Mark Pentleton

Since I’m in London this week I thought I’d do something a bit theatrical, so here’s one of the lesser-known songs from Phantom of the Opera. If anyone is coming to this blog having been at one of my presentations this week, then you may want to find out more about 365songs here.
This evening I’m [...]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Today’s song is the Duke Ellington classic Don’t Get Around Much Anymore. The last time I played this song was around 1am in the bar at the Crowne Plaza in Glasgow following the first day of the Scottish Learning Festival and I was joined by Derek Robertson from LTS who sang the song to the [...]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Today’s song was requested by Helen Myers. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Helen on several occasions and she wrote a lovely comment last week on Guldet Blev till Sand. I’ll hopefully catch up with Helen later this week at BETT. I hope you enjoy this, Helen!
Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:14 — 4.5MB)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

This song dates from 1935 and I’ve always enjoyed playing it. Written by Harry Link, Holt Marvell and Jack Strachley, the song has been covered by lots of performers including Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, and Bryan Ferry, but I think my favourite has always been Ella Fitzgerald’s version.
I hope you enjoy today’s performance!
Podcast: Download (Duration: [...]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Today’s song is the beautiful Fields of Gold, written by Sting, although my performance is much more in the style of Eva Cassidy’s version. The last time I played this song was in the Café Rohan in Strasbourg when we were there in November with East Dunbartonshire. On that occasion the song was sung by [...]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Earlier this week I asked if anyone had any requests and I’ve had loads of suggestions from friends on Twitter, Facebook and even in the real world! I’ve started recording some of these and we’ll start today with Elton John’s Your Song which was requested by Carolyn, dedicated to her dad. I had the pleasure of [...]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Week 2 begins today – with Yesterday! Beautiful song, first released in 1965. According to the Guinness Book of Records, this song has the most cover versions of any song ever written. Here’s another one to throw into the mix!
Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:56 — 5.4MB)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

I’m in London today for an Apple meeting at Hannover St so I wanted to play something appropriate. With yesterday’s snow I wasn’t even sure I’d get here, but one cancelled flight, one late flight, one late train which broke down and another train later I finally arrived last night.
According to Google Maps I’m a [...]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

“This one’s going out to Sorcha and Paul in Northern Ireland…” If you’re interested, you can find out more about the song on Wikipedia.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 5:25 — 7.5MB)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Sticking with the musicals theme from yesterday, Guldet Blev till Sand is one of many beautiful songs from the Swedish musical Kristina från Duvemåla, written by (my musical hero) Benny Andersson and with lyrics by Björn Ulvæus. The musical is based on the novels of Swedish author Vilhelm Moberg which tell of a Swedish family’s [...]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

There’s no particular reason for this one today. It’s the song On My Own from Les Misérables, sung by the character Éponine. The musical Les Misérables, based on the novel by Victor Hugo, was written in French by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil in 1980, but wasn’t staged in London until 1985 with English lyrics [...]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

I’ve always loved this song. It was originally written by George and Ira Gershwin in 1926 for the musical Oh Kay! and has been sung by many performers including Ella Fitzgerald, Barbara Streisand and Linda Ronstadt. The song has also featured on Battlestar Galactica and in Star Trek: Voyager and in the movie Mr Holland’s [...]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

In this morning’s Herald “Review of the Decade”, I was reading about 9/11 and I was thinking back to one of my lasting memories from the time after the horrific events. Billy Joel performed the brilliant New York State of Mind at the benefit Concert for New York City and along with the other brilliant performances [...]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

I’ve been having massive problems with uploading audio files both here on my 365 songs project, and to the Radio Lingua server with new podcast episodes. The mp3 and m4a files worked perfectly on my computer. The process I was using was as follows:

create audio in Garageband
export aif of voice only
use Levelator to process voice [...]

Yesterday my new piano arrived – the Roland RD-700GX and I’ve been playing it pretty much non-stop since. As we entered the new year I was thinking back ten years to the Millennium and to the fact that at the time I was playing much more regularly – on New Year’s Day 2000 I was [...]

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

This was around 1am in the bar of the Crowne Plaza in Glasgow, after a long day on the Adventi stand at the Scottish Learning Festival and a great Teachmeet over at the Beeb. That’s Derek Robertson doing his best Harry Connick Jr performance. A great night!

I’m just back from a great week in Leigh Academy where I was part of a team of Apple Distinguished Educators delivering workshops to the students of the school. It was a fantastic week, although at times the 35°C+ temperatures outside and glass roof in the work areas made the workshops a bit hard-going to [...]