Sunday Afternoon Music &#8211; instrumental

www.music-for-everyone.org | 0115 9589312

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/byme-bandwise-2023/

#MfEMonday – 18th September 2023

18th September 2023 Music for Everyone

It’s going to be a busy week for MfE, with not one, not two, but EIGHT Daytime groups starting their new term. Plus there is the beautiful Chamber Singers concert to look forward to on Saturday evening at St Barnabas Cathedral, 8pm start – tickets on the door!

For more information see the attached flyer, or click here: https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/ncs-concert/

The youth groups, all Open Voices groups, Sunday Afternoon Big Band and Flute Choir and Nottingham Chamber Singers have all started their new seasons, with the World Drumming starting next week (26th Sept). See a full weekly schedule below.

To find out more about any of these groups and how to join, please contact the office.

The next BANDWISE & STRINGWISE workshop is open for young musicians to join! We’re so excited to see many young wind, brass, percussion and string players taking part this November. Over the last few years the combined concert has been a magnificent affair with more than 150 young players all coming together to share the music making.

Bandwise: 11 & 19 November, young wind, brass and percussion grade 2+

Stringwise: 12 & 19 November, young string players from beginners

We’ve been ‘musing’ on the fantastic music chosen for the NFC workshop day in October with Sam Evans. Interesting fact about the operetta by Franz Lehár The Merry Widow – did you know Lehár was not the first choice to compose the music? Richard Heuberger was asked first, but his draft was deemed ‘unsatisfactory’ and he left the project.

The Vilja Song is one of the most well-known pieces from the score, if you’re not familiar, take a listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4366WDO3jhU

Something a bit different… Pachelbel’s Canon performed by… TRAIN HORNS! This is both brilliant and hilarious and is a must-watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cD3QlR98–A&t=158s

Have a great week!

Your friends at MfE.

18/09/2023

www.music-for-everyone.org | 0115 9589312

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

#MfEMonday – 11th September 2023

11th September 2023 Music for Everyone

Nottingham Festival Chorus

We are now taking bookings for our Festival Chorus day on Saturday 7^th October.

We are very lucky to be joined by the seasoned and acclaimed Chorus Master Sam Evans! Much in demand for workshops for singers of all kinds, Sam has run events for large choirs such as Highgate Choral Society, The London Chorus and Henley Choral Society. He has run numerous “Come and Sing” workshops, on repertoire ranging from opera choruses to pop music from movie soundtracks.

Get ready to sing a selection of well-loved choruses from Mendelssohn’s epic Oratorio Elijah, Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach’s sparkling Magnificat and the beautiful Vilja chorus from Lehár’s opera The Merry Widow.

Booking can be made online here: Music For Everyone (savoysystems.co.uk) or by calling the office.

Autumn Term Begins

It might not have felt like Autumn with all this glorious sunshine, but some of our groups started their Autumn term this weekend.

SAM Big Band and Flutes had a sweltering start to the term, with the Flute Choir even resorting to playing outside!

To check when your group is starting, and to sign-up for any of our Adult groups, click here

Bandwise and Stringwise

For any young musicians wanting to get involved in Music for Everyone, we have the exciting Bandwise and Stringwise coming up in November.

Bandwise:

Date

Venue

Who’s it for?

11 & 19 November 2023

Course venue – South Notts Academy, Radcliffe on Trent

Concert – Albert Hall, Nottingham

Young wind, brass and percussion players grade 2 – 8

Book online here: https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/byme-bandwise-2023/

Stringwise:

Date

Venue

Who’s it for?

12 & 19 November 2023

Course venue – South Notts Academy, Radcliffe on Trent

Concert – Albert Hall, Nottingham

Young violin, viola, cello and double bass players beginners – grade 8

Book online here: https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/byme-stringwise-2023/

Did you know Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah was given its premiere in Birmingham in 1846 to an ecstatic audience of 2,000 people. It had taken him some ten years to prepare, including penning most of the libretto himself. It was very much the ‘Messiah’ of its day: hugely popular, cementing Mendelssohn’s position as one of the greatest composers of sacred music.

It will be fantastic to work through this in our Nottingham Festival Chorus day with Sam Evans next month.

According to a new study 84% of the general population want to experience an orchestral concert. Read more here: https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/survey-research-royal-philharmonic-orchestra/

Have a great week!

Your friends at MfE.

11/09/2023

www.music-for-everyone.org | 0115 9589312

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

#MfEMonday – 4th July 2023

5th July 2023 Music for Everyone

Everyone at Music for Everyone is still on a high from this weekend’s magnificent 40th anniversary celebrations!

Nearly 1000 people descended on the Albert Hall to celebrate 40 years of music making, recounting many highs from the last four decades and looking forward to the next four.

On Saturday, we celebrated our youth programme, with hundreds of young people taking part in an impressive concert.

Earlier in the day, celebrated folk violinist and MfE alumnus Sam Sweeney led a workshop with our youth string players, the fruits of which raised the roof in the afternoon concert.

Also featured were our Youth Bands, Vocals choir, Strictly Strings training orchestra, and a wonderful line up of ‘big kids’ — alumni youth participants who returned as adult players to share in the day.

On Sunday, members of our Daytime Voices choirs, the Nottingham Chamber Singers, Nottingham and Loughborough Daytime Orchestras, Nottingham Concert Orchestra, Big Band and Flute Choir, were amassed to give a triumphant concert featuring excerpts from favoured programmes from the last 40 years.

This included works by Brahms, Handel, Freddie Mercury and, excitingly, the world premiere of a new fanfare by composer Libby Croad.

Sunday’s concert was rounded off with a performance of the Hallelujah Chorus, conducted by our incoming artistic director Alex Robinson.

We proceeded to finish this fantastic weekend with celebratory tea and cake, after a special moment on stage with Angela Kay.

Thank you and well done to everyone who participated and made the weekend so extremely special!

Did you see our Exhibition this weekend? Showcasing Music for Everyone’s history over the past four decades, it was great to see so many wonderful memories.
Thank you to Minder and everyone who helped make such a special display.

Have a great week!

Your friends at MfE.

04/07/2023

www.music-for-everyone.org | 0115 9589312

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

#MfEMonday – 20th June 2022

20th June 2022 Music for Everyone

After a couple of days of rather dramatic weather we were keeping our fingers crossed for more settled conditions for Willoughby Open Gardens yesterday – and we were not disappointed!

The sun was out, but there was enough cloud cover to stop our Sunday Afternoon Flute and Swing groups from melting as they performed in the stunning surrounds of the pretty village of Willoughby. Visitors and musicians alike enjoyed a lovely afternoon of garden gazing, plant buying and cake eating while being entertained by the variety of music performed by these two groups.

A share of the proceeds from this event will be going to support our Open Voices groups for adults with learning difficulties. Thank you and well done to all those who took part.

A big thank you also to Beeston and Chilwell Opens Gardens last weekend, who are donating some of their proceeds to Open Voices as one of their supported charities!

‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’

Tomorrow – 22^nd June – marks the Summer Solstice here in the UK, aka the longest day from sunrise to sunset. Midsummer’s eve is traditionally celebrated on 23rd June, with Midsummer’s day on the 24^th. With this in mind, we thought we’d offer you a small playlist for the week with which to perform your sun salutations and enjoy these extra-long days.

First up, you might welcome the dawn with the soundtrack to the Pride and Prejudice remake of 2005. Yes we know that Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth were the ONLY Lizzie Bennet and Mr Darcy worth remembering, but the soundtrack to the remake is pretty spellbinding, composed by Dario Marianelli and played beautifully by Jean-Yves Thibaudet here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vYY0aRH46I

Now, we know that we could continue in a gentle manner with ‘Sunrise’ from Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite, but we thought you might appreciate something a bit more impressive… and who better to give us that than Richard Strauss and his epic opening to ‘Also Sprach Zarathustra’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szdziw4tI9o

After all that excitement, we probably need to calm down with an English art song… and although you’re probably all thinking of Ralph Vaughan-Williams’ soporific and shimmering ‘Silent Noon’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI36pV7JfNs but have you ever come across this charming offering from a contemporary of RVW’s at music college, the enormously talented Rebecca Clarke https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oajJJmBk_Gc ? ‘June Twilight’ delivers us gently into that magical time of dusk when the moon grows and a pair of star-crossed lovers (or two!) might appear, and perhaps some mischievous fairies, a king, a queen, a tinker, a tailor and an unfortunate ass… it’s Mendelssohn’s Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream of course! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEkcP8lZvZA

Finally, you might like to know that A Little Night Music composed by Stephen Sondheim, also plays upon the themes of Midsummer’s night. Set in Sweden around 1900, it involves a weekend in the country where a number of romantically entangled characters appear and all sorts of chaos ensues. At one point, an older member present at the party describes how the summer night “smiles” three times: first on the young, second on fools, and third on the old, and this is portrayed musically throughout in the returning theme of the Waltz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4MwJh7dRKY – it is also most famous for the timeless and heart-wrenching ballad Send in the Clowns, which we will leave you with, sung here by the inimitable Dame Judi Dench… try not to cry! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvZex3Qf7QQ

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

20/06/2022

www.music-for-everyone.org | 0115 9589312

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

#MfEMondays are Music for Everyone’s weekly emails designed to keep you up to date with MfE events & to circulate interesting finds, special features, and motivational moments for your Mondays! We are aiming to send out something new each week.

#MfEMonday – 13th June 2022

13th June 2022 Music for Everyone

Our Jubilee Celebration course (Saturday 25^th) and concert (Sunday 26^th) is coming up in just under a couple of weeks’ time. If you haven’t yet signed up, we’d love you to come and sing in the Nottingham Festival Chorus, rehearsing on the Saturday, or to support the Sunday afternoon Jubilee Celebration Concert at Nottingham’s Albert Hall. The sparkling programme will include great pieces from coronations and glittering state occasions, including Parry’s I Was Glad, Handel’s Coronation Anthem ‘The King Shall Rejoice’ and Walton’s Crown Imperial.

SPECIAL REQUEST: PLEASE JOIN US IN OUR JUBILEE RECRUITMENT DRIVE
WE WANT TO RECRUIT AS MANY NEW SINGERS AND NEW CONCERT-GOERS TO COME TO THIS CELEBRATION EVENT AS WE CAN. PLEASE HELP US TO DO THIS. WE ARE OFFERING:-

*Special Jubilee Deals*

FOR SINGERS NEW TO MFE

Do you know anyone who has NEVER sung with us before, who would enjoy singing the great music in our Jubilee programme? Please tell them about our SPECIAL DISCOUNTED ENROLMENTS FOR NEWCOMERS: They are invited to Come and Sing for £15, all music included. Link to book online: https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/nfc-summer-workshop/

CONCERT TICKETS

GROUP DISCOUNT OFFER – 6 tickets for the price of 5! This discount is applied automatically when ordering online.

In addition, to encourage as many FIRST-TIME people as possible into our audience we are offering:

HALF PRICE tickets in all areas of the hall for NEW concert-goers. Invite someone along to the concert who has never experienced the variety and quality of an MfE Festival Chorus performance before!

To get as many of our EXISTING loyal supporters along to enjoy the concert as we can, we are offering the usual performers’ discount (can be included with the group discount):

if you are a PERFORMER, ordering tickets for friends/family who have been with us before, get 10% off the cost, just use the code provided in your music pack to take advantage of this offer.

Full details can be found here: Jubilee Celebration Concert (music-for-everyone.org)

LET’S GET MORE PEOPLE enjoying that MFE EXPERIENCE — BOTH PERFORMERS AND CONCERT GOERS! WE KNOW YOU WILL DO YOUR BEST. THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!!

Well done to all the instrumentalists who had a fantastic day of music-making at our Blow the Dust off your Instrument event on Saturday with music from Elgar to Burt Bacharach!

Next Sunday 19^th June the MfE Swing Band and Flute Choir will be performing at the Willoughby-on-the-Wolds Open Garden event. If you want to come along and support please see their website for further details: Open Gardens 2022: Sunday 19th June | Willoughby on the Wolds

Many studies have concluded that classical music is great for boosting concentration and firing up your brain cells. Now that the exam season is well underway (and probably over in many cases!) here are a few suggestions of music to listen to that will help you to focus, relax or study:

Bach opens your mind! Go for something like the Goldberg Variations to maximise your brain’s ability to take everything in. Bach’s intricate patterns and gradually unfolding textures are the perfect soundtrack to a little brain expansion. https://youtu.be/tCKQQxxUWBs

Although “the Mozart effect” is debatable, there is no denying that his music can be the perfect accompaniment to focus the mind: Mozart – Violin Sonata K 301 https://youtu.be/x7xPIyePmNk or the Piano Concerto in A major K488 https://youtu.be/DXeBFhqViYg

Or maybe you prefer something to help you relax and take more info in? Try Debussy’s Clair de Lune https://youtu.be/fZrm9h3JRGs or Chopin’s Nocturne No. 2 in E flat Major https://youtu.be/9E6b3swbnWg

Let us know how you get on!

Members of the Nottingham Youth Band had an exciting trip to the Concert Hall last Friday to watch the incredible saxophonist Jess Gillam performing with the Hallé orchestra. The programme included Bernstein’s electrifying Symphonic Dances from West Side Story…. Have you heard about Bradley Cooper starring as Leonard Bernstein in Maestro being released in 2023? Here’s a first look at what’s in store: https://www.classicfm.com/composers/bernstein-l/maestro-first-look-bradley-cooper-netflix/

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

13/06/2022

www.music-for-everyone.org | 0115 9589312

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

#MfEMonday – 24th January 2022

24th January 2022 Music for Everyone

This week saw all of our regularly rehearsing groups spring back into action! Four Daytime Voices choirs, two Daytime Orchestras, three Open Voices groups, one Flute Choir, one Swing Band, one Lunchtime Voices choir, one Chamber Choir, two Youth String groups and three Youth Wind bands! That’s approximately 500 people in one week. And all of them delighted to be back making music together.

Perhaps you weren’t aware of the wide variety of groups that MFE run on a regular basis. Do have a look at our website www.music-for-everyone.org to see information about all these groups and the upcoming youth and adult events.

In last week’s MFE Mondays we mentioned the Nottingham Festival Chorus workshop on Saturday 5th February. At the end of the workshop there will be free concert starting at 4:30 featuring music by Mendelssohn, Handel, Haydn and Faure. If you would like to attend, please order your pass by following this link https://www.music-for-everyone.org/nfc-concert-passes/

Many of us make New Year’s resolutions and often fail to continue them beyond the end of January! However, some people choose to make a musical New Year’s resolution. Here are a few examples –

“My goal in 2022 is to dedicate myself to practicing regularly for my weekly keyboard class so I can expand my musical horizons!” Project Manager

“My 2022 New Year’s resolution is to sing better even if it’s only the car or the shower.” Designer

“My music resolution is to play my trumpet regularly again. It’s just sitting in the case right now collecting dust. Thus year I’m going to get it back out and play more often!” Office administrator

“I don’t play any instruments, but I’m an avid music listener. My goal is to find a new artist to listen to every month this year.” Web developer

What will your musical resolution be this year? Do let us know.

Why not start the year off by testing your musical knowledge? This online quiz is great fun but might have you scratching your head on some of the questions – http://classicaltest.net/ Congratulations if you manage 100%!

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

24/01/2022

www.music-for-everyone.org | 0115 9589312

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF