The Sterrys: Tuesday night is music night

Hannah and John Sterry from "The Sterrys" jazz trio.

Aside | September 20, 2012September 20, 2012 | Hannah Sterry

The 25th of September marks the last Tuesday Night is Music Night of this year and I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone at The Cottage Hotel, on behalf of The Sterrys, because we’ve had an amazing time.

It’s been great fun playing at The Cottage Hotel every week this summer and we’ve met some wonderful people, tasted some absolutely amazing food and really enjoyed playing to such a nice group of people.

Here are a few photos to sum up the wonderful time we’ve had here:

Having fun with the folk harp (sometimes accompanied by Joe on flute).

Fundraising for Hope Cove Lifeboat out on the terrace.

I’m not sure how much we raised, but have been told it was a success!

We even had time for a quick photo opportunity as the sun was setting!

In summary, we’ve had an absolutely amazing time with everyone who’s visited or worked at the hotel.

This is probably the best way to illustrate it:

Thank you to everyone who’s come and supported us,

I really hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as we have!

Best wishes,

Hannah Sterry

The Sterrys

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Crotchety Tee by Sterry Cartoons. Jokes for music teachers and students.

September 19, 2012July 13, 2014 | Hannah Sterry

Amusing t-shirt designs and illustrations by Sterry Cartoons creator, Hannah Sterry.

All designs are available in mens’ and womens’ sizes on a variety of colours. Just click the images to find out more!

Cute Baby Sheep Tee by Sterry Cartoons	Rabbit Pi Cartoon Tee by Sterry Cartoons
Crazy Computer T-Shirt by Sterry Cartoons	Music Joke Cartoon Tee by Sterry Cartoons
Beeline Tee Shirt by Sterry Cartoons View more Bumble Bee T-Shirts	Don’t Eat The Kiwis Shirt by Sterry Cartoons Browse Kiwis T-Shirts
Smiling Music Note Hoodies and Tees!	“Aimez-vous l’accent?” French Music T-Shirt!
Living with Music T-Shirts	Crotchety Music Joke T-Shirts

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If you’d like to license any of the above images, contact me via hannah@hannahsterry.com to discuss pricing.

2012 Bucket List

September 12, 2012October 16, 2012 | Hannah Sterry

Inspired by Lesley Carter over at Bucket List Publications, I’ve decided to make a bucket list of my own for this year and will let you know how I get on!

The list has been split in to sections, because I have a lot of specific music and cartoon aims.

Music

Study a full time music course with the Open University.
Currently studying:

AA302 From composition to performance: musicians at work

A224 Inside music
Continue improving my skills as a flautist and harpist.Currently studying: ABRSM Grade 8 Flute.
Play the saxophone in public at least once before the end of the year.
Learn the clarinet to at least Grade 5 standard.
Write, sing and record at least one song on harp.
Gig! Gig! Gig! As much as possible (see shows)!

Cartoons

Release a new cartoon once every two weeks and upload to Sterry Cartoons.
Cartoons so far: Unhappea, Breve, Bass Face
Create a storyboard and some short animations with local animator Ben Carr.
Target local music shops and sell batches of mugs/cards.

Misc.

Learn to drive!
Add to the photography portfolio.
Be happy! – I realise this one is continuous can’t ever be ticked off the list, but it’s probably one of the most important. It’s lovely being able to laugh and smile and share ideas with other people and seems to make everyone feel good.

There’s the list anyway. I’ll tick things off as I go and add links if I blog about them.

It’s fun being busy! 😀

“How far do these music jokes go?”

August 31, 2012September 12, 2012 | Hannah Sterry

Answer: Too far!

Yes, I have some more music cartoons for you and they’ll be available in my shop shortly (when I get round to it). There are more over on Sterry Cartoons facebook page.

In the meantime, it’s been an exciting few weeks and I haven’t blogged much, so here’s what’s been happening recently:

The Sterrys live music for Tuesday Night is Music Night at The Cottage Hotel have been a great success and we’ve been asked to continue through September! Earlier in August we (Hannah and John Sterry) also played there to raise money for Hope Cove Lifeboat and someone was kind enough to to take this photo:

It was a wonderful place to play, partly because the weather was so amazing and I managed to get a picture of the view from the terrace. It’s really lovely on sunny evenings on the Tuesday nights, because as we’re playing we can watch the sun setting over the sea – it’s beautiful.

Exciting news:

I’m finally learning to drive after years of putting it off because of university and moving!

The Boyfriend Song now has a much better delivery and set of chords and I need to practice it to perfection!

My SketchBook is filling up really quickly and I’ve been talking to a local animator about possibly animating some of my cartoons!

Anyway… that’ll do for today, but I’ll keep you updated as this all progresses (when I find time to blog, that is).

Feel free to ask me any questions or just have a nice chat in the comments! 🙂

Music Cartoon: Minimalism

August 17, 2012September 13, 2012 | Hannah Sterry

Less is more is a phrase that was repeated to me from a very early age, although this may have been because toddler-me was extremely messy and seemed to think that no wall should be free from gigantic crayon scribbles!

Now, I generally manage to keep my scribbles on paper, but I’m trying my luck with vector graphics in a futile attempt to clean up my act (and my cartoons). “Minimalism” is my very simple first attempt at drawing in Inkscape.

What do you reckon?

More cartoons from Hannah Sterry…

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THIS WEEK: Upcoming Gigs & Fluid Pianos

August 5, 2012August 5, 2012 | Hannah Sterry

Here’s what’s happening this week:

Tuesday Night is Music Night at the Cottage Hotel. I’ll be playing flute as part of The Sterrys and watching the sun setting over the water at Hope Cove. Feel free to relax with a cocktail and enjoy the music! Starts at 6:45pm.

Wednesday… brings the second of Ben Carr’s Music Sessions at The Hideaway. Anyone can come along, bring an instrument and join in (I’ll be there with my flute). The whole evening’s great fun and you’ll meet some really nice people. Starts at 8pm.

Thursday… features An audience with Auntie Pus at B-Bar, Plymouth. I’m really hoping to go to this, but haven’t quite worked out the logistics yet. Either way, I’m sure it’ll be a brilliant evening. Starts at 8:30pm.

Sunday… Gallows Ghost play The Hideaway and have asked me if I’d like to stand in for a few tunes as a guest musician. They’re lovely people and their music is great fun to play, so the answer is always yes!

Today’s discovery is… a new instrument called The Fluid Piano. The strings all have sliders that enable each note to be changed in pitch (by up to a whole tone) as the piano is being played. This also means that the piano can be tuned to the true harmonic series, making it much more compatible with traditional indian music, which doesn’t use the standard western tuning (twelve note equal temperament) and can often involve fluctuations in pitch.

Anyway, I hope you’re all having a good week and if you happen to be at any of these gigs, feel free to say hi (I’ll be the one with the flute and the long brown hair)!

Hannah Sterry playing Jazz Flute - Sketch by Jasmine Greenhill — Jazz Greenhill drew me! She’s a genius armed with pencils.

The Sterrys: Tuesday Nights at The Cottage Hotel

July 25, 2012July 25, 2012 | Hannah Sterry

Tuesday Night is Music Night at The Cottage Hotel has been a great succes, and was particularly lovely today, as we [The Sterrys] arrived to the sun shining and played until we saw it setting over the sea. Here are the photos from the evening:

John and Joe setting up in the sun.

Taking turns to improvise.

John suddenly turns in to a giant while Joe and Hannah aren’t looking.

The evening ended with this…

…and we couldn’t be happier.

This Week’s Music Highlights

Ben Carr's First Music Hall & Blues Night at The Hideaway Speakeasy

July 21, 2012July 25, 2012 | Hannah Sterry

It’s been a thoroughly enjoyable, musical week with lots of things happening, but here are the highlights:

Tuesday: John Sterry (pianist for The Sterrys) entertained guests and visitors to The Cottage Hotel with a relaxed evening of jazz piano.

Wednesday: Ben Carr hosted his first Blues Session in The Hideaway Speakeasy, which turned out to be an amazing success! The atmosphere was wonderful and it was good to see musicians who’d never met just getting up and joining in (at one point Ian Feetenby jumped in and provided us with some brilliantly spontaneous percussion on acoustic guitar). The next session is on Wednesday 8th August – Feel free to come along and enjoy the music or, better still, bring an instrument and join in! We’re all friendly, I promise!

Friday: Hamer & Isaacs played The B-Bar in Plymouth and were kind enough to ask me to step in as a guest musician on their second set. What followed was a foot-tapping extravaganza of swinging gypsy jazz with one of the liveliest audiences I’ve ever played to! I think everyone left that gig with a huge smile.