Daytime Voices

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

https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/a-musical-celebration/

#MfEMonday – 15th May 2023

15th May 2023 Music for Everyone

MfEMondays is back! From Coronations to Eurovision, we hope you have enjoyed the various festivities over the past couple of weekends – we’re looking forward to a busy time at MfE, starting this Saturday… see below.

Hail, Star of the Sea

This coming Saturday 20^th May (7.30pm start), the Nottingham Chamber Singers are performing at St John’s Church, Beeston.

It will be a wonderful programme of contrast and beauty for voices and strings including Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, Whitacre’s Five Hebrew Love Songs. For any of you who came along to the AGM you might remember singing the Brahms and Mendelssohn which will also feature in the concert.

Click here for more details. Click here to book tickets – save money when you book in advance!

*Special 40^th update* More exciting events from MfE as we continue the 40^th celebrations!

The FAMILY SING is now open for booking, happening on Sunday 11 June, open to all keen singers aged 5+ (children must be accompanied by an adult). Singing favourites like ‘Celebration’ by Kool and the Gang and ‘Under the Sea’ from the Little Mermaid, our new Steel Pan ensemble will also be performing with the opportunity to ‘have a go’. Full details and booking link here: https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/family-sing-workshop/

BLOW THE DUST OFF YOUR INSTRUMENT is on Saturday 17 June – music packs will be going out to all players very soon; items include Edward Elgar’s rousing Imperial March Op.32 and Queen’s iconic rock anthem We are the Champions. Find out full details and book online here: https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/blow-the-dust-off-your-instrument-3/ or contact the office on 0115 9589312 to book your place over the phone.

A MUSICAL CELEBRATION – 40^th Anniversary Weekend 1 – 2 July 2023

There’s something for everyone at the big weekend!

Vocals – sign up to take part in the youth concert on 1^st July (just £5 per child)
Spotlight on Youth concert: 1^st July, ticket booking is now open.
Daytime Voices & Orchestras – join us on 2^nd July for a Musical Celebration, including speeches and birthday cake!

All details of how YOU can get involved can be found here:

Woodwind players required for a Bulwell based wind band. Anyone is welcome and no weekly subscriptions are required. If you are interested, please contact David on 01159179203 or 07847099245.

Have a great week!

Your friends at MfE.

15/05/2023

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

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/occasions/christmas/best-festive-classical-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 musical musings for your Mondays! We are aiming to send out something new each week.

#MfEMonday – 12th December 2022

12th December 2022 Music for Everyone

What an amazing concert yesterday to end such a Christmassy week for MfE! A great big WELL DONE to all the singers in Vocals and Nottingham Community Voices for a great performance and a special thank you to Santa for taking the time to drop by.

We have been getting into the festive spirit with this great playlist of classical Christmas favourites – perfect for tree decorating, present wrapping and anything else that requires an alternative to Chris Rea!

There are still a few places left for Blow The Dust Off Your Instrument! If you are looking at that cello in the attic, clarinet in the garage or trumpet in shed (don’t keep trumpets in sheds please) you have just a few days left to sign up for our 7th January BTD! All the info and how to book online is here: https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/blow-the-dust-off-your-instrument-3/

Stay warm and have a great week!

Your friends at MfE.

12/12/2022

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 – 21st November 2022

21st November 2022 Music for Everyone

Congratulations to all those Daytime Voices singers who took part in end of term performances last week. Not only did you raise the roof, but various cake sales also raised a very impressive £460 for their associated Open Voices groups! Click here to hear West Bridgford Daytime Voices absolutely rocking ‘Like an Eagle’. A special mention must also go to the newly formed Hucknall Daytime Voices group who were invited to perform at the Jon Godber Centre’s Christmas fair last Sunday – you were brilliant!

Coming up – Daytime Orchestra Loughborough will be performing at All Saints Church Loughborough on Tuesday 06 December at 11:30 as part of their Christmas Tree Festival. The concert is free and they will finish with a carol singalong! Please come along, it will be a wonderful way to kick off a month of festivities.

We are busy putting together the music and information packs for Blow the Dust and are particularly looking forward to hearing the orchestra perform the overture to Dr Miracle by Bizet. In typical operatic fashion, Dr Miracle is a bizarre story about how forbidden love is overcome with the use of a poisoned omelette! There is even an entire quartet dedicated to the serving of the omelette.

Don’t miss out on your opportunity to pay homage to the humble omelette – there are still places available on Blow the Dust, click here for more information and here to sign up. And don’t forget to tell your friends!

On Saturday 26 November, Bingham and District Choral Society will be joining forces with Mansfield Choral Society and the Nottingham Symphony Orchestra to celebrate their 50^th Jubilee with a Last Night of the Proms concert at Southwell Minster. Why not join them to celebrate this Golden Jubilee milestone? Full details attached or on their website here.

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

21/11/2022

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

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/blow-the-dust-off-your-instrument-3/

#MfEMonday – 24th October 2022

24th October 2022 Music for Everyone

November is just around the corner, that must mean that MfE Christmas and 2023 events are now open for booking!

Concerts

Nottingham Chamber Singers present A Mystical Christmas at 3.30pm on Sunday 4^th December at St Mary the Virgin Church in Bunny.

Christmas is Coming! On Sunday 11^th December, members of the MfE ‘singing family’ come together for MfE’s annual Christmas concert at the Albert Hall, Nottingham, featuring a special appearance from Father Christmas! Children tickets are just £5 each.

Further details and ticket booking link for concerts can be found here: https://www.music-for-everyone.org/whats-on/concerts/

Workshops/Courses

Christmas Vocals – open to all primary aged singers, a singing afternoon on Saturday 10^th December, then join the Christmas is Coming concert to perform on Sunday 11^th December! https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/vocals-christmas-is-coming/

Nottingham Community Voices – Christmas. Members of Daytime Voices and Community Voices are invited to join Vocals on Sunday 11^th December at the Albert Hall, Nottingham for MfE’s annual Christmas concert. Optional rehearsals from 28^th November, https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/christmas-is-coming-daytime-voices/

Blow the Dust off your Instrument Saturday 7^th January 2023

Nottingham Festival Chorus workshop weekend and concert 28/29 January & 4 February 2023

https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/nfc-course-weekend/

The Nottingham Festival Chorus will be celebrating the 150^th anniversary of Ralph Vaughan Williams in their next event, a singing weekend course and concert in January/February 2023, performing the stunning work Toward the Unknown Region.

The anniversary itself is being commemorated and celebrated throughout 2022 (our celebration comes a little later than the actual anniversary!) with October being the anniversary of his birth.

A champion of music-making in the community, he was a central figure to British musical life. His work The Lark Ascending is regularly voted the UK’s favourite classical work, and he was well known for writing for most major forms of genre in music, including film and stage.

Have a listen to brighten a rainy Monday to The Lark Ascending: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR2JlDnT2l8

Bake Off fever has hit the office again, we’ve been enjoying some musical puns linked to baking – this one in particular made us giggle!

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

24/10/2022

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

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

#MfEMonday – 11th July 2022

11th July 2022 Music for Everyone

Last week saw the end of term for MfE’s Daytime Groups, with concerts from all the Daytime Voices choirs and orchestras – see some of the groups in action below!

On Saturday, the Nottingham Chamber Singers held their ‘Words & Music’ concert in St Mary’s Church in Clifton Village – a fantastic performance for a summers evening and enjoyed by all!

Well done to all our groups for their hard work this term – looking forward to returning to the music making in September!

To fit with the hot weather we are currently enjoying – a Desert Island Discs special!

Let’s start with the theme tune, a desert island disc in its own right. ‘By the Sleepy Lagoon’ composed by Eric Coates has introduced the BBC Radio series Desert Island Discs since 1942 and is still used today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMMS4I6f7o4

Some of the most requested composers on Desert Island Discs include Beethoven and Elgar. Take a listen to these tunes and let the hot weather fool you into believing you’re sat on a desert island… What would you choose to take with you?

Elgar – Enigma Variations ‘Nimrod’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8NOVGHJmRs

Conducted by Leonard Bernstein and performed by BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1982.

Beethoven – Symphony No.6 ‘Pastoral’ 1^st movement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zKiDXbwdR0

Performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker.

If you enjoyed this, why not listen to our Open Voices leader, Cliff McArdle, choose his own Desert Island Discs with the U3A Beeston via Zoom on Wednesday evening, 6.30pm – link to join below.

Join Zoom Meeting (Wednesday from 6.30pm)
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81037019352?pwd=eElwNTNrVFNIeUJtQStsWEtYcVZpQT09

Meeting ID: 810 3701 9352
Passcode: 068509

Amazon DOUBLE DONATIONS Prime Day alert!
If you shop Amazon Prime Day deals on 12 & 13 July, Amazon will double donations: Simply shop with AmazonSmile ON in the Amazon Shopping app or at smile.amazon.co.uk/ch/1153412-0, and AmazonSmile donates to Music For Everyone.

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

11/07/2022

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

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

#MfEMonday – 25th April 2022

25th April 2022 Music for Everyone

Greetings after yet another wonderful weekend of MfE music-making!

Saturday and Sunday saw the massed forces of the Nottingham Community Voices (featuring singers from our various daytime voices groups plus members from the Lunchtime Voices, Nottingham Chamber Singers and various other community choirs around the county), combining in a truly stunning ‘chorus line’ for our West End to Broadway musicals course.

Our singers worked hard on their renditions of the romantic and sumptuous scores of My Fair Lady and The King and I, along with smooth and sensual excerpts by the legendary Irving Berlin, before rounding it all off with their riotous rabble of revolutionaries in Les Miserables! They were accompanied by the stunning Nottingham Concert Orchestra, who serenaded us with a string of Broadway hits, including a heart-rending suite from Bernstein’s West Side Story. It was an absolute treat. Adding a little extra shimmer and sparkle to all of this, were the fantastic talents of Simon Theobald and Kate Taylor, whose performances left us simultaneously rolling in the aisles and weeping into our programmes. It was a triumph – huge congratulations to everyone involved!

Our Vocals weekend is next. With expert tuition from Alison Bennett and Rachel Parkes, this is an absolute steal at only £15.00 for the entire event (two workshop afternoons and a concert afternoon). Please tell all the young people (of primary school age) in your lives that it will be a wonderful chance to learn some new and entertaining music, as well as some well-known Disney tunes from Moana. These massed musical events tend to be formative in our experiences and memories, so help us to spread the word. We know you will want to come and support them in their concert on Saturday 21^st May – tickets are available on our website.

Finally for those instrumentalists amongst you, our Summer Blow the Dust day is fast approaching. Tell your friends, or even bring someone along from out of town … it’s a wonderful day to relax, enjoy and bond with other like-minded orchestral players out there! If you fancy an extended chance to waggle those clarinet keys or refine your ‘ricochet’, then our Summer School is for you. More details available at www.music-for-everyone.org

With the sun shining, our minds at MfE are turning to our Summer School. We are really looking forward to returning to Trent College and hopefully enjoying their lovely grounds in the sunshine. If you haven’t yet decided whether to come along, let us motivate you with a few facts about Vaughan William’s, who’s music we will be exploring to mark the 150^th anniversary of his birth:

He was well connected; His great-uncle was Charles Darwin, and ceramics magnate Josiah Wedgewood was his great-great-grandfather.
During the Second World War, he is rumoured to have done a stint of cleaning at the local public toilets in Dorking.
The composer never took his privileged background for granted and worked all his life for democratic and egalitarian ideals. He viewed music as being part of everyone’s everyday life, rather than being the preserve of an elite. Something we wholeheartedly agree with at MfE!

As the French Presidential Elections closed yesterday, we found it fitting that the French national anthem was composed on this day in 1792, here is Berlioz’s arrangement ‘La Marseillaise’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZWabwLPUXc

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

25/04/2022

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

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

#MfEMonday – 14th March 2022

14th March 2022 Music for Everyone

MfE Review of 2020-21
Yesterday the MfE AGM took place via Zoom. The meeting ended with an entertaining review of the MfE Year 2020-21 on our YouTube channel. If you would like to watch it then please, just click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mCtQsBBvDA

It’s an enjoyable watch – get the popcorn out!

This coming Saturday afternoon, 19^th March, MfE’s three youth bands have their Easter concert – Bandtastic! – at West Bridgford Methodist Church. For an afternoon of great windband music, find out more on our website! Tickets will be available on the door: https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/youth-bandtastic/

Musicals course (Saturday 23 April) and concert (Sunday 24^th April).
We are in the process of sorting out all the music for our Musicals course. If you haven’t signed up and would like to come along and sing some of the best music from well-known Musicals then it’s not too late! Just visit our website https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/ncm-come-and-sing/ download the attached form or give our office a ring on 0115 958 9312 – we would love to see you there.

The 75^th BAFTAs took place yesterday, celebrating the best in film from the past year.

Amongst the winners were several musical films, including brand new music and the remake of a classic!

You may well have heard of new animated film Encanto (almost definitely if you have children and grandchildren!) This gets a mention regularly in our office, here’s a catchy song from the film to keep your Monday afternoon going: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQwVKr8rCYw

Another big winner of the night was a story we all know well… the remake of West Side Story has received high praise and brings back those classic songs, including this one that needs no introduction! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoQEddtFN3Q

Did anyone else see the chihuahua performing a routine from Swan Lake at this year’s Crufts? (Yes, it really did happen…) They entered the ‘Heelwork to Music’ category, see a snippet here https://www.classicfm.com/composers/tchaikovsky/chihuahua-swan-lake-crufts/?fbclid=IwAR1QDWnj8bmHjF61j1vmnxeSwwPlgKWBbYkXkrkBek14fV_vDNeC6l_6-94

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

14/03/2022

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

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF