The finish line was in sight as we entered the third and final day of the Paris-Olympic themed Summer School… Coffee was consumed (any guesses for how many cups of tea and coffee were made over the 3 days…?) and rehearsals began to put the finishing touches to the pieces chosen to perform in the Showcase concert.

The orchestra had a change of venue to the Obolensky building, where the instrumental concert and buffet would take place later on.

Participants were invited to have their lunch in the Chapel, as Summer School accompanist and wonderful pianist Richard Cox played a relaxing programme of piano classics that brought a calm moment in an otherwise busy, busy day.

The concert began in the Chapel for the first half to hear the singers perform a wide range of repertoire from Lili Boulanger to Marvin Gaye. Then it was over to the Obolensky, with a special performance by the double basses as people entered, to hear the orchestra, wind band, saxophone ensemble and string orchestra, finishing with a grand finale of full choir and orchestra for Zadok the Priest.

THANK YOUS
The biggest THANK YOU and WELL DONE to all the singers and instrumentalists who took part and worked so hard over the 3 days, your performances were incredible and it’s so wonderful for us to see the ones that return year after year and also the many new faces that appear! To the artistic team, Alex, Hilary, Keiron, Rachel and Richard (currently all sharing a bottle of wine with 5 straws…) thank you for all you do to lead and encourage the music-making; the tutors in each section that support the players – you’re amazing.

To the youth volunteers for helping and joining in in so many ways THANK YOU and of course, ‘Anne’s Dad’ (aka Geoff) for making sure the tea and coffee urns were always full! The MfE team who did a fantastic job throughout the 3 days, a special mention to Anne for all she does in organising, planning and running Summer School!

And that’s Summer School for another year! See you all very soon for more music-making!

Forget bronze, silver and gold, today was all about the brass at day 2 of Summer School 2024!

As has become tradition, the choir started their day outside with Hilary for some warm ups ahead of another full day of singing, exploring their wide repertoire from Zadok the Priest to Ain’t no mountain high enough…

Meanwhile, the wind band and string orchestra were hard at work with Alex and Keiron, from Firebird to Paris Sketches.

Breaktimes were also an excellent time to catch up with fellow musicians, drink bottomless tea and coffee and browse the Bookwise stall of second-hand books and sheet music. We have also been joined on all 3 days by the MfE gift shop and Windblowers!

The guest artists for today were Heron Brass, a London-based quintet, treating us to another wonderful lunchtime recital in the Chapel before working with the brass players in a special workshop.

Which leads us to here, the end of Day 2 – ready to leap/climb/dive in to the 3rd and final day tomorrow…

Here’s our day 2 round-up, see if you can spot the special appearance by Alex and Rachel…

Fortunately for us, there was no rain and no upside down flag at the Opening Ceremony for MfE’s Olympic themed 2024 Summer School today. We have once again returned to the picturesque setting of Trent College in Long Eaton, beginning with the traditional tea, coffee and pastries with a welcome from Chair of Trustees John and Summer School coordinator Robin.

Then it was off to rehearsals, we’re delighted to welcome back Hilary Campbell to lead the choir and Keiron Anderson to direct the wind band and saxophone ensemble, with Artistic Director Alex Robinson taking the orchestra and strings.

The first guest artists of Summer School 2024 are folk-jazz fusion duo Katie Foster (violin) and Ben Sayah (guitar) who wowed us with their lunchtime recital, including improvisation, folk and bluegrass (with a bit of audience participation too of course!)

A workshop with Katie and Ben in the afternoon encouraged the string players to get creative with improvisation, amazing how inspired you can be looking at some dots and squiggles on a page!

Elsewhere the saxes have been working hard in their ensemble and in the wind band and the choir have been working in sectionals with Hilary and Rachel.

A wonderful first day all round which seemed to fly by, just remember, it’s a marathon, not the 100m hurdles…

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!

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!

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!

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 15th 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

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#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.