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Club Night 3rd December 2024

 For our final Club Night of the year, we were entertained by Warren Levick who played the arrival music and also gave a performance with an emphasis on modern Christmas songs - very nice thanks Warren. Gordon Sutherland gave a mixture of instrumentals of an orchestral nature and a couple of popular songs with added vocals. Len Hancy then led the Christmas carols with song sheets handed-out. This has become a tradition at the Club, and we appreciate Len's efforts to lead the carols and popular songs related to Christmas.

As this was our Christmas Club Night, we held our Christmas Hampers Raffle. A big thank you to our Secretary, Delyse Whorwood, for organizing the Hampers again this year. This year we had 8 hampers with wine, chocolates and other goodies within each hamper. Delyse and Gordon, were acting Catering Mangers, and setup a lovely supper with grapes, strawberries, mince pies and biscuits together with coffee or tea. This year we held the supper upstairs in our music lounge due to another year end event booked downstairs. All went well eventually!

After the refreshments break, we were entertained by Warren Levick playing three Christmas songs including one by George Michael! Very nice, thanks Warren. To finish off the evening, Patrick McMillan gave us a mini concert with some lovely jazz standards and beautifully arranged by Patrick. Evergreen and Imagine were stand outs for the writer!

The Club will be in recess now until February 2025. The Club wishes all our members and all those reading this blog, a very Merry Christmas and a Healthy and Happy New Year.

The Videos:

Patrick McMillan playing Jazz Standards on the Club's
Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809

Warren Levick playing 3 Modern Christmas Songs
on the Club's Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809

Len Hancy leading the audience in
Christmas Carols and Songs

Gordon Sutherland playing his
Korg Pa5X arranger keyboard

The Photos:

Patrick McMillan playing our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809

Len Hancy leading the carols and soloing
on a few Christmases related songs

Warren Levick playing our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809

Gordon Sutherland playing his Korg Pa5X with
added vocals pre-recorded on two songs!

Year End Party held at Fairview Lifestyle Village

 Wow, what a great Party! A good number of our members turned-up for the Year End Party at this lovely Fairview Lifestyle Village, in Albany, North Shore, Auckland, NZ. A very pleasing number of residents came to share the musical experience. We had lots of our members played the Village's grand piano and we also had two keyboards setup and played. At 6pm we stopped for a very nice dinner served in the Dining Room of the Village. To wind the afternoon/evening up Mary Barrett played her Korg Pa1000 in conjunction with Len Hancy who provided the vocals and MC roles. We were delighted to have two of the Club's senior players give a mini concert for about 30 minutes. A big thank you to Diane Lyons for co-ordinating the venue with Fairview Village Management and the dinner arrangements with the caterers.

The Videos:

Taka Iida playing his Yamaha Stagea keyboard and
accompanied by Hana Tani on grand piano on the occasion
of The North Shore Music and Keyboard Club's
Year End Party

Playing: Fly Me To The Moon

Taka Iida playing his Yamaha Stagea keyboard and
accompanied by Hana Tani on grand piano on the occasion
of The North Shore Music and Keyboard Club's
Year End Party

Playing: The Way We Were

Taka Iida playing his Yamaha Stagea keyboard and
accompanied by Hana Tani on grand piano on the occasion
of The North Shore Music and Keyboard Club's
Year End Party

Playing: Antonio's Song

The Photos:

Claude Moffat playing the grand piano

Diane Lyons playing her Korg Pa700

Ayana Tayler playing the grand piano

Patrick McMillan playing the grand piano

Gordon Sutherland playing his Korg Pa5X

Denise Gunson playing the grand piano

Taka Iida playing his Yamaha Stagea keyboard

Taka Iida playing his Yamaha Stagea keyboard and
accompanied by Hana Tani on grand piano

Taka Iida playing his Yamaha Stagea keyboard and
accompanied by Hana Tani on grand piano

Taka Iida playing his Yamaha Stagea keyboard and
accompanied by Hana Tani on grand piano

Coffee Day at Parklane Village

 Members of the Club enjoyed a great day at Parklane Village on the North Shore. This is a lovely Village with great enthusiasm from the residents as we shared our music from 10.30am to 3.00pm. Lots of our piano playing members turned-up to take a turn on the keys. We even had a resident participate by accompanying a keyboard with his vocals! Check out the Video of Reiko Noda and Taka Iida practising for the mini-Concert as the end of this blog!

The Photos:

Warren Levick playing the
Yamaha C3 grand piano

Denise Gunson playing the
Yamaha C3 grand piano

Graeme Webber playing the
Yamaha C3 grand piano

Gordon Sutherland accompanying a resident, Colin,
who asked to sing "You'll Never Walk Alone"
popularized by Gerry and the Pacemakers
Lyrics: Oscar Hammerstein II
Music: Richard Rodgers

Gordon Sutherland playing his
Korg Pa5X Arranger Keyboard

L:R Warren Levick; Kay Boyes; and Pauline Beales
at the Information/Raffle Desk

Patrick McMillan playing the
Yamaha C3 grand piano

Ayana Tayler playing the
Yamaha C3 grand piano

Reiko Noda playing the
Yamaha C3 grand piano.
Reiko was visiting from Japan!

Taka Iida playing his
Yamaha Stagea two-manual keyboard

Members and residents enjoying a duet by Reiko Noda and Taka Iida.
Reiko on the Yamaha C3 grand piano
and Taka Iida on his Yamaha Stagea keyboard

Reiko Noda and Taka Iida duetting.
Reiko on the Yamaha C3 grand piano
and Taka Iida on his Yamaha Stagea keyboard

 The Video:

Reiko Noda and Taka Iida practising a duet
at Taka Iida's home prior to their

Concert at the Parklane Coffee Day

The song is Antonio's Song
by
Michele Frank

Club Night 5th November 2024

 One of our best nights ever! A good-sized audience were superbly entertained by our guest artists and members who played. Our Treasurer and Media Manager kicked the evening off with some great background songs whilst our audience settled. Next up, our guest artists, Conundrum, played the first set for us. They play the first set as they come down from Warkworth/Wellsford area for the Concert. As in previous years, Conundrum were fantastic! The played an eclectic mix of songs of ranging from Country, Folk and Irish Ballads. The details about the Band can be found in the caption below of the photo taken on the night.

After a refreshing tea break kindly organized by our Secretary, Delyse Whorwood, three of our members played for us. To start, Ian Jackson played our Clavinova with some lovely ballads from the likes of John Lennon and Lionel Ritchie and with a little Southern Blues and 12-bar boogie to boot! We were thrilled to have our member, Charles Rafi [Rafi], play his acoustic guitar with added vocals. This was Rafi's debut at the Club, and he was terrific with some great ballads etc. Well done, Rafi, it is never easy on your debut! To finish the evening, Warren Levick played our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809 with a lovely mix of songs including Rhinestone Cowboy which Warren selected for our recently departed Committee member, Russell Boyes, who loved his country music. Thanks for your great music, Warren.

The Videos:

Our Guest artists, Conundrum,
from Warksworth/Wellsford region

From L to R: Cathy Busbridge on fiddle; Linda Hobbs on bass guitar and penny whistle; Jeff Hobbs on acoustic guitar, harmonica and vocals; Peter Thomas on mandolin and banjo; and Julia Withers on percussion/drums

Club member, Charles Rafi [Rafi], playing his
acoustic guitar plus vocals

The Photos:

Our guest artists, Conundrum

From L to R: Cathy Busbridge on fiddle; Linda Hobbs on bass guitar and penny whistle; Jeff Hobbs on acoustic guitar, harmonica and vocals; Julia Withers on percussion and keys; and Peter Thomas on mandolin and banjo. 

Warren Levick giving Arrival Music

Ian Jackson playing our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809

Warren Levick playing our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809

Charles Rafi [Rafi]

Coffee Day at Northbridge Village

A very good Coffee Day held at Northbridge Village. Lots of enthusiastic residents and a good turn-out of our members to play and entertain the audience. It was nice that a resident, Stephen Beech, kindly gave us a short recital. Stephen is a leading figure in the classic organ world but does a good job on the piano as well!

The Photos:

                               Mary Barrett playing the Village's Yamaha Clavinova CVP-609

Ian Jackson playing the Village's Yamaha Clavinova CVP-609

Gordon Sutherland playing his Korg Pa5X arranger keyboard

Warren Levick playing the Village's Yamaha Clavinova CVP-609

Stephen Beech playing the Village's Yamaha Clavinova CVP-609

Patrick McMillan playing the Village's Yamaha Clavinova CVP-609

Club Night 1st October 2024

 A very relaxed and enjoyable evening of great music! To start the evening, the arrival music was kindly performed by Patrick McMillan on our Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809 piano. Patrick was followed by Claude Moffat on piano and played beautifully without music sheets - well done! Next up, Peter Longbottom played his Korg Pa600 arranger keyboard with some great arrangements. To finish the first half, Mary Elvin-Brown played the piano with some great 50's music including some Elvis numbers - lovely stuff Mary.

After the raffle and tea break, we were entertained by our guest artist, Denise Gunson. Densie gave us a great concert of some of her favourite songs and composers from Jerome Kerns onwards. Denise made good use of the accompaniment capabilities of the Yamaha Clavinova by using layered voices and some great background styles. As always, most enjoyable and beautifully executed. Thank you, Denise. Acknowledgement should be made of our Treasurer, who helped Denise with the set-ups of some of the numbers. Warren has the same model Clavinova at home!

The Photos:

Our guest artist, Denise Gunson playing the Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809

Patrick McMillan provided the arrival music on the
Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809

Claude Moffat played the
Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809

Peter Longbottom played his
Korg Pa600 arranger keyboard

Mary Elvin-Brown playing the
Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809

Our guest artist, Denise Gunson playing the Yamaha Clavinova CVP-809

Coffee Day at Knightsbridge Village

What a great dat spent entertaining the residents of Knightsbridge Village in their luxuriant lounge. We had use of the Village's K. Kawai grand piano which many of our members took advantage to play. We also had two arranger keyboards brought in to add a different perspective to the music. We had a good turn-out of our members to enjoy the day with good music, good companionship and a great cafeteria for morning tea and lunch! 

The Photos:

Kay Boyes playing the K. Kawai grand piano

Our host and resident of Knightsbridge Village, Margaret Black,
manning the Raffle Desk

Norma Kingley-Smith (a resident of Knightsbridge Village
 playing the K. Kawai grand piano

Warren Levick playing the K. Kawai grand piano

Mary Barrett playing the K. Kawai grand piano

Denise Gunson playing the K. Kawai grand piano

Roy Steen playing his
Korg Pa300 arranger keyboard

Patrick McMillan playing the K. Kawai grand piano

Mary Brown playing the K. Kawai grand piano

Gordon Sutherland playing his
Korg Pa5X arranger keyboard