Month: August 2015

The Grand Finale!

Helena Durham

P1110328Imagine a very large rectangular hall, high-ceilinged. The orchestra filling a third of the space, the choir in four rows along a wall running the length of the hall, and an eager audience of about a hundred.

First Robin Reece-Crawford introduces the evening and comperes the concert with information about the composers and the musicians.

Every configuration of instrumentalists and P1110376singers from the Summer School perform several pieces with great enthusiasm. The atmosphere is fantastic. As I’m tucked away in a far corner, which is fine – love those tymps! – I’d handed my camera to Charlotte Pullen, daughter of one of the violinists. See what happens when you sit in the front row! During the concert she takes some wonderful photos to give us a collection of happy memories. Well done, Charlotte, and thanks.

P1110378There is music from Byrd to the Beatles, Pergolesi to Gershwin, Vivaldi to Rutter. In addition to the groups, tutor Owen Cox plays as he conducts Winter from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and tutor Gill Henshaw, accompanied by the orchestra, plays a movement of Weber’s Clarinet concerto. Stunning.

The choir sings in different configurations under the ‘baton’ of three conductors. (Not that we’ve have seen a baton all week, have they gone out of fashion?) Here is the lower voices’ moment of glory, with Mike enthusing them from the front. P1110356

The concert comes to an end with a rousing performance of Johann Strauss’s Radetzky March, and choir and audience clap along. Beat that for enthusiasm, Vienna Philharmonic!

P1110382And then our three amazing days of music making, learning new pieces and techniques, listening to first class music, being lead by dynamic conductors who worked so hard and brought out the best in us for the short time of the School, is over. Not forgetting the concerts and masterclasses. We trip off into the night with tired bodies but light hearts, new friendships made, challenges risen to, fine music and much laughter.

More photos to follow – it might take a few days!

Here’s hoping there will be another Summer School – this one was aided greatly by the generosity of the University of Nottingham (my alma mater), who provided the space and facilities. Thanks too for the Summer School go to the Assistant Artistic Director of MfE, Alex Patterson P1110368(I think this was his baby, if you see what I mean), Artistic Director Angela Kay, Adult Programme Co-ordinator Robin Reece-Crawford, Anne, Su and Gemma from the office, tutors and conductors Owen Cox, Mike Gregory, Gill Henshaw, Jane McDouall, Isobel Bounford, accompanists Stefan Reid, Tim Uglow and Martyn Parkes, and other musicians who kindly gave of their time to fill in the gaps or to encourage parts and sections, and of course to all the delegates. (Apologies if I’ve missed anyone.)

Now you might be wondering what happened to Quote of the Day. Well, it was awarded to Angela Kay, we had a titter about it but it is unprintable, so come along to a Music for Everyone event and join in the music making and fun. Thanks for reading – around the world, we gather!

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Helena 

Repertoire Day Two: Carris Jones’s Concert and Masterclass

Helena Durham

The Summer School short concerts by visiting musicians, and the masterclasses each of them P1110261gave, were a different experience for those of us who sing or play regularly with Music for Everyone. They enabled us not only to hear wonderful performances but to then learn how to improve our own technique and performance.

Carris, a mezzo-soprano, read history at Cambridge while also singing as a choral scholar with the excellent Trinity College choir. Afterwards she studied singing and performance at the Royal Academy. She performed Robert Schumann’s song-cycle Frauenliebe und Leben for us with great expression and to the delight of the audience. Timothy Uglow accompanied her with great sensitivity. Such a beautiful performance that emphasised again points made by many of the tutors – the importance of posture, facial expression and engaging the audience.

Four singers (apologies if I missed anyone, I slipped out to the strings for a time), bravely sang their solo pieces to the whole choir. Carris helped each of them points of difficulty in the music or their vocal technique, be that breath control, enunciation or performing rather than singing the notes. The difference Carris’s suggestions made could be heard as the delegates sang again some or all of their pieces. Inspirational, and a big bravo to them all!

Joan, Jeanne (whose hand Carris is holding to swing at the breathing points!), Catherine and Paul.

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Helena

Repertoire Day Two: Rehearsals for Everyone

Helena Durham

There was a buzz in the air as we gathered for a day of rehearsals in preparationP1110249 for this evening’s concert, a buzz that continued through lunch eaten in the sunshine.

During the day’s rehearsals the choir polished movements of Vivaldi’s Gloria, Byrd’s Civitas Sancti Tui, Mozart’s Veni, Veni, Spiritu, and two songs from Rutter’s When Icicles Hang.

The lower voices rehearsed Stanford’s Songs of the Sea with Mike Gregory, and the upper voices learned the opening movement of Pergolesi’s wonderful Stabat Mater, which I have always wanted to sing. Jane McDouall gave us great tips for raising the soft palate for a bigger sound and ensuring the shape of the mouth is right for a richer tone.

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But what of the instrumentalists? The saxophone group – 4 alto saxes and 1 tenor – were swinging some Gershwin.

Third from the left is Gill Henshaw, a clarinetist and one of the tutors and conductors.

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The Wind Band blew the years away with a medley of Beatles numbers.

Here’s Helen on percussion. Drum stick not in mouth at this point, but later. Sometimes two hands are just not enough.

And there’s Chris on bass. Wait a minute, isn’t that Chris on sax above?  Not in the picture, but blowing their hearts out, were the tootling flutes, oboes, saxes and a french horn.

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The strings ran through Peter Warlock’s Capriol Suite – ah, memories of school orchestra days, and isn’t there a piano version? A bit of trick photography in this shot – Owen didn’t have his back to anyone…!

After a final rehearsal, orchestra and choir together for the first time, we tucked into a wonderful buffet made by Jo from Beeston’s Local not Global Deli. Very tasty.

Here’s the final rehearsal with Angela Kay. More news tomorrow.

Helena 

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Repertoire Day One: Afternoon, Masterclass and Concert – Strings

Helena Durham

The SATB choir turned to Mozart and Byrd, that latter being one of my favourites. There was a handy hint from Alex, “Get round it by cheating,” and praise for the altos, “That moved me somewhat.” I was so caught up in it all that I missed the saxophone group. Sorry about that.

P1110228Owen Cox is a violinist and alumnus of Music for Everyone. He played with the youth strings before progressing to the CBSO, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and many other orchestras and quartets around the world. He also teaches and is currently Assistant Head of Strings at Chetham’s and honorary lecturer in performance at the University of Nottingham. See what MfE can do for you!!

In his masterclass he helped Gar Yein find more volume in her violin and to see that over thinking can stifle a musical performance. He said, regarding tricky sections, ‘Start slowly, use lots of confidence and lots of bow. Every day imagine you’re starting all over again, and one day it will just happen.’

Owen, accompanied by Martyn Parkes, rounded off the day with the second concert. HP1110242e gave a light and beautiful performance of Mozart’s Violin Sonata K301 in G and a lyrical and lively rendering of a Franck Sonata – not, he pointed out, a Frank Sinatra. The movements alternate between slow and fast and are as demanding for the pianist as the violinist.

We have had a wonderful day of music in many styles, from many instruments, including the voice, gifted musicians and conductors, and talented accompanists. What could have been better? More tomorrow, and then we, the delegates give our own concert. I’m afraid that has already sold out, but do come and hear mezzo-soprano Carris Jones at 1.30pm, Djanogly Recital Hall.

Helena

Repertoire Day One: Masterclass and Concert – Wind

Helena Durham

Three masterclass opportunities are included in the Summer School. A masterclass is where an individual receives tuition while others watch, listen and learn. Sarah Watts offered a masterclass for wind and brass players.

P1110221Before the masterclass, Sarah gave a concert of contemporary music for the clarinet, including a piece for bass clarinet. Her enthusiasm for performance drew us, the audience, into sounds and styles that were new to many of us. She played with vibrancy, delicacy, force, percussively, with the use of harmonics (sounding two notes at once) and always with great musicality.

Sarah’s second piece was Pierre Boulez’ Domaines pour Clarinet. It requires 7 music stands. On one is the anchoring music, and on the other six sections of the piece that shift yet relate. The music of these stands, placed around the performance space, are to be played from left to right or in another direction. The musician chooses the order in which to visit each stand, revisiting each a second time to play the score in the other direction before returning to the ‘facing the audience stand’ for the close of the piece.  I imagine no two performances of the piece can ever be the same, a true collaboration between the composer, musician and audience, who travel the path of composer and musician both with eyes and ears. Goodness, that was hard to describe! I can assure you it sounds extraordinary and amazing. Google it if you would like to know more.

Yesterday, in Back to Basics, we talked about time and key signatures, bar lines etc. Boulez has ‘liberated’ the piece from these. Here’s a picture of Sarah’s score. NB – this is what a pencil is for! P1110224

When I dropped in on the masterclass, Sarah was offering advice about genres of music suited to a particular stage of learning, and the use of the breath.

Here with Sarah are clarinetists Jennifer and Angela, and trumpeter Richard:
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To find out more about Sarah, visit her website.

Did I say this would be a blog sandwich? Make that a triple decker. Owen Cox and the string masterclass will follow after coffee.

Helena

Repertoire Day One: Morning

Helena Durham

P1110208Today’s blog posts will be the bread either side of the filling that’s my dinner. Chicken salad. What a day!

Jane McDouall led a warm up for the SATB choir – keep the shoulders down and your face bright – as though greeting someone you’re pleased to see. Alex took over and we sang movements from Vivaldi’s Gloria, shaking off all ‘not quite awake’ feelings.

I slipped out to see what the orchestra was up to and walked into the tranquillity of Elgar’s Nimrod being played with great sensitivity. Hang on, though, what an unusual configuration of instruments! Strings as you would expect. Then how many? Yes, 13 or so flutes and a similar number of clarinets, but no one blaring out, the orchestra blending well under Angela’s baton. There were saxophonists, a tympanist, and to add to the loan double bassist, Chris McDouall on electric bass guitar.

The choir then split in two (no pain was involved, you understand). Sops and altos staying put, P1110212and bases and tenors heading to another room. Jane and Angela introduced the ladies to music by Richard Rodney Bennett and Kodály – unison songs (written really for single voice) and songs for 5 part upper voices.

Once that was underway, I went in search of the lower voices – not all male, you understand, some women’s voices are naturally low enough to sing tenor.

P1110216Their session was being led by a new-comer to MfE (I think), Mike Gregory, who is awarded quote of the day: ‘Sing it like Jeremy Clarkson would.’

I’m sure you can hear it already. Then again, looking at the picture… But once the ignition was turned… !

Right. Dinner time. More for dessert.

Helena 

Back to Basics

Helena Durham

The first day of the Summer School was intended for those with little experience of the technical aspects of music, but it was helpful that some with more experience had chosen to come too, they lentP1110183 their neighbours a hand.

Through the double act of Angela and Alex, we got to grips with notation, time signatures and rhythm. Angela used various beverages to help us feel the difference in length of notes: tea – crotchet, coffee – two quavers, coca cola – four semi quavers, and beer – a minim. Someone wanted to know the drink for demi-semi-quavers. Suggestions on a postcard please.

The instrumentalists went to the recital hall to look at transposing instruments, how individual parts work and how they fit together. Angela talked about the importance of counting rests by numbering the bars on the first beat: 1 2 3 4, 2 2 3 4, etc. She explained that brass players with oodles of bars rest can “read the newspaper, drink a pint of beer and still come in on time”. That’s what the trumpeter in me likes to hear.

Alex helped the singers tackle intervals (the gap between one note and the next) and reading the dots. Oh, and not forgetting reading the rests, of course.

We were all reminded of the importance of inserting pencil marks into copies:

  • to mark our particular part and aid navigation
  • to highlight the dynamics and the style the conductor requests
  • to make it easier to not just sing this note and that but to produce a nuanced performance that comes from the heart

As Angela said, no one can remember all those details, there is no shame in using a pencil!

After tea we tried our hand at conducting. P1110196For this session instrumentalist played and vocalists sang – fun as well as informative.  Then that was it for today. Repertoire days to come. Now where’s my music… ?

Helena 

We have lift off!

Helena Durham

Oh yes, we were given a pencil! And a wrist band and a delegate pack full of useful information before being welcomed by the ever Tiggerish Angela Kay and Robin Reece-Crawford.

Many moons ago, aged 14, I joined a small choir where one piece became my favourite, The Lover’s Ghost by Vaughan Williams. Imagine my joy when Apollo 5 opened the Summer School by singing this to us. Sublime.

P1110171The group are not named after the space rocket but Apollo, the god of music, and the number of vocalists. They taught us using the Voce8 method. We limbered up body and brain, adopted a good singing posture and began building up layers, including the pop beat of Western music, rhythms from sub-Saharan Africa, Latin-America and India, sol-fa from Hungary (Who knew? Thanks Kodály!), Asian vocal inflections and melodic lines. We got physical, we got vocal, and we did all this in up to 7 parts. As the session progressed more delegates volunteered to co-lead a section. Some parts were beat-box or vocal percussion in sound, others melodic or to add harmony. Fantastic, and then we were ready for coffee.

We returned to Houston, I mean the rehearsal room, and took off with three new songs that used the techniques learned earlier. After a quick lunch (do bring a packed lunch, would be my advice) we were ready for Apollo 5’s wonderful concert.

P1110174Clare Stewart, Greg Link, Alex Haigh, Ciarán Kelly and Charlotte Brosnan sang Dylan, Adele, Java Jive, Finzi, Bairstow, Sondheim and others with such attention to detail, listening intently to each other to keep the tuning and harmony tight, conveying the story of the lyrics and the emotion of the music. There was rapturous applause before we said goodbye. They set off to teach a lucky group elsewhere.

News of the afternoon to follow.

Helena Durham

Apollo 5 are part of a music education charity based at the Gresham Centre, London.

My bags are packed, I’m ready to go…

Helena Durham

My journey however doesn’t require a jet plane (as the song goes), bus and feet will take me to the Department of Music, University of Nottingham for the first day of the Music for Everyone Summer School.

So I have packed: lunch, water, throat-soothing sweets and tissues (I have the remnant of a cold, bother), camera and pencil – though I’m hoping the MfE tradition of a issuing a commemorative and useful pencil will add another to my collection, but NO music, at least not for the first day.

This feels rather liberating. As a singer, I’ll be spending the morning with vocal ensemble Apollo 5. Watching them on youtube tells me we’ll be listening to each other carefully and having fun too.

If you’d also like to hear them live, they are giving a concert at 1.30pm today, Djanogly Recital Hall, in the School of Music (next building down from the Djanogly Gallery and cafe), University Park campus. Tickets are £5.

Here comes the first Music for Everyone Summer School

Helena Durham

logo_GreenSometimes everything goes quiet in August, but not this year!

A large, brown envelope dropped through my letter box a few weeks ago brimming with information and music for the three-day Music for Everyone (MfE) Summer School. It starts next Monday, the 17th of August, at the University of Nottingham. I’m looking forward to excellent music-making with the other 203 delegates, lots of fun, and relaxing breaks (Ice cream!) in the beautiful surroundings of the University Park.

Visiting professional musicians, a cappella ensemble Apollo 5, mezzo-soprano Carris Jones, violinist Owen Cox and clarinetist Sarah Watts, will be giving workshops, masterclasses and short public concerts.

No doubt the tutors, Angela Kay, Alex Patterson, Gill Henshaw, assisted by Jane McDouall, Mike Gregory, Isobel Bounford, Owen Cox, and Stefan Reid, will bring out the best in us. Having sung with MfE before, I know it’s going to be great. MfE have invited me to blog about it, which I’ll happily do between singing pieces from Byrd to Rutter, Vivaldi to Kodaly, and a few surprises yet to be revealed. I’ll pop in on the instrumentalists too. They appear to have an exciting programme of classical music, jazz and swing awaiting them. Maybe I should dust off my flute… Did I mention we’ll also be learning how to conduct?!

Helena Durham

A note from the MfE office: Details of the concerts and tickets can be found here.