Summer School

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.

Summer School Day 3: The Big Finale

10th August 2022 Music for Everyone

What. A. Day.

Everyone was still in high spirits despite the rather warm weather as final rehearsals and preparations for the Showcase Concert got underway.

Simon Theobald, our guest artist for today and firm friend of MfE having worked with us at our Musicals concerts in the past, brought us a programme that was ‘unashamedly popular’ (his words!) at the lunchtime concert, even managing to get everyone to join in at the end!

The singers were then treated to a workshop on some Gilbert & Sullivan with Simon, before all came together for the Showcase Concert for family, friends and guests in the Oblensky Building.

The concert was a triumph! A wonderful mix of music from Britten to Vaughan Williams, featuring harpsichords and recorders alongside the choir, orchestra, strings and band and a mega finish with the Agincourt Song. (More photos to follow…)
The traditional Summer School buffet followed after, with enough sausage rolls to feed an army and a chance to cool down after a ‘rather warm’ performance.

THANK YOU – firstly to all who took part on the course, for making this one a sell-out and singing/playing with enthusiasm and a smile, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.
Also to our superstar volunteer and ‘bumper’ team, helping to serve the endless tea and coffee, moving chairs and things when needed, manning the book stall and supporting all instrumental and vocal sections.
Our brilliant conductors Gill, Hilary and Rob – who once again smashed it (I don’t think we’ve put them off yet), our amazing guests Anthony, Carmen and Simon, and to the wonderful Trent College for hosting us once again, who have THE best site and staff team supporting us.

Phew! Right, where’s the [insert preferred alcoholic drink here]…

See you next year!

Summer School Day 2: Violas, Visuals and Very energetic dancing

9th August 2022 Music for Everyone

Here we are again! They say a picture paints 1000 words, so here’s a whole bunch! (and some video clips… yes singers, we caught it all on camera…)

All these years of Summer School have taught us to give the people what they want, and what they want is coffee before they start the day! Fuelled and ready to go, the singers decided to take their warm-up outside, while the instrumentalists enjoyed some specialist sectionals followed by wind band and strings rehearsals with Gill and Rob respectively.

The viola was the star of the show today, with special guest artist Carmen Flores giving us a memorable recital accompanied by Paul Turner – a viola recital being a first for many! We were wowed by her beautiful playing, including the Viola Sonata by Rebecca Clarke (who used a composer pseudonym Anthony Trent back in 1919). After her amazing recital, Carmen worked with the strings on Telemann’s Viola Concerto to be performed to the other participants at the end of the day.

As we can’t fit all this years repertoire into tomorrow’s Showcase Concert, we finished with a ‘sharing performance’. The choir came to listen to the wind band perform the English Dances by Malcolm Arnold and the strings accompanied Carmen in the Telemann Viola Concerto.

Instrumentalists then went to listen to the choir in the chapel, where there was actual dancing in the aisles! Not sure if there was something in the air or perhaps the effects of the hot weather, but it was certainly a fun (and slightly energetic) end to the day!

Another glorious day of summer school comes to a close… hope everyone gets well-rested tonight for the ‘big one’ tomorrow – see you there!

Summer School 2022 – Day 1: Trumpets, Teas and Twiddly Notes

8th August 2022 Music for Everyone

It doesn’t feel like a year since we were last here, writing about Summer School – but how great it is to be back!

We are once again using the beautiful setting of Trent College in Long Eaton, with many familiar and new faces taking part in this years course. The welcome ‘drink and pastry’ at registration gave everyone a chance to catch up with friends with Robin and Angela kicking things off with an introduction to the 3 days.

The orchestra, conducted by Rob Hodge, got underway with a warm-up involving a lot of standing up and sitting down to get the hearts pumping, then it was into the rousing 633 Squadron for the first rehearsal of the day.

The choir, delighted for Hilary Campbell’s return, enjoyed their morning sessions in the chapel, accompanied by the wonderful Richard Cox with some familiar MfE faces joining the choir this year.

Break time and it’s tea, coffee and biscuits outside in the sunshine, with a browse of the Bookwise stalls. With the help of our lovely volunteers and Chair of Trustees John Hess, teas and coffees were served, with John learning the secret to how many tea bags make a great pot of tea!

The first guest of Summer School 2022 is Anthony Thompson, making Monday the day of the brass instrument with a splendid lunchtime recital on trumpet and flugelhorn. Accompanied by Graziana Presicce on piano, they performed a beautiful and varied programme from Elgar and Vaughan Williams to pieces composed especially for this duo – including the first live performance of Anthony Hedge’s Sonata for Trumpet and Piano – what a treat!

The brass players then got a chance to get really stuck into technique and more in their brass workshop with Anthony during the afternoon… For those who ever wondered what the secret to good note production and articulation is – it’s all down to keeping your ears clean… who knew!

We are beyond thrilled that Gill is back at Summer School to take the wind band, rehearsals and sectionals were sounding great with lots of twiddly notes and scale runs to keep all on their toes!

The orchestra were also joined by an extra, unannounced guest (a remnant of a party over the weekend before we arrived) keeping Rachel company in the horn section, credit to Anthony Thompson for the ‘Tyrana-HORN-us Rex’ pun… wonder if he’ll stay with us the whole 3 days…

Looking forward to Day 2 tomorrow, with more sunshine and hot weather on the way, it promises to be a scorcher!

#MfEMonday – 1st August 2022

1st August 202229th July 2022 Music for Everyone

Next week is MfE’s much anticipated Summer School. We are excited to be welcoming back from last year’s event, guest conductors Hilary Campbell for the singers, Robert Hodge for the orchestra and strings and Gill Henshaw for the wind band. We also have amazing guest artists Carmen Flores, Anthony Thompson and Simon Theobald to complete the line up!

We’ll be sharing the Summer School experience on our blog over the 3 days and look forward to seeing many of you there!

As all staff will be at Summer School (tea/coffee making calls!) the office will be shut from Monday – Friday next week. But we’ll be back in from Monday 15^th August to prepare for the new term.

Hearing your national anthem being played during a victory ceremony must be one of the most emotive moments of any sporting event. In preparation for the Commonwealth Games, 50 members of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra recorded new arrangements of all 72 anthems in an epic 3-day recording session at the CBSO centre in Birmingham. The anthems will be played during the gold medal victory ceremonies and must last between 60 to 90 seconds to ensure they fit into the flag-raising time. Arranger and conductor Philip Sheppard said, “The excitement and anticipation of the Games has most definitely been incorporated into these arrangements of the anthems and I cannot wait to hear them being played.”

If they are successful in winning gold, Team England will hear Jerusalem played as their flag is raised, but there are several nations who have chosen a much more familiar tune as their anthem. Bermuda, Montserrat, St Helena, Turks and Caicos Islands and Norfolk Island will all hear ‘God Save The Queen’ as their nation celebrates a gold medal.

Did you know the Commonwealth itself has its own anthem? Song for the Commonwealth – words and music by Simon Maw MBE – performed here by 53 members of the Commonwealth Children’s Choir and Musicians of The Household Division and dedicated to all the Children of the Commonwealth to celebrate the 90th Birthday of Her Majesty The Queen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9s6G3TWdho

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

01/08/2022

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

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

https://www.music-for-everyone.org/

#MfEMonday – 11th April 2022

11th April 202211th April 2022 Music for Everyone

The MfE groups are taking a well-deserved break for Easter after a busy Spring term.

While the groups are off, the artistic and office team are busy prepping for a wonderful summer term full of music – all the details can be found on our website, below is a quick overview of what is coming up!

Musicals course and concert – 23/24 April
Vocals course and concert – 14/15 & 21 May
Blow the Dust playing day – 11 June
NFC Jubilee workshop and concert – 25/26 June
Summer School – 8/9/10 August

We’re sure you are all familiar with the traditional Easter Egg (painted/decorated/chocolate/etc!) but we’ve found out some interesting facts about the ‘other’ type of easter egg… the ones that double as secret or hidden messages in music.

One of the first composers to do this was J.S. Bach and he hid one Easter Egg so well, it wasn’t discovered for 250 years in his Mass in B
Minor!

He would often sign his name into his music B A C H as an ‘easter egg’ (in German notation, the letter H is used for B natural, and B is used for B flat). Whether these were always intentional will never be known, but it seems to most experts that he would add them to the beginning or end of a piece as a ‘signing off’.

Do you know of any others that he hid his name in?

Bach: Mass in B Minor – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FLbiDrn8IE

And for Easter, here is Bach’s St John Passion, composed in 1724 for the Good Friday Vespers service in the same year – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMf9XDQBAaI&t=4s

Happy Easter from the MfE Team!

Quiz time! Can you work out the John Williams film from these emojis? Some are easier than others… https://www.classicfm.com/lifestyle/quizzes/john-williams-film-score-emojis/

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

11/04/2022

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

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

#MfEMonday – 21st February 2022

21st February 2022 Music for Everyone

The MfE Summer School is now open for booking!

This year we will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Vaughan Williams by exploring his musical connection with English composers such as Walton, Britten and Purcell.

Guest artists will include trumpeter Anthony Thompson from Sinfonia Viva, violist Carmen Flores of the acclaimed Villiers Quartet and inspirational baritone Simon Theobald. Places are limited so book early to avoid disappointment.

For full details or to book a place follow this link: https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/summer-school-2022/

For fans of Beethoven…

Bookwise has collected a large donation of books and CD’s on Beethoven. The donor very sadly is terminally ill and he has given his lifelong collection to the shop to benefit the Music for Everyone charity. It is a wonderful and generous donation. The books, which are in excellent condition, have now been collated and typed up (all 163 of them!) and are ready and available for purchasing at discounted prices.

If you are interested in looking at the list and subsequently buying any, please contact Jane McDermott, the Voluntary Music Manager at Bookwise, Nottingham:

Email jachmcd@gmail.com or telephone 07976 354 747.

The books will be sold on a “first come, first served” basis.

The CD collection covers the whole of Beethoven’s music with multiple recordings by different conductors. There is a Deutsche Grammophon Complete Set of 87 CD’s in Volumes 1-19 with Volume 20 being Historic Recordings. It was made to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Deutsche Grammophon in 1998. Included is a 304 page book on the Complete Edition. The huge collection is in the process of being collated and typed up and will be available in the very near future. However if anybody wishes to contact Jane about any requests, please do so.

Finally, please feel free to inform anybody that you know who may be interested in these Beethoven books and CD’s as it is a great opportunity to raise valuable funds for MfE and to value our generous donor’s lifelong passion and collection.

Thank you!

Over the past two weeks the Winter Olympics have been taking place in and around Beijing and Team GB leave with two medals – gold in the women’s curling and silver in the men’s event. In homage to this fortnight of skiing, skating, curling and boarding here are pieces that conjure up thoughts of winter sports!

Ravel’s Bolero – back in 1984 Nottingham legends Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean glided graciously to Gold in Sarajevo with a knockout routine to Ravel’s Bolero, memorably receiving sixes across the board!

https://youtu.be/t2zbbN4OL98

Fonteyn’s Pop Looks Bach – chosen by the BBC as their Ski Sunday theme tune, this catchy number for strings and timps instantly evokes images of perfect powder and snowy slopes!

https://youtu.be/jOEO_fgG3-I

Richard Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony – a dramatic and atmospheric depiction of the majestic mountains. If you don’t have time to listen to the whole 50 minute tone-poem here is a snippet from the spine-tingling climax:

https://youtu.be/xK7z2NhUrsQ

MFE have some instruments for sale! Do you know anyone who might be interested in these beautiful electro-acoustic guitars? https://www.music-for-everyone.org/instruments-for-sale/#
If so, please help spread the word or get in touch for further details!

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

21/02/2022

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

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

#MfEMondays – Keeping in Touch

16th August 2021 Music for Everyone

KEEPING IN TOUCH

Hello everyone

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?

Our excellent guest conductors, Hilary Campbell https://www.hilarycampbell.com and Robert Hodge https://www.robert-hodge.com also had a great time – here is a message from them.

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 10^th 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

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

16/08/2021

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

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF