#MfEMonday – 17th January 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 – 10th January 2022

10th January 2022 Music for Everyone

Happy New Year!

As many of you know, Angela Kay, the founder and driver of MfE for almost forty years, has decided to step down from the position of Artistic Director as from September of this year although she intends to continue with some conducting.

The trustees are now looking to recruit a Director who has both music experience, vision and strategic & managerial capacity/potential. The job advert is going out now and the trustees hope to reach a wide, national audience and we’d like your help! Have you any contacts anywhere in the UK who may be interested themselves, or have further contacts worth letting know about this post?

We would be very grateful if you would forward the advert to anyone who may be able to help get the word out. Details can be found at our website: https://www.music-for-everyone.org/about-us/vacancies

What a way to start the New Year with our Blow the Dust off your Instrument event on Saturday! Over 120 instrumentalists came along to the Nottingham Albert Hall to enjoy playing pieces including The Big Country, Moon River and Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March No.4. Well done to all involved!

We are very pleased to announce that our Nottingham Lunchtime Voices group is starting up again on Thursdays, 12.30pm from 20th January. It will take place at a new City Centre venue – the Drama Studio at the NTU Music Centre. For full details please visit: https://www.music-for-everyone.org/whats-on/adult-music/workers-lunchtime-choir/

Volunteer Callout! We’re looking for a volunteer to help support our Headway singing for health sessions in Nottingham on Friday mornings between 10-11.30am from January to March. Someone with a gentle and good-humoured personality who is enthusiastic with joining in warm-ups/ brain gym/ rounds and well-known songs. Anyone interested should contact Rachel Parkes for more details: rachel@music-for-everyone.org

After the excesses of the festive season many of us will have made the usual New Year Resolutions to be healthier and get into shape. Here are some motivational work-out videos to give you some inspiration… if nothing else they will give you a good laugh which still counts as exercise!!

Workout for Classical Music Lovers: https://youtu.be/qtuVsOONKH4

Jazzercise for some great 80s leotards: https://youtu.be/LD1xSc7oRRk

Step Aerobics with Victoria Wood: https://youtu.be/ObOkhXGu7oY

Here are 10 reasons why singing is good for you… not that we need telling! https://www.operanorth.co.uk/news/10-reasons-singing-is-good-for-you/

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

10/01/2022

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

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

https://movementforgood.com/12days/

#MfEMonday – 20th December 2021

20th December 2021 Music for Everyone

Five Days to Christmas!

It’s nearly Christmas! And what a wonderful season of music making we have enjoyed at MfE! Another big thank you and well done to everyone who has participated in all the many groups, courses, events and concerts this term. We can’t wait to kick off 2022 with Blow the Dust on 8th January (still time to sign up – see our website!) and then welcome old and new faces to our regular groups.

LAST CHANCE to vote for us! If you haven’t already, please follow the link below and complete the short survey (takes less than 2 mins) to nominate Music for Everyone. For 12 days between 6 and 21 December, the Movement for Good are donating £1,000 to ten different nominated charities.

Our charity number is 1153412. Please select ‘Community’ from the drop down menu of charity types.

Did you know that the popular Christmas song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” has an unusual history?

Although probably based on a medieval French folksong, the famous words were first published in English in 1780. But it was English composer Frederic Austin who wrote the tune down for the first time in 1908. Unlike most folksongs and carols, this tune has irregular meters – meaning some bars are in four, some in three, some in two… very unusual!

Austin also claimed copyright for the melody of the ‘Five Gold Rings’, whilst admitting that the rest of the tune was an existing folk melody. This has led to many composers and publishers creating their own tune for that line, to avoid copyright infringement.

All kinds of interesting previous lyrics are available on the song’s Wikipedia page – so why not tantalise your Christmas guests with some nuggets of music history this yuletide?

*Piano in need of a new home* The piano is a 1934 Hopkinson upright in good working order. Please contact Cath Sutherland to discuss or arrange to see the piano: cathsuth533@hotmail.com or 07766294745.
This is the last #MfEMonday of 2021… wishing you a very Happy Christmas and Happy New Year, from everyone at MfE… hope to see many of you at Blow the Dust on 8^th Jan!

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

20/12/2021

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

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

#MfEMonday – 13th December 2021

13th December 2021 Music for Everyone

Congratulations to all who took part in yesterday’s Christmas is Coming concert at the Albert Hall! Everyone had a great time – even Father Christmas was impressed!

*BOOKWISE* Our bookshop in Nottingham (10 Goose Gate, Hockley) is open through December for all your book-buying-last-minute-present-shopping needs, including SUNDAYS! For December only, the shop will be open on Sundays from 11am – 3pm in addition to the usual opening hours (Tuesday – Saturday, 11am – 4pm)

Did you know that today is Saint Lucy’s Day? Also called the Feast of Saint Lucy, it commemorates Lucia of Syracuse who according to legend brought food and aid to Christians hiding in the Roman catacombs, wearing a candle lit wreath on her head (do not try this at home) to light her way and leave her hands free to carry as much food as possible.

Her feast day, which coincided with the shortest day of the year prior to calendar reforms, is widely celebrated as a festival of light. Falling within the Advent season, Saint Lucy’s Day is viewed as a precursor of Christmastide, pointing to the arrival of the Light of Christ in the calendar on Christmas Day.

Here are some truly awful Christmas jokes to get you in the mood for those Christmas crackers! Enjoy….

What is the Three Wise Men’s favourite Christmas Carol?
Oh Camel, ye Faithful.

What is a snowman’s favourite song?
Freeze a jolly good fellow.

Why did the choir have to cancel their carol concert?
They caught Tinselitis.

What’s the best present a musician could ever receive?
A broken drum. You can’t beat it.

What do Baroque musicians do if they don’t like their Christmas presents?
Hand them Bach.

Why are sopranos so good at Christmas shopping?
They always manage to get descant prices.

What is a duck’s favourite Christmas Carol?
In the Beak Midwinter

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

13/12/2021

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

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

#MfEMonday – 6th December 2021

6th December 2021 Music for Everyone

Yesterday was the first of our Christmas 2021 concerts, performed by MfE’s youth groups – the Nottingham Strictly Strings, Nottingham Youth Band and East Midlands Youth String Orchestra.

The groups performed the pieces they have been working on this term to family and friends – ending with an ‘Instant Christmas Concert’ piece for wind band, which includes FOURTEEN tunes in just over TWO minutes! Well done to all our youth members for a fantastic event!

Vote for us!!

For 12 days between 6th and 21st December, the Movement for Good are donating £1,000 to ten different nominated charities.

To nominate Music for Everyone, please click here and complete the short questionnaire. It shouldn’t take more than a minute, and could make a real difference to our work.

Our charity number is 1153412. Please select ‘Community’ from the drop down menu of charity types.

Thank you!

Today, the 6^th December, celebrates the day of St Nicholas – the patron saint of sailors, children, wolves and pawnbrokers.

Saint Nicholas was a Christian bishop of Greek descent, who was known for his great generosity and help he gave to the needy. After his death, the legend of his gift-giving grew. Saint Nicholas transformed into the legendary character called Santa Claus, who brings Christmas presents to children around the world.

The legend is he would leave presents in children’s shoes overnight, if they remembered to leave them outside their doors of course!

He became a bishop at the very young age of 30, and his anonymous gift giving grew from fulfilling his parents legacy, who were both devoted to serving the sick in fourth century Myra, now known as Turkey.

To really help get you in the Christmas mood, here are 30 of the best Christmas carols, according to Classic FM – is yours in this list? https://api.classicfm.com/discover-music/occasions/christmas/nations-top-30-christmas-carols/
MfE are performing some of these carols (with audience participation!) at their Christmas is Coming concert this coming Sunday, 12^th December. Tickets are still available and social distancing measures will be in place – book here to choose your seats (click the link)

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

06/12/2021

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

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

#MfEMonday – 29th November 2021

29th November 2021 Music for Everyone

About 6 months ago, MfE was contacted by the Nottingham Young Musician of the Year Competition chair to see if we would be willing to give a performance opportunity to the winner of the competition’s voice class. We are always delighted to be able to support young musicians and so we obviously said ‘yes’!

Benjamin Staniforth, an 18yr old baritone from Nottingham, was the winner of the class and on Sunday 21 November, Angela Kay and Rachel Parkes went along to the Djanogly Recital Hall to listen to the Grand Final concert where the winners of each individual class (piano, voice, strings, woodwind and brass) performed to see, after adjudication, who would be crowned the Nottingham Young Musician of the Year 2021. We were delighted when Benjamin was announced as that winner!

Benjamin is delighted to be paired with MfE and we are very much looking forward to him singing at one of our forthcoming concerts.

As we enter the season of advent, we thought we should let you know what festive musical treats MFE has on offer over the coming weeks.

Countdown to Christmas – December 5th, Kingswood Methodist Church, Wollaton NG8 1GR
Our youth groups hold their annual Christmas concert at 3:30pm. Lots of festive music complete with mince pies!

Vocals – December 11th, 1:30pm Nottingham Trent University, Clifton NG11 8NS
A fun Saturday afternoon workshop for primary aged children singing Christmas songs and fun seasonal music including hits from the well-known film, A Muppets Christmas Carol and Roald Dahl’s entertaining version of Cinderella!

Christmas is Coming! – December 12th, 3:30pm Albert Hall, North Circus St, Nottingham NG1 5AA
A traditional afternoon Christmas concert for all the family, with well-known carols and seasonal songs featuring the Nottingham Chamber Singers, Nottingham Community Voices, Vocals Youth Choir & New Classical Players.

A Mystical Christmas – December 18th, 7:30pm St Mary the Virgin Church, Bunny NG11 6QT
Nottingham Chamber Singers present a programme of atmospheric choral music and exquisite projected images.

Tickets for all events can be booked via our website – www.music-for-everyone.org We hope to see you at one of our Christmas events over the next few weeks.

The Advent season focuses on expectation and is an anticipation of Christ’s birth in the season leading up to Christmas. Many people celebrate the season of advent with a wreath.

The Advent wreath first appeared in Germany in 1839. A Lutheran minister working at a mission for children created a wreath out of the wheel of a cart. He placed twenty small red candles and four large white candles inside the ring. The red candles were lit on weekdays and the four white candles were lit on Sundays.

The most common Advent candle tradition, however, involves four candles. A new candle is lit on each of the four Sundays before Christmas. Each candle represents something different, although traditions vary. The four candles traditionally represent hope, faith, joy, and peace.

Perhaps you might like to have a go at making your own advent wreath this Christmas? Here’s a simple how to guide –

What you’ll need

12’’ wire wreath frame
Soft greenery garland
Purple poinsettia flower
Advent candle set
4 candle holders
White Christmas ribbon
Greenery ties
Glue gun

First, take your garland and wrap it around your wire wreath until it is completely covered. Use your hot glue to hold it in place.

Next, you’ll take your white ribbon and wrap it around until you’ve found your desired placement. Secure it with a small dab of hot glue.

Using a little bit of floral wire or greenery ties, space out the candle holders as evenly in place as possible and secure in place.

Fill in empty areas of your wreath with your purple poinsettia flowers and use a little bit of hot glue to hold them in place.

Add your candles and voila, you’ve made a super simple advent wreath. we all have and to receive a thank you card from our members.

And finally, if you’re still not sure what advent means, watch this two-minute explanation – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC0FGQLBp7w

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

29/11/2021

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

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/18414

#MfEMonday – 15th November 2021

15th November 2021 Music for Everyone

Yesterday saw the grand concert for the Big Youth Music Experience players who worked so hard last weekend in their band and strings workshops! Family and friends came to watch the performance of five different groups, all culminating in a spectacular joint item of Chariots of Fire, especially arranged for the occasion. More photos to follow soon!

Supporting MfE is now even easier!

We recently wrote to you about our new Supporters’ Scheme. It is now possible to set up a regular, monthly direct debit payment by following this link and selecting ‘I’d like to give regularly’.

Direct debits are easy to set up and can be changed or cancelled at any point. A monthly donation can be for as little as £2 per month (the cost of one Open Voices session), it’s up to you! Regular donations are great for charities – they provide a predictable income throughout the year which allows for better financial planning and can also protect charities in times of uncertainty or emergency. As a regular donor, you will have the feel-good factor of knowing that your donation continues to support our work throughout the year.

Yesterday was Remembrance Sunday and many of you will have heard the Last Post which forms part of the Remembrance Day ceremonies around the world.

The sound of a lone bugler playing the Last Post has become one of the most distinctive sounds in the world. Eerie and evocative, it exists beyond all the usual barriers of nation, religion, race and class, charged with the memory of generations of the fallen. But it wasn’t always like this.

The Last Post was first published in the 1790s, just one of dozens of bugle calls sounded in British Army camps. As soldiers of that time didn’t have wristwatches the various bugle calls were used to tell them when to get up, when to have their meals, when to fetch the post and all other things throughout the day.

The soldier’s day started with the call of Reveille, and came to a close with the First Post. This indicated that the duty officer was commencing his inspection of the sentry-posts around the camp. At the end there would be sounded the Last Post, signalling that the final sentry post had been inspected and that the camp was now secure for the night.

During the 1850s a different role began to emerge and the Last Post was used when a soldier died in a foreign land and a lone bugler would sound the Last Post over the grave. The symbolism was simple and highly effective. The Last Post now signalled the end not merely of the day but of this earthly life.

Battle of the Bugles! See how buglers battle it out to find the best bugler in The Rifles regiment: https://youtu.be/2CqDZxZoQwg

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

15/11/2021

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

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

#MfEMonday – 8th November 2021

8th November 2021 Music for Everyone

The Big Youth Music Experience playing workshops took place this weekend at Bluecoat Academy, Wollaton. Over 100 young woodwind, brass, percussion and string players met over the 2 days, with wind bands on Saturday and strings on Sunday, for a rehearsal day to prepare for the concert next Sunday, which we’re all looking forward to!

Here are a few pictures from the weekend, more to come next week from the concert!

Here in the office, we’re busy sorting out music for the next Blow the Dust course to be held at the Albert Hall on Saturday 08 January. It looks like James Moross’s Big Country is going to be an ‘earworm’ for the next few months! If you’re thinking about signing up but haven’t quite decided, have a listen to this and see if we can’t tempt you! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVGehYZ-tYU

Schubert Sushi? Sounds strange, but someone has been making the greatest composers out of rice balls! See if you can tell who they are here: https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/classical-composers-as-rice-balls/

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

08/11/2021

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

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

#MfEMondays – 1st November 2021

1st November 2021 Music for Everyone

We hope you have all had a good half term break. We don’t have much to report this week except to say we’re looking forward to seeing you all at the various groups and rehearsals coming up.

Rehearsals are back again for Daytime Voices, Daytime Orchestras, Open Voices and the youth bands this week – see you there!

With Halloween still fresh in our minds, we take a look at what elements makes a spine-tingling horror film score. Shrieking violins? The ghostly wobble of a theremin? The skeletal sounds of a xylophone? These six fangtastic soundtracks have got it all! So, go and get yourself some popcorn and a cushion to hide behind….

Psycho: Bernard Herrman.

Who can forget those iconic violin stabs – made all the more terrifying by matching the action on screen?

Rosemary’s Baby: Krzysztof Komeda

Komeda set a beautiful but creepy lullaby waltz at the heart of this score. The message here seemed to be: the nicer something seems, the scarier it will turn out to be…

The Exorcist: Mike Oldfield

Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells,” became one of cinema’s most iconic horror movie soundtracks and a smash hit in its own right. Oldfield later joked: “I’m the godfather of scary movie music.”

The Omen: Jerry Goldsmith

As 1970s horror fests go, The Omen was right up there for chill factor and earned Jerry Goldsmith the only scoring Oscar of his illustrious career. The lead track features the ominous chant, “Sanguis bibimus, corpus edimus, tolle corpus Satani,” or, “We drink the blood, we eat the flesh, raise the body of Satan.” Yuck.

Jaws: John Williams

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water….. Williams produced a soundtrack that gave a whole generation a fear of sharks and sparks an immediate sense of panic whenever it is played. Williams explained he wanted the song to be “grinding away at you, just as a shark would do, instinctual, relentless, unstoppable”.

Right, you can come out from behind the sofa now!

Following on from last week’s homemade instruments, and keeping up with the Halloween theme, check out this talented man making music with pumpkins!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbNcQX9PtWo

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

01/11/2021

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

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

#MfEMondays – 25th October 2021

25th October 2021 Music for Everyone

MfE are thrilled to be working in partnership with Inspire Nottinghamshire Music Hub on a new project as we expand the Health & Well-being programmes. (Click to find out more about other projects!)

The Lullaby Bank is for babies aged 0 – 9 months with an emphasis on post-natal well-being and bonding for mothers. There are currently 2 sessions running each week at Beeston Library (Tues am) and West Bridgford Library (Thurs am), singing lullabies from around the world. It is free to attend, but booking is essential as places are limited. The 10-week course will be running after Christmas too – booking will be open soon – if you know a mum with a new baby, invite them along! https://www.music-for-everyone.org/health-well-being/the-lullaby-bank/

Also, ONLINE BOOKING IS NOW OPEN for the adult singing and playing courses in January 2022!

Blow the Dust – 8^th January, orchestral workshop day for adult instrumentalists. Find out more and book online here: https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/blow-the-dust-off-your-instrument-3/

Nottingham Festival Chorus: Opera course weekend and concert – 29^th/30^th Jan & 5^th Feb, conducted by Angela Kay and featuring soloists Ellie Martin and Rachel Parkes: https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/nfc-course-weekend/

With October being Black History Month, we take a look at one of the leading composers around the turn of the twentieth century – Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

His best known work, a trilogy of cantatas known as The Song of Hiawatha, is based on poems of the same name by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, which relate to the adventures of a Native American hero called Hiawatha and his love Minnehaha. Coleridge-Taylor made the connection between Native Americans and African Americans by modelling the main theme of the Hiawatha Overture on the spiritual song ‘Nobody knows the Trouble I’ve seen’ – see if you can hear it here: https://youtu.be/pkqaSqwHlsw

His legacy would be The Song of Hiawatha as one of the most performed choral works until the 2^nd World War – rivalled only by Handel’s Messiah and Mendelssohn’s Elijah.

Following his sudden death in 1912, a memorial concert was held for Coleridge-Taylor with proceeds going to his young family. After it was discovered just how little he had profited from the success of his works, many were appalled and the outrage led to the establishment of the Performing Rights Society.

Here’s a great half term activity you can try – make your own paper flute! All you need is a piece of card/paper, tape, scissors and a ruler. We made one in the office and can confirm it works! Let us know how you get on. Click this link and follow the instructions! How to make a paper flute
Here’s our MfE paper flute, for inspiration!

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

25/10/2021

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

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF