hurst

Here's a shot presentation with some of my photographs in it. Hope you like them!




My Photo Portfolio from pthurst and Vimeo.

My life thru the lens of a mobile phone

***Click the title to go to http://paulhurst.vox.xom***

As past of a blogging experiment into both methods and equipment used for the modern day bloggers, I have just started a new moblog.

rather than another place to write about things, this new blog concentrates on the world through the lens of my mobile phone. There's little to read but lots of pictures and videos to watch instead.

I suppose its a reflection on blogging technology and practice itself. As it stands, there are blogs out there that read like a personal journal and other that read more like a newspaper column and they are both largely centred around text. This is because visual media generally requires more effort to produce and upload.

As in my last post though, thats all about to change. the new handsets from Nokia at least, allow blogging integration straight from the camera app which means with an extra button press, your content is uploaded to your blog or flickr account. Couple this with more flexible data tariffs on mobiles and an ever widening internet 'hotspot' in our towns and cities and the result is a much more integrated lifestyle between people and their online blogs or second lifes, or whatever.

Its this kind of thing which has driven me to experiment. I wonder how my life will change if I am able to maintain a moblog without carrying a laptop round to coffee shops. I wonder what impact this record will have on my own understanding of who I am and what I do and even how I interpret events and emotions around me.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many must a constantly developing and evolving online journal be worth? I'm about to find out.

Will the real Paul Hurst please, stand up!

Imagine my shock, no horror! When I realised that in this world of 6,000,000,000 people, I am not the only, Paul Hurst.

We treat our names as our unique identifier and in most cases, they are sufficient for this purpose, although there was also another 'Paul Hurst' in my year at school. So how does the internet change our awareness of who we are?

The current buzzword may be social networking through sites like myspace and even blogs like mine. Each offer individuals a small slice of the web which we can call home, but have you ever done an image search in Google for your own name?

Here's what happens with 'Paul Hurst'



Aside from not being dead (which is always a relief!), It would appear as though I may be some kind of 'yokel' on the run...



And wait for it... How about Paul Hurst the world famous harp player...



And not just nimble with the fingers, but feet too! Lets not forget 'Paul Hurst' the full-back for Rotherham United Football club.



Go on, have a go yourself and please let me know if you can find other pictures of your namesakes from around the world, a bit like my mate George Bush.



Oh and if you'd like the official word on other people who share your name then pay a visit to 'how many of me.com'

My first article for 18 Doughty Street

I recently joined the 18 Doughty Street panel of 100 citizen journalists from all over the UK. 18 Doughty Street is a politically based blog which also features television programmes, filmed on the premises exclusively for the website. Although the site is not 100% affiliated to any political party, it leans heavily towards the Conservatives. Largley due to the fact that its founders are members of the Conservative party.

The house is located in London and is a few hundred yards from the home of Charles Dickens. It was also the house where his daugher was born.

The property has been refitted internally to become a state-of-the art television studio, with seven cameras and a full-staff of journalists, technicians and even... bloggers.

you can see my first report for the website here: It concerns the popularity of politics in the North West of England.

Picking the next government?

It would appear that Gordon Brown might just be greener than we all thought.



Recently spotted 'dipping' into the twilight zone that is the ministerial hooter, our future PM didn't appear to be picking his cabinet ministers. Rather he seemed to be tackling some, apparently more stubborn, green issues.

This very topic was mentioned on tonights 'Newsnight' on BBC 2 where Jeremy Paxman seemed to criticise bloggers for not really being the 'citizen journalists' that we are sometimes labelled as. Paxo seemed to prefer the 'stiff upper lip' of traditional newsgathering and reporting as opposed to the bloggers who do, admittedly seem more content to focus on what may be resting at the top of the lips instead.

I think the answer, as always, does lie somewhat in the middle. Both journalist and blogger do fulfill similar roles in that both 'mirror' events or culture. We just do it in different ways and, on this occasion, I am more grateful to the bloggers. They remind us to think twice before shaking hands with Mr Brown, especially if he's just leaving the commons.

You can read guido fawkes blog post here.
Here's the BBC's Nick Robinson's take on the issue of Blogger v Journalist and finally, you can check out the BBC's newsnight blog post here, The BBC's site also includes Guido's interesting film on this topic too.

... Over on guestblogger.net

Its been a while since I posted last on the guestblogger site but there's extra material on there now.

Please head over to here to read the newest article and keep visiting as the frequency with which people post will be increasing.

On that note, why not email me pthurst@gmail.com if you'd like to post something based on your professional work or experience. I am especially looking to post articles written by people who may not necessarily have their own blogs but if you'd just like to write an article for guestblogger then please do get in touch.

I am hoping that the community will grow into an interesting and useful resource for visitors to read about all kinds of different things.

Blogging on WebCameron

The leader of the Conservative party in the UK has today been talking about 'building a cohesive society' and racial integration. I thought I'd take a few minutes to write down my thoughts for his blog and this one too.

So just how do we build a cohesive society? How do we tackle prejudice and racism in a way that is both realistic and robust?

It seems that hardly a day goes by these days without the word 'racist' being thrown around by one group or another. If its not in the Big Brother House then its in the even bigger House of Commons, but as I sat and watched a debate on TV tonight, I felt compelled to share some of my feelings. I hope you don't mind.

Despite all of our best efforts, todays society seems far from cohesive to me. In fact I'd say its adhesive.

Cohesive means to 'join things together', it takes effort on both parts, but our society seems to be quite different. In our adhesive society, groups and communities have merely been 'stuck onto' a wider base. Thanks to this one-sided effort, we have communities within communities and the less we understand about each other, the more everyone feels threatened.

So how do we go about fixing this? Well firstly I think it starts with you and me. Kindness, compassion and respect for those around us makes a huge difference. As a Christian, I believe that this 'love' isn't just about being nice, meek and mild. I think that this forms the basis of a coherent society, no matter what faith we practice, if any at all.

I care about people, I want to see those around me to be happy and to reach their full potential. That isn't a religious principle or a political mandate (although it makes an excellent basis for both), no its the desire to see our society join together to combat crime, to share in the arts and to build a positive hard-working economy. To improve life for all.

Now to some people reading this, you may see it as 'pie in the sky' politics. Surely this kind of principle can't make a difference in our 'asbo ridden' society. Well I think it can.

As part of my work as a freelance journalist, I teach in secondary schools and due to the nature of my projects, I work with groups of pupils, some of whom who are on the brink of exclusion or segregation. Its amazing to see these young people respond to the opportunity to express themselves creatively and also, more importantly, to be heard.

When we take people seriously, when we listen to their views and opinions and when we welcome their contributions to our communities, we actively engage in cohesion. We bring two different groups together. Of course this is social cohesion with the disaffected but I think the principle is the same.

Lets take the challenge to build a cohesive society by taking the first step. Lets come together in our communities to deal with the challenges together and lets stop tryig to 'shoe horn' someone else into our mould. Lets expect the same from all the different groups within this Great Britain.

Lets make a difference. Lets lead the way.

*************************

Aside from these being my thoughts, I am seriously considering a career in political speech writing. I wonder how someone gets started in that type of thing?

Life in the city, web 2.0 style!

Looking for some social software thats just a bit different than the rest? Citypixel will probably be right up your street.

The format is based around an 80's 'pixel art' isometric city. You sign up and create your virtual citizen which can wander round the 'sim-city-esque' streets and nip into the odd building here or there.

You'll pass lots of other mini citizens along the way, and if they have a green line underneath, they're online.

Now just before your mind conjers up thoughts of animated isometric characters smoothly walking around your web browser, I must point out that your journey is done via clicks and as such, contains no movement at all (the gridlocked cars are fully animated in that regard).

So the main reason this site exists, as far as I can tell, is to dress up the rather tired idea of social software into new clothes and as such, I did find myself wondering why I was clicking around a very poorly designed navigation section just to reach user generated biogs etc. That was until I stumbled across a really, really neat feature.

Anyone who's played the 'sims' will be familiar with the house design element of the game. Well its here on this website! The tedium of statically navigating around the clumsy city was broken immediately as soon as I realised that its possible to claim your own 'virtual apartment' and even a 'virtual office' too. Your little avatar moves in and can drag, drop and arrange your furniture to your hearts content. Not only that, you can even create your very own website to allow visitors to peek through your keyhole.

My 'apartment'

'The office'

This kind of customisation really breathes promise into the Citypixel idea. You can visit anyone's apartment and rate them and you can even watch their YouTube videos if they have installed the little 'plasma screens' on their walls, I was impressed by what I saw here.

I suppose you could sum up Citypixel as a web-browser version of Second Life it has a cut-down feel of this kind of persistent world social software. I'm really hoping that the day will come when these incredibly cute (and detailed) pixel art characters and buildings become animated but until then, the customisable nature of my Citypixel home, will keep me popping back. Even if its just a holiday home away from Myspace or Second Life itself.

Here it is...

In my last post, I mentioned that I'd been thinking about the future of this blog. I am unsure as to who reads it and why and I was thinking, do I blog for my own benefit or do I actually want people to read this?

I've decided that the answer lies somewhere in-between, and that got me thinking some more...

Here's the outcome. I've decided that this blog will not change. I will continue to write as I please, regardless as to who (if anyone reads...) my blog is primarily personal and its main reason for existing is merely to allow me an excuse to write. So nothing will change, well, almost nothing...

I can now reveal that I have set up a new blog over at www.guestblogger.net. This blog will not be written by myself (although I may post). Rather I will invite people to write posts for it. This way the content will vary and it may make an interesting read, something which personal blogs sometimes do not.

You can visit the site at www.guestblogger.net and although anyone may leave a comment. The posts are by invite only so you must forgive me for having a bare site at the moment.

In closing, I'd like to encourage you to keep reading this blog (should you so wish) and also to pop along to the new one and 'leave comments'!

***EDIT: If you'd be interested in posting then email invites@guestblogger.net***

Something BIG is on its way...

Thanks for dropping by to my blog...

This blog has been around for a while now and I have been thinking recently about how it can be improved.

I have made a few decisions about where I want things to go in the future and I'm almost ready to come clean. I will be making an announcement shortly.

In the meantime, please feel free to 'nosey' around some of the content and keep popping back to catch up with the goss.

Paul
www.paulhurst.blogspot.com

The BEST Indian restaurant in Wigan!

Now this isn't an advert but I couldn't get too far into 2007 without sharing a little secret as to where I spend my days dining out.



The Buraq restaurant near Wigan does some mighty fine food and I've been eating there since it opened a number of years ago. In fact I started eating there when it was just a humble take-away.



I was there the other day and my friend took this pic so I thought I'd write a litle about some of my favorite Indian dishes, so here's how my menu looks, you may call it top of the popadoms if you like...



STARTER

Popadoms - I like the lime paste and the mint yoghurt

Tayeef Kebab



MAIN

At the moment, my fave is Beef Korai but also up there...

Chicken Makhani

Chicken Bahlti

Lamb bhoona



Aside from the grub, you can't beat a large bottle of Cobra to wash it all down wish and my good fried Talib (pictured) is usually on hand with some 'drinks on the house' to bring my dining to a close :-)



So as I start 2007, may I wish Talib and all the staff, a great new year and keep up the good work!

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New year greetings

I just thought I'd take this opportunity to wish everyone all the very best for 2007.

Regular readers of this blog will know what to expect this coming year but if you are visiting for the first time today, you can expect comment on just about anything.

In the meantime, I will leave you with some video footage which was taken a few days ago when I went to watch the 'Blue Planet Live'.

The BBC filmed over 7000 hours worth of footage for the series, and during the performance, some of the highlights were shown on a 60ft screen whilst the musiical score was played in realtime by an orchestra and choir.

This was all lead by the composer, and it was a great evening of stunning images and music.

It was fantastic!

Best Wishes,

Paul

Pictures from the Vatican

I have finally created and uploaded a picture slideshow containing some pictures from my trip to Rome.

I'm due back in the next year to work on a project for the BBC which will be broadcast nationally in the UK and featured online too.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with the slideshow...

Billie McCurrie Radio Interview

A few people have requested this interview so I will post it on my blog once again.

I first met Billy at a YL (young life) meeting in Southport. I found his story to be incredibly moving so I decided to arrange for Billy to be given an opportunity to talk about his experiences on a radio programme that I was producing at the time.

Religion is often a motivating factor for violence and terrorism in today's society, but Billy's story shows that this doesn't always have to be the end of the matter, The Bible's message is still bringing people to repentance, a place where they seek forgiveness and a place where they turn their lives around.

Click here to listen to the interview