Big Youth Music Experience

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

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

#MfEMonday – 6th March 2023

6th March 2023 Music for Everyone

As you know, Music for Everyone is currently celebrating its 40^th Anniversary season. Founded in 1983 by Angela Kay, the Nottingham based music charity has long championed the voices of women within the field of music and performance. When we made the connection that our concert this weekend would fall in the week that we celebrate International Women’s Day, (Wednesday 8^th March) we wanted to celebrate some lesser-known female composers, whose works have often been underrepresented in established anthologies in the genre of sacred choral composition.

Come and join us as we celebrate women in music at St Martin’s Church, Sherwood: https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/march-ncs/

Today we are musing on the INCREDIBLE Big Youth Music Experience concert yesterday at Nottingham’s Albert Hall, featuring over 160 young musicians and an amazing joint performance of ‘Feeling Good’. Here are some photos!

Flutes in Art History: Major Find by SAM Flutes Member.

Did you know that famous Derby painter Joseph Wright was a flute player? SAM flutes member Carol Craggs discovered that when she acquired a bound set of the flute duets he used to play in the 1770s with his Derby friend, Rev Thomas Gisborne. When fellow SAM flutes member Martin Gorman mentioned the duets in a blog article it was spotted by author Dr Stephen Leach of Keele University. He has recently written a book on Joseph Wright and acknowledged their help in identifying for the first time the music that Wright and Gisborne played together. Everyone had assumed the music was burned along with old family papers after Wright’s death. Dr Leach lists Carol’s collection of duets and is looking into the possibility of getting some of the music performed at the Joseph Wright Gallery in Derby.

Have a great week!

Your friends at MfE.

06/03/2023

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 musical musings for your Mondays! We are aiming to send out something new each week.

#MfEMonday – 27th February 2023

27th February 2023 Music for Everyone

We’ve had an amazing weekend of music making with over 160 young musicians at South Nottinghamshire Academy in Radcliffe on Trent this weekend with Bandwise (Saturday) and Stringwise (Sunday). Can’t wait for their families and friends to hear the result in next weekend’s concert at Nottingham’s Albert Hall!

As we head into March, MfE is looking forward to a busy month of exciting events:

NCS concert – A Multitude of Voices on Saturday 11^th March at St Martin’s Church, Sherwood. Tickets available in advance here: https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/march-ncs/ or on the door.
We’re excited to announce 3 of MfE’s youth groups will be ‘day-tripping’ to Birmingham for the Music for Youth Regional Festival on Tuesday 14^th March, playing in the CBSO Centre!
MfE youth groups Mother’s Day concert on Sunday 19^th March at the Grange in Radcliffe on Trent, tickets available in advance or on the door.

Music has been proven to have a positive effect on our health and some new research has shown how long it can take to feel happier, or more relaxed or even to overcome sadness.

It won’t come as a surprise that music with a slow tempo is best for relaxation, although it might be of interest to learn that 13 minutes is the optimum listening time for feeling peaceful and contented compared to 9 minutes of a driving rhythm and fast tempo to help you to feel uplifted.

Find out more here: https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/music-to-release-sadness-and-feel-happier-study/ for the stats and percentages!

Have you seen ‘The Piano’ on channel 4 as pianist Lang Lang and popstar Mika search for the top amateur pianists by listening to them perform at popular train station pianos in St Pancras, Birmingham New Street, Leeds and Glasgow? 13 year old Lucy plays a stunning version of a Chopin nocturne here: https://www.classicfm.com/composers/chopin/blind-pianist-lang-lang-the-piano/

Have a great week!

Your friends at MfE.

27/02/2023

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

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

#MfEMonday – 20th February 2023

20th February 2023 Music for Everyone

Tickets are still available for the Nottingham Chamber Singers’ Multitude of Voices concert at St Martin’s in Sherwood on 11 March. Join them as they dive into the rich, exquisite and relatively under-represented canon of choral works by female composers.

The concert, in the same week as International Women’s Day, will take the opportunity to celebrate 900 years of Passiontide themed motets, both reflective and uplifting from the 11th Century Abbess and Polymath Hildegard von Bingen through to the emerging and talented Kerensa Briggs (b.1991). Throughout the concert, acclaimed Saxophonist John Barker will be weaving transcendent melodies into and around our program, culminating in a second half performance of the beautiful Son of God Mass by James Whitbourn to ease you into Eastertide.

Click here for more information and here to book.

The youth groups are gearing up for a busy month of March, working towards their Mother’s Day concert on Sunday 19^th March at The Grange in Radcliffe on Trent, an instrumental treat for all! Click here for more information

We are really looking forward to welcoming 161 young instrumentalists to our Bandwise and Stringwise courses this weekend! After a weekend of being put through their paces by our crack team of experts they will then come together for a showcase concert at the Albert Hall on Sunday 05 March. We can’t wait to hear their joint performance of ‘Feelin’ Good’ arranged by our very own Josh Goodman. Perhaps most famously recorded by Nina Simone, it was first performed by Guyanese-British singer Cy Grant on the opening night of The Roar of the Greasepaint at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham on 3 August 1964!

Click here to find out what song was number one on the day you were born. The current range in the office is Fernando by Abba to I Owe You Nothing by Bros – but we’re not going to reveal who came out dancing to Abba!

Have a great week!

Your friends at MfE.

20/02/2023

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

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

#MfEMonday – 7th November 2022

7th November 2022 Music for Everyone

Music for Everyone’s twice-annual mega youth event – The Big Youth Music Experience – kicked off its Autumn course with a bang this weekend. Over 150 young people, dozens of volunteers, five conductors, six instrumental tutors and many, many custard creams all assembled at South Notts Academy for a weekend of amazing music-making!

Bandwise 1 and 2 and Stringwise 1, 2 and 3 spent Saturday and Sunday preparing for next Sunday’s concert spectacular at the Albert Hall.

Tomorrow, November 7th, marks the 139^th Birthday of legendary British composer Arnold Bax. Why not celebrate with this gorgeous recording of his masterpiece ‘Tintagel’? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FX95ET4qSI

Incidentally, if you were interested in hearing this live, why not check out the Charnwood Orchestra’s concert on 26^th November! Details on the flyer.

Did you know that some new works by Vivaldi have been found? Musicologist Olivier Fourés has painstakingly reconstructed fragments of manuscripts found in libraries in Venice of works by composers including Antonio Vivaldi. The reconstructed works will be heard for the first time on an album coming out this month, featuring Ukrainian violinist Vadym Makarenko. Read the full story here.

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

07/11/2022

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 – 15th August 2022

15th August 2022 Music for Everyone

We had a great 3 days of music making at Summer School last week. You can find out what we got up and see pictures of the sessions and amazing guests we had on our blog page, there is a post for each day of Summer School: https://www.music-for-everyone.org/about-us/blog/

Announcing 2022/23 dates!

Details of courses, workshops and concerts are now available on our website for the 40^th Anniversary season. Information for regular groups (Daytime groups, etc) will follow soon including advance booking.

Website homepage with upcoming events in the Autumn: https://www.music-for-everyone.org/
Adult workshops & courses for 22/23: https://www.music-for-everyone.org/forms/
Youth workshops & courses for 22/23: https://www.music-for-everyone.org/workshops-and-courses/
Concerts in 22/23: https://www.music-for-everyone.org/whats-on/concerts/

The rain has finally arrived, bringing some much needed freshness to the air after the most recent heatwave. We decided to look at music inspired by rain, hoping a rain-dance would open the heavens sooner than expected!

Chopin’s Prelude Op.28 (‘Raindrop’) with it’s repetitive pulse through the texture is thought to sound like raindrops. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVau-JRGirg

An appropriately named piece The Welcome Arrival of Rain by Judith Weir, inspired by verse from the Hindu text ‘Bhagavata Purana’ – catching the sense of sudden rain and the renewal and growth that follows. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU4PBYjDtkw

And something a little different to finish, here is a choir making the sounds of a rain storm using their hands and feet, impressive! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29qaN0M0o0s

We’ve all heard music that has been described as ‘out of this world’… well here is something that was produced from out of this world! NASA have released a soundscape of the Butterfly Nebula, created from data taken from images – sounding strangely dreamlike! https://www.classicfm.com/music-news/videos/nasa-sound-butterfly-nebula/

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

15/08/2022

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

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/recorder-consort-day/

#MfEMonday – 25th July 2022

25th July 2022 Music for Everyone

We can’t quite believe that our final event of the season is almost upon us, but there is already much to look forward to from September, with our 40th Anniversary season!

For all you recorder players there is a special playing and performance day on Saturday 3rd September with the chance to perform in the beautiful surroundings of Wollaton Hall. For further details follow this link:

We are excited that Brian Kay (founding member of the King’s Singers) is leading a Choral Workshop on Saturday 8th October. Book early to avoid disappointment:

https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/autumn-singing-workshop-day/

And the ever popular Big Youth Music Experience is back in November!

Bandwise for all young wind, brass and percussion players: https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/byme-bandwise-2022/

Stringwise for all young string players: https://www.music-for-everyone.org/event/byme-stringwise-2022/

There will be lots more exciting events to come so keep your eyes peeled!

A short Monday Motivation today as I know many of us are winding down for the Summer!

On this day (25th July) in 1788, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completed his Symphony No. 40. The precise date of completion of this symphony is known as Mozart kept a full catalogue of his completed works.

It’s incredible to believe that this was one of three symphonies that he rattled off within just a few weeks – the 39th Symphony completed 26th June and the 41st Symphony on 10th August.

Wow. So if that’s not motivation to be more productive over the Summer then I don’t know what is!!

Click here to have a listen to Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic with a short snippet from Symphony No. 40: https://youtu.be/0sGqkMU-mGQ

Or follow this link for the full four movements with the London Mozart Players: https://youtu.be/CJkUpFWAIm4

Calling young string players! If you’re aged 12-18 and are grade 4+ on violin, viola, cello or double bass, have a look at this event running in August… contact Ellie McLay for more details (email on flyer)

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

25/07/2022

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

10 Goose Gate | Hockley | NG1 1FF

#MfEMonday – 7th March 2022

7th March 2022 Music for Everyone

This weekend has been a busy one for MFE. Saturday saw the Nottingham Chamber Singers giving a concert in St Mary Magdalene Church, Hucknall. The first half was a performance of John Rutter’s Requiem with Sarah Trevers singing the soprano solo in the Pie Jesu and Lux Aeterna. The second half included a series of part songs by Schumann and Brahms and local composer Guy Turner’s Songs and Legends of Robin Hood.

Sunday was the culmination of our Big Youth Music Experience with a concert in the Albert Hall for family and friends. The 160 young players of the Stringwise and Bandwise groups gave sterling performances of music by Telemann, Holst, Bernstein, Bizet, to name but a few. The concert ended with all the players coming together in a special arrangement by Josh Goodman of the Frank Sinatra classic New York, New York.

The opening ceremony of the 2022 Paralympic Winter Games got underway at the National Stadium in Beijing on Friday night. Themed “Inspiration,” the countdown performance had two parts – Looking back at the history of the Paralympic Games and the Inspiration of the Paralympic Spirit.

These ceremonies always have spectacular dance and music presentations, and this year was no exception. However, you may not be aware of a dynamic arts organisation which is based much closer to home. The vision of Able Orchestra is to create a totally inclusive ensemble of disabled and non-disabled musicians. From its origins as an “iPad orchestra” for profoundly disabled students in North Nottinghamshire, Able Orchestra has expanded to bring together diverse young musicians and emerging music leaders with world-class professional artists from a range of music and digital genres.

Have a look at this introductory video to see what fantastic work they are doing –https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkJt2pottZY&t=109s

Two local concerts you might be interested in…
Friday March 11th 7:30pm – Mosaic – A concert of music for Unaccompanied Voices. Church of our Lady of Mercy and Philip Neri, Melbourne, Derby DE73 8EJ
Saturday March 12th 7:30pm – Nottingham Symphony Orchestra – American Classics. Albert Hall Nottingham NG1 5AA. Special 25% discount for MFE members – use code MUSICALNOTTS! when booking online http://nottinghamsymphony.org.uk/

Have a good week!

Your friends at MfE.

07/03/2022

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