Here we are, approaching the end of August, and after a very cloudy month so far it does look as though the weather is going to buck up – which is good for me as I am going away for a few days to the Cotswolds!
Nothing to report this week really – but, next week I’ll be telling you all about MfE next season!
#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.
I hope you are all having a good summer and, if you are able to, enjoying ‘getting away from it all’. All of us who took part in the MfE Summer School last week thoroughly enjoyed doing just that – good music, good company, good weather – what more could you wish for?
Hilary – ‘How wonderful to make live music again! From (not really) Pergolesi to sea shanties to contemporary Slovenian choral works, it was a whirlwind few days, but I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know and working with you all, and witnessing the sound continue to develop and grow. I hope the ear worms are slowly receding, and fingers crossed for a more normal forthcoming musical season.’
Rob (on Twitter) – ‘What an absolute pleasure to spend a few days with the lovely musicians of Nottingham. MfE is a treasure of an organisation, and making real, actual music again was a joy!’
Our Summer School is always rounded off with a farewell concert and buffet.
Happy memories!
Angela
P.S. The provisional dates for Summer School 2022 are Monday 8th – Wed 10th August, why not put them in your diary now.
Have you ever wondered how high you can hear? Most people (adults) can hear around 8,000Hz, but as we get older – the ability to hear the higher frequencies decreases. Here is a test to see what the highest frequency is you can hear (Not entirely accurate!) If you can hear over 17,000Hz you might be superhuman! https://bit.ly/3iKXJZ7
#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.
3 incredible days, 4 amazing conductors, 5 beautiful and inspiring concerts, 6 bottles of hand sanitiser, 12 pieces of music, 124 singers and instrumentalists, 184 sandwiches, 240 cocktail sausages, 425 photos and 628 cups of tea and coffee and that’s Summer School 2021!
The third and final day began with an unexpected warm up on the field for the singers when the fire alarm went off (false alarm!). After a few vocal exercises and stretches in the sunshine with Hilary, it’s back into the Chapel for performance preparation ahead of the Showcase Concert.
Meanwhile, the orchestra are settling into the Obolensky Building where the evening concert is to take place, to run through and polish their chosen performance items with Rob. After the morning break with tea, coffee and biscuits in the sunshine, the wind band and strings focus on their pieces with Gill and Rob respectively – with some of the eager (and occasionally over-enthusiastic!) MfE team joining the percussion section for the wind band piece and Assistant Artistic Director Rachel shining on the tambourine!
Our final guest artist in the Lunchtime Recital programme is Summer School accompanist Richard Cox. We managed to coax him out from behind the choir and take us all on a whistle-stop tour of Europe with stunning performances of piano works by Bach, Dvorak, Debussy and Ravel.
The afternoon rehearsals include orchestra and choir coming together to rehearse the big finale joint item, then it’s concert time!
The Concert Programme
Brahms – Hungarian Rhapsody No.5Full Orchestra
Trad. arr. Zimmerman – The WellermanChoir
Makor – O Lux Beata TrinitasChoir
Mozart – SinfoniettaStrings
Holst – 1st Suite in Eb for Military Band Wind band
Pergolesi – Magnificat Choir and Strings
Faure – Cantique de Jean RacineChoir and Strings
Reed – El Camino RealWind band
Hamilton – La Danza EspanolStrings
Strauss – Thunder and Lightning PolkaFull Orchestra
Beethoven – Ode to Joy Combined Orchestra and Choir
An emotional end to the concert, for many, this is their first concert in well over a year, if not longer! MfE are also sad to say goodbye to Windband Animateur, Gill Henshaw, who will be leaving her role at the end of the summer to return to full-time teaching. She will be back at MfE events though, she can’t get rid of us that easy!
The performance over, it’s time to tuck into the buffet (which includes the 240 cocktail sausages!) and relax with a drink and a chat with fellow musicians and reflect on the past three days and celebrate the joyful return to music-making.
And that’s it for Summer 2021! Finally, we would just like to say a huge THANK YOU to all our guests and conductors from this week – Chris, Gill, Hilary, Rachel, Richard, Robert and Sam. This years venue, Trent College – amazing support and staff that have helped out. Also to all the singers, players and helpers that came along – thank you for continuing your support of Music for Everyone, particularly over the past eighteen months and we hope to see you all again very soon!
The sun shone today for another spectacular day of music making at Summer School
Our guest artist Chris Swann worked with Gill and the wind band on Weber’s Clarinet Concerto No.2, performed to the strings and choir at the end of the day in a special sharing concert of pieces not included in Wednesday’s Showcase Concert
The singers worked with both Hilary and Rachel today – and were treated to a short recital by Rachel accompanied by Richard
After months of planning and wondering if it would indeed go ahead, the Music for Everyone Summer School for adult instrumentalists and singers returned with a bang today – and how wonderful it was to see everyone!
Trent College, Long Eaton – the setting for the MfE Summer School
This year seemed doubly exciting as well with a 2 year build up from the last course in 2019. We are thrilled to be back at Trent College in Long Eaton this year with 3 days of marvellous music making ahead with this years theme ‘A Grand European Tour’…
Day 1 – The best way to start Summer School is with morning teas, coffees and pastries, making sure everyone is well-fuelled for a busy day. Then it’s time to split into choir and orchestra and begin working together on the pieces that (hopefully!) everyone has been practicing at home.
We are joined this year by wonderful guest conductors, Hilary Campbell and Rob Hodge. Hilary is working with the choir, taking a tour of Europe with pieces by Faure, Beethoven and more. A final addition to their repertoire is ‘The Wellerman’ – a lilting sea shanty from New Zealand.
The orchestra, expertly led by Rob, take their European tour with Hungarian Dances, a Mozart Sinfonietta (strings) and Latin vibes with El Camino Real (windband with MfE Animateur Gill Henshaw).
Morning breaktime and the tea and coffee team have started the annual tally of how many cups will be poured this year. (results to be announced later in the week!) Luckily the weather stayed dry and the sun chose the best moments to appear as everyone enjoyed catching up.
The first guest artist of the Summer School is Sam Sweeney, local folk fiddling superstar from Nottingham and a past Stringwise player in his youth! Sam performed a lunchtime concert with many foot-tapping folk tunes and stories of music to be discovered.
The strings were then treated to a folk workshop with Sam, learning phrases by ear (no sheet music allowed!) and breaking down the basics of folk fiddling – adding a ‘new string to their bow’ (couldn’t quite resist that pun…!)
Squeeze in another cup of tea and coffee (and a biscuit of course!) and one final rehearsal and that’s day 1! So much more to look forward to with special guest artists Chris Swann and Summer School accompanist Richard Cox performing lunchtime recitals over the next 2 days, not forgetting the Showcase Concert on Wednesday evening and the much anticipated buffet! Check back later in the week for another instalment of Summer School 2021…
It’s MfE Summer School time! And as we come to the end of our 1st day, everyone is a little tired but really looking forward to two more days of making music together. And the sunny weather is forecast to continue over the next couple of days – hooray!
Today we all marvelled at the folk fiddling wizardry of guest soloist Sam Sweeney. Sam originates from the Nottingham area and used to come on our Stringwise courses – it’s amazing what some of our youth players have achieved – fantastic!
We have also very much enjoyed the rehearsals taken by our excellent visiting conductors, Hilary Campbell (choir) and Robert Hodge (orchestra). And there is so much more to come – exciting!
Here are a few photos of what we have been up to.
Angela
Sam Sweeney’s ‘tune sharing’ and folk workshop.
The singers enjoying a tea/coffee break before heading back to rehearsal with Hilary Campbell
The orchestra finishing off their first day with guest conductor Robert Hodge
If you’d like to see more of what is happening at this years Summer School, take a look at our blog, which we will update this week with lots of photos! https://www.music-for-everyone.org/about-us/blog/
#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.
First of all, I’m sorry this ‘Keeping in Touch’ email is arriving in your mailbox a day late – my fault – just slipped my mind to press the button to get it sent out to you all!
Last week saw the annual MfE staff and office helpers SUMMER PICNIC. This tradition was started almost 15yrs ago and goes ahead no matter what the weather (I particularly remember a very soggy occasion in West Bridgford Park!) and Wollaton Park has been the venue for the past few years. The number of people coming along has gradually been augmented by the arrival of various children and grandchildren!
The picnic is usually rounded off by a game of football, rounders or cricket and here are a few photos of this year’s cricket match. Our general manager, Su is helping her little girl, Lucy to bat and some of my grandsons are in the field!
So with the picnic last week and the MfE Summer School next week I feel that Summer has well and truly arrived!
Enjoy the sun.
With all best wishes
Angela
If you, like us, have been watching the Olympics in Japan at the moment, you’ll know how exciting it’s been! But did you know there were many different genres of music included in the opening ceremony? From hymns to video game music, here’s a look at all the music for Tokyo 2020. https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/tokyo-2020-opening-ceremony-music/
#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.
In two weeks’ time, just over 100 singers and players will be gathering at Trent College, Long Eaton to enjoy our annual Summer School.
Our recitalists this year include international folk violinist super star Sam Sweeney, virtuoso clarinettist Chris Swann and accomplished pianist Richard Cox. Add to the mix guest conductors Hilary Campbell (https://www.hilarycampbell.com) and Robert Hodge (https://www.robert-hodge.com) and you have a great music-making recipe!
#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.
Whilst many of you were wilting in the heat on Saturday afternoon some of us were enjoying a mixture of songs at our ‘socially distanced’ Family Singing afternoon in the cool of the Albert Hall!
Led by Rachel Parkes, Greg Treloar and accompanist Sally Watson, everyone experienced a variety of music including a lullaby from Africa, ‘Consider Yourself’ from the musical Oliver and that great foot tapping and hand clapping song ’Happy’!
But, try as we might, we could not escape Covid – Alison Bennett, our third leader had been ‘pinged’ earlier in the week as had our youth administrator, Kirstie Hind – both are fine and being ‘released’ back into the community later this week!
#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.
Last week I was able to show you some pictures of our youth groups making music together (in the rain!).
And last Saturday, over 100 of our Blow the Dust adult instrumentalists had a wonderful day at the Albert Hall renewing friendships and making new ones.
I think that everyone felt the emotion of the ‘play-through’ concert at the end of the afternoon and a few tears were shed. Music for Everyone doing what it does the best – bringing people together from the community to make music TOGETHER!
Here are a few photographs of the day – proof that ‘socially distanced’ instrumentalists can still have a great time and they sounded good too!!!
So we’ve had a youth event and we’ve had an adult event and this coming Saturday 17th July we are combining generations for a Family Singing afternoon. And the good news is, you don’t have to bring a family along to join in, come as an individual – you’ll be very welcome. Visit our website for more details https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/family-sing-workshop
#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.
