EDIT: For the Whit Friday explanation, scroll down to about two-thirds of the way down the page.This will be a long post, but it's mainly going to be copying and pasting from old entries which seem as if they might be useful and/or interesting again!
Firstly, Gerontius, which we start rehearsing this Saturday (while the FA Cup Final is on! Just as well I don't really care who wins!). If you are trying to learn (or memorize) Gerontius, and are irritated with the long intros on CD tracks before the choir comes in (yes, the non-choir bits are of course wonderful, but if you're trying to practise stuff in a hurry they're a bit of a pain) you might find these mp3s of use. I've edited them so they just have the choir cue. As usual, for private study only, they'll be removed after the gig.
p10-14 (Kyrie/Holy Mary)p16-23 (Be merciful)p34-38 (Rescue him)p40-54 (Go in the name)p70-91 (Demons)p94-109 (Angelicals)p110-147 (Praise)p155-157 (Spare him)p163-165 (Lord thou hast been)p166-177 (end)Secondly, if the piece is totally new to you and you don't know the story,
here's a summary.
Thirdly, I once wrote down a list of the "interesting things I've got scribbled in my Gerontius score". and I thought I'd repeat it here because it may be of interest to newer people. Some of this will only make sense when you know the work a bit better, but here goes anyway....
THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS
page 0: A.M.D.G. stands for "Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam"... "To the greater glory of God". Elgar used this dedication on several of his other sacred works too, as did J. S. Bach.
PART 1
page 1: bars 1-4 is the Judgement theme (see also e.g. page 64, figure 20; page 66, 2 bars before figure 26, where it appears in the middle of the accompaniment; page 93, figure 58; also on page 158 at figure 118 just before the "blinding flash"); at figure 2 is the Fear theme (see also e.g. page 65 at figure 24)
page 2: figure 4 is the Prayer theme (see also e.g. page 10, figure 28; page 30, 3rd line last bar; page 34, figure 61)
page 3: (don't worry, there isn't a note for every page!) 3rd bar of figure 10 there is a good bit featuring string arpeggios
page 6: figure 19 is the Sleep theme (see also e.g. page 39, top line, just as Gerontius dies)
page 7: figure 21 is the Pain theme (see also e.g. page 8, figure 24; page 14, last 2 bars; page 31, figure 58)
page 9: bar 2 has a lovely effect in which all the strings (muted) are divisi in 3 parts and the harps have repeated triplets. AND bar 3 has all this with a Neapolitan 6th! (that's my favourite chord, btw, and there are loads in Gerontius). Bar 6 sees the strings dividing even further (into 4 parts) and bar 10 has them playing unison but sul ponticello (a weird sound caused by playing nearer the bridge than usual)
page 15: bar 2 has the first sound of the Demons (see page 70); bar 6 has the "Sanctus Fortis" tune that comes properly on page 23)
page 27: the 3rd line has a good bit involving the trombones; figure 49 is just a good note :-)
page 29: figure 53 has another sul ponticello bit
page 30: figure 56 has fff brass triplets - wow!
page 31: figure 57 is what I think of as the "West Side Story" bit (if you know the WSS music you'll know what I mean); 4 bars later has another pppp divisi string bit with a Neapolitan
page 32: figure 59 has another hint of the Demons to come; 2 bars later the timps are hit with the wrong end of the sticks (weird effect!)
page 34: figure 61 has sextuplet semiquavers on the timp on the first beat
page 36: figure 64 has the organ playing; the semi-chorus is listing those to whose aid God has come in the past
page 38: Gerontius is on his last legs here, and he dies at the end of the top line of page 39
page 39: after top line, mood changes completely as Gerontius has died and the priest sings for the first time
page 40: the music here is referenced on page 149 when Gerontius hears it from wherever he is
page 46: I have written here, from a previous performance, "Stay under Willard!" which is a nice thought :p I also have written "levitation section", which refers to the feeling rather than anything in the text or music, as far as I recall. Oh, and there is a dominant pedal here (i.e. the long held A in the bass of the orchestra); a dominant pedal is a kind of aural clue that we're reaching the end of the movement (once you know what they sound like you'll be amazed how many pieces have one)
page 54: I love the 2nd bass note here!
PART 2
page 56: at the risk of stating the obvious, Gerontius is referred to as the "soul" now, because he is dead
page 57: bottom line has a violin solo followed by a cello solo
page 59: 3rd line has the Alleluia theme, a hint of the Angel's music from the next page
page 60: the Angel appears here for the first time (Elgar directs that she not appear on the platform until part 2); 3rd line (2nd bar) has the aforementioned Alleluia theme, followed by a horn motif that I really like
page 62: bar 2 has the Alleluia theme for the 3rd and best time
page 68: last bar has a total change of mood as we get to the demons; there are bassoons, contrabassoon, double basses, timps with sticks
page 69: 2nd line has the strings playing col legno (i.e. with the wood of the bow rather than the hair - a weird effect); this page also has previews of some of the demon chorus themes
page 74: I don't know about anyone else, but if I'm listening to football commentary (which I frequently do) and they use the word "dispossessed", I have this tune on the brain for hours!
page 76: figure 37 has a great bit with a gong crash on beat 2
page 79: bar 2 has the timps with sticks thing again
page 83: when I first did Gerontius I found this page really difficult. But it's easy when you've got the sound of it in your head after singing it loads of times. Be reassured, newbies :-)
page 85: figure 47 has an ff muted horn chord which sounds GREAT
page 87: figure 49 has a big descending woodwind scale; ditto ascending 3 bars later
page 89: bassoon scale up and down on top line
page 90: bar 6 has the famous bass "quack quack"; last but one bar has the basses singing in unison (in theory!) The last bar, and the first bar of the next page, has the bassoons doing a final "ha! ha!" at a third of the speed.
page 91: contrabassoon joins in for last 4 bars
page 92: first 3 bars are reminiscent of start of part 2 (page 55)
page 93: top line has a good bit with 3 separate violin and cello soli; on the bottom line the mortal she refers to is St Francis
page 95: the Angelicals are the souls of those who have already been redeemed
page 100: in the first bar of the bottom line I have written "Let the blood run free!" I know this refers to a long-forgotten weird Australian black comedy set in a hospital, but I have no idea what I thought its connection with this bar was!
page 102: 2 bars before 68 is the "grumbling bit" and has a timp roll with horn/bass clarinet chords
page 111: bar 2 has bassoon/clarinet arpeggios; figure 74 (when they cross the threshold into (I assume) Heaven itself) is one of those bars which I find practically impossible to sing because I'm so overcome by the build-up to it and the fantastic noise that surrounds me on the chord itself. I'm invariably all choked up and can only join in properly a few bars later. If anyone has a suggestion that will enable me to sing the whole line, I'd love to hear it!
page 113: I have "keep up!!" written in the last bar, because the sops used to always sound as if they were half an hour behind the rest of us here. They are much better these days, though.
page 116: similarly, I have "eugh!" written by the first bar of the bottom line, because sops, in the past, always made a pig's ear of the first note. However, I'm delighted to report that it was perfect the last few times we've sung it.
page 129: I have "MARIA!!" written by the 2nd alto entry on this page. This is because for years I kept being unable to pitch the G#. Then I realised it was "Maria" and have been able to do it ever since :-)
page 133: figure 93 starts a chain of hemiolas which I hadn't noticed the first dozen or so times I sang this. (A hemiola is a rhythmic device used in triple time (e.g. 3/4 like here) in which 2 bars of 3 beats are effectively replaced by 3 lots of 2 beats (i.e. the accents are placed differently). It's used more in Baroque music than later, particularly dance movements such as minuets, and has the effect of making the music seem to hurry along a bit quicker.)
page 135: dominant pedal starts here (i.e. long bass G) (see note for page 46)
page 144: 1st basses have an incredibly high note :p
page 147: I have written "as loud as possible, then louder!" I also have "ooh, echo!!" This is from the St Paul's performance in 2002 - the echo was inconvenient in many places, but at this point it was FABULOUS.
page 148: top line is very similar to the Fear theme (see note for page 1); last 2 bars have low flute triplets
page 149: figure 103 has the "Earth chords" (see page 39 figure 68, and subsequently); in this section the soul of Gerontius is referring to the music on page 40. (The 'Subvenite' is a Latin prayer (Subvenite Sancti Dei) which could very loosely be translated using the words on pages 41-54.)
page 150: the very last crotchet of the page is a
Tristan chordpage 151: the Angel of the Agony (usually sung by the same soloist as the Priest) appears, and a long chain of unprepared Neapolitan 6th chords starts here - see e.g. bar 2 and bar 6
page 155: on the top line the orchestra gradually drops out, leaving only the organ on the word 'Judge'
page 156: (one of the very best pages in the whole thing) in bar 2 the harps play the 2 tenor parts as harmonics
page 157: the Alleluia theme returns on the bottom line
page 158: Alleluia again (a really good one) on the 2nd line; however, this one is different in that the timps and organ pedal join in, and the horn motif is absent, replaced by a unison crescendo into the Judgement theme (see notes for page 1)
page 159: note pause over barline at end of top line. This is where the soul of Gerontius gets his "momentary vision of God". The full score says "N.B. At 120 'for one moment' must every instrument exert its fullest force. If any extra Timpani players are available, they must play the 3 bars at 120." The dynamic is great, isn't it? fffzp :-)
page 163: the 2nd line is the last one that Gerontius sings in the piece; the bottom line always reminds me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer... ("In every generation there is a chosen one. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer.") (What?!? I
know I'm sad :p ) There is a dominant pedal in the last 4 bars (i.e. the long A in the bass; see notes on pages 46 and 135)
page 170: I love the fact that the 2nd basses only join in after the words "bring us not, Lord, very low" :p
page 175: 1st bar always feels like a 2nd alto solo, even though it isn't (the soloist is singing too); another dominant pedal starts here; last bar of page is one where the semi-chorus sops used to invariably sing the wrong rhythm, but it's been right for a few years now :-)
page 177: the harps are the only things playing on the barlines during the last chord
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That's enough text that I should probably stop because everyone will have stopped reading, but I need to tell you that today is
WHIT FRIDAY! Last year I wrote a long explanation of this, so I'm just going to paste it here for those who missed it. (If you read this last year, there's nothing new, you don't need to read it again - unless you want to!)
WHIT FRIDAY
I'm always quite surprised that many musical people who live in Greater Manchester have never heard of the Whit Friday band contests, so today I feel the need to tell people about them. Then, if you're intrigued, you can go and watch tonight!
The whole Whit Friday thing will make a lot more sense if I explain about brass bands first. Brass bands are commonly perceived as being a typically Northern phenomenon, but, although I was born and raised in Manchester, I knew practically nothing about them until I started work in Rochdale. The whole system is so unique that I find it fascinating.
There are more rules concerning brass bands than those covering all other areas of music put together. The reason for this is that the brass band world is primarily geared towards competition rather than entertainment. (They even have
rankings!) The contests, however (invariably taking place on a Sunday, starting at a ridiculously early hour like 8 a.m. and continuing until the bar closes at midnight or so) are very bitter, hard-fought affairs, with the results being discussed for weeks afterwards.
For the purposes of contests, bands are divided into five sections (Championship, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th). There is a fixed number of bands in each section, but I’m not sure what it is these days (it used to be something like 30 in the Championship or “top section” and rather more in the others). At each contest, bands score points according to their placing (so many for a win, 2nd place, etc.) and at the end of the year there are promotions and relegations, just like in football. In addition to the five sections, there is also a Youth Section, which is just as competitive - the only limit is that players must be under 19. (Young players can, of course, play for “section bands” too.)
The actual contests are amazing. I thought someone was pulling my leg when I was told what happens, but I’ve seen it for myself and can assure you that this is all perfectly true! (EDIT: It's been a while since I was directly involved with any brass bands, so what's described here is how it worked over 10 years ago. However, I'd be surprised if it was much different now.) The actual admin stuff for the contest starts several weeks earlier, when the band’s secretary checks that each player’s registration card is in order. These cards have (amongst other things) the player’s photograph and signature, and they are amended at Head Office (wherever that is) if a player is transferred between bands. No-one can be registered with more than one band. At the same time, the secretary will get each player to sign the contest registration form, and this will be sent off so that the band is officially entered. The band will have been practising the test piece for weeks - in each section, there is only one test piece, so if there are 20 entries (common) then the audience will hear the same piece 20 times!
The contest day begins very early for youth and lower section bands (the top section usually starts at a much more reasonable hour). The first thing that happens is the draw, which is often at 8 a.m., so a band may have had to set off at 6 a.m. if they have any distance to travel. At the draw, each band’s manager has to be present while a draw is made for the order of play. When this has been done, the band knows whether it has time to rehearse or whether it has to proceed to registration. The band drawn first also has to play the National Anthem (or “The Queen”, as they call it), so they will find a few minutes to practise it - they don’t get judged on it, in theory, but most conductors are of the opinion that it’s not a good idea to play it badly!
Even when the draw is known, there is not a fixed time at which the band knows it will be playing - they have to guess what time to tell the players to meet. Eventually, though, it will be their turn to “proceed to registration”. This takes place in a backstage room. The contest controllers sit at a desk. One has all the registration cards (which were handed in at the draw) and the other has the contest registration sheet. The players file past, and each one is compared with his/her photo on the card, and then signs the registration sheet (right next to where they signed it the first time). After this signature has been compared with the first signature, and both have been compared with the one on the card, the player is allowed to play - or not, if there are any discrepancies!
Now you may be thinking “this doesn’t sound much like any music I’ve ever taken part in!” - but bear with me! It gets even stranger! When the band, having passed through registration, finally get on stage, they will be announced simply as “Band number 5” (or whatever) and there will be two notice boards on the stage, saying something like “Draw number 5” and “Programme number 9”. Why? Because the adjudicator is not allowed to know which band is which! Before the contest began, he will have been taken to his “box” (and it usually is just that - a box (with sides but no roof) constructed right in the middle of the hall) by a steward who will have ensured that no-one speaks to him (they might tell him the results of the draw!). The adjudicator stays in this box all day - I believe there is a bucket in there in case he needs to relieve himself.
The audience, however, know which band is which, because they’ve all bought a programme, in which the bands are listed in alphabetical order, and they’ve all written down the draw, which is posted outside the contest hall as soon as it’s known. In addition, the audience will quite happily sit through 20 or 30 performances of the same piece - some even take a score with them to follow. Most of these test pieces are especially written for this purpose and are fiendishly difficult (more so in higher sections!)
After all the bands have played, there will be a long, tense wait until the adjudicator blows his whistle for the last time. He will already have used it to let each band know he’s ready for them to start - now he uses it to say he’s ready to be let out of his box. He goes on stage and delivers some general comments, but nothing specific. Then there are lots more speeches in which everyone thanks everyone else. Eventually the contest controller reads out the results - usually only the top 3 or 4 places, and always in reverse order. Often the bands are only separated by one point - I’m not sure how the adjudicators fiddle it to be so close. Finally, everyone goes to the bar to celebrate or drown their sorrows.
A variation on this theme is “entertainment contests”. These mainly involve youth bands - there are very few for section bands. In an entertainment contest, there is no test piece - bands can play whatever they like, and they have a rigidly enforced time limit (penalty points are deducted for each minute they are outside the allotted range). The music is supposed to be “entertaining”, and most of it is - but there are still many conductors who feel that a brass band programme is incomplete if it doesn’t include a march, a hymn tune and a solo feature (usually for the top cornet or euphonium, and often a theme followed by lots of twiddly variations - yawn!). There will be at least one very silly item (e.g. Nellie the Elephant done as a tuba feature, with the players wearing tutus and elephant ears - I'm not kidding!) and probably something by Andrew Lloyd Webber or someone like him (The Old Gumbie Cat used to be a particular favourite).
Entertainment contests have two adjudicators - one for the music and one for the entertainment. At the end the marks from both sections are added together (usually the music is given marks out of 200 and the entertainment out of 100, or a similar ratio). The music adjudicator sits in a box and operates just as he would at a traditional contest. The entertainment adjudicator watches, however. But each band’s compère has strict instructions not to mention the name of the band, or indeed to say anything that could give a clue to which band is playing.
The instrumentation, by the way, is as follows. A standard brass band is only allowed to have 25 players plus drummers (although there may be more in concerts, particularly for youth bands). These will be: 1 soprano cornet, 9 cornets, 1 flugel horn, 3 tenor horns, 2 baritones, 2 euphoniums, 3 trombones, 4 tubas. There are no trumpets or French horns in a brass band, surprisingly.
Anyway, I’ll finish by telling you about Whit Friday. It’s the Friday after Whit Sunday each year (this year that means it’s today). On this day each year, bands from all over the country (and elsewhere too) converge on the Saddleworth area of Oldham, just to the east of Manchester. More than 100 bands take part, and each of the 20 or so villages involved basically stops work for the day (except the pubs!). Each village runs its own contest, and the prize money is not to be sniffed at! The contest starts at about 4.30 p.m. and runs till 10 or 11 p.m. The bands play on a “first come, first served” basis - sections are irrelevant at this stage. They arrive on coaches, and as each coach arrives, the band’s “runner” (usually the band manager) leaps off while the coach is still moving and races to the registration point. The order of play is determined solely by the order of registration, regardless of where the coach is in the queue - this can make the traffic policeman’s job interesting! It is to the band’s advantage to play as soon as possible, because the sooner they play, the sooner they can leave to go somewhere else and enter another contest. Anyway, depending on how busy the contest is, the players may well have a 30-40 minute wait before they play, which they will spend in the pub.
When it’s their turn to play, the band will get ready to march. Usually trombones are at the front (they need more room) and cornets at the back, with the bass drummer and one or two side drummers in the middle. Some bands also have a mace-bearer at the front. At a signal from the steward, the conductor (or band manager) will tell the band to “take the street”. At this point they line up in perfect order. In theory no-one speaks or moves, because from this moment on they are being judged on their “deportment” - uniform, discipline, straight lines etc. The youth bands are much better at this than the section bands, in my experience - the top bands don’t take it too seriously, because they know that the real money for them is in the music prizes.
Eventually the steward tells the band to march. The mace-bearer, if present, will do a complicated set of actions at this point. Then the bass drum does a two-bar rhythm, after which he is joined by the side drummers for two bars, and the band raise their instruments for the next two bars. Then they start to play, and after a fixed length of time (the first phrase, usually), they all start to march - left foot first. They march along the street, following a child with a sign with the name of the band chalked on it. He/she leads them to the bandstand or contest field or wherever. As soon as they are reasonably near to it (but still out of earshot) they are given a signal, at which the bass drummer will do a “double tap”, and the band stops playing at the end of the phrase in which this occurs. (If they finish the piece before this signal, they start again at the beginning.) They continue to march until the side drummers do a two-beat roll to stop them. When they are told to leave the street, they are no longer being judged on deportment - they walk to the bandstand and play their contest march (this will be much more difficult than the street march). The adjudicator will be told nothing about them apart from which section they are to be judged under, and he will be somewhere from where he can hear them but not see them (often in an upstairs room of a nearby pub, with the window open but the curtains shut).
After the band has played its contest march, the players race back to the coach and set off for the next village. Ten contests during the course of the night is a reasonable average - many do more, many do less. The results of the contests are available the same night if you wait around till the end, or online or in the local newspaper over the next couple of days.
If you have never experienced Whit Friday, I feel that your life will be incomplete until you have - so tonight is your big chance! There are only two good ways to “do” Whit Friday - either arrange to be on a coach with a band, or pick one spot and stay there all evening. Following a coach in a car doesn’t work very well, because the parking is horrendous and the roads frequently close while a band marches down them. But, assuming you don’t know any bands who’ll let you join them, a good first visit is to go to Uppermill and sit in front of one of the pubs on the High Street. Last year 59 bands went through Uppermill between 5 and 10 p.m., including most of the top section bands.
This page gives you an idea of the scale of the thing (and it doesn’t include all the contests). (If you want somewhere a bit quieter than Uppermill, try Friezland (just down the hill from Greenfield station) - the top section bands don't go there, so it's a bit more laid back, and there are slightly fewer drunken people due to there not being an actual pub there. There is a beer stall, though - and a great barbecue!)
Anyway, hope to see you there!
