A lesson and a recording session

If things had gone to plan I would have spent this blog reminiscing about my gig at the ball last night but as it happened I stayed in and watched the telly as the ball got postponed to October. I knew this a while ago but hadn't got round to updating the blog. I'd practised hard learning various pieces but knowing it was to be in October came as a bit of a relief as it gives me more time to prepare. So it's more focus on the grade 4 pieces now. I had a lesson with Rohan who is now making more suggestions about technique including finger and hand position. She has mentioned this before but it is now much more specific and she is able to show how my current technique sounds and what a change in fingers will sound like. It's subtle but I'm noticing it. There was a lot to take in so I scribbled a few points down in my notebook and have been thinking about them since. She liked what I was doing so far though.

After I had played Rohan and I recorded a couple of pieces for clarinet and harp that I will use at some stage for mine and Chris's wedding ceremony. The Prelude from Victorian Kitchen Garden is a favourite of both of us and we have performed it before so had a quick rehearsal then went for a take. After two attempts at the introductions featuring a couple of rare squeaks from me we nailed it. One of my early clarinet pieces was the Entr'Acte from Carmen, for flute and harp in the original but arranged for clarinet and piano and on the grade 3 clarinet list. This transfers well for harp so after a qick practise we got that one recorded too. That will please my Mum as that was one of her favourites in my first year or two of playing the clarinet.

I have a lot coming up over the next few weeks but hope to find time to get a recording or two done of my grade 4 pieces. While it is expected that grade 4 is harder than grades 1 to 3, it is like the stepping stones are further apart and so a lot more mental effort and technical competence is needed going from 3 to 4, than from 2 to 3.

I also need a new top F string so I will have to practise my knot-tying again. I'd best set aside a good hour for that task!

Harp Festival, Woking 27 to 29 July

As festival fever hits the nation my own thoughts turn to another festival that catches my attention, a harp festival organised by the Clarsach Society London and South-East branch. It is taking place during the weekend of 27th to 29th July in Woking and will feature concerts, workshops, talks, a harp exhibition, sales of music and harp-related items, opportunities for private lessons and come and try sessions. The International Harp Ensemble will give an opening concert on the Friday night and then Saturday and Sunday will be packed full of various workshops and presentations given by Danielle Perret, Nancy Hurrell, Robin Ward. I am particularly interested in Nicholas Lynch-Aird's presentation on the Theory of a self-tuning harp and will be curious to see if this theory could be applied to other instruments like, say, the clarinet...

Accomodation is available and it promises to be an exciting weekend.

More details are here: http://harpfest2012.wordpress.com/festival-programme/

A little gig for me and some big news from the harp world

A few weeks ago Gemma, a very old school friend of mine, came to one of my concerts and asked me if I was free on a Saturday in June. I said yes thinking she meant her birthday but she told me about a summer ball she is organising is to raise funds for her charity The Lighthouse Centre. I've known Gemma from the age of 5 and I don't remember her ever wanting to be anything other than a nurse. She probably never remembers me wanting to be anything other than a musician. After a few years in nursing she realised there was a greater need for long term care at home and set up The Lighthouse Centre which offers support and therapies for people with long term conditions. Having followed my progress on the harp she asked if I would be interested in playing my harp at the ball. I immediately accepted which prompted shrieks of delight on both sides but then I had to seriously think about whether I was up to this sort of performing.

Up until now the most I have had to prepare for a single performance is three pieces for an exam. While this gig would be background music I would still need a good half hour of music, I totted up what I would manage and it came to about 10 minutes. My usual tricks of playing slowly and adding repeats might get it to just over 15 but people would probably notice if I went through the same programme again. So over the last few weeks I have revised all of my exam pieces so far, worked on the new grade 4 pieces and added a few from other books. Practise has been particularly varied as I haven't been able to get through everything each time so I've had to focus on grade 4 and rotate all the others. I won't be able to memorise the whole lot I have had to get used to playing while reading, not something I am fond of as I lose my place in the music when I look at the harp then lose my strings when I glance at the music! However as it is background I can probably get away with the odd wrong note and it will be a great chance to try out my grade 4 pieces in preparation for the exam in July. Having been inspired by Claire Jones (and more news from her shortly) I am actually looking forward to wearing a dress!

News has come out today that Claire will be recording her new album for Classic FM tomorrow (Sunday) and Monday with music arranged and composed by Chris Marshall, her fiance, accompanied by the English Chamber Orchestra. It will be conducted by Stuart Morley another old friend from college and who was a GOAT sponsor on day 19. It will certainly make a change for Stu who is usually to be found conducting We Will Rock You in London. The album is due to be released in September shortly after Claire and Chris's wedding. 2012 is certainly proving to be an exciting year for them. I know from seeing updates from Chris that both he and Claire have worked particularly hard in getting the music ready for recording and I really look forward to hearing the finished album! More information is here: http://www.clairejones.co.uk/

Duet for harp and ... tuba??

It's been a while since I last updated but after a lull in practise and numerous performances on my normal instruments and exams I managed to get back into a practise routine. I have a plan to do grade 4 this term so ordered various books and started learning plenty of pieces. I have narrowed down to three pieces and will make those the main focus of my practise. I also have mine and Chris's wedding to think about and am working on some pieces on the harp, as well as the clarinet, that may get used at some point on the day.

You remember Kirsty and Derek from the last post? They did their grade 5 exams on trombone with me as their accompanist. I am delighted to report they both passed. Kirsty got a distinction and I understand Derek was somewhere around that mark. Maurice (on horn) and Thanea (on cello) from the GOAT are taking their grade 5 exams early this term so I wait with interest to hear how they get on.

Sticking with the brass world and moving smoothly from trombones and horns to tuba I can now explain the title of this post. Shortly before Easter musicians from the music service took part in Live Music Week, a chance for staff to perform in small ensembles and a larger orchestra and travel to schools to present programmes of a variety of styles. I organised my small group and we gave a programme of Latin music to some primary and scondary schools in Cambridge. Rehearsals have to be long as we spend more time laughing and eating cake than we do actually playing. The day was a success and our programme went down extremely well. No one got lost (see last years related post) and no one fell over (not documented but did happen last year). On the Thursday and Friday we teamed up with enough other staff to form an orchestra for a larger scale piece. This year it was Howard Blake's Land of Counterpane which is based on poems by Robert Louis Stevenson. It is a lovely work, evocative, and imaginative. School children from across whichever area we were in (Huntingdon, then Wisbech) joined us for the performances. The music service regularly invites a guest soloist in for the County Wind Orchestra concerts, usually a past student who is embarking on a performing career and this year we had tuba player Callum Rookes. Callum is currently studying in Denmark and is particularly interested in promoting the solo works of the tuba to a wider audience. One of his pieces he performed as part of the schools concert is Fnugg by Oystein Baadsvik. It is a fantastic mix of singing and playing, multiphonics, beatboxing and many other advanced technical skills. I have heard the piece three or four times now and it never ceases to amaze me! Fnugg means either something very small, or invisible, or it can mean a snowflake. The piece doesn't sound particularly like a snowflake and certainly isn't invisible but it's great fun. The tuba has a great range of tonal characters and personalities and as a contrast Callum wanted to play a slower, expressive piece. My good friend Margaret (featured in many previous blogs) was the orchestral pianist on the day and is the official accompanist (although she never remembers agreeing to the latter role usually because the music is given to her on the day of the performance). On the first day of our performance Margaret was introduced to Callum and Callum (who had already been assured there was an official accompanist) showed her the music. With a rolling of the eyes and a chuckle Margaret had a look. At around the same time Rohan, who was playing harp that day glanced over. 'That would work on the harp' she said. Margaret and Rohan both then tried it out and somehow a decision was reached that Rohan could do it. Callum liked the idea and he performed it with Rohan. The warm, mellow sound of the tuba sat beautifully with the harp and it was a great performance.

Callum and Rohan, as seen by the clarinet section

Could this be a commissioning project for Callum in the future? As harp players tend to be almost as rare as tuba players there is a more practical consideration to think of but musically it would be lovely. Doing a quick search to find the composer of Fnugg I discovered that Callum has just set up his own blog: onemanandhistuba.blogspot.co.uk. There is just one post so far but is well written and hopefully this will develop further. Callum has an infectious affection for the tuba and will never tire of exploring its possibilities. I hope he inspires others to take up this rare but exciting instrument.

Grade-5-a-thon

The only mention the harp will get in today's blog is a lament that I've hardly touched it over the past two weeks. With the end of term fast approaching I've had too many little tasks to deal with including pupil exams, school performances, and other concerts. I am also organising a group and arranging music for several music service performances next week so time is tight. For me to take on any extra work around this time of year it has to be 1. well paid; 2. offer substantial food; or 3. be so musically satisfying that I feel I can't turn it down. So when an email came through from fellow musician, teacher and Grade-1-a-thon (GOAT) participant Kirsty asking if I would be able to accompany her for her grade 5 trombone criteria no. 3 sprang to mind and I could hardly resist! However I was a little put out when I went on to read "I need someone who is not going to laugh at my playing!". I treat every musical engagement with the seriousness it deserves so once I had pulled myself together and stopped chuckling I replied to say yes. I then discovered that Kirsty's other half Derek needed accompanying for the same exam so said yes to that too. Kirsty did trombone in the Grade-1-a-thon. Derek actually learnt the bassoon for the GOAT but already had a trombone so switched. We had a quick rehearsal one evening which went well. I am always fascinated to hear highly qualified musicians (in this case Kirsty, proficient on many woodwinds including the bassoon and ocarina and Derek a percussionist) play on an unfamiliar instrument. The tone was there... most of the time and there were some great characterful moments, particularly in Kirsty's Gershwin (ironically it was Let's Call the Whole Thing Off) and other than stamina there didn't seem to be too many problems. They discussed their differing technique for scales, neither of which seemed to be the most logical method to me but I smiled politely as I didn't want to worry them at this late stage.

Of course another reason for me keen to accompany was to keep track of other GOAT participants. Not that I am competitive of course but I do know that Maurice and Thanea, both pianists who were on the GOAT organising committee and featured in early blogs, are taking grade 5 on the horn and cello respectively this term.

The day arrived and I set off for Hemingford. Both were there and when I arrived we had a few jokes with Elaine who runs the centre and both talked about their last minute preparations (which didn't seem to include many scales so maybe their methods had worked). We went out to the summer house for the final warm-up and got a few photos.

All set for grade 5

So how does B flat minor go again?

 
Elaine keeps chickens and ducks and this morning they were quite happily scratching around the garden enjoying the sunshine. Derek went to play to the birds but just as he parped his first note they ran to the far end of the garden with one screeching louder than the forte that Kirsty and Derek combined manage on their trombones! Elaine's head appeared from the back door and she demanded to know what we were doing to her chickens!! We sheepishly went back to the summer house to warm up. The chickens eventually calmed down.

Derek tries one last time to find an audience who will listen

Kirsty went in first. Despite all the fun beforehand, the enjoyable preparation, and as well as experience and knowledge of the music grades system an exam room is still an exam room and I could sense the change of atmosphere as we went in. After tuning up we played the Mozart. I felt this went well and Kirsty's tone sounded clearly over my accompaniment. There were even some dynamics! The Gershwin began well although with a trickier piano part I was not able to listen in quite the same detail as I did in the Mozart so I worked mostly to keep the pulse steady just focussing on Kirsty's rhythm. I perhaps now appreciate just what stamina is needed on a brass instrument, especially from someone who has been learning for only just over a year. The demands on breathing and control of sustained notes is something that builds up over years of regular playing so what Kirsty has already achieved is pretty spectacular! When she came out the first things she mentioned were the negative things (doesn't everyone though?) but she quickly mentioned the aural had been easier.

Next up was Derek. Purcell's Rondeau was fine and included some nice changes of tone colour which I think were planned. His second piece was an odd little number by a little known composer called Francl. (There may be a reason why he is little known but that's not for discussion here.) Again, I had to concentrate on rhythm more than notes here but we started and finished together so think it was fine. Chatting with Derek afterwards he revealed how he had been playing a scale and then had not realised where he was within the scale which threw him slightly. Woodwind and keyboard players do not have to find the note in the same way as string and brass players as fingerings alone on the whole will give you the note you are after. Again, experience plays a huge part in this so maybe when they do their grade 6 exams this will be sorted!

I did enjoy the morning and thanks so much to Kirsty and Derek for asking me despite being warned about the standard of my piano playing! I look forward to hearing how you've both done!

Cambridge Music Festival

Due to a mini-marathon taking place in the city with road closures I left a little earlier than I perhaps needed to get to the venue in good time. This meant getting up earlier than planned and after miscounting how many times I'd hit the snooze button I only had enough time for one very quick run through of Barcarolle before setting off. Not the best preparation but that had to do.

When I arrived I saw another harp being unloaded from a car then saw Robyn so we walked round to the music block together. We were directed into a room where numerous harps were being unpacked while Rohan tuned one at a time. Eventually all the harps for the first two classes were tuned and all were moved into the performance room. The first class was for Grade 1-2 players and we heard four performances, all very well prepared and while we waited for the adjudicator to sum up Robyn and I predicted who we thought would win. The adjudicator went briefly through each performer with at least one positive comment and one thing to think about in the future.

We then went straight onto my class, for Grade 3-4 harpists. The first competitor played one of the grade 3 pieces, Alpine Waltz, very well. I did try this one a while ago and found the short glissandi quite tricky and she pulled them off beautifully. I was up next and waited patiently for what seemed like ages as the examiner finished writing the previous report. I felt a little nervous but not as much as I thought I might do. I was aware it was an unusual setting but relaxed into the piece which felt better as it went along. I did hit a few wrong notes but managed to keep going. The next player performed O'er the Sea to Skye. It was another good performance. The adjudicator went through comments and suggestions which included more dynamic contrast in Alpine Waltz and making sure that the middle section is as well learned as the beginning section for O'er the Sea to Skye. To me he said that because a barcarolle is a song I should imagine myself singing while accompanying with the harp. That way I might put a few more 'breathing' spaces into the music. It was a good point and one I have to think about on the clarinet, because I have to breathe, but had not considered this with the harp. He read out the marks and because mine was the highest I was the winner! It was very close though and I am sure my fellow competitors will go on to have successes in the future. After a break we heard the Grade 5-6 and 7-8 category. Most played on pedal harps but there was a lever harp in each class so it was good to see what was possible on the instrument at those higher levels. I look forward to being allowed to try 'New Blue' by Deborah Henson-Conant which had a great section written to sound like a walking bass line. The morning finished with the ensemble class. Two harp duets and a flute and harp duet gave really impressive performances.

Rohan has the manouvering of harps down to a fine art and at one point we were running 15 minutes early, very rare for a festival. She is the master of organisation and huge thanks to her for her initial arm-twisting and being there on the day helping things run smoothly.

The adjudicator was friendly and encouraging and during one of the breaks told us that he knew very little about the harp (just in case we were wondering what his qualification to talk about the harp was) but as an organist he understands how much goes into a performance, by that he meant the technical challenges of getting the right notes, changing levers, moving pedals, often with both feet. While different parts of the body are moving just one thing should come from the body and that is the music. If he shut his eyes he should not be aware of the technical difficulties the player might be experiencing. He did say he was now thinking about taking up the harp... with Rohan!

Clarsach Society Playing Afternoon

The first of my double bill of harping activities this weekend was near Sudbury with members of the Clarsach Society south-east branch. Robyn came along but as has moved up to a pedal harp wasn't able to bring hers but she enjoyed listening and helping some of the younger members and took a few photos.

As well as Anne, the rep for the branch, there were four younger students there, aged 5 to 9 and an array of harps right from a tiny lap harp to mine, which was the biggest. As well as the various sizes our harps had a great range of colour, shape, and design. One of the harps had a lovely Celtic knotwork decoration.

We had a lovely afternoon playing through easy ensemble pieces with Anne suggesting easy accompaniments for the children which they learned remarkably well by ear. Each of us played one of our own solo pieces we had been working on and finished the afternoon with a run-through of the group pieces. It was a little different to last time where there were three adults but it was lovely to see how much the youngsters were enjoying their harps. Three currently study with Danielle Perret and the fourth, on the lap harp, will be starting lessons with Danielle shortly.

Robyn and I had a slow drive back stopping at one of the village churchs to have a look round while the weather was good. I had a very short practise session when I got in and I can now look forward to my performance in the Cambridge Music Festival which takes place tomorrow.