Clarinet & Saxophone Supergroup

Now that the Clueless in Competition is over some musicians have reluctantly handed back their instruments, others have gladly handed them back, some have put it in the cupboard/under the bed/on top of the wardrobe (for now at least) while the rest continue to play as they work on their three pieces, scales, sight-reading and aural for their next exam. I should be with the last group but as this is a short half term with many concerts in it I spent most of the week back on my clarinets and was out nearly every night doing something or other.

Several schools have their annual concerts before Easter so require planning to allow students enough time to learn and practise parts. Friday's school is a large village college with a lot of music going on and last year clarinettist turned double bassist Trevor put together a single reed choir (single reeds are clarinet and saxes) from all of the players in the school. Several staff lent their rarer instruments (alto and bass clarinet, soprano and baritone sax) for pupils to try and I let one of my pupils play my contrabass clarinet, the biggest of them all! The result was quite a spectacular sound and generated a lot of interest from the audience. This year it is my turn to sort music and get them into shape. However when I saw the note that had gone out to pupils it didn't read Clarinet & Saxophone 'Choir', or 'Ensemble', or even 'Orchestra' but head of dept. Janet had coined the term 'Super Group'. I like this as it is comparable to the astronomical Supernova which Wikipedia describes as "a stellar explosion that briefly outshines an entire galaxy, radiating as much energy as the Sun or any ordinary star is expected to emit over its entire life span, before fading from view over several weeks or months." I think we had around 25 players and we did an arrangement of Radetsky March (Jan had to inform the drama teacher that this had nothing to do with Canadian-turned-British tennis player Greg Radetsky) which was starting to sound pretty impressive even after the first rehearsal. It is not quite ready yet but really promising and will hopefully give the students as much of a buzz as it did for me at th end of the rehearsal. Musical aims are to encourage players to keep their own independent line going and to come in at the right time even if no one else is playing, as happens as few times. And do the dynamics... such an easy way to make a big musical difference but such a hard way to get them to do without shouting "FORTE" every time the f sign appears on the page.

I have a queue of generous sponsors so my practise will begin again over the weekend as I have plenty of free time!

Clueless in Competition - Postscript

Monday 7:55am

I saw Thanea in school this morning and she has already said several times that this was the last ever GOAT event. Suffice to say we are all now looking forward to the next one!

Clueless in Competition - The Results!

Our compere for the evening was Tim Lihoreau, presenter of the Classic FM Breakfast Show. He began by welcoming the audience and reminding us that just a few days ago the Chinese celebrations were to welcome in the Year of the Goat. Tim introduced Steve Bingham who played a couple of pieces on the violin, Syrinx, originally for flute, and Owner of a Lonely Heart, originally for prog rock band. Both were superbly played and despite being a woodwinder have to say I did enjoy the Syrinx!

Tim Lihoreau expertly keeping the audience entertained

Then it was onto the competition. Leading my clarinet section in the Long-winded was a proud moment and the whole group played really well remembering most of the detail that had been rehearsed. I had a quick dash to the strings, and while the stage was reset Tim chatted freely to the audience with some interesting facts about Medecins Sans Frontiers, facts about the last two grade-One-A-Thons and anything else of interest. When the strings were ready we began. Again this went very well and there were no disasters or dodgy entries. It actually sounded rather good!

Smiles all round for the Strings

Then came the brass with their conductor Paul Garner. A fine trumpet player Paul could have probably had a career in any branch of the entertainment industry. The brass 'tuned' in what could have been a carefully staged skit as it sounded so awful but perhaps this was the real brass skill being displayed! There were some cracking moments in this most notably when the first trumpets had a rest and the second trumpets had to play a particularly high note. It was played with such force that the whole tone quality (and I use the word loosley) was changed dramatically. It was very amusing but to be fair it was very good as well! Another quick change and CWB were on for their Thames River Journey. Another great performance led by Viv and we left the stage leaving the audience to make their choices and post their ballot forms into the orange buckets by the exits.

Kirsty has a sneaky look to see how well the tubas are scoring

The second half began with a performance form Marie-Noelle Kendall on the piano then the GOAT Choir gave their first and last ever performance of She moved through the fair and Singin' in the Rain. Despite the trickiness of these they were solid performances. We later learnt that this was the highlight of the night for many audience members. (Thanea also pointed out afterwards that this was the most-complained-about item by the Goats!). Prime Brass then did their usual style of performance mixing humour with an incredibly high standard of performance. Guy Llewellyn was superb as usual as the soloist for Concerto de Cucaracha (special mention for Derek and his marvellous maracas in this one) and the whole group produced some fine sounds in two Gershwin numbers.

Prime Brass

It had been an entertaining evening so far but above all this was a night for fund-raising. Since January we have been reminded that the main aim is to raise as much money as possible for MSF and we had a talk from Chris Pesket from the charity who told the audience a great deal about the work that goes on in many parts fo the world. Funds raised do not just go on treatment but on prevention as well so vaccinations can be provided to prevent outbreaks of common diseases such as malaria. He also told personal stories about how he had treated someone who was very ill and to have then seen her a few days later, well on the way to recovery and thanking him. One of the things I have been impressed with is the way in which most of the money goes straight back into the charity. The figures he gave were 3% admin, about 8% on fundraising with the rest going straight to where it was needed. He said it is still carfeully controlled and his travel and accomodation are always at the budget end.

Finally it was time for a great many thank yous and the results. The top four fundraisers were announced, one of whom was Kirsty. In the individual sections third place went to the trombones, second place to the oboes (!) while the winners were the cellos. Finally the main ensembles were announced with Long-Winded third, Highly-Strung in second place with Brassed Off the winners! We played our final piece Altogether Now and the audience popped their paper bags at nearly the right time. I saw Jess and her mum Margaret on the way out and they siad how much they had enjoyed it. Jess also sent me a few photos so many thanks to her!

In the end the winning didn't matter (and I'm not just saying that!) as we had already raised £23,000 for MSF. This will continue to rise as the justgiving pages will be open until 22 April. Many players are going onto take their Grade 1 exams with a few looking at higher grades just to progress a little more. My grade 6 is a little way off but this is my own challenge and I will continue to dedicate practise sessions to anyone who sponsors me over the next few weeks. I already have a little queue so will get back to my practise this week and I look forward to hearing how others are getting on!

Clueless in Competition - The Rehearsals

With a car loaded full of instruments and equipment I set off nice and early for West Road. When I arrived the place was already buzzing with people being busy and doing important things. I spotted Claire, one of the music teachers at my Friday school on the sponsorship desk. "I didn't know you were going to be here" I said. "Neither did I until last night" she replied. She had been at a concert the previous evening and got cornered by Maurice who asked if she was free today. Not really, as she was supposed to be planning for the week's lessons but how could she resist the opportunity of helping out some Goats!

The rest of the afternoon was filled with rehearsals as each group took a turn at polishing their prepared performances. I heard the end of the brass rehearsal. It was good but, well, had it improved since last time... Their leader Paul complimented them on their ability to avoid watching the conductor. They had all truly made it as brass players! The woodwind rehearsal was great. All of the clarinettists had improved and the ratio of squeaks to real notes was considerably better. There were still some issues with intonation as some notes were a little on the flat side but we briefly covered a few technical things to help. We also had the privilege of composer Simon joining us in the clarinets. I thought he was doing rather well for a beginner especially as he hadn't played at the January rehearsal but it turned out he had played properly at school, doing grade 8 and beyond before giving it all up to concentrate on the recorder. Viv was in fine form encouraging us and giving useful tips about breathing well before the note, and how to make the piece dance by making phrases lighter.

The choir sounded surprisingly good. I have to confess I didn't look at this but with enough semi-confident singers around the support was useful. In the strings rehearsal Steve was very thoughtful of the harps and adapted some of the dynamics so that the harps and guitars could be heard. I could hear what we were doing but the sound wasn't really carrying out front. I did feel the sound and ensemble here were just a notch above the other two groups but would the audience be judging on that?

Highly Strung - in rehearsal

Finally the Goats all came together to rehearse the full orchestra piece. Russell was our leader for this and his dry humour and thinly veiled sarcasm gave us the confidence we needed. I was also able to give one last piece of advice to the clarinets which was "Don't worry about the squeaks as the meaty tone of the oboes nicely covers the higher frequencies and prevents them from travelling further than the edge of the stage."

I joined Cambridge Wind Band on sax for their rehearsal, again with Viv. Their previous concerts have been in a large boomy church in Cambridge and the difference in sound was fantastic for them. They have their own concert here in April so it was great for them to try it out. Prime Brass followed and then practise time was over.

The Bang, Bow and Blow was in full swing out in the foyer with two theremins, a double bass and some lower brass on the go. A few children had a go on the contrabass clarinet, with mixed results but many enjoyed hearing about the history. I also learnt recently that one of the Goats is related to a Doctor Who from the 1970s so my contra will almost certainly have accompanied some of his antics on screen! The audience went into the hall and it was time to begin!

Mini Theremin

Mighty Moog

Day 53 - Clueless in Competition

Today is the day of Clueless in Competition and in a few hours I will be heading down to West Road Concert Hall to take part in the rehearsals, assist in the Bow, Blow and Bang! and perform as a section leader in the woodwind ensemble Long Winded and as a competitive harpist in the string ensemble Highly Strung. Then part 1 of my challenge will be over and while some participants and their families breathe huge sighs of relief that they will never have to hear that viola/euphonum/oboe ever again, others will be continuing and taking the grade 1 exam and I will be continuing my adventure eventually taking grade 6 in the summer. The justgiving page will be open until 22 April so that gives me two months of being able to dedicate practise sessions to whoever sponsers me. After that I'm on my own!

The Bow, Blow and Bang! part of the evening is before the concert where anyone (audience/GOAT/gopher) can pay a pound or two to try out a rare and exciting instrument. And the trombone. There will be theremins, double basses and I will be taking one of my more recent purchases, a contrabass clarinet. My isntrument is of particular historical interest as it was played on the soundtracks of the early Doctor Who series.

When today is over I will try and use my blog to write about anything of interest in the various worlds I float around in and there are plenty of things of interest. Claire Jones has a new album out (I'm just listening to a preview of Scarborough Fair), some of my sponsors have concerts and events that can be plugged and of course all of these grade 1/6/8 results will need to be reported on!

Day 52 - One day to go!

With one day to go until the Clueless in Competition my priorities really should have been on lots of my own playing but I had a more pressing request from my old college friend and saxophonist John. He wanted to play the clarinet to me! Woodwinders tend to do grade 8 on their first instrument while still at school then take up several other instruments without bothering to work through the grades, just practise as and when they are needed for performance. The more versatile you are the more likely you are to get pit work (in the theatre band, not down the mine, although as John is from the south-west it might have been either) and peri teaching work. It takes a brave person to set out to do a grade 8 when they have a full time job and an interest in beer festivals but John now has a date for his third grade 8 having passed (with distinction) his grade 8 flute last year. This time it is his least favourite instrument, the clarinet, so I had the job of hearing him play his pieces and assisting in any way I could, in a friendly and supportive manner. Actually the pieces all sound pretty good already but there are little technical details to sort that might mean the difference between a merit and distinction. It is not just about the certificate at the end as the aim is to make improvements along the way.

In return for me enduring John's performance I played him a little bit on the harp and as his MA dissertation opens with a line about Stan Getz I played the Manha de Carnaval to see if he recognised it. He did! Well, he knew it was on a Stan Getz album, even if he couldn't get the title. Miles Davis described Stan Getz as having "so much patience". I think John equally matched that quality while listening!


I have had a few sponsors come in over the last few days and today's practise is dedicated to Martin and Judith, Chris's parents. They enjoy listening to a wide range of music and sometimes come to my concerts. My practise session was in the evening and I started with the Scarlatti. It was going well but I was then interrupted by Chris who wanted feeding so I stopped and we got tea started. Afterwards I did a little more on Manha de Carnaval then ran through GOAT pieces, Pat's grade 1 violin pieces and wrote my list of things to take then get myself an early night to be on my best form for the concert.

Day 51 - Half term Friday

Another day at home, this time with a visit from Derek, sponsor of Day 46's practise and member of Palace Band. We worked through a piece that we are hoping to have performed by Palace Band either later this year or at some point next year. It is a jazz-inspired piece in four short movements. The two aims today were to start arranging the lines for the layout of the band, and to learn a little more about how to use the music notation software we both have. I regularly use it for my own arrangements and lesson work but it has taken some years to understand how it all works and where the short cuts are. I have even had to read the manual at times to find out how to add a certain figure to my music! It is a fabulous programme though and can save time in so many ways. With the introduction of 'Lite' versions alongside the 'Pro' versions it also means that it becomes accessible for student and amateur musicians to use.

I left my practise to the evening today and this session was dedicated to George who has already managed to get several mentions in the last few days! After a little warm up and a few exercises I decided to play through everything that I am currently working on, to consolidate it all, see where I was at and use that info to help decide what to concentrate on next. I currently have four exam pieces (Scarlatti, Manha de Carnaval, Cross Currents and Haiku, a fairly easy but detailed piece in the Lever Harp World book), three studies (Showing Off, A Firm Fist and another shorter one, again not too tricky). I have the two pieces for Sunday's performance, Pat's two exam accompaniments that can be managed on the harp (Handel Fireworks Minuet and The Sandman) and I am still working on Bach's C major Prelude as I might play that at my cousin's wedding in August. I regularly tell my pupils that playing through is not practise but at the end of a week where I have done some decent work and made little steps of progress it felt like a good time to relax and just play. I am still listening to waht I am doing but not critically judging, just being aware of what's what.

Day 50 - Half term Thursday

I have a little group of teacher/musician friends that I affectionately think of as my fan club but really we support each other in playdays, concerts, exam accompanying, advice on all professional (and quite often non-professional) matters and many other things. In fact Cambridgeshire has an incredibly effective network of like-minded teachers and if you need advice it shouldn't take long to track down the right person to ask. Many of us are now self-employed due to changes a few years ago and sadly in the news in recent weeks other areas are threatened with cuts that will affect music making in their area. However this has made us all more determined than ever to make sure we do a good job in all aspects of our work and to cope with the difficulties that we may face.

One of these 'difficulties' is getting pupils to learn scales and over lunch five of us swapped tales about our worst offenders ("no, F major does not have an F sharp in it") and also our best tips. Jess R realised that there was a lot of untapped available time in car journeys so she suggests that pupils have a Tupperware box with all of their scales and key signatures on cue cards in it so that pupils can at least revise what is in each scale even if they can't play their instrument while travelling along to ballet, horse riding or Brownie Guides. Margaret gets pupils to colour in a piano keyboard template which can then be 'played' silently. I guess this would also work in the car! Jess B gets pupils to improvise in the key that they are learning. I like to play penalty shoot out scales with groups of pupils where I alternate giving a pupil a scale to play. If they do it well they score and if they don't they miss. If there is no clear winner after 5 goes it gets decided on a tie-break.

We don't always talk shop though and had a great pub lunch. We all had dessert and I spent the rest of the afternoon feeling just a little too full. Harp practise was managed but just Manha de Carnaval and devising an exercise to help with the next of the studies I want to master, called A Firm Fist. The main point of this is to play three-note chords with fingers 1, 3 and 4 in the first half and 1, 2 and 4 in the second so it is not all straight-forward triads. I have worked on it before and it makes my fingers hurt!

I went round to Pat and Martin's and after a quick chat and some tea and cake we got onto rehearsing Pat's three violin pieces. The Handel Minuet started off quite well. Naturally I wasn't quite sure what to expect although I have heard grade 1 violinists before. I was not disappointed and Pat's notes and rhythms were well in place. There were a few very small slips but when you have years of experience on the flute (and two months experience on the trumpet!) you do have higher expectations and Pat knew she could do better. I made a small suggestion of aiming for the first beat of each bar as this will help it move on. The second time through was better but thinking about the first beat of the bar means less thought on which finger goes where! There is a huge amount of co-ordination required! Next up was the Sandman by Brahms. Again, this is lovely and Pat has some nice shading in the dynamics. Finally Pennsylvania 65000 was a fun romp. I think Pat will do fine. To my ear I feel they are all passable but I know what it is like to be the one performing and the little doubts that creep in need to be addressed in a positive way. We then all went off to the CWB rehearsal and had a jolly time with conductor Viv rehearsing their piece for Sunday's programme as well as a few other pieces for their April concert. It is such a lovely atmosphere there and one of the most supportive groups I've seen in rehearsal.

Day 49 - Half term Wednesday

I had a trip to south west London today to collect some music for the CASS library. Usually if I am travelling to another part of the country I try and get something else useful done while I am in the area. I had had a request from another CASS member who wanted to try out some bass music so made plans to meet him as he lived nearby. Then last weekend I discovered that George, one of the team at Palace Band, was doing a lunchtime concert in Esher which was just a few miles from where I was headed! Brilliant! Three things all within a few miles of each other!

I made the first collection and had a cup of tea and quick chat with Michael, a very knowledgeable player particularly interested in little known repertoire for the clarinet. it was then onto lunch with Howard, an amateur player who had played at school then gave up but was persuaded by his wife to take it up again around the age of 50. The bass clarinet followed a few years later and he now enjoys playing in a local band. He is off to a course held on the Isle of Rathsaay an island off of the coast of Scotland later in April and wanted something to be able to play as part of a masterclass there. Not knowing a great deal of the bass clarinet repertoire I was charged with finding something accessible and without "too many notes to the inch"! I took some pieces that he was able to borrow. He also came to the concert that I had skilfully advertised in an earlier email!

The concert was the Kell Clarinet Quartet, made up of recent graduates from music colleges. The programme was a particularly varied mix. The opening Sevilla by Albeniz was a nod to Rocio, one of the players as she is from Seville. Next up were three early works, arranged by George, some Tallis, an anonymous 1480 piece and Viderunt Omnes by Perotin from around 1200. After two Gershwin numbers the programme finished with Piazolla's Histoire du Tango. This comes in many arrangements and this was an effective version for E flat, two B flats and bass clarinet. It would have been an excellent finish but they did do an encore and performed George's arrangement of Siman Tov, a Jewish wedding celebration piece. The programme was extremely well prepared and blend of sound was lovely so all in all it was an enjoyable concert!

The Kell Clarinet Quartet

I said a quick hello to George then set off back around the M25 before it got really bad again!

My evening harp practise session was dedicated to Jess and her mum Margaret as they are both coming to the concert on Sunday. I played at Jess and Rob's wedding in August and Jess is also honoured to be a member of my fan club. I am delighted that her mum is about to become the newest member!! The practise session was a fairly lengthy one going over all of my pieces at whatever speed they chose to be. I also ran through the accompaniments for Pat's grade 1 violin exam. They are easy on the piano and I tried the Handel Minuet on the harp. This works well so when we are happy that violin and piano is good enough for the exam we can hopefully try out the violin and harp combo! I am seeing Pat tomorrow just before the Cambridge Wind Band rehearsal.

Day 48 - Half term Tuesday

I think Tuesday is my favourite day in a half term holiday. You've had a bit of time off but you're not quite halfway through.

As Cathy had sponsored me yesterday her practise session was today. I started with Showing Off and used the metronome to see if I could get it any quicker. The answer was 'No'. Still it feels ok and I am sure my left hand chords are stronger than they were a few weeks ago. I have been doing a lot on the Manha de Carnaval and the great thing about this is that I am trying to play it too quickly. It can go slowly. I ran through the Scarlatti which is feeling quite comfortable now. As the weather was really sunny I went out for a walk. I live quite close to the open countryside so the break was much appreciated. We have had a bit of rain and I had the wrong footwear for going too far out so after getting some fresh air I headed back and did another half hour. If only all my days could be like this!

I haven't been putting many photos on so here is one from today. The wind turbine in the distance in at Wood Green Animal Shelter.

Day 47 - Half term at last

A whole day at home today! I had a lesson with Cathy, one of my adult pupils, but I enjoy these lessons during the holidays as we chat and have a catch up, as well as getting some work done. Cathy's husband plays with the Cambridge Wind Band so will be performing on Sunday. Cathy is going to be at the concert so I will see her again there. She also sponsored me and while she was filling in the form I raced through the first few bars of Showing Off! She seemed particularly keen to get away after that but I think that was because she had to get back to college to supervise some students.

As my free time is quite rare I had planned to sepnd it wisely. The priority today was having a good practise sessionas I'd had a donation yesterday from Derek, clarinettist, soprano sax player in Palace Band, and a composer. I am seeing him later on in the week to work on his latest composition that I am hoping the band will play but today's practise session was dedicated to Derek. Derek enjoys all types of music but his own works are influenced by jazz styles so I spent more time on Manha de Carnaval identifying the chord patterns and working out how my finger technique needs to develop so that I can bring out the melody a little more.

The rest of the day was spent catching up on admin tasks and looking through music to arrange for future projects. When you go and hear a concert or attend a playday or course a huge amount of preparation will have taken place. The music needs to be planned, sourced either from a publisher, or more common for me, arranged to suit the group. If it is an arrangement parts need to be printed out before being distributed, and as is often the case with my line of work, rare and odd instruments may need to be catered for. I love and loathe this side of things. I enjoy the planning, deciding which pieces to try out on my various groups and I enjoy the puzzle of working out which instrument should take which line, and deciding if it is too easy or difficult. However making sure the parts look neat, have all the right dynamics in, printing, having a problem with the printer, running out of ink / paper / patience is the troublesome side of it all. Today I decided on a piece by Johann Strauss to do at a future playday. I have the score so had a quick look through and arranged the first bar before getting stuck and putting it away for another day! I'll leave it until a week before I need it. Nothing like a bit of pressure to ensure it gets finished!

Day 46

Another Sunday and another Palace Band rehearsal working on our latest commission. We nearly had a disaster though as the urn hadn't switched on and we realised only shortly before the break that there was no hot water. Fortunately three quick thinking members went and found the kettles and got enough water for us all. At least I think that was the case and not that they wanted to get out of rehearsing a tricky passage.

Today was also assistant conductor and chamber music coach George's first time conducting a full symphony orchestra as he took part in the sponsored play with the Kensington Symphony Orchestra. I have seen the photos and he looked confident and in command. I also spotted a few of my old friends in the orchestra and a good time was had by all. After getting home I had a free afternoon so had a good practise session going over all my pieces without too much detail, just remembering how they all go. When I finished I checked my emails to discover I'd got a new sponsor. Monday's practise session would have to be good!

Days 41-45 SYD

The rest of the evenings of this week were taken up with a show at one of my schools. Always one of my favourite weeks of the year as the MD Jan (2011 GOAT Top Flautist) does a quiz which keeps the band quiet during the dialogue on stage. The first section usually involves filling in blanks from lines from the show. One point for a correct answer, 2 for an amusing one, bonus points if you make Jan laugh out loud when she marks them. The aim is usually to include answers that have a dig at any other members of the band. The final section is either to answer an essay question or draw a picture. I won the West Side Story Quiz last year so was reigning champion. Winning is hard enough but defending my title will be even harder as the reeds especially are a highly competitive bunch! This was Jan's last show and she is going out on Guys & Dolls, one of my favourite shows to play so I am sure it will be riotous week. I did a god job and my picture (of a praying tomato) got a bonus point as I took the time to colour it in, but I still managed to only come joint third. Still, it was a great week and the students performed brilliantly as usual.

I saw very little of the harp, just short practise sessions with teeny elements of progress. I have gone back over the ensemble pieces (Highly Strung and Altogether Now). I also have new motivation in the for of a harp performance for Kirsty. She is organising a concert with one of her choirs (I have lost count of the number of choirs she runs but I think it is two) and they will be singing Eriskay Love Lilt which works rather well with a simple harp accompaniment arranged by her husband Derek. She didn't have to look far to find a simple harpist! I also get the chance to play one of my own pieces and we will do a clarinet and bassoon duo to show just how versatile we both are.

So another week nearly over and just one week to go until the GOAT Reunion Clueless in Competition Performance. With half term coming up I should have more time to write about the build up!

Day 40 - Thanks Mum!

(This post should have gone up last week but I've been a bit busy...)

Another busy week in store so I managed to get two shorter sessions done today both of which are dedicated to my Mum. She donated half of her bingo winnings but told me not to tell my sister as she'd want the other half.

The session started with a quick warm up then I went into Showing Off thinking a little more carefully about the sound I am making and how to articulate and pluck the strings effectively. When I listened to my hands individually it was clear that the left hand is worse than the right hand so I experimented with different ways trying to improve the sound. I think I now need a little more guidance so will try and book a lesson sooner rather than later!

I also did a little more on the Mahna de Carnival using the inspirational playing of Stan Getz to guide my phrases. My technique does not allow me the complete freedom I would like but the introduction is working really well now and I can play that in a variety of ways, some more stylistically appropriate than others! So thanks to Mum!

Day 39 - Saffron Hall

I had my first opportunity to play at Saffron Hall a wonderful new concert hall in Saffron Walden. I was playing 3rd and bass clarinet with the Saffron Walden Symphony Orchestra in a concert of film music. The programme included themes from the past 75 years including Lawrence of Arabia, ET, Dr Zhivago, James Bond, Harry Potter and others in a large orchestra complete with a large string section, full woodwind and brass, lots of percussion, piano and of course, harp. I was delighted to discover that Danielle Perrett was the harpist! I know Danielle from my work with Trinity College London exam board and through my professional society but more recently I have enjoyed following her as a harpist having seen her in concert and attended her playdays and courses. She is the composer of the studies I am currently working on including Showing Off so I was able to let her know how I was getting on (I can play it at half speed so far!) and get a few tips. Her main advice was that it is a cross between a Nadermann study and a ballet cadenza, and that 'it's all in the articulation', which I have been told before so I need to make sure my fingers articulate clearly. Danielle also published the volume with Cross Currents in and pieces for this book were commissioned with the aim of adding good contemporary material to the lever harp repertoire.

The hall lived up to the very high expectations. The stage was spacious, looked smart and the sound quality was excellent. I sat up in the auditorium for one of the pieces during the rehearsal and could hear clearly each part yet it blended well.

View from 3rd / bass clarinet seat

The concert went very well and we played to a pretty full house which included my husband Chris and my Aunty Ann and Uncle Chris, cousin Debbie and family friend Pat. This was the first time that they had been to an orchestral concert and they very much enjoyed it. As they live in Saffron Walden they are planning on taking advantage of the new concert hall on their doorstep. As the concert was an afternoon event we were able to get ourselves invited back to Ann & Chris's for tea.

As I knew we were going to be late back (we always make ourselves at home at Ann & Chris's, whether they like it or not!) I got up early (bear in mind today is Sunday) and did a good twenty minutes this morning. This session was dedicated to another Palace Band member, Carolyn, a flautist who has the distinction of being one of the original, as well as one of the most recent members at the same time. She was a member back in the early days then had a few years off and re-joined last year. Carolyn's session started with a few scales and I then focussed on the Latin piece Manha de Carnaval learning a few bars at a time and planning finger placement. This has quite a few lever changes but they are all nicely spaced out so not too tricky.

When we got in from the concert I did a little research on the piece, Composed by Luis Bonfa it was originally for the 1959 film Black Orfeus (the film won an Academy award) and it has been covered many times. It is a Bossa Nova and as it is a Jazz standard I am more familiar with it as played by Stan Getz on the tenor sax. I'll be listening to more versions to try and influence my own 'interpretation'!

Day 38 - Another fundraising event and another practise session dedicatee

Social media has made it very easy to share information about fundraising projects but then that can make choosing which charity to support difficult. Charities and fundraisers have to be innovative and come up with new ways to raise awareness and to get people involved. The sponsored Grade-one-a-thon is a fine example but for those who prefer to hear a range of notes greater than just the one octave there is the sponsored Play. One of these events involves George who is one of the team at Palace Band. He directs the chamber music and brings a huge amount of experience and musicianship to rehearsals. As a clarinettist he is currently pursuing a busy freelance career. He has his own fundraising challenge in a weeks time as he will be conducting the Kensington Symphony Orchestra in a 6 hour performance marathon at Westfield Shopping Centre in Shepherd's Bush. George's piece is Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights and he will take to the platform at some point in the afternoon with 24 others timetabled in to conduct various other works. This sponsored Play series started in 1989 and the last event took place  in 2013 raising over £15,000. This year money raised goes to War Child, a small international charity currently working to protect children from the brutal effects of war. A small amount also goes to KSO itself, which uses the money to support its concerts and its own charitable aims, including the Kampala Music School in Uganda.
 
One of the things I quite like is when I discover that two people I know from different eras in my life are on the same project and my old college friend Nina will be playing oboe in the performance. I have sponsored George and have told him to keep an eye on the oboe section...

My own fundraising activities have continued and I had the pleasure of doing a good hour on the harp today. This session was dedicated to one of the Palace Band, clarinettist Dave. I have now been with the band for over ten years and Dave was already there when I joined playing with the line 3 clarinets. Like me Dave endures the eastern stretch of the North Circular Road every other Sunday. that shows the commitment we have to the band! Dave's session had structure as I started with some warm up exercises then progressed onto scales and arpeggios, listening carefully and looking at technique. I then did a technical exercise which requires the thumb to slide from one string to the next while the other fingers keep going normally. It is really hard and makes my thumb hurt but I had a few goes and it is making sense! When I did my pieces I experimented with a little video camera. Chris bought the key-ring sized camera a few years ago to put on his model train (which earned him three stripes for his anorak!) and I tried attaching it to various points on the harp just to see how it looked. On watching the videos I could see my fingers from all angles. I didn't pay too much attention to whether or not they were doing the right thing but it was fun to watch and this may give me something to look at later on. It also reminds me I could probably do with some advice soon as the recordings were not at a publishable level yet but here's a preview of what it might look like!

I did a little more on the first section of the new piece, called Manha de Carnaval, a Latin piece, not too fast but with some rhythmic patterns that need to be stylishly played. So a good day and thanks Dave for the donation!

Days 33-37 Tam-tams

I thought February might be a little easier but I am still catching up with little bits of work and preparation for upcoming things so the practise has been short and sweet again.

Tuesday - Walden Winds
A few years ago I arranged Ravel's Mother Goose Suite for woodwind ensemble. Ravel originally worte the five movements for piano duet then later arranged it for orchestra before expanding it into the larger work as a ballet. The movements are beautiful and woodwind features heavily making it difficult but extremely satisfying to play when it works! Palace Band performed it after some serious rehearsal and practise time. I decided it was time for Walden Winds to have a go but as there is also some very effective harp writing in several movements I went through the score and created my own manageable optional harp part. The first movement Sleeping Beauty in the Wood is very easy with single notes and a few harmonics creating a magical sound so I could do that in full. With some editing Beauty and the Beast and Leaving the Fairy Garden also worked well and these two both have glissandos in them so I had some fun doing those. Laideronnette, impératrice des pagodes was too hard as it goes too quickly but the orchestral version requires a tam-tam, which is a type of gong. I have seen 4Girls4Harps perform an arrangement of some of the Mother Goose movements and know that to get a tam-tam sound on the harp you hit all the lower strings at once. So I did that a few times in the right place and that was my contribution!

All in all it was great fun so thanks to WW for letting me play with them.

Thursday - Orchestra
I play with the local orchestra on a Thursday evening and this evening we were working on Beethoven 6 (Pastorale Symphony) and Haydn Harmonie Mass. Adrian the conductor has a passion which he passes onto groups through a lifetime in music and from his many anecdotes from his lengthy associations with much of the repertoire having sung, played violin and studied with many leading musicians of the day. Of the Beethoven Symphony he was explaining how he felt Beethoven had put the work together, covering every little nuance (today it was how the duplet quavers get overturned by the triplet quavers, then back to duplets before the triplets win though) but also revealing how each time he performs it he discovers something new about the work and perhaps this is what keeps it so fresh and popular today. However at one point though he got talking about contemporary music, the sort of contemporary music that doesn't stay around for long and the sort that makes you stand up at the end of a three hour performance of something hard on the ears and declare to anyone within ear shot that you are about to go home and listen to some Ronald Binge! This led to an anecdote about a first performance of a work by a composer he didn't name. At one point the tam-tam was supposed to be struck while it was submerged in water. The percussionist got ready at the right point and dipped the tam-tam in the bath only to discover someone had put some goldfish in there! What these poor creatures felt when the thing was struck Adrian couldn't say but I got the impression the player's conscience wasn't clear for a while afterwards.

Friday - Fundraising
While I have been playing my harp and developing my own skills I have neglected the fundraising side of things which is probably the most important thing. Today I re-launched my fundraising and at the time of writing I have had a couple of donations so the practise sessions over the weekend will be meaningful and industrious. The link is here:
https://www.justgiving.com/Stephanie-Reeve1/

Just before I log off I've just learned that Mum has had a win on the bingo. Not enough to retire but enough to encourage for me to send her the link to my justgiving page!!

Day 32: Sunday 1 February - Candlemas

Thaxted is a lovely little market town (or village depending on who you ask) near the Essex / Suffolk border. It is the sort of place that could have its own Radio 4 soap opera and the harp I teamed up with four members of Walden Winds to provide music for the Taize elements of their Candlemas service. Music is central to Taize worship which was developed in Taize, France during the 50s and 60s. As candles are lit and brought to the front of the church, and during the Meditation and other points in the service chants are sung. They are very simple but as they are repeated singers or players develop and embellish providing harmonies. It is incredibly hypnotic and spiritually very satisfying. Most of us were new to this and had structured what we did but as we relaxed into it it was possible to move away from the structure and try out new things. We had Sue on flute, Mary and Helen on clarinet and Doris on bass clarinet.

What ended up not being so structured was the order of service. When we got to what we thought was about to be the hymn we realised the vicar had skipped a whole section and gone onto the next section which was the meditation, quiet reflection where the vicar spoke gently and infrequently. Myself and Sue were providing flute and harp music for this so after some frantic raising of eyeborws and nodding of heads we set off. I realised my harp was still in the key for the hymn so I had to do some very quick lever changes to get back into the right key. I didn't quite reach the meditative state of the congregation and neither did the vicar's wife, who was sitting near us. "He'll go back to the hymn I'm sure" she whispered, half reassuringly, then added "He's always doing this!" The rest of it did go smoothly and there were many positive comments afterwards. There was also a very good singer who sang with the organist. I can't remember her name but that gave a little variety to the service. It was then mulled wine and cake and chat with others who were there. The vicar was very pleased and thank us all. Maybe there's a repeat booking for next year...

Sadly the photo of the group didn't come out but here is a picture of the worship area and a few candles!

Days 26 to 31

This week has seen me perform the first movement of the Beethoven Trio for clarinet, cello and piano with fellow GOATees Pippa and Maurice for a school concert. As if that was not enough I joined the band for a local school's production of Les Mis so was out Wednesday to Saturday evenings doing that. I remember taking part in productions when I was at school but never anything on as grand a scale as this and this appears to be the norm now. The band was led by Geoff and had a mix of teachers and very good students. It is great for the kids to get some decent experience at playing music which can be quite tricky, and to keep the concentration up for that long (at 2 hours 30 minutes with very few breaks Les Mis is a long one.

Needless to say practise on the harp has been five or ten minutes at a time just refreshing what I have done. However on Wednesday a new piece dropped through the door. I had ordered anther grade 6 piece but it was out of stock at the time. I'd forgotten about it and so was pleasantly surprised when I opened that. The pair of Latin pieces sound quite nice and I have made a start on getting the Latin rhythms going. I also had music for the Candlemas service to sort out and learn so spent a little bit of time working through the chants and practising the chord sequences. So with January over February is looking a bit more spacious and there is the bonus of half term in the middle!

Day 25 - Kirsty!

I had a donation so had a new person to dedicate a practise session to! Kirsty is a fellow musician and teacher who has already featured on the blog a few times as her and her now-husband Derek did their grade 5 trombones in 2012 for which I accompanied them. Just knowing this alone is enough to suggest that the have a particularly unique sense of humour! This time Kirsty is on the tuba and Derek is on the euphonium. Kirsty is a great director and organiser and can often be found shouting (in an encouraging way) at groups of drums, djembes, boomwackers, hand chimes and ocarinas. Sometimes there are even some people to play them! She also runs an adult choir called Harmonia Singers and harmonia African Drummers and the concerts they do will involve another musical group. In the past these have included Huntingdon Big Band, Prime Brass, Simply Reeds and of course the ones that I have been involved with so the Christmas concert with harps mentioned here last year and Carnival of the Animals for which I was a cuckoo, a donkey and a small fossil. We are also going to take the world (or just Huntingdon for starters) by storm as we have started a clarinet and bassoon duo. Our one practise session which was just before new year was quite good considering the amount of dust we had to blow off the instruments. I might as well give her groups a plug so more info can be found here: www.harmoniamusic.com If you are interested in any form of music and live in the Huntingdonshire area she's your gal!

Kirsty clearly concentrating very hard

Kirsty's practise session was actually very good. After a very hectic week with just ten minute bursts I was able to sit down for a good half an hour and really get into it. Finally I had a little breakthrough with the Scarlatti and felt quite comfortable playing it all the way through. It is still under tempo but it has movement that it didn't have last week so I'm happy with that. Bouyed by that I whizzed through the other two pieces and was quite happy with how they felt. Next week is a very busy one so practise will have to be in short bursts again.