Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Rick Owen's Weblog Space

I began my musical career when my father, Michael Owen (seriously!), recorded me on an Akai 8-track system as a 32-voice choir singing in four part harmony in 1972 after confirming my place in my prep school choir. I went on to become the treble soloist, gaining my silver medallion at twelve years of age, and was recorded at school for the first time by my singing teacher, interpreting "I know that my redeemer liveth" from Handel's Messiah.

At secondary school I sang in the choir as a treble until the end of my first term when my voice broke very suddenly. After spending about six months without singing, until my voice settled, I returned to the school choir as a tenor, later going on to sing deep bass and countertenor (as and when needed owing to a depleted contralto complement).

At 18 years of age I was a candidate for a choral scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge where, having not been offered the scholarship, I opted not to take the entrance examination in modern languages (French and Portuguese) in favour of a combined honours degree course in French and Business Administration at Aston University.

At the end of my first year I suffered a massive cerebral haemorrhage, underwent exploratory surgery, and returned to the university three months later for my second year, where I opted for classical guitar and choral singing as my specialist music subjects in my third subject option which, of course, was music! I took leave of absence for two years owing to recurring post-operative complications but sang both in my local amateur operatic society, The Wandering Minstrels, in a local madrigal group and in the Brighton and Hove Welsh Male Voice Choir, which was run by Brian Wiggins at the time.

In 1983 I returned to university but was unable to complete my second year studies, owing to recurring problems caused by my complete short-term memory loss at the time, although I was awarded a place for my gap year (third) at the University of Paris' (Paris I, Sorbonne) Panthéon college!

In the following years I studied Information Technology at the Brighton Polytechnic, now Brighton University, and did an Introductory Certificate in the Teaching of English as a Foreign Language (T.E.F.L.). In 1987, having emigrated to Brazil, I was accepted on the local British Council school's Teacher Training Course, where I was offered a job at the end of the T.T.C.

Concurrently, I began to sing in various local independent, company and university choirs, including Coral Zoada, Grupo Vocal Macho Pero No Mucho, Coral das Águas and Coral do D.C.E./U.F.C, all of which went on to record internationally acclaimed compact discs, which were intrumental in raising the consciousness of music as an educational and cultural stimulus both in deprived areas and worldwide among students. In addition to this I contributed to various local artistes C.D.s, including Marta Aurélia and Putz Band, as well as singing and playing in local popular bands such as The Cows, The Shout, Splash and Grupo Vocal Meio Dia, which I formed, conducted, in which I sang as a the second bass and for which I wrote various choral arrangements, including "Blue Moon Theme", "My Way", "You've Lost That Loving Feeling", "Donna", "All I Have To Do Is Dream", among others.

After returning permanently to England in 2001, I sang for a while in the After Dark Duo and in the Brighton Chamber Choir, leaving the former when the lead singer returned from maternity leave and the latter when my current work and home studio projects made it impossible to take on any extra musical work.

More recently I have been concentrating on setting up and kitting out my home studio, doing some new recordings, updating old compositions and arrangements and, where appropriate, improving them!

Now I am seeking singers with choral or other close harmony singing experience, giving preference to those who can read music and play a popular musical instrument, to form new groups, both amateur and professional, forge new friendships and develop a strong, like-minded, interactive, off and on-line community. The rest is up to those of you who can identify with this aim to take the second step towards both me and each other...

I'd like to meet experienced singers with a great choral or other close harmony singing talent. Sight reading and popular instrumental skills will be very desirable and beneficial to all involved, both professionals, amateurs or just friendship seekers. Traditional Aikido practitioners are especially welcome, above all if they're fantastically talented musicians to boot!

I believe firmly in the therapeutic value of music for helping in recovery from serious brain injury, as well as its value as an educational tool and in helping in the recovery from very many other medical and psychic ailments. I also think it is everyone's duty to do their part as we will all be frail and vulnerable one day. Please hold out your own hand and encourage someone else as well as yourself to develop something worthwhile.

If you are interested in getting in touch for a chat or a jam or to sing a few songs, you can contact me at one of the following e-mails:

paulrichardowen@gmail.com

paulrichardowen@gawab.com

or

paulrichardowen@hotmail.com