Monday, 21 October 2013
Feedback & market research
Just a few samples of feedback I've had from parents & kids
who've bought the CD, plus some press reviews lower down, and some
market research from playing the CD to a primary school at the bottom:
From: Aoife Clifford <aoifeclifford@bigpond.com>
Date: 12 April 2013 11:25:29 GMT+01:00
To: admin@grandmadingley.com
Subject: Hello
Hello
I live in Melbourne Australia and recently purchased Sheherezade after I saw a reference to it in the on-line Times. My children love it (10, 8, 5 years old) They think the story is hilarious. They recognise Brian Blessed's voice from The Big Knights and already are walking around the house quoting lines from script. We have also listened to the music without the audio over the top and they have enjoyed that as well.
I was planning to email your site to recommend Peer Gynt as one I would dearly like to see in your series so was absolutely delighted to see that it is coming soon. So we will be waiting eagerly to make further purchases in the series. At this stage I noticed that you are only in the UK itunes store and I know Australia is a small market but it would be great to have you in our itunes store as well as this would be something we would be keen to make recommendations to friends and purchase for birthdays etc.
Great product - it is a lovely idea and so well executed.
Thanks
Aoife
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From: suziehammond <suzie@goodwriter.info>
Date: 27 March 2011 15:25:10 GMT+01:00
To: sales@grandmadingley.com
Subject: Please do this one!
Love this idea and it's execution. Wish my kids weren't grown. Will certainly recommend to all my friends who have grandchildren!
How about doing Saint-Saens 'Day of the Dead' and other Gruesome Tales" with some less well known but evocative horror items?
regards and best wishes on your projects,
following you
Suzie Hammond
EBook Author: "I am Not Sure Where I Want to Be-But it's Not Here"
http://www.goodwriter.info
FB page; http://tinyurl.com/4et7pev
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From: Nadia Menuhin <nadiamenuhin@hotmail.com>
Subject:
Date: 18 March 2013 20:37:27 GMT
To: sales@grandmadingley.com
To Whom it may concern
My children love your Sheherazade production, have you produced any more of these sorts of CDs? I see on your website a mention of Swan Lake.
Regards
Nadia
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From: CHRIS OGDEN <chris.ogden2@btopenworld.com>
Subject: Re: Sheherazade £50 Kickstarter pledge reward
Date: 25 April 2013 13:38:14 GMT+01:00
To: Grandma Dingley Admin <admin@grandmadingley.com>
Reply-To: CHRIS OGDEN <chris.ogden2@btopenworld.com>
Dear Matt,
The CD arrived a couple of days ago and is great! I was wondering how you might be distributing them in the future - it probably says on your site but I haven't had chance to look. I think I may have mentioned I work in education (LA Literacy Adviser and Ofsted inspector) and wondered if you had any plans for schools to be able to buy copies in the future. I am happy to promote the CD at my next subject leaders update in July or October. I also wondered if you had any plans for an 'education pack / guidance' on how schools and teachers might use the resources as part of their curriculum offer.
Best wishes,
Chris
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From: Jeremy Evans <jeremy.evans@bbc.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Sheherezade
Date: 3 August 2012 17:58:51 GMT+01:00
To: Matthew Parry <mattparry@me.com>
Cc: Andrew Smillie <andrew.smillie@bbc.co.uk>
Hi Matt -
Good to hear from you. I do think what you've done is incredibly funny and impressively produced too. A journey to Norfolk whilst listening to it with roars of laughter coming from the back of the car will forever be etched on my mind!
I've got a busy week next week and then I'm away for a couple of weeks. Perhaps the best thing to do at the moment is for me to try to get Roger to hear the recording and take it from there. Chances are it will be difficult to get him to listen before the end of the proms, but certainly worth me trying.
Andrew ... Have you got a spare copy you can let me have?
And where are you with interest from record companies at the moment?
Would also be interested to know how you reckon the live performance will compare with the recording which is so tightly done.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
All the best,
Jeremy
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Armadillo Magazine review by its editor, Louise Ellis-Baxter
Sheherazade or The Princess, The Pirate and the Baboon!
Author: Brian Blessed & Rory Bremner
Publisher: Melodramatic Productions
Reviewed by: Louise Ellis-Barrett
As soon as I read the press release for this title I knew I wanted to review it. Not only do I love the music by Rimsky-Korsakov, in fact I think it would have to be one of my desert island discs, along with this story, the fact that two such great names were involved with it – Brian Blessed and Rory Bremner – made me smile before I had even heard it!
It is truly wonderful. I am almost tempted to say no more but that would not be fair.
So where do I start? Not only does this turn the traditional story on its head but it does so with such aplomb and comedy that one doesn’t mind in the slightest!
The music and story-telling fit together so seamlessly that young listeners will, without any doubt absorb both, if of course they can stop laughing at the absurd adventures that the beautiful princess tells in order to avert the potentially horrible fate that awaits her!
With pace, comedy and music this is a most wonderful creation and aptly names as ‘Grandma Dingley’s Ingeniously Musical Tales.’
If you are wondering how to introduce children to classic story telling and classical music then this is the CD to choose and I for one cannot wait to find out what is coming next.
You can visit the website for more information, buy the CD as a CD or download as an MP3 from Amazon and iTunes too.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soundfreakz review by Melanie Spanswick - the Soundfreakz blog site doesn't exist any more but by all means check out @ClassicalMel's twitter feed.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TheArtsDesk review by Graham Rickson. This is still on the Arts Desk website but you have to search for it. Also you might notice it's not the best review but I've included it because it touches on some points I've been concerned with myself - namely the balance of words with music in the production - I'm concerned it gets a bit wordy at times myself and am looking into reworking the recording somewhat to get a better balance - something I was working on when the project was in development with EMI.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And I wanted to add some research I did with a pilot production of the CD. This was recorded by Sam Morris and Jess Murphy - who appear in the finished work - and myself filling in the rest of the voices. So no Brian Blessed or Rory Bremner... but it was a useful first draft and was what first got Sony Masterworks interested back in 2008, before we had a similar experience with them to the one more recently with EMI. I went into a friend's school - Eaton The Manor Primary in Clapham, London - and played to a class of 9 / 10 year old boys. Top of the age range that it's aimed at but they seemed to really enjoy it. I also got them to fill out questionnaires on it for a bit of market research. Here's a sample of three...
From: Aoife Clifford <aoifeclifford@bigpond.com>
Date: 12 April 2013 11:25:29 GMT+01:00
To: admin@grandmadingley.com
Subject: Hello
Hello
I live in Melbourne Australia and recently purchased Sheherezade after I saw a reference to it in the on-line Times. My children love it (10, 8, 5 years old) They think the story is hilarious. They recognise Brian Blessed's voice from The Big Knights and already are walking around the house quoting lines from script. We have also listened to the music without the audio over the top and they have enjoyed that as well.
I was planning to email your site to recommend Peer Gynt as one I would dearly like to see in your series so was absolutely delighted to see that it is coming soon. So we will be waiting eagerly to make further purchases in the series. At this stage I noticed that you are only in the UK itunes store and I know Australia is a small market but it would be great to have you in our itunes store as well as this would be something we would be keen to make recommendations to friends and purchase for birthdays etc.
Great product - it is a lovely idea and so well executed.
Thanks
Aoife
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: suziehammond <suzie@goodwriter.info>
Date: 27 March 2011 15:25:10 GMT+01:00
To: sales@grandmadingley.com
Subject: Please do this one!
Love this idea and it's execution. Wish my kids weren't grown. Will certainly recommend to all my friends who have grandchildren!
How about doing Saint-Saens 'Day of the Dead' and other Gruesome Tales" with some less well known but evocative horror items?
regards and best wishes on your projects,
following you
Suzie Hammond
EBook Author: "I am Not Sure Where I Want to Be-But it's Not Here"
http://www.goodwriter.info
FB page; http://tinyurl.com/4et7pev
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Nadia Menuhin <nadiamenuhin@hotmail.com>
Subject:
Date: 18 March 2013 20:37:27 GMT
To: sales@grandmadingley.com
To Whom it may concern
My children love your Sheherazade production, have you produced any more of these sorts of CDs? I see on your website a mention of Swan Lake.
Regards
Nadia
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: CHRIS OGDEN <chris.ogden2@btopenworld.com>
Subject: Re: Sheherazade £50 Kickstarter pledge reward
Date: 25 April 2013 13:38:14 GMT+01:00
To: Grandma Dingley Admin <admin@grandmadingley.com>
Reply-To: CHRIS OGDEN <chris.ogden2@btopenworld.com>
Dear Matt,
The CD arrived a couple of days ago and is great! I was wondering how you might be distributing them in the future - it probably says on your site but I haven't had chance to look. I think I may have mentioned I work in education (LA Literacy Adviser and Ofsted inspector) and wondered if you had any plans for schools to be able to buy copies in the future. I am happy to promote the CD at my next subject leaders update in July or October. I also wondered if you had any plans for an 'education pack / guidance' on how schools and teachers might use the resources as part of their curriculum offer.
Best wishes,
Chris
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Jeremy Evans <jeremy.evans@bbc.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Sheherezade
Date: 3 August 2012 17:58:51 GMT+01:00
To: Matthew Parry <mattparry@me.com>
Cc: Andrew Smillie <andrew.smillie@bbc.co.uk>
Hi Matt -
Good to hear from you. I do think what you've done is incredibly funny and impressively produced too. A journey to Norfolk whilst listening to it with roars of laughter coming from the back of the car will forever be etched on my mind!
I've got a busy week next week and then I'm away for a couple of weeks. Perhaps the best thing to do at the moment is for me to try to get Roger to hear the recording and take it from there. Chances are it will be difficult to get him to listen before the end of the proms, but certainly worth me trying.
Andrew ... Have you got a spare copy you can let me have?
And where are you with interest from record companies at the moment?
Would also be interested to know how you reckon the live performance will compare with the recording which is so tightly done.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
All the best,
Jeremy
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PRESS REVIEWS
Armadillo Magazine review by its editor, Louise Ellis-Baxter
Sheherazade or The Princess, The Pirate and the Baboon!
Author: Brian Blessed & Rory Bremner
Publisher: Melodramatic Productions
Reviewed by: Louise Ellis-Barrett
As soon as I read the press release for this title I knew I wanted to review it. Not only do I love the music by Rimsky-Korsakov, in fact I think it would have to be one of my desert island discs, along with this story, the fact that two such great names were involved with it – Brian Blessed and Rory Bremner – made me smile before I had even heard it!
It is truly wonderful. I am almost tempted to say no more but that would not be fair.
So where do I start? Not only does this turn the traditional story on its head but it does so with such aplomb and comedy that one doesn’t mind in the slightest!
The music and story-telling fit together so seamlessly that young listeners will, without any doubt absorb both, if of course they can stop laughing at the absurd adventures that the beautiful princess tells in order to avert the potentially horrible fate that awaits her!
With pace, comedy and music this is a most wonderful creation and aptly names as ‘Grandma Dingley’s Ingeniously Musical Tales.’
If you are wondering how to introduce children to classic story telling and classical music then this is the CD to choose and I for one cannot wait to find out what is coming next.
You can visit the website for more information, buy the CD as a CD or download as an MP3 from Amazon and iTunes too.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soundfreakz review by Melanie Spanswick - the Soundfreakz blog site doesn't exist any more but by all means check out @ClassicalMel's twitter feed.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TheArtsDesk review by Graham Rickson. This is still on the Arts Desk website but you have to search for it. Also you might notice it's not the best review but I've included it because it touches on some points I've been concerned with myself - namely the balance of words with music in the production - I'm concerned it gets a bit wordy at times myself and am looking into reworking the recording somewhat to get a better balance - something I was working on when the project was in development with EMI.
MARKET RESEARCH
And I wanted to add some research I did with a pilot production of the CD. This was recorded by Sam Morris and Jess Murphy - who appear in the finished work - and myself filling in the rest of the voices. So no Brian Blessed or Rory Bremner... but it was a useful first draft and was what first got Sony Masterworks interested back in 2008, before we had a similar experience with them to the one more recently with EMI. I went into a friend's school - Eaton The Manor Primary in Clapham, London - and played to a class of 9 / 10 year old boys. Top of the age range that it's aimed at but they seemed to really enjoy it. I also got them to fill out questionnaires on it for a bit of market research. Here's a sample of three...
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