When I first started learning to play the saxophone five years ago, I told my sax teacher (Mel) that I was playing for fun and didn’t want anything to do with exams. Now (and I know I have said this before and nothing has come of it) I want to learn to improvise. This means I need to learn all my key signatures and my scales. So I have homework, even if exams won’t follow. I have to sit down and learn the lot of them. Hmmm.
My other main project this autumn is adapting BUT I TOLD YOU LAST YEAR THAT I LOVED YOU into a TV serial. The first task is to work out how many one hour episodes I need. This sounds easy, but it’s not. It’s not just about what happens in the story: there are a lot of other issues, such as – for example - where the major points of conflict and the cliff hangers come. As it will be a comedy drama, I’ve decided to use the successful BBC series Last Tango in Halifax as a model. I need to examine each episode to see what it contains in terms of content and complication – another lot of homework.
Did you see it? I watched series 1 and 2, and loved every minute. I think you can probably guess which homework I’m enjoying the most…OK, I admit it, I haven’t even started on the wretched keys and scales.