Day 56 - Clueless in Concert and the presentation

I popped home, had some lunch with Chris and got roped into helping him with his cider. I tend to be associated with scraping the bottle of the barrel so felt at home getting the last dregs into their containers. Back to the Corn Exchange and I arrived to help Rohan set up the little harps. Nine harps on stage looks fabulous. I was seated right on the edge of the stage, a bit scary for someone who usually likes to hide behind the flutes!

Gradually more and more musicians arrived, still buzzing from their exams. Eventually we were herded into our positions and the rehearsal began with the brass Fanfare conducted by Russell Keable. I say Fanfare but it was more like a funfair suffering from a power cut! It was hilarious although not as funny as the delicate woodwind piece, Peter Britton's arrangement of a Couperin piece. Peter was trying so hard to be serious while players laughed at the squawks, squeaks and bassoon noises that emerged. I understand the piece was difficult but the trick of keeping counting and just come in where you can was non-existant! Russell came back stating that the woodwind piece had been produced to make the brass sound good. There were so many other very funny moments and I can't recall them all now. As a string player (I never thought I'd ever say that) I performed Satie's Gymnopedie. This went rather well and here Russell was able to give some advice to the violins, something to do with bow technique which made a huge difference to the quality of the sound. In the Fenland Fantasy all went well until the harp glissando. Russell stopped and all attention was on the nine of us. He asked us to make the gliss a bit longer. We obliged but he then told us to make more of it and go up and down a few times saying "you can't want to play the harp without doing any dramatic glissando!" He got us to do the bar again, and kept us going for far longer than necessary. The rest of the orchestra cheered and we carried on. GOAT Music went as well as could be expected (not very!) and we had a break while Prime Brass rehearsed.

Onto the concert and I met Chris out in the foyer and saw a few of my own pupils and colleagues arriving. While Chris seated himself somewhere near the back I wondered where Jess, Margaret and Mark, Margaret's husband, had got to as they said they were coming too. As we went on stage I heard some commotion and the three of them in true groupie style were on the front row as close to me as they could get!! I waved at them, something I tell my band pupils not to do as it is very unprofessional!

GOAT Orchestra

The Fanfare went quite well and the applause was warm and encouraging. The Couperin began as well as it had finished in the rehearsal and the laughter from not only the audience, but the rest of the orchestra and the woodwind players themselves was so funny. Peter had given one of the early piano (soft) tunes to the oboes and a professional will tell you that soft playing without warming up is very difficult. It wasn't so much the raucous blend of reedy sounds that amused me, nor the contrast of delicate flute sound with heavy saxophone imitation, but the fact that one oboist just couldn't help laughing throughout the entire performance. Every time she thought she had calmed down the oboe would go up to her lips and then her shoulders would bob up and down helplessly. Then she gave up! Gymonpedie was fine apart from some unusual glockenspiel moments.

Performance of Gymnopedie

It was then onto speeches, a good mix of hilarity and seriousness as we learnt about the Grade-1-a-thon and the work of the Spinal Injuries Association. Guy and Maurice did a brilliant performance of Mozart's Rondo from one of the Horn Concertos, even swapping instruments at one point! A Fenland Fantasy was good and as a harp section we all agreed that we would go for the big glissando moment. We pulled it off marvellously!

The amazing lever harp section

The presentation of 140 grade 1 certificates was always going to be a bit ambitious so it was announced that the highest scorer in each section would collect the certificates on behalf of the rest of their section. They were presented by John Holmes, chief examiner or the Associated Board who provided 12 of their 'most patient examiners'. We were told everyone had passed with many scoring distinctions and a fair few of these up in the 140s. Waiting excitedly for the harp results John delayed things by commenting how rare it was to see nine harps, harping on about a performance of Parsifal he was going to see the following week and how he doubted there would be nine harps there! After what seemed like an age he announced the name... and I heard my name called out. Wow, I was top but was it a distinction...? As I stepped up to collect the envelope I heard a cheer from the front row of the audience (thanks fans!). I knew the top mark had also been written on the envelope and wanted to look straight away but had to get the balance of being polite to John by looking him in the eye, shaking his hand and thanking him, and seeing the result as quickly as possible. As soon as I turned back I looked down and saw the little number... 145! I gasped! I'd done it! Not only a distinction but a fantastic one exceeding all my expectations. I quickly calculated how much Mum owed me.

Presentation ceremony

I distributed the certificates and mark sheets to the waiting harpists. In the end all the lever harps ended up with distinctions and the pedal harps were distinctions and one or two very high merits. The results were still going around. I remember Janet, head of music at my Monday morning senior school was top of the flutes and Maurice was top of the horns. We finished with GOAT Music and took a bow.

Final bow

Prime Brass came out to recalibrate the audiences ears and remind them what proper music sounds like. They were fantastic and Guy's solo in Hoagy Carmichael's Stardust was beautifully played. The rest of the evening was a blur as we swapped results and offered congratulations. I got my chauffeur back as Chris drove me and the harp to my car which I'd left on the outskirts of the city.

I went to bed without doing the blog but got up early enough this (Monday) morning to print out a lovely picture of Janet playing the flute during the rehearsal (the one time when she wasn't laughing) to stick on her office door with an appropriate comment ready for when she arrived.

Janet (in the red scarf) - GOAT 2011's Top Flautist

Janet is no stranger to prestigious awards and she was delighted with how it had all gone. She felt honoured to be sitting next to some fine musicians, but on reflection she did note that messing around with a new instrument was what she was used to. Working in education she never really has to play anything to a very high standard, just tells others to play at a high standard! She summed it up nicely when she said "welcome to my world!" The Grade-1-a-thon may be over but the fund raising still continues. The justgiving pages will be open for anther three months. Some people owe me money for my distinction and there is still the opportunity to donate further. Many of us are continuing and I will still dedicate a practise session to you if you donate. I have one person in the queue already. The blog will continue but not quite as frequently. My exam may be over but my journey is only just beginning. Tune in soon for more adventures of my and my harp!