At the top turn right into Littlemore Road which becomes #Cowley Road as it crosses into #Littlemore. At the roundabout turn left into Long Lane, then right through the pedestrian underpass under the Ring Road. TOA has a gate just where this underpass comes out which is always open at the time I arrive - and now we've found a helpful staff member who makes sure that it remains open until we're gone. (previously I had to exit with the cars and go around the school property via Sandy Lane)

or better still extend the #CowleyBranchLine to meet the chiltern line at #PrincesRisborough (as it did before the Beeching cuts). To get from #Cowley to Marylebone, it doesn't make much sense to go via #Oxford and #Bicester. #railways

#LondonLOOP at #SloughArmJunction
#GrandUnionCanal at #Cowley.
Map of walk

2/3 orchestral pieces we played at #Cowley #Orchestra this Wednesday: As promised, here comes the other #Ketelbey piece, the one that first introduced me to this composer, In a Persian Market. In this video I love the fact that the English orientalism is diffracted through the prism of a Taiwan orchestra with traditional Chinese instruments and a conductor from Turkmenistan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYgmMJnM0gQ #Oxford

6/6 pieces we played at #Cowley #Orchestra last Wednesday: Alexander #Borodin Prince Igor Polovtsian Dances. Borodin was obviously very important because he was both a chemist and a composer. We had a go at the Prince Igor dances before running out of time - may help to study the dance video to get a feeling for the spirit of the piece.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D06rsbKGBc #oxford #opera #dance #AmateurOrchestra

5/6 pieces we played at #Cowley #Orchestra last Wednesday: As we have a few lovers of #musicals in the ensemble, we return to this selection tunes from #Oklahoma! fairly regularly, maybe once a term: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J92PAM8VtxE #Oxford #AmateurOrchestra #JustForFun #JoinIn

4/6 pieces we played at #Cowley #Orchestra this week: Handel Suite No. 1. No this is not the famous water music, it is Handel's keyboard suite arranged for orchestra by the founder of our ensemble and collector of much of its music library, Henry Gosling. I tend to moan when I see the handwritten dots but the flip side is that this arrangement is a unique piece of music that probably doesn't exist anywhere else. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB1atm__LTY #Oxford #baroqueMusic

3/6 pieces we played at #Cowley #Orchestra this week: Cosi fan tutte Ouverture (Mozart). Based on our no-commitment policy, we have a lot of experience in playing orchestral pieces with whatever instruments turn up on the night, even if it's only 7 and no violin. So it's good to see professionals also like to play (and even record) these pieces with smaller ensembles, in this case just 5 wind players:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgr0ErBmA50

2/6 pieces we played at #Cowley #Orchestra this week: Albert Ketelbey, in a monastery garden. I actually discovered #Ketelbey through playing another piece of his at Cowley (have that one lined up for next week): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2aYDWb676Q #Oxford