The School Band

Not only are our staff at LSE very experienced and well qualified in teaching English as a foreign language, they are also great entertainers! In fact, I think we might be one of the only schools in London to have its own band.

The group is called Banned Practice and is made up of teachers and members of staff at the school. Banned Practice have been practising, writing songs and performing for at least 20 years. The group has had many different members and has played possibly hundreds of different songs over the years.

I am the most recent member of the group. I joined about 3 years ago when I started working at the school. I play the drums, and I sometimes sing (but the less said about that the better). Teachers and staff members from both Holland Park and Westcroft Square are involved in the band. We have two guitarists (Robin Gray and Francis Duncan), a bass guitarist (Johnny ‘Danger’ Diablo), and lead singers (Michelle Oldman, Richard McNeff, Kevin Scanlan, Carrick Cameron, Simon Williams). Some of those singers are also guitarists, keyboard players, flutists, saxophone players and even tambourine players. There is so much talent packed into this group that sometimes it feels like we are going to explode!

We play cover versions of classic rock and roll songs from the 50s to the noughties, and we also write some original material. Richard McNeff in particular has written quite a few of his own tracks (Richard is also a published novelist – check out his website here).

We practise once a week either in the school or in a local rehearsal studio in Shepherds Bush, and we perform concerts to our staff and students regularly during the year. The concerts are usually great parties in which everyone has a good time grooving to the music or just observing the incredible display of musicianship and entertainment on stage! Our gigs often end with the crowd shouting “Encore encore!”

Being in the band is great fun, especially during gigs, but we also work very hard at learning the songs. Hopefully the hard work pays off when we get in front of the audience and start our set. We aim to entertain, and always hope that everyone enjoys themselves.

If you come to LSE or you are a student here now, watch out for up-coming social events involving Banned Practice. We are also on Facebook, so check us out!

Definitions:

is made up of - consists of

over the years – during the long time since it started

the less said about that the better – don’t talk about it

cover versions – songs which were written and recorded by someone else

the noughties – the informal expression for the decade 2000-2009 (e.g. 80-89 = the eighties, 90-99 = the nineties – 2000 – 2009 = the noughties). The word ‘noughties’ is a kind of pun on the words ‘naughty’ which means ‘badly behaved’, and the word ‘nought’ which means ‘zero’ or 0)

original material – songs written by the band (not cover versions)

tracks - songs

rehearsal studio – a place in which a band practises

grooving - dancing

musicianship – the ability to play a musical instrument

gigs – live concerts

to be in a band – to be a member of a musical group

the hard work pays off – hard work is rewarded in the end

a set – the whole list of songs which a band plays in one concert

Summer Music Festivals

Hello everyone. The summer time in England is known for a few things: long lazy evenings, eating strawberries and cream at Wimbledon, watching test match cricket on Sunday afternoons, picnics in the park, barbecues, croquet and of course, going to music festivals! I've been to a few music festivals this year so I thought I would write a blog post on the subject.

Music festivals are quite a big part of our culture in the UK, particularly in the summer. There are loads of festivals to go to. Click here to read a Times Online article about the Top 20 UK Festivals 2009. The most famous music festival is Glastonbury. You can see a video clip of the Glastonbury festival here.

But, what are festivals really like? Well, in this post I'd like to tell you about some of the highs and lows of a weekend at a summer music festival in the UK.

Music festivals are large events which happen in the summer. Usually, they last the whole weekend (Friday to Monday) and they take place in the countryside - in an area with a lot of grass fields, like a farm. Lots of famous bands and singers perform at the festivals. Some festivals are huge, and can accommodate over 150,000 people. Everyone sleeps in tents around the festival site. Summer music festivals have been happening for a long time now. The most famous one is Glastonbury. The most famous American music festival is Woodstock.

Here's a description of some of the good and bad things about going to music festivals.

First, the good things:

1. You can enjoy the atmosphere of people together, all camping, all having a good time in the fresh air.
2. There are loads of good bands to see and lots of good music to hear. Sometimes there are big name acts like Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Coldplay and Amy Winehouse.
3. If the weather's good you can get lots of sunshine and fresh air.
4. There are lots of local ales and ciders to drink.
5. You get to escape from London for the weekend.
6. Almost everyone sleeps in tents in massive campsites around the festival. It's a lot of fun to stay in a tent (if it's comfortable) in such a big 'community'.
7. You can meet lots of people, and make friends.
8. As well as music, there is a lot of comedy to see. The comedy industry is very big in the UK.
9. There's lots of delicious food at the festival. You can buy it from food stalls which sell things like Caribbean, Indian, Turkish, French, Italian, Chinese and Japanese food.
10. If you're a musician you can perform at the festival and expand your audience. In fact, the festival scene in the UK is very important for our music industry.

But it's not all good. In fact, here are some of the things that can make a festival into a complete nightmare:

1. If the weather is bad, and it rains a lot, the festival becomes quite a miserable experience. The ground just turns into mud. You get mud everywhere - all over your clothes, in your hair, in your tent. Everything is wet and disgusting!
2. If you are sharing a tent, it can be really uncomfortable and cramped if the tent is too small. You won't get a good night's sleep.
3. If you've had too much to drink in the evening, you might wake up in the morning with a hangover. There's nothing worse than waking up with a hangover in a tent which is in direct sunlight. It's like a sauna.
4. Festivals are expensive. The ticket alone may cost over £100. Then you've got to think of the transport costs, and all the food and drink you're going to buy. Some of the bars and food places are a rip off. They really rip you off.
5. The crowds can be difficult. If you're in front of the stage, the crowd might be very packed and it's difficult to squeeze past everyone to get out.
6. The toilets can be pretty smelly.
7. It can be difficult to get to the festival, and get back - especially with a big heavy bag on your back. Catching the underground at rush hour with all your camping equipment is very tricky.
8. Sometimes you need another 2 days to recover from the festival before you go back to work!
9. Mobile phone reception can be bad. Because there are so many people there, it can be difficult to call your friends, and if you lose your friends it's hard to find them again without any reception.
10. After a few days your whole body aches! Your back aches from sleeping in a tent, and your feet and legs ache from standing up watching music.

Despite the bad points, festivals are really worth going to. It's an important part of the summer calendar here, and every year, hundreds of thousands of people go to music festivals all over the country.

Let us know if there are any good festivals where you're from. We'd like to hear from you, so leave a comment below.

Cheers,

Luke

Glossary:

the fresh air (n) - this is an expression to mean the nice, clean, unpolluted air you get in the countryside. You can also use it when you want to go out of your office for air. "I'm just popping out to get some fresh air"

big name acts (n) - famous performers or bands

ale (n - uncountable) - a traditional English beer

cider (n - uncountable) - a traditional alcoholic drink made from apples

stalls (n) - temporary shops where you can buy things, e.g. food. You find stalls in markets, festivals and fairs

a nightmare (n) - this means 'a bad dream', but we also use it to describe a bad experience. "The job interview was a complete nightmare!

mud (n - uncountable) - this is the brown earth which grass grows in. When it rains the mud goes soft and sticky

cramped (adj) - this means it's uncomfortable because there isn't enough room. E.g. like a tall man sitting in a tiny car

a hangover (n) - when you have drunk too much alcohol the night before, you wake up with a hangover. You feel sick, you have a headache and you can't remember what you did last night. There's a popular movie called The Hangover (see the trailer here)

a rip off (n) - something which is sold for a really high price - the price is too high. E.g. "a can of coke for £10?? What a rip off!"

to rip someone off (v) - to charge someone too much for something. E.g. "I can't believe you paid £10 for a can of coke. He really ripped you off!"

to squeeze past (v) - this means to walk past someone who is very close to you. We do it when we want to get a seat on a busy train, or when you have to walk through a crowd, or when you walk past people in a corridor. We always say "Sorry, can I just squeeze past? Thanks..."

smelly (adj) - it smells bad

tricky (adj) - difficult

recover (v) - to get better, to feel ok again

reception (n - uncountable) - a mobile phone signal. You need it to make calls. When you are in a tunnel, you have no reception.

to ache (v) - to have a dull pain in your body. E.g. a headache, or "my back really aches today, I need to lie down" - pronunciation: /eik/