Archive for December, 2009

Wishing Everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous and Wonderful 2010! Barney x

A Video Clip from BBC New’s ‘Look East’ Programme featuring Dick Whittington – Cambridge Arts Theatre where Barney is the Musical Director

I thought I’d write a post about the equipment that I mostly use and prefer to use!

Keyboard – On most of my recent gigs and shows I’ve been using a Korg M3 full size weighted keyboard programmed by the very talented Trystan Francis for Vivace Music Services.

I personally have a Roland FP-2 keyboard which I find has an excellent piano patch and is very portable. I can’t understand why it is that the only keyboard I’ve come across with ‘patch hold’ (you can change patch and not stop the current sound from being held on or reverb trail being cut off) is the Kurzweil K2600 which I played on CATS. Surely this is software based technology and should be standard on all professional keyboards?! It makes playing, arranging and programming more of a mission!

Pedals – I use a Roland EV-7 Expression pedal as I find it has a fantastic range of movement on it without being too sensitive like the lesser model the EV-5.

For composing, scoring and sequencing I use a Macbook Pro with Logic 9, Sibelius 6 and occasionally Finale as drum parts recorded in Logic don’t generally enjoy being scored by Sibelius directly. In these instances I export the midi file to Finale then export as an XML file and open it in Sibelius. I do prefer the layout and ease of use of Sibelius however. If Apple teamed up with Sibelius to create a sequencer that could instantly and easily print what you’ve recorded in Logic then I would be very happy indeed!

It’s been a long while since I’ve blown a trumpet in anger professionally but I currently use an Edwards Custom Bb which is an absolute monster of an instrument that used to belong to my old teacher Mark Bennett.

Here are some of the shows that Barney has been involved with over the last few years, click on the images and links for more information!

Barney is currently depping on Bill Kenwright’s,’Blood Brothers’ both at the Phoenix Theatre in the West End and as cover on the touring production.

Barney was the Musical Director for the London production of The Office – The Opera

Barney was the Assistant Musical Director on the West End Production of SHOUT! at the Arts Theatre for Steve Socci Music Services LTD

Barney was the Musical Director of the Wild Oats Production of Zanna Don’t in London and at West End Live! in Leicester Square

Barney played Keys 2 on David Ian’s tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s CATS that toured to Cologne and Frankfurt for Stephen Hill Orchestral Management

Barney was depping on the Keys 2 Chair on Never Forget the Musical at the Savoy Theatre in London’s West End for Steve Socci Music Services LTD

Here is the old news page archived as promised

• You can now follow Barney on Twitter! @barneyashworth

Barney has most recently been…..

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  Depping on Bill Kenwright’s West End Production of Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre

• Playing Audition Piano for The Full Monty and Qdos Pantomimes
• Assistant Musical Director of SHOUT! The Musical in London’s West End
• Musical Directing at The Arts Educational School in London
• Musical Director of The Office The Opera
• Musical Director of Zanna Don’t, West End Live! and Best Of The West End Concert in Trafalgar Square
• Musical Director of Grease at The American School in London
• Musical Director for Holland America Line travelling all over the world in 2007
• Musical Director for Pantomime – Cinderella at the Gordon Craig Theatre in Stevenage
• Writing for TV – please visit www.myspace.com/barneytvshowreel for a listen to some tunes !
• Musical Director/Arranger of Trinity College of Music’s Rodgers & Hammerstein Revue show.
• Barney is now able to offer a host of musical services including:- Arrangements – Compositions – Recording – Production – Accompanist Services

• Advanced Website Design for www.kurhtleach.com
• Barney is based in London. Please email barney@barneyashworth.com for work enquiries
• Barney has had 5 tracks signed with a UK based Music Library to be placed in Film and TV. He is building up a large repertoire of tracks,but as always will happily work to brief to provide your project with the perfect accompaniment. Please visit www.myspace.com/barneytvshowreelfor some examples of his TV work and contact barney@barneyashworth.com if you need more information.

• Barney is now depping on the Assistant MD chair – Keys 2 – on the Take That Musical ‘Never Forget’ at the Savoy Theatre in London’s West End
• Barney has been confirmed as touring Germany over Christmas and New Year 2008/9 with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Cats.’ The tour visits both Frankfurt and Cologne and returns mid January.

This is the first post here having updated to a new Blog! Archived news will now be updated and be searchable and future news all tagged and easy to find!

You can also subscribe to the RSS Feed below to keep updated with more information as and when it happens.

Have a Great Christmas

Barnes x