Caught up in preparing for two trips to New Zealand: one this week, when I go to Wellington and Auckland to work with various choirs('Sister Shout' on Waiheke, 'Heaven Bent' and 'One Voice' in Auckland) and do some promo for the second trip, which is of course the choir's tour of NZ in just over a month's time - but I've still managed to spend time writing music and making a couple of demos…just getting in some practice at the recording side of things before flinging myself into finishing the long-overdue CD with Peter Dasent. Meanwhile the choir is rehearsing diligently and Marianne is racking up the good karma in her role as the choir's tour manager…

• Tim Finn kindly gives me a nod on his new Imaginary Kingdom CD - I did some vocal arrangements for some songs of Tim's a few years ago, and while the fleshed out arrangements haven't ended up on the album, he's used their bones on Still The Song, So Precious and Show Yourself.

• And thanks to Nick Prater for including an arrangement of mine, Get Away Jordan in his new songbook Everytime I Feel The Spirit (more songs for community choirs and voice workshops). SATB scores with working notes for a range of spirituals, gospel songs, originals and other traditional songs. For more info contact Nick(who lives in Devon in the UK) via: Nick@prater.totalserve.co.uk.