Well, I think the Manchester Evening News review of our concert is possibly the best review we've ever had for anything - but then Thursday night was one of the best concerts we've ever done! I'm told that there's also a 5-star review in the Guardian, but it hasn't made it to their website yet. I'll add the link here when it appears.
EDIT: Guardian review. Doesn't mention the choir at all (or the orchestra, for that matter!) but since he gives the concert 5 stars I think we can assume he liked it all :-)
The concert was so good that no-one even grumbled about having to stay afterwards till 10.30 for a patching session - we were all in too good a mood! It turns out that the reason for this very unusual scheduling was that not only was Bryn not there today (due to his Welsh Proms concert), he wasn't there on Friday either (presumably he was rehearsing for today), so the only chance to record his bits was in the rehearsal on Wednesday, in the concert on Thursday, and in the patching session afterwards.
We've now finished all the patching for the recording, and it all went brilliantly - we even finished slightly early both tonight and last night, which was much appreciated. The early finishes were particularly surprising given the huge number of coughs from the audience during the concert - there was a note in the front of the programme asking them to be particularly careful to muffle coughs because the concert was being recorded, but I guess lots of people didn't buy a programme, because they coughed NONSTOP. And always in the quietest bits! I mean, someone even coughed in the very first bar of the piece, and someone else did an explosive sneeze in the bar of silence when Gerontius had just died. Unbelievable. I do wonder whether all those people would have even attempted to muffle their coughs if they'd realised that for every time there was a cough, about 300 musicians had to spend several minutes re-recording that bit, at considerable expense. And that's quite apart from the fact that the drama was repeatedly interrupted. Argh!
However, all the coughing bars have now been patched, and we re-recorded everything else again too just to try to get it even better (although it was pretty good in the first place - see review!) I'll be interested to see whether it's sold as a live CD when it eventually comes out - it was recorded live, but there was so much patching necessary due to the coughing that I wouldn't call the result live. But then maybe that's how all live CDs are? I don't think I've done one before. Does anyone know?
(By the way, I noticed the recording company's name on the side of their van and looked them up - and the producer has his own separate website too. Lots of impressive stuff on both sites.)
I won't try to single out any of my favourite moments from the last few days, because there are so many - but there is one moment I wanted to mention. When we finished our last-minute rehearsal just before the concert on Thursday, several of us made a dash to the toilets, but Judith was ahead of everyone because she still had to get changed. I was right behind her when she rushed backstage, so I witnessed her run right into Bryn Terfel. She said something to him in Welsh (I'm assuming it was "sorry!") and he seemed delighted! And that's just reminded me that I meant to ask her what it was he said...
Anyway, the Gerontius project is finished, and it seems REALLY weird to realise that I won't be singing any of it again any time soon - it feels as if I've sung it every day for months! I need to update my "things to watch out for in Gerontius" list, because I noticed several things this week that I've never spotted before - for example, sleighbells in the Demons' Chorus! That was a surprise!
The next singing I will be doing is Pleiades (my band) on Monday night, and a singing lesson the following week... but the next choir thing is starting Mahler 2 in September. Can't wait - I love Mahler 2. We're doing it from memory, which I'm very pleased about. I understand there were some copies given out yesterday, but if there was an announcement about this I certainly didn't hear it! But no problem, because I have a full score. I'll post an mp3 at some point soon in case anyone wants a sneak preview.
I'm still enjoying Last Choir Standing - much more so tonight (I watched it just now) because we finally got to see whole songs, and there was more singing than talking. Tonight I agreed with just about all the judges' comments (and could usually predict what they were going to say) but not with their eventual decisions. I would have removed Dreemz the first time rather than the Brighton Gay Men's Ghorus (although Dreemz did get removed in the end), and the choir I liked best was the Alleycats, who didn't make it through. But the judges were correct when they pointed out the tuning problems - such a pity, because I would have loved to see more of that choir. And the tuning problems weren't THAT bad, and other choirs weren't always much better. I thought the Alleycats should have got more credit for doing very difficult arrangements very well, especially as there were so few of them. But I did like Sense of Sound very much too, and Ysgol Glanaethwy were OK but a bit boring, I thought. (Oh, and there's a brief article about the programme from a choral director here.)
What else do I have to tell you? Let's see...
Choral outrage in Edinburgh.
A feature about sign names. (I have acquired three different sign names since working at RNID... I wonder if you can guess what they are!)
Via Tenon Saw, a useful online metronome (it also plays an A on request!)
I mentioned Bachtrack last time, and they've contacted me since then to say that they'd love to have more choirs contributing. I believe that moves are afoot to get our concerts included, but if any of you are in other choirs and want to get your concerts listed, you just need to go to the site and register. It's free publicity, and since the site was featured in the Guardian (that's where I found out about it) I imagine they get lots of hits. What have you got to lose?
I also mentioned the Soweto Strings TV programme being repeated - if you still haven't seen it, you can see it online via the BBC iPlayer for the next few days.
And, finally, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog! If you're reading this after Sunday, you've already missed the free download of this, but you may want to watch out for future developments. If you're a Joss Whedon fan (particularly of his Buffy musical episode), you will love this. If not - maybe not, but you never know!
Anyway, I need to go to bed so I can get up in time to go see the Tall Ships :-)
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
OMG BRYN TERFEL!
I seem to have spent quite a lot of time yesterday getting excited about singing with Bryn Terfel. Not that the other soloists (Alice Coote and Paul Groves) weren't fabulous as well, but we've sung with them before - Bryn is a whole new experience!
I've been telling people at work about BrynFest and Bryn pulling out of the Ring Cycle last year and Bryn's official fan club (seems very secretive, you have to pay them before you can even see most of the pages on their site!) and Bryn singing Rule Britannia at the Last Night of the Proms one year dressed in a Welsh flag - and I'm sure he kicked a rugby ball into the crowd at the end, can anyone confirm this? I just spent quite a while searching for a YouTube video of this, but sadly I think it may have been in the days before everything appeared on YouTube. (There is lots of Bryn on YouTube now - I think I like this one best, but I haven't watched most of them!) I couldn't even find an article describing it, hence no link!
I also only realised yesterday that Bryn is singing at the Last Night of the Proms again this year, although I'm a bit disturbed that they don't appear to be doing the whole of the Fantasia on British Sea Songs - I hope that's just a mistake! (Have a look at the official Proms website if you want to see what else is on.)
And, talking of his forthcoming commitments, I see from his concerts page that he's singing in a Welsh Prom this Saturday, so I guess we'll be recording Gerontius in a non-traditional order so we can get all his bits finished tomorrow night!
I am still buzzing from last night's orchestral rehearsal, and not just because of Bryn - it's just such a fabulous piece. It occurred to me last night that there aren't many pieces where I can remember page numbers for years afterwards. I do know a few page numbers from Messiah - e.g. Hallelujah is page 171 and Frunto Us is page 55, I think - but we do that every year. I can't think of any other work that we DON'T perform more than every few years in which I can always remember what happens on page 111!
Actually I'm not even sure that page 111 is my favourite bit, although it's certainly one of them. (If you missed my list of things to look out for in Gerontius, you might like to have a look, by the way.) The Demons' Chorus is definitely up there, as is the "Go in the name of" bit that starts on page 41. And of course the momentary glimpse of God on page 159. (They did that several times last night, and I was very amused at the number of people who jumped out of their seats each time!) And I just love some of the quiet bits too. (Although, oddly enough, the bit I've had on the brain all morning so far is "in all his ways most sure". No idea why.)
It all just sounded so wonderful last night, and it will be even better with a capacity audience - and it's such a pity that the hall isn't ten times bigger, because we would still have filled it. I know my mum isn't the only one who hasn't been able to get a ticket, but she's planning to keep calling this afternoon - you never know! At least there'll be the CD, but it's not as good as the live experience.
I'm particularly enjoying singing in the unorthodox formation. I'm right on the end of the altos, next to the 1st tenors, who are usually so far away from me that I can't hear them at all unless they're singing when I'm not. Now I can hear them all the time, and the ones near me are very good indeed. And the Youth Choir sounds better than ever.
Anyway, more tomorrow maybe, but for the moment my lunch break is nearly over, so I will finish with some random links.
Wordle is great fun - you paste some text into it (as long or as short as you like) and it creates... well, try it and see!
The International Music Score Library Project has reopened!
Did you see the drunk referee? Unbelievable! (Thanks to Barbara for that one, although I've seen it everywhere since she pointed it out!)
They're repeating the Soweto Strings programme tomorrow night, so if you missed it the first time, do try to record it (it's repeated in the early hours of the morning too). It's very inspirational, plus our orchestra is in it briefly :-)
Did you hear about the place where you're not allowed to die?
And finally, I recently discovered Bachtrack, which has all sorts of interesting stuff on it, although the concert listings are extremely incomplete (i.e. they don't seem to include any of our concerts!)
I've been telling people at work about BrynFest and Bryn pulling out of the Ring Cycle last year and Bryn's official fan club (seems very secretive, you have to pay them before you can even see most of the pages on their site!) and Bryn singing Rule Britannia at the Last Night of the Proms one year dressed in a Welsh flag - and I'm sure he kicked a rugby ball into the crowd at the end, can anyone confirm this? I just spent quite a while searching for a YouTube video of this, but sadly I think it may have been in the days before everything appeared on YouTube. (There is lots of Bryn on YouTube now - I think I like this one best, but I haven't watched most of them!) I couldn't even find an article describing it, hence no link!
I also only realised yesterday that Bryn is singing at the Last Night of the Proms again this year, although I'm a bit disturbed that they don't appear to be doing the whole of the Fantasia on British Sea Songs - I hope that's just a mistake! (Have a look at the official Proms website if you want to see what else is on.)
And, talking of his forthcoming commitments, I see from his concerts page that he's singing in a Welsh Prom this Saturday, so I guess we'll be recording Gerontius in a non-traditional order so we can get all his bits finished tomorrow night!
I am still buzzing from last night's orchestral rehearsal, and not just because of Bryn - it's just such a fabulous piece. It occurred to me last night that there aren't many pieces where I can remember page numbers for years afterwards. I do know a few page numbers from Messiah - e.g. Hallelujah is page 171 and Frunto Us is page 55, I think - but we do that every year. I can't think of any other work that we DON'T perform more than every few years in which I can always remember what happens on page 111!
Actually I'm not even sure that page 111 is my favourite bit, although it's certainly one of them. (If you missed my list of things to look out for in Gerontius, you might like to have a look, by the way.) The Demons' Chorus is definitely up there, as is the "Go in the name of" bit that starts on page 41. And of course the momentary glimpse of God on page 159. (They did that several times last night, and I was very amused at the number of people who jumped out of their seats each time!) And I just love some of the quiet bits too. (Although, oddly enough, the bit I've had on the brain all morning so far is "in all his ways most sure". No idea why.)
It all just sounded so wonderful last night, and it will be even better with a capacity audience - and it's such a pity that the hall isn't ten times bigger, because we would still have filled it. I know my mum isn't the only one who hasn't been able to get a ticket, but she's planning to keep calling this afternoon - you never know! At least there'll be the CD, but it's not as good as the live experience.
I'm particularly enjoying singing in the unorthodox formation. I'm right on the end of the altos, next to the 1st tenors, who are usually so far away from me that I can't hear them at all unless they're singing when I'm not. Now I can hear them all the time, and the ones near me are very good indeed. And the Youth Choir sounds better than ever.
Anyway, more tomorrow maybe, but for the moment my lunch break is nearly over, so I will finish with some random links.
Wordle is great fun - you paste some text into it (as long or as short as you like) and it creates... well, try it and see!
The International Music Score Library Project has reopened!
Did you see the drunk referee? Unbelievable! (Thanks to Barbara for that one, although I've seen it everywhere since she pointed it out!)
They're repeating the Soweto Strings programme tomorrow night, so if you missed it the first time, do try to record it (it's repeated in the early hours of the morning too). It's very inspirational, plus our orchestra is in it briefly :-)
Did you hear about the place where you're not allowed to die?
And finally, I recently discovered Bachtrack, which has all sorts of interesting stuff on it, although the concert listings are extremely incomplete (i.e. they don't seem to include any of our concerts!)
Thursday, July 10, 2008
D'you wanna see the stripes?
Well, I didn't get the job for which I had an interview last week, which is a bit discouraging because it was the first interview I'd managed to get since last August... oh well! Maybe something else will come up in another 11 months' time...
I alo didn't get picked to go to Poland with the choir, so all in all last week was one disappointment after another. However, on Tuesday this week I did get a free trip to London, courtesy of the BBC - a Radio 4 producer is making a 15-minute programme which (unless I've misunderstood) will be more or less entirely about me! It's not due to go out till September - I'll let you know when I know the date.
It was a really long day - I left my house at 6am and got home at midnight. But it was really nice, especially as one of the interviews consisted of a recorded informal chat over a lovely lunch (at the expense of the BBC, naturally) with one of my best friends from school, Anna Crookes (nee Markland). It's a few years since I last saw her, so we had a great chat, most of which probably won't make it onto the radio!
The interviews were over sooner than I'd expected, so I had a couple of hours free before meeting another of my best friends for a meal after he finished work. I had a bit of a wander through the West End (I was a student in London, about a million years ago, so I know it well enough to find my way round the centre without referring to maps) and ended up sitting by the river outside the Festival Hall reading for a while. This was very peaceful and relaxing, until a very irritating band started playing nearby.
I think they would have liked to have been a mariachi band, but in fact it was just two trumpets and an accordion, and they played the same songs REPEATEDLY for ages, without apparently breathing at any stage. This was quite impressive, but it would have been more impressive if the trumpets had played in unison (or even harmony) rather than *almost* in unison... and if they'd known any of the tunes accurately. They weren't improvising - every time they repeated each song, the tune was slightly incorrect in exactly the same way. It wouldn't have bothered me if I didn't know the tunes, but I did, so it drove me up the wall!
(They played Fernando nonstop for at least ten minutes, before segueing into Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps for another five minutes, and then alternating between the two songs for even longer. Then they stopped, and I thought that was it, but they just moved to a different position on the Golden Jubilee Bridge and started again, this time with Tequila and Tico Tico. And then they moved a third time and spent a while on Autumn Leaves. The fact that I can still remember all the songs two days later, and that I doubt I'll ever hear any of those songs again without being reminded of that afternoon, should tell you how many times they repeated them in the hour and a half I sat nearby!)
Despite the band, though, it was a lovely day, although I'm still exhausted as a result. This wasn't helped by having an intense choir rehearsal last night instead of collapsing into bed for an early night, but hopefully I can do that tonight - and choir was fabulous! We got lots done, but also there was lots of amusement, particularly at Gill's question about how to pronounce the word "chucked" (you had to be there!)
It was the last one before the Week of Choral Madness (tm) which is next week (for those not in the choir, I should explain that we will have long rehearsals and concerts and recording sessions every evening from Tuesday to Friday, plus all day Saturdayand all day Sunday), and everything seems to be going very well indeed - I'm really looking forward to the week, exhausting though it will be. Not only is the sound amazing, but also there are notes which are correct which I'm pretty sure have never been correct before, whether it's been us or any other choir performing! It'll be nice to produce the definitive recording of Gerontius - I know many people probably think this has already been done, but we'll show them :-)
Anyway, this is already longer than I'd intended, so I'll stop in a minute - I do have several links to share with you as usual, though! But first... Did you watch Last Choir Standing? What did you think? I couldn't resist in the end, and it wasn't QUITE as annoying as I thought it would be! One of the things I hate most about these talent shows is the fact that they never seem to show very much of the actual performances, preferring to spend most of the programme interviewing the performers and judges. I really can't understand the logic behind this - is this really what the general public want to see? I can only assume so, since it keeps happening (I never usually watch any of the shows if I can help it, but occasionally I've been round at someone's house and they've insisted on watching it). This year's Young Musician was a major disappointment for this very reason - when I saw that it had gone down the same road as things like The X Factor, I was really quite upset.
Anyway, Last Choir Standing did show more of the performances than Young Musician did, although I still don't think they showed any song from beginning to end. Lots of the performances were really good - some were less good. (If you want to see a few without having to put up with the other stuff, some of them are on the website.) The judges weren't too annoying - even Russell Watson! - and in most cases I found myself agreeing with them. I've surprised myself by realising that I actually want to watch more of the series. I'll be interested to see how it all progresses, and whether or not they show more of the actual singing as the competition progresses. I hope so, because some of it is great. But just in case, I think I'll continue to watch via Sky+ so that I can fast forward through the annoying backstage bits!
(If you missed episode 1 and would like to see it, you have 2 days left to watch it via the BBC iPlayer. Episode 2 is this Saturday.)
Anyway, links!
From the Lifehack blog: 8 good reasons to be a lousy musician.
From the BBC Music Magazine: Sistema Scotland plays its first chords.
I noticed this the other day... I suspect it might be a mistake (i.e. the list of performers) but I rather hope not - I'd love to sing Live and Let Die in a choral arrangement! In fact, I might do one and try to sell it :-)
From the Manchester Evening News, I found out about the Carpet of Flowers event which will be in Albert Square next week.
From the Guardian: Community singing doesn't need bureaucracy.
From A Cappella News: The Psychology of Karaoke Explained.
From the Guardian: Operatic dentist lands £1m recording contract.
I'd totally forgotten that the Tall Ships are in Liverpool from 18th July!
My current favourite lolcat is Next Add Tuna :-)
From Slashdot: your computer as your singing coach.
The longest concert in the world has been going on for nearly seven years now, so you've probably heard about it before. But it's in the news again because there was a chord change! Kind of like the intro to Shine On You Crazy Diamond but stretched a bit. (If you've not heard that song, it starts with a G minor chord that's held for several minutes. The moment when the chord changes to D minor is one of my favourite musical moments.)
From Jason Heath's Double Bass Blog: Bury The Violas!
And finally, was anyone else really disappointed with the Glastonbury TV coverage? I know the BBC couldn't possibly have shown everything that was on, but they could have shown so much more than they did! Why was Amy Winehouse's set shown so many times? It was rubbish! Buddy Guy was on at the same time and from all accounts he was amazing. (That link is to a video of his performance - so we know the BBC did film him! I haven't had time to watch all of his set yet, but I will.) I can understand, I suppose, why they would show Amy Winehouse instead of Buddy Guy when they were both live at the same time, but surely they could have shown a BIT of him rather than repeating her one of the times? I was just as annoyed that they didn't show anything of Leonard Cohen, but I've just discovered that he asked not to be recorded, so I suppose I'll have to forgive them. But I would also love to have seen Franz Ferdinand's surprise performance, which again is on the BBC site so was clearly filmed - I wonder why they didn't show it? I liked Jay-Z a lot more than I'd expected to, but again, why couldn't they have missed out just ONE of the repeats of his set to show Franz Ferdinand?
The Proms start next Friday, so no doubt I'll have similar things to rant about then. For now, I need to sleep :-)
I alo didn't get picked to go to Poland with the choir, so all in all last week was one disappointment after another. However, on Tuesday this week I did get a free trip to London, courtesy of the BBC - a Radio 4 producer is making a 15-minute programme which (unless I've misunderstood) will be more or less entirely about me! It's not due to go out till September - I'll let you know when I know the date.
It was a really long day - I left my house at 6am and got home at midnight. But it was really nice, especially as one of the interviews consisted of a recorded informal chat over a lovely lunch (at the expense of the BBC, naturally) with one of my best friends from school, Anna Crookes (nee Markland). It's a few years since I last saw her, so we had a great chat, most of which probably won't make it onto the radio!
The interviews were over sooner than I'd expected, so I had a couple of hours free before meeting another of my best friends for a meal after he finished work. I had a bit of a wander through the West End (I was a student in London, about a million years ago, so I know it well enough to find my way round the centre without referring to maps) and ended up sitting by the river outside the Festival Hall reading for a while. This was very peaceful and relaxing, until a very irritating band started playing nearby.
I think they would have liked to have been a mariachi band, but in fact it was just two trumpets and an accordion, and they played the same songs REPEATEDLY for ages, without apparently breathing at any stage. This was quite impressive, but it would have been more impressive if the trumpets had played in unison (or even harmony) rather than *almost* in unison... and if they'd known any of the tunes accurately. They weren't improvising - every time they repeated each song, the tune was slightly incorrect in exactly the same way. It wouldn't have bothered me if I didn't know the tunes, but I did, so it drove me up the wall!
(They played Fernando nonstop for at least ten minutes, before segueing into Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps for another five minutes, and then alternating between the two songs for even longer. Then they stopped, and I thought that was it, but they just moved to a different position on the Golden Jubilee Bridge and started again, this time with Tequila and Tico Tico. And then they moved a third time and spent a while on Autumn Leaves. The fact that I can still remember all the songs two days later, and that I doubt I'll ever hear any of those songs again without being reminded of that afternoon, should tell you how many times they repeated them in the hour and a half I sat nearby!)
Despite the band, though, it was a lovely day, although I'm still exhausted as a result. This wasn't helped by having an intense choir rehearsal last night instead of collapsing into bed for an early night, but hopefully I can do that tonight - and choir was fabulous! We got lots done, but also there was lots of amusement, particularly at Gill's question about how to pronounce the word "chucked" (you had to be there!)
It was the last one before the Week of Choral Madness (tm) which is next week (for those not in the choir, I should explain that we will have long rehearsals and concerts and recording sessions every evening from Tuesday to Friday, plus all day Saturday
Anyway, this is already longer than I'd intended, so I'll stop in a minute - I do have several links to share with you as usual, though! But first... Did you watch Last Choir Standing? What did you think? I couldn't resist in the end, and it wasn't QUITE as annoying as I thought it would be! One of the things I hate most about these talent shows is the fact that they never seem to show very much of the actual performances, preferring to spend most of the programme interviewing the performers and judges. I really can't understand the logic behind this - is this really what the general public want to see? I can only assume so, since it keeps happening (I never usually watch any of the shows if I can help it, but occasionally I've been round at someone's house and they've insisted on watching it). This year's Young Musician was a major disappointment for this very reason - when I saw that it had gone down the same road as things like The X Factor, I was really quite upset.
Anyway, Last Choir Standing did show more of the performances than Young Musician did, although I still don't think they showed any song from beginning to end. Lots of the performances were really good - some were less good. (If you want to see a few without having to put up with the other stuff, some of them are on the website.) The judges weren't too annoying - even Russell Watson! - and in most cases I found myself agreeing with them. I've surprised myself by realising that I actually want to watch more of the series. I'll be interested to see how it all progresses, and whether or not they show more of the actual singing as the competition progresses. I hope so, because some of it is great. But just in case, I think I'll continue to watch via Sky+ so that I can fast forward through the annoying backstage bits!
(If you missed episode 1 and would like to see it, you have 2 days left to watch it via the BBC iPlayer. Episode 2 is this Saturday.)
Anyway, links!
From the Lifehack blog: 8 good reasons to be a lousy musician.
From the BBC Music Magazine: Sistema Scotland plays its first chords.
I noticed this the other day... I suspect it might be a mistake (i.e. the list of performers) but I rather hope not - I'd love to sing Live and Let Die in a choral arrangement! In fact, I might do one and try to sell it :-)
From the Manchester Evening News, I found out about the Carpet of Flowers event which will be in Albert Square next week.
From the Guardian: Community singing doesn't need bureaucracy.
From A Cappella News: The Psychology of Karaoke Explained.
From the Guardian: Operatic dentist lands £1m recording contract.
I'd totally forgotten that the Tall Ships are in Liverpool from 18th July!
My current favourite lolcat is Next Add Tuna :-)
From Slashdot: your computer as your singing coach.
The longest concert in the world has been going on for nearly seven years now, so you've probably heard about it before. But it's in the news again because there was a chord change! Kind of like the intro to Shine On You Crazy Diamond but stretched a bit. (If you've not heard that song, it starts with a G minor chord that's held for several minutes. The moment when the chord changes to D minor is one of my favourite musical moments.)
From Jason Heath's Double Bass Blog: Bury The Violas!
And finally, was anyone else really disappointed with the Glastonbury TV coverage? I know the BBC couldn't possibly have shown everything that was on, but they could have shown so much more than they did! Why was Amy Winehouse's set shown so many times? It was rubbish! Buddy Guy was on at the same time and from all accounts he was amazing. (That link is to a video of his performance - so we know the BBC did film him! I haven't had time to watch all of his set yet, but I will.) I can understand, I suppose, why they would show Amy Winehouse instead of Buddy Guy when they were both live at the same time, but surely they could have shown a BIT of him rather than repeating her one of the times? I was just as annoyed that they didn't show anything of Leonard Cohen, but I've just discovered that he asked not to be recorded, so I suppose I'll have to forgive them. But I would also love to have seen Franz Ferdinand's surprise performance, which again is on the BBC site so was clearly filmed - I wonder why they didn't show it? I liked Jay-Z a lot more than I'd expected to, but again, why couldn't they have missed out just ONE of the repeats of his set to show Franz Ferdinand?
The Proms start next Friday, so no doubt I'll have similar things to rant about then. For now, I need to sleep :-)
Saturday, June 28, 2008
A post almost as long as the full list of Glastonbury performers
... which is a very long list! I've been dipping in and out of the TV coverage, and I haven't seen anything that made me sit up and take note yet, although The Feeling came closest to doing so. (I really like The Feeling, but everyone else I know seems to find them boring and derivative. But they're all wrong!)
Sorry not to have posted for ages, I had a stupidly busy month or so, followed by a week or two's total exhaustion. I'm just getting my energy back now, and starting work on my list of things-I-should-have-done-ages-ago. Which includes this! (People to whom I owe email - sorry, you're also high on my list, and I'll get to you soon.)
Anyway, I have a load of links to post, but first let me look back and see what musical things I've done since Whit Friday.
There's been quite a bit more intensive Gerontius work, which is going very well indeed I think. Last weekend we spent a day rehearsing at my old school, which was nice. I hope everyone took the opportunity to have a look inside the Baronial Hall and Cloisters (there's some information about all the buildings at the Chetham's Library site).
I also had my vocal assessment (I assume everyone has by now) - I thought it was fun in the new format. I actually did a huge amount of practice beforehand, but most of that was actually for a couple of non-choir gigs I had just after my assessment - the timing was fortuitous; I probably wouldn't have practised that much for JUST an assessment that involved no solo singing, but it certainly helped!
The two gigs were both at Manchester Central Library as part of the current Mills and Boon exhibition. (There was an interesting article about it in the Times.) If you're wondering how we got the chance to do this, the answer is that it's as a result of my band performing at the Henry Watson Music Library's Christmas Music Day - and we've also had other bookings as a result of that same day, so any groups who chose not to take part last year may wish to rethink this Christmas!
We sang for a couple of hours at the launch party, which was great fun even though we couldn't be heard very well (note for future reference: singing in the Henry Watson library itself, on the second floor, is fine; singing on the first floor, near the room with the fabulous high roof... not so much). I'd told them that the core of our repertoire is 50s and 60s girl group songs, so I was delighted when they subsequently entitled the entire exhibition "And Then He Kissed Her". So we opened our set with that song, and finished a couple of hours later with "She Loves You", and it all went down very well. (They had hired actors for the occasion to play "heroes"... they dressed in tuxes and wandering round looking moody, and their function for the evening was to escort the various VIP guests - including many Mills and Boon authors - around the exhibition.)
A week or so later, still as part of the Mills and Boon festival, the library held a Regency Day, and they asked us to perform a couple of sets of "Regency songs". This was much more of a challenge, because although all the singers in my band are very experienced choral singers, we have never been asked to perform anything classical as a group before. Luckily we had a few solos and duets between us that we'd often sung for fun, and I dug out a few new things and filled up the rest of the time with folk song arrangements which I'd done specially. (Everything else had to be rearranged slightly anyway, because we were performing with guitar accompaniment rather than piano - I was the only pianist there, and in most cases I needed to sing rather than play, so I had to write out all the piano parts for guitar.) I spent a truly RIDICULOUS amount of time trying (and failing) to prove to my own satisfaction that folk songs would have been performed in private recitals in Regency times (1811-1820, in case you were wondering - the period when George III was still king, but due to his madness, the Prince Regent was in charge). I spent even longer trying to establish the dates of the folk songs on my list, but I did at least get somewhere with that enquiry. Even so, the song that went down best on the day was probably Rachel and I doing Via, resti servita from The Marriage of Figaro (better known to us as the "age before beauty" duet). We've sung it for fun lots of times (rarely without collapsing in fits of giggles) but have never performed it before. (We do it in English and omit the recitative at the start.)
And finally, in musical news: I saw the Police live at the MEN Arena last week. I'd had the ticket for over a year (just as well, because I couldn't have afforded it otherwise) - the concert was supposed to be last October but was postponed because Sting was ill. I was in an absolutely foul mood when I went, not helped by the fact that I was alone, for once not by choice (the people I'd originally been due to go with had sold their tickets to people I didn't know). But it was an absolutely fabulous gig, and by the end I was grinning from ear to ear. Highlight for me was "So Lonely", which is one of my favourite Police songs anyway, but by the time they finally played it (in one of the encores) I'd assumed they were missing it out, so I was thrilled when the intro began. I was also amused to notice that during the guitar solo, Sting decided to have a lengthy conversation with Andy Summers (who, in case you didn't know, is the one who was PLAYING the guitar solo). It didn't seem to affect the quality of the guitar-playing, mind you. (But then, I can never understand how Sting manages to sing while playing unusual rhythms on his bass.)
Talking of Sting singing, it was interesting that he didn't sing quite as high as he used to. Several of the songs were definitely in lower keys than the originals, and in many of them Sting sang a different harmony part than his usual one. He did go for quite a few high notes - and nailed them all - but he was much more choosy about them! (Before you ask - he'll be 57 years old later this year. But he still looks - and sounds - amazing.)
The other thing to mention is Stewart Copeland's amazing percussion playing. For most of the songs, he just played his usual drum kit (although that was quite impressive enough) but for some songs, notably Wrapped Around Your Finger, he used a full array of unusual percussion instruments as well. There were people sitting BEHIND the stage - I didn't notice until almost the end of the concert that the stage wasn't quite against one end of the Arena as it usually is - and I don't know how much of the rest of it they could see, but they must have had a fabulous view of Stewart!
So, what else?
I'm still working as a temp at the same place, and more broke than ever, but I do have an interview on Wednesday - the first one I've managed to get since last August - at an organisation for whom I would absolutely *love* to work. It's for very little money indeed (possibly even less than I'm on at the moment, which I didn't think was actually possible), but it is for slightly fewer hours per week, so if I got it, it would hopefully leave me with a bit of time to make some money by other means. I need to find *something* extra in any case, because I'm fed up of not having enough money to have 3 meals a day and STILL being behind with my mortgage! (I'm earning a bit extra this weekend by revamping a couple of spreadsheets for my boss, for example - I'm hoping I can get a bit more stuff like that to do.)
I had a small amount of interest in my mention of doing bespoke arrangements for groups, but nothing concrete has happened yet - I do have some plans to do something about that, I just haven't had time to put any of them into action. Here's a new offer, though, which might be of use to slightly more of you: backing tracks! It occurred to me, when I was creating a few backing tracks for myself to practise to recently, that this might be something other people might need. I've done quite a few in the past for various people - they're not amazingly high quality, but they're certainly good enough to practise to, and (depending on how fussy your audience is) maybe to perform to as well. Some free samples of my previous work: Poor Poor Joseph, Pharaoh Story, and Those Canaan Days, all from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (these were used in performance - the school had bought a set of backing tracks, but it turned out that many of the songs were missing, so I said I'd fill in the gaps so that they didn't have to miss out whole chunks of the show). Also You're Still The One (Shania Twain) which I did for my sister (although she said the result wasn't good enough for her to even practise to!) and Bist Du Bei Mir, which is one of the ones I did for myself recently.
Limitations: well, these mp3s are entirely computer-created, so the backing vocals can't sing actual lyrics (I believe there is a piece of software which can work with Sibelius to do that, but I don't have it, and in any case the Sibelius technical forums suggest that it doesn't work brilliantly). Also, I don't have the expensive extras which enable the full range of realistic instrument sounds to be used - all the basics are there, but some sound more realistic than others. But if you just want piano accompaniments, that's not a problem anyway - the piano sound is fine. However, on the plus side, I can amend the tracks as necessary - so if you wanted them in a different key, or slightly faster, or with rits in specific places, or with the intro repeated between the verses... easy! Oh, and if it's a song for which there is no sheet music (or at least, if there is, you don't have it), I can still create a backing track, although it would take a bit longer.
Anyway, if you're interested, in either backing tracks OR arrangements... email me.
EDIT: I almost forgot to mention... Was I the only one who didn't know that Bist Du Bei Mir wasn't actually written by Bach?
Finally, before I do all the links I've been saving to share with you... I promised to explain RSS feeds! I know there are many explanations of these all over the web, but I assume that if people are still asking for explanation despite this fact, then the explanations must not be clear enough. So let me try!
I've always been an obsessive type of person, and when I first started using the web, I quickly acquired a long list of favourite websites. Of course, these could be saved so that I didn't have to type them in every time, but I still had to visit each one regularly in order to see whether anything had changed. This was annoying and time-consuming, because although some of the sites changed every few minutes (e.g. BBC News), some only updated themselves every few months. But the only way to know was to actually look at them.
A long time later, tabbed browsing arrived. This is one of a long list of things I don't know how I lived without, and simply means that rather than opening my favourite websites one at a time, I can open them all at once. It takes a while to load 100 websites at once, but it's possible, and when the loading stops, you have all the pages open on separate tabs within your browser, so it's much quicker to look at them all. (I regularly open 80 tabs together, and I can see at a glance which ones have new stuff on them, so when I go to read them, it works as follows: I look at the first page (on the front tab), and either read it before closing it (if I can see it's got new stuff on it) or close it immediately with a keyboard shortcut, bringing the next tab to the front.)
(If you don't currently use tabbed browsing, I urge you to investigate it. Unfortunately most versions of Internet Explorer don't have this feature, but in any case if you're still using Internet Explorer I urge you to investigate Firefox or Safari, and not just because of the tabbed browsing.) (I'm well aware that many work computers still run Internet Explorer and that you probably can't do anything about this - this is certainly the case for me at work, and I curse the fact daily!)
Anyway, what does all this have to do with RSS feeds? Well, there is still a disadvantage with the opening-100-pages-at-once method, which is that you still have to look at each page to see whether or not it's changed since the last time you looked at it. Wouldn't it be good if there was a way of being notified when a website is updated, so that you don't have to look at it until then? Well, this is what RSS feeds do. Many websites have them these days (they're not always called RSS feeds - sometimes it's XML or Atom or just Subscribe, but the function is the same, and the icon is usually the same - see below).
But how do you actually use them? You need an RSS reader (also called feed aggregators - Wikipedia has a list of the main ones) - this is a piece of software that scans the list of websites (specified by you) and grabs any new articles from any of them. The software can either be stand-alone or part of a more general piece of software - for example, I used to use NetNewsWire, but then Safari (which is the main browser for Apple Macs) added an RSS reader, so now I just use that. I have it set to scan my list of websites every 30 minutes, and after it's done so it displays the number of new articles. To read them, I just have to open my RSS page, which displays all the new articles on one page. If I choose to, I can click on any of the articles to look at the website they came from, but I don't always need to do this.
And how do I get the feeds onto my list in the first place? It's particularly easy with Safari (or Firefox), because all I have to do is to click on the RSS icon and then save the result as a bookmark. You can see an example of an RSS icon in use on the BBC News page, where it's in the top right-hand corner. (The thing next to it that says "news feeds" actually takes you to a help page - the feed itself is reached by clicking the icon.) If you're using a separate feed reader, there are various ways of adding a new feed to the list - sometimes just clicking the icon will do it automatically, but you might have to drag the icon to your reader or copy and paste the address etc. The software should have instructions that tell you which.
(This blog does of course have an RSS feed itself - the link is at the bottom of the main page, called "Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)". In the current version of Blogger it's a bit fiddly to add an RSS icon and I haven't got round to it yet.)
Anyway, I hope all the above makes sense. Short version (for the TL;DR folks) - if you look at the same websites regularly, RSS feeds can help you save time by telling you when they're updated.
So, finally finally, in no particular order other than the order in which I saved them... a load of links (not all are music-related).
From A Cappella News: The17 Choir - a group of 1700 people in Derby who will be part of a choir for a one-off performance. 100 groups of 17 people will each record just one note!
From The Spectator: a great article by Peter Phillips on the English choral tradition.
Also from A Cappella News: singing in a choir makes you healthier.
More news about Maestro - the forthcoming celebrity reality show, where they battle to conduct an orchestra at the Proms. Also, an article by one of the competitors about his experience.
And, in the same vein, Last Choir Standing, the latest BBC reality TV show. There was a trailer for this before Doctor Who tonight, so now I know it starts next Saturday. I'm a bit torn, because I absolutely DETEST all these types of shows... but it's choirs! I might try the first episode and see whether or not I can stand it. Anyway, here's a Times article about it; a Guardian article which is mostly about it; and an article from The Stage which has quite a bit more detail. Let's see what we think!
Not music-related at all, but fascinating: the biggest drawing in the world.
From On an Overgrown Path: article about Gerontius recordings.
BBC article about the search for the formula for the perfect voice. Not sure I agree with any of it, but it's interesting. (And, talking of voices that AREN'T perfect... Amy Winehouse is singing live on my TV at the moment, and although I like most of her recorded songs, I'm really unimpressed with her voice live - is it just me?)
Some interesting news about the Monkey Opera which I saw last year - turns out the artwork will be part of the BBC's opening sequence for its Beijing Olympics coverage. Which reminds me - here's the BBC's Euro 2008 title sequence (featuring the 1st movement of Mozart's Symphony no. 41) and the ITV version (featuring the Queen of the Night aria from the Magic Flute). Oh, and just in case anyone was wondering about the two songs that have been repeatedly played during games - the one they play at the start (and that the fans sing throughout) is Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes, and the one they play after every goal is Samba de Janeiro by Bellini.
In totally unrelated news, there is a game coming out for the Wii in which Space Invaders get their revenge!
If you want to improve your spelling, here's an online spelling test in which you compete against another player. It's not that hard - I can usually win easily, even on the highest level, but then I'm good at spelling! Hint: you have to turn the sound on though...
Here's the lineup for the concert in Poland in September that some of the choir might be singing in. (Thanks to Martin for the link.)
I know I've mentioned I Can Has Cheezburger (the Lolcat site) before, and it remains something that you'll either love or hate - but it still cracks me up daily, and my recent favourite is the printer error one :-)
Sensible Units does exactly what it says on the tin.
Interesting article about drink and drug problems among classical musicians.
When I discovered I Am Neurotic, I texted my mum to tell her, knowing it would amuse her, and I was right - she rang me up and was laughing so much she couldn't speak! It may or may not have the same effect on you!
From ChoralBlog: an interesting post about choral auditions.
From Podium Speak: some information about the effect of singing on cats. (When I practise, my cats tend to leave the room - I *try* not to take this personally!)
Some fantastic photos of the Earth from space, taken from the space shuttle.
I'm mentioning this mainly because I was surprised not to see it more widely reported - the guy who wrote the original Star Trek theme died recently.
From author John Scalzi: some thoughts for people about to get married. It's actually written for same-sex couples, but I think it's good advice for anyone. (But then I've never been married, so what do I know?)
This sounds like a really good book, if the quotes here are anything to go by.
From VHK's singing blog: some sensible words about programme notes.
From author Charlie Stross: an interesting post about whether or not you should unplug your TV when you're not using it, etc.
Some thoughts about musical demographics fro the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra blog.
I'm quite fascinated by this new skyscraper in Dubai. It's not been built yet, but do look at the animation video. (Although, if you were thinking of moving to Dubai at any stage, you should probably read this. How true it is, I have no idea!)
Spinningfields Summer Music apparently features a 4-piece string quartet! Pretty groundbreaking! Oh, and there are some more exciting musical events in Manchester in the next few weeks.
Oh, and today was the Round the Island race. I've wanted to see this ever since I discovered its existence, but yet again I didn't make it. It was only lack of money stopping me this year, so maybe I'll be solvent by next year and I'll be able to go!
---
Right, only 7 hours after I started writing this post, I'm done! Must get back into the habit of doing this more often (and therefore more briefly). It's just a bit hard to get motivated when I suspect that there are very few people still reading since I moved to this address. But to those of you who are still here: I'm grateful :-)
Sorry not to have posted for ages, I had a stupidly busy month or so, followed by a week or two's total exhaustion. I'm just getting my energy back now, and starting work on my list of things-I-should-have-done-ages-ago. Which includes this! (People to whom I owe email - sorry, you're also high on my list, and I'll get to you soon.)
Anyway, I have a load of links to post, but first let me look back and see what musical things I've done since Whit Friday.
There's been quite a bit more intensive Gerontius work, which is going very well indeed I think. Last weekend we spent a day rehearsing at my old school, which was nice. I hope everyone took the opportunity to have a look inside the Baronial Hall and Cloisters (there's some information about all the buildings at the Chetham's Library site).
I also had my vocal assessment (I assume everyone has by now) - I thought it was fun in the new format. I actually did a huge amount of practice beforehand, but most of that was actually for a couple of non-choir gigs I had just after my assessment - the timing was fortuitous; I probably wouldn't have practised that much for JUST an assessment that involved no solo singing, but it certainly helped!
The two gigs were both at Manchester Central Library as part of the current Mills and Boon exhibition. (There was an interesting article about it in the Times.) If you're wondering how we got the chance to do this, the answer is that it's as a result of my band performing at the Henry Watson Music Library's Christmas Music Day - and we've also had other bookings as a result of that same day, so any groups who chose not to take part last year may wish to rethink this Christmas!
We sang for a couple of hours at the launch party, which was great fun even though we couldn't be heard very well (note for future reference: singing in the Henry Watson library itself, on the second floor, is fine; singing on the first floor, near the room with the fabulous high roof... not so much). I'd told them that the core of our repertoire is 50s and 60s girl group songs, so I was delighted when they subsequently entitled the entire exhibition "And Then He Kissed Her". So we opened our set with that song, and finished a couple of hours later with "She Loves You", and it all went down very well. (They had hired actors for the occasion to play "heroes"... they dressed in tuxes and wandering round looking moody, and their function for the evening was to escort the various VIP guests - including many Mills and Boon authors - around the exhibition.)
A week or so later, still as part of the Mills and Boon festival, the library held a Regency Day, and they asked us to perform a couple of sets of "Regency songs". This was much more of a challenge, because although all the singers in my band are very experienced choral singers, we have never been asked to perform anything classical as a group before. Luckily we had a few solos and duets between us that we'd often sung for fun, and I dug out a few new things and filled up the rest of the time with folk song arrangements which I'd done specially. (Everything else had to be rearranged slightly anyway, because we were performing with guitar accompaniment rather than piano - I was the only pianist there, and in most cases I needed to sing rather than play, so I had to write out all the piano parts for guitar.) I spent a truly RIDICULOUS amount of time trying (and failing) to prove to my own satisfaction that folk songs would have been performed in private recitals in Regency times (1811-1820, in case you were wondering - the period when George III was still king, but due to his madness, the Prince Regent was in charge). I spent even longer trying to establish the dates of the folk songs on my list, but I did at least get somewhere with that enquiry. Even so, the song that went down best on the day was probably Rachel and I doing Via, resti servita from The Marriage of Figaro (better known to us as the "age before beauty" duet). We've sung it for fun lots of times (rarely without collapsing in fits of giggles) but have never performed it before. (We do it in English and omit the recitative at the start.)
And finally, in musical news: I saw the Police live at the MEN Arena last week. I'd had the ticket for over a year (just as well, because I couldn't have afforded it otherwise) - the concert was supposed to be last October but was postponed because Sting was ill. I was in an absolutely foul mood when I went, not helped by the fact that I was alone, for once not by choice (the people I'd originally been due to go with had sold their tickets to people I didn't know). But it was an absolutely fabulous gig, and by the end I was grinning from ear to ear. Highlight for me was "So Lonely", which is one of my favourite Police songs anyway, but by the time they finally played it (in one of the encores) I'd assumed they were missing it out, so I was thrilled when the intro began. I was also amused to notice that during the guitar solo, Sting decided to have a lengthy conversation with Andy Summers (who, in case you didn't know, is the one who was PLAYING the guitar solo). It didn't seem to affect the quality of the guitar-playing, mind you. (But then, I can never understand how Sting manages to sing while playing unusual rhythms on his bass.)
Talking of Sting singing, it was interesting that he didn't sing quite as high as he used to. Several of the songs were definitely in lower keys than the originals, and in many of them Sting sang a different harmony part than his usual one. He did go for quite a few high notes - and nailed them all - but he was much more choosy about them! (Before you ask - he'll be 57 years old later this year. But he still looks - and sounds - amazing.)
The other thing to mention is Stewart Copeland's amazing percussion playing. For most of the songs, he just played his usual drum kit (although that was quite impressive enough) but for some songs, notably Wrapped Around Your Finger, he used a full array of unusual percussion instruments as well. There were people sitting BEHIND the stage - I didn't notice until almost the end of the concert that the stage wasn't quite against one end of the Arena as it usually is - and I don't know how much of the rest of it they could see, but they must have had a fabulous view of Stewart!
So, what else?
I'm still working as a temp at the same place, and more broke than ever, but I do have an interview on Wednesday - the first one I've managed to get since last August - at an organisation for whom I would absolutely *love* to work. It's for very little money indeed (possibly even less than I'm on at the moment, which I didn't think was actually possible), but it is for slightly fewer hours per week, so if I got it, it would hopefully leave me with a bit of time to make some money by other means. I need to find *something* extra in any case, because I'm fed up of not having enough money to have 3 meals a day and STILL being behind with my mortgage! (I'm earning a bit extra this weekend by revamping a couple of spreadsheets for my boss, for example - I'm hoping I can get a bit more stuff like that to do.)
I had a small amount of interest in my mention of doing bespoke arrangements for groups, but nothing concrete has happened yet - I do have some plans to do something about that, I just haven't had time to put any of them into action. Here's a new offer, though, which might be of use to slightly more of you: backing tracks! It occurred to me, when I was creating a few backing tracks for myself to practise to recently, that this might be something other people might need. I've done quite a few in the past for various people - they're not amazingly high quality, but they're certainly good enough to practise to, and (depending on how fussy your audience is) maybe to perform to as well. Some free samples of my previous work: Poor Poor Joseph, Pharaoh Story, and Those Canaan Days, all from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (these were used in performance - the school had bought a set of backing tracks, but it turned out that many of the songs were missing, so I said I'd fill in the gaps so that they didn't have to miss out whole chunks of the show). Also You're Still The One (Shania Twain) which I did for my sister (although she said the result wasn't good enough for her to even practise to!) and Bist Du Bei Mir, which is one of the ones I did for myself recently.
Limitations: well, these mp3s are entirely computer-created, so the backing vocals can't sing actual lyrics (I believe there is a piece of software which can work with Sibelius to do that, but I don't have it, and in any case the Sibelius technical forums suggest that it doesn't work brilliantly). Also, I don't have the expensive extras which enable the full range of realistic instrument sounds to be used - all the basics are there, but some sound more realistic than others. But if you just want piano accompaniments, that's not a problem anyway - the piano sound is fine. However, on the plus side, I can amend the tracks as necessary - so if you wanted them in a different key, or slightly faster, or with rits in specific places, or with the intro repeated between the verses... easy! Oh, and if it's a song for which there is no sheet music (or at least, if there is, you don't have it), I can still create a backing track, although it would take a bit longer.
Anyway, if you're interested, in either backing tracks OR arrangements... email me.
EDIT: I almost forgot to mention... Was I the only one who didn't know that Bist Du Bei Mir wasn't actually written by Bach?
Finally, before I do all the links I've been saving to share with you... I promised to explain RSS feeds! I know there are many explanations of these all over the web, but I assume that if people are still asking for explanation despite this fact, then the explanations must not be clear enough. So let me try!
I've always been an obsessive type of person, and when I first started using the web, I quickly acquired a long list of favourite websites. Of course, these could be saved so that I didn't have to type them in every time, but I still had to visit each one regularly in order to see whether anything had changed. This was annoying and time-consuming, because although some of the sites changed every few minutes (e.g. BBC News), some only updated themselves every few months. But the only way to know was to actually look at them.
A long time later, tabbed browsing arrived. This is one of a long list of things I don't know how I lived without, and simply means that rather than opening my favourite websites one at a time, I can open them all at once. It takes a while to load 100 websites at once, but it's possible, and when the loading stops, you have all the pages open on separate tabs within your browser, so it's much quicker to look at them all. (I regularly open 80 tabs together, and I can see at a glance which ones have new stuff on them, so when I go to read them, it works as follows: I look at the first page (on the front tab), and either read it before closing it (if I can see it's got new stuff on it) or close it immediately with a keyboard shortcut, bringing the next tab to the front.)
(If you don't currently use tabbed browsing, I urge you to investigate it. Unfortunately most versions of Internet Explorer don't have this feature, but in any case if you're still using Internet Explorer I urge you to investigate Firefox or Safari, and not just because of the tabbed browsing.) (I'm well aware that many work computers still run Internet Explorer and that you probably can't do anything about this - this is certainly the case for me at work, and I curse the fact daily!)
Anyway, what does all this have to do with RSS feeds? Well, there is still a disadvantage with the opening-100-pages-at-once method, which is that you still have to look at each page to see whether or not it's changed since the last time you looked at it. Wouldn't it be good if there was a way of being notified when a website is updated, so that you don't have to look at it until then? Well, this is what RSS feeds do. Many websites have them these days (they're not always called RSS feeds - sometimes it's XML or Atom or just Subscribe, but the function is the same, and the icon is usually the same - see below).
But how do you actually use them? You need an RSS reader (also called feed aggregators - Wikipedia has a list of the main ones) - this is a piece of software that scans the list of websites (specified by you) and grabs any new articles from any of them. The software can either be stand-alone or part of a more general piece of software - for example, I used to use NetNewsWire, but then Safari (which is the main browser for Apple Macs) added an RSS reader, so now I just use that. I have it set to scan my list of websites every 30 minutes, and after it's done so it displays the number of new articles. To read them, I just have to open my RSS page, which displays all the new articles on one page. If I choose to, I can click on any of the articles to look at the website they came from, but I don't always need to do this.
And how do I get the feeds onto my list in the first place? It's particularly easy with Safari (or Firefox), because all I have to do is to click on the RSS icon and then save the result as a bookmark. You can see an example of an RSS icon in use on the BBC News page, where it's in the top right-hand corner. (The thing next to it that says "news feeds" actually takes you to a help page - the feed itself is reached by clicking the icon.) If you're using a separate feed reader, there are various ways of adding a new feed to the list - sometimes just clicking the icon will do it automatically, but you might have to drag the icon to your reader or copy and paste the address etc. The software should have instructions that tell you which.
(This blog does of course have an RSS feed itself - the link is at the bottom of the main page, called "Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)". In the current version of Blogger it's a bit fiddly to add an RSS icon and I haven't got round to it yet.)
Anyway, I hope all the above makes sense. Short version (for the TL;DR folks) - if you look at the same websites regularly, RSS feeds can help you save time by telling you when they're updated.
So, finally finally, in no particular order other than the order in which I saved them... a load of links (not all are music-related).
From A Cappella News: The17 Choir - a group of 1700 people in Derby who will be part of a choir for a one-off performance. 100 groups of 17 people will each record just one note!
From The Spectator: a great article by Peter Phillips on the English choral tradition.
Also from A Cappella News: singing in a choir makes you healthier.
More news about Maestro - the forthcoming celebrity reality show, where they battle to conduct an orchestra at the Proms. Also, an article by one of the competitors about his experience.
And, in the same vein, Last Choir Standing, the latest BBC reality TV show. There was a trailer for this before Doctor Who tonight, so now I know it starts next Saturday. I'm a bit torn, because I absolutely DETEST all these types of shows... but it's choirs! I might try the first episode and see whether or not I can stand it. Anyway, here's a Times article about it; a Guardian article which is mostly about it; and an article from The Stage which has quite a bit more detail. Let's see what we think!
Not music-related at all, but fascinating: the biggest drawing in the world.
From On an Overgrown Path: article about Gerontius recordings.
BBC article about the search for the formula for the perfect voice. Not sure I agree with any of it, but it's interesting. (And, talking of voices that AREN'T perfect... Amy Winehouse is singing live on my TV at the moment, and although I like most of her recorded songs, I'm really unimpressed with her voice live - is it just me?)
Some interesting news about the Monkey Opera which I saw last year - turns out the artwork will be part of the BBC's opening sequence for its Beijing Olympics coverage. Which reminds me - here's the BBC's Euro 2008 title sequence (featuring the 1st movement of Mozart's Symphony no. 41) and the ITV version (featuring the Queen of the Night aria from the Magic Flute). Oh, and just in case anyone was wondering about the two songs that have been repeatedly played during games - the one they play at the start (and that the fans sing throughout) is Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes, and the one they play after every goal is Samba de Janeiro by Bellini.
In totally unrelated news, there is a game coming out for the Wii in which Space Invaders get their revenge!
If you want to improve your spelling, here's an online spelling test in which you compete against another player. It's not that hard - I can usually win easily, even on the highest level, but then I'm good at spelling! Hint: you have to turn the sound on though...
Here's the lineup for the concert in Poland in September that some of the choir might be singing in. (Thanks to Martin for the link.)
I know I've mentioned I Can Has Cheezburger (the Lolcat site) before, and it remains something that you'll either love or hate - but it still cracks me up daily, and my recent favourite is the printer error one :-)
Sensible Units does exactly what it says on the tin.
Interesting article about drink and drug problems among classical musicians.
When I discovered I Am Neurotic, I texted my mum to tell her, knowing it would amuse her, and I was right - she rang me up and was laughing so much she couldn't speak! It may or may not have the same effect on you!
From ChoralBlog: an interesting post about choral auditions.
From Podium Speak: some information about the effect of singing on cats. (When I practise, my cats tend to leave the room - I *try* not to take this personally!)
Some fantastic photos of the Earth from space, taken from the space shuttle.
I'm mentioning this mainly because I was surprised not to see it more widely reported - the guy who wrote the original Star Trek theme died recently.
From author John Scalzi: some thoughts for people about to get married. It's actually written for same-sex couples, but I think it's good advice for anyone. (But then I've never been married, so what do I know?)
This sounds like a really good book, if the quotes here are anything to go by.
From VHK's singing blog: some sensible words about programme notes.
From author Charlie Stross: an interesting post about whether or not you should unplug your TV when you're not using it, etc.
Some thoughts about musical demographics fro the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra blog.
I'm quite fascinated by this new skyscraper in Dubai. It's not been built yet, but do look at the animation video. (Although, if you were thinking of moving to Dubai at any stage, you should probably read this. How true it is, I have no idea!)
Spinningfields Summer Music apparently features a 4-piece string quartet! Pretty groundbreaking! Oh, and there are some more exciting musical events in Manchester in the next few weeks.
Oh, and today was the Round the Island race. I've wanted to see this ever since I discovered its existence, but yet again I didn't make it. It was only lack of money stopping me this year, so maybe I'll be solvent by next year and I'll be able to go!
---
Right, only 7 hours after I started writing this post, I'm done! Must get back into the habit of doing this more often (and therefore more briefly). It's just a bit hard to get motivated when I suspect that there are very few people still reading since I moved to this address. But to those of you who are still here: I'm grateful :-)
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Queen's birthday honours
Look who's been knighted!
Sorry for me being quiet recently. It's been a ridiculously busy few weeks, but after tomorrow (well, later today) things calm down a bit. Last week my band performed at the launch party for the Mills and Boon exhibition at the Central Library. (Great fun, and we all got a fabulous goody bag!) Tomorrow (today) they are having a Regency Day to continue the theme of romance. We are singing again, but since the music involved isn't stuff we usually do (i.e. not pop) it's taken many, many hours of arranging. Looking forward to it though. If you are in town and want to come and listen to any of it, events kick off in the Henry Watson Music Library (2nd floor) at 1pm. Now, though, I should probably sleep!
Sorry for me being quiet recently. It's been a ridiculously busy few weeks, but after tomorrow (well, later today) things calm down a bit. Last week my band performed at the launch party for the Mills and Boon exhibition at the Central Library. (Great fun, and we all got a fabulous goody bag!) Tomorrow (today) they are having a Regency Day to continue the theme of romance. We are singing again, but since the music involved isn't stuff we usually do (i.e. not pop) it's taken many, many hours of arranging. Looking forward to it though. If you are in town and want to come and listen to any of it, events kick off in the Henry Watson Music Library (2nd floor) at 1pm. Now, though, I should probably sleep!
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Mike Hall
I have loads of things to write about and no time to do it. Hopefully soon. But in the meantime I just wanted to share some really sad news. According to the BBC News website, Mike Hall and his wife have been killed by an avalanche in the Pyrenees. For those who didn't know him, he was one of the orchestra's 2nd violinists, and one of the few whose name I knew. I attended several training courses delivered by him a few years ago, and he always said hello to me since then. He was a really, really lovely man, and I will miss him.
EDIT: The Manchester Evening News has more details, including a photo (which I've copied here) for those who aren't sure which one he was.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Take me away, and in the lowest deep there let me be.
Well, I feel totally wiped out today, and I don't think it's just because of a whole day of Gerontius yesterday, although that's certainly a factor. It was a very fun day, though - always good to spend a prolonged amount of time working on one of my favourite pieces. And useful, too - I think there were a few notes which some people had never realised they'd been singing incorrectly, until yesterday!
Anyway, a few things to share with you:
Sanctus and Osanna 1 from Vaughan Williams Mass in G minor
O Clap Your Hands - alto 1 part only (with click track)
O Clap Your Hands - alto 2 part only (with click track)
(The two Gibbons alto parts are by request - it was a 1st alto that asked, but I couldn't do something for the 1st altos and not the 2nds!)
Some Whit Friday photos: Cheshire Constabulary
Musik Frohsinn Oberburg (from Switzerland)
Wardle High School Intermediate Band
Here are the Whit Friday Saddleworth results, and Whit Friday Tameside results
And a short video of the Cheshire Constabulary band marching. The video quality isn't very high, because it's only from my phone, but you'll get the idea. This is the band that won the deportment prize at Friezland (where this was filmed) although I actually thought that both Wardle High School Intermediate Band and Rochdale Borough Youth Band were better. I'm a sucker for a band whose mace-bearer throws the mace in the air, and the Wardle band countermarched - the only band that did so all evening (although I couldn't stay till the end, due to train times, and I assume that the Wardle High School Senior and Junior bands, both of whom were waiting to play when I left, will also have countermarched - the Wardle bands usually do).
Oh, and three final things - a radio programme to tell you about, a question, and an offer.
The radio programme: Joan Armatrading's Favourite Choirs, every afternoon this week at 3.45pm on Radio 4. Looks intriguing, and it's only 15 minutes each day.
My question: I should know this, but I don't, and I spent quite a while looking through books and online last night trying to find a definitive answer with no success. In Regency times (think Jane Austen settings - round about 1815) when singers performed at private recitals and assembly room concerts, would they have included folk songs in their programme? e.g. The Minstrel Boy, or O Waly Waly? I think they would, but I can't find any definitive proof one way of the other. I need an answer fairly urgently (I'll explain why later!) and I'm not sure when I'll have time to go to the library to consult sources I don't have access to at home.
And finally, my offer: i know that lots of you are in other choirs or groups. I'm wondering whether you might ever need any bespoke musical arrangements? For example, a choral arrangement of some standard work but for a choir with 3 separate soprano parts, 2 altos, one tenor and no basses. Or an a cappella SATB version of something by the Arctic Monkeys. Or an arrangement of the Wedding March for a clarinet, a guitar and a recorder. Or a wind band arrangement of the finale from Beethoven 9, but specially tweaked so that it's easy enough for beginners. ... You get the idea. You see, I'm quite good at stuff like this, and I've been hoping to make some money from doing it, but this plan isn't working out too well so far, so I thought I'd try approaching it from a different angle - i.e. you! So, if you need anything arranging and are prepared to pay a small amount, please email me. And I hope you don't think I'm cheeky for asking!
Anyway, a few things to share with you:
Sanctus and Osanna 1 from Vaughan Williams Mass in G minor
O Clap Your Hands - alto 1 part only (with click track)
O Clap Your Hands - alto 2 part only (with click track)
(The two Gibbons alto parts are by request - it was a 1st alto that asked, but I couldn't do something for the 1st altos and not the 2nds!)
Some Whit Friday photos: Cheshire Constabulary
Musik Frohsinn Oberburg (from Switzerland)
Wardle High School Intermediate Band
Here are the Whit Friday Saddleworth results, and Whit Friday Tameside results
And a short video of the Cheshire Constabulary band marching. The video quality isn't very high, because it's only from my phone, but you'll get the idea. This is the band that won the deportment prize at Friezland (where this was filmed) although I actually thought that both Wardle High School Intermediate Band and Rochdale Borough Youth Band were better. I'm a sucker for a band whose mace-bearer throws the mace in the air, and the Wardle band countermarched - the only band that did so all evening (although I couldn't stay till the end, due to train times, and I assume that the Wardle High School Senior and Junior bands, both of whom were waiting to play when I left, will also have countermarched - the Wardle bands usually do).
Oh, and three final things - a radio programme to tell you about, a question, and an offer.
The radio programme: Joan Armatrading's Favourite Choirs, every afternoon this week at 3.45pm on Radio 4. Looks intriguing, and it's only 15 minutes each day.
My question: I should know this, but I don't, and I spent quite a while looking through books and online last night trying to find a definitive answer with no success. In Regency times (think Jane Austen settings - round about 1815) when singers performed at private recitals and assembly room concerts, would they have included folk songs in their programme? e.g. The Minstrel Boy, or O Waly Waly? I think they would, but I can't find any definitive proof one way of the other. I need an answer fairly urgently (I'll explain why later!) and I'm not sure when I'll have time to go to the library to consult sources I don't have access to at home.
And finally, my offer: i know that lots of you are in other choirs or groups. I'm wondering whether you might ever need any bespoke musical arrangements? For example, a choral arrangement of some standard work but for a choir with 3 separate soprano parts, 2 altos, one tenor and no basses. Or an a cappella SATB version of something by the Arctic Monkeys. Or an arrangement of the Wedding March for a clarinet, a guitar and a recorder. Or a wind band arrangement of the finale from Beethoven 9, but specially tweaked so that it's easy enough for beginners. ... You get the idea. You see, I'm quite good at stuff like this, and I've been hoping to make some money from doing it, but this plan isn't working out too well so far, so I thought I'd try approaching it from a different angle - i.e. you! So, if you need anything arranging and are prepared to pay a small amount, please email me. And I hope you don't think I'm cheeky for asking!
Friday, May 16, 2008
Dispossessed, aside thrust, chucked down
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 chord
page 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
----
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!
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 chord
page 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
----
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!
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
UEFA Cup Final madness
William Wallace, 50, from Glasgow, who produced his bank card to prove that is his real name, said: "There's been a tremendous atmosphere here and we've been made to feel very welcome."
If you don't follow football or keep an eye on my football-fixture-annotated choir schedule, you may have been unaware before today that there is a major football match in Manchester tonight. If you work in the city centre, though, you'll certainly be aware of it today! I've been telling people in my office for the last week that there would be chaos today, but they all seemed surprised to be delayed by it on their way to work today. Manchester has gone MAD!
EDIT: Now the trams have stopped running and there are 60 mile queues on the motorways....
The William Wallace quote is my favourite (although a close runner-up is the report that they're chanting "we're gonna deep-fry your vodka!"), but if you want a taste of the atmosphere, see also the main BBC News story; the BBC Sport buildup; photos from the BBC; photos from Manchester Confidential; and finally the story that includes William Wallace. However, you need to be here to feel what it's like. The whole city centre is absolutely buzzing... I knew it was going to be this busy, but I was a bit taken aback by how early it started. They were hundreds of Rangers fans in the city centre YESTERDAY, and this morning when I went through Piccadilly Gardens on my way to work, every single bench was occupied by Rangers fans with flags, and the fanzone appeared to be full - there were people queuing to get in as well, and the beer tents weren't even due to open until 10am! Quite a bit of buildup for a match that doesn't kick off till 7.45 pm....
Anyway, if you were planning to drive to choir tonight, I'd take all this into account if I were you. The M61, M602 and large parts of the M60 have been gridlocked since very early this morning, and I imagine it will only get worse. I'll see if the buses are managing to move at all out of Piccadilly Gardens - if not, I won't be able to get to choir, so I'll go home and watch the match!
FURTHER EDIT: Some discussion and photos of the event and its aftermath. And I didn't make it to choir in the end... I had every intention of going, but by the time I managed to walk across Piccadilly Gardens - which took me more than half an hour - I couldn't face getting on a bus which (although theoretically running normally) looked as if it wasn't going to move very fast, so I went home instead. Not that the match turned out to be exciting - and Rangers lost anyway!
I still have The Mystic Trumpeter stuck in my head, by the way. So much for reviewers saying it wasn't memorable! Not much choir-related news other than that. A few links, though:
How many of you who are football fans knew that the Champions League Hymn had words in three different languages all mixed together? It's actually quite easy to make them out if you listen while following the lyrics, but I must admit that until I saw them written down, the only bit I could understand was "the champions"!
There is a large new production of Carmina Burana at the o2 Arena in January. (The Guardian has an opinion on this!)
An interesting article from The Stage about the recent spate of musical reality TV contests.
Norman Lebrecht writes about Vaughan Williams being nice to choirs (and many other things).
Julian Lloyd Webber is upset that Jerusalem has apparently been banned.
Essentials of Music is a very good general guide to classical music which I hadn't seen before.
A story about how the lead tenor in an opera caught a cold and a member of the chorus had to fill in for him.
An interesting article about the effect of loud noises on orchestral musicians' hearing. (I was intending to write about deafness last week, with it being Deaf Awareness Week, but I didn't get round to it for various reasons. I will soon, though, along with the promised explanation of RSS feeds!)
And finally, I'm sure I'm not the only person hugely disappointed by this year's BBC Young Musician of the Year - not the musicians themselves, who seemed fabulous, but the TV presentation. Susan Tomes explains the problem very well (and the comments are well worth reading too - there wasn't a single person who thought the format was a good one, last time I looked) and adds further thoughts following the final. Such a pity! And I really enjoyed the performance of the boy who won, in particular - I just wish I could have heard more of him!
If you don't follow football or keep an eye on my football-fixture-annotated choir schedule, you may have been unaware before today that there is a major football match in Manchester tonight. If you work in the city centre, though, you'll certainly be aware of it today! I've been telling people in my office for the last week that there would be chaos today, but they all seemed surprised to be delayed by it on their way to work today. Manchester has gone MAD!
EDIT: Now the trams have stopped running and there are 60 mile queues on the motorways....
The William Wallace quote is my favourite (although a close runner-up is the report that they're chanting "we're gonna deep-fry your vodka!"), but if you want a taste of the atmosphere, see also the main BBC News story; the BBC Sport buildup; photos from the BBC; photos from Manchester Confidential; and finally the story that includes William Wallace. However, you need to be here to feel what it's like. The whole city centre is absolutely buzzing... I knew it was going to be this busy, but I was a bit taken aback by how early it started. They were hundreds of Rangers fans in the city centre YESTERDAY, and this morning when I went through Piccadilly Gardens on my way to work, every single bench was occupied by Rangers fans with flags, and the fanzone appeared to be full - there were people queuing to get in as well, and the beer tents weren't even due to open until 10am! Quite a bit of buildup for a match that doesn't kick off till 7.45 pm....
Anyway, if you were planning to drive to choir tonight, I'd take all this into account if I were you. The M61, M602 and large parts of the M60 have been gridlocked since very early this morning, and I imagine it will only get worse. I'll see if the buses are managing to move at all out of Piccadilly Gardens - if not, I won't be able to get to choir, so I'll go home and watch the match!
FURTHER EDIT: Some discussion and photos of the event and its aftermath. And I didn't make it to choir in the end... I had every intention of going, but by the time I managed to walk across Piccadilly Gardens - which took me more than half an hour - I couldn't face getting on a bus which (although theoretically running normally) looked as if it wasn't going to move very fast, so I went home instead. Not that the match turned out to be exciting - and Rangers lost anyway!
I still have The Mystic Trumpeter stuck in my head, by the way. So much for reviewers saying it wasn't memorable! Not much choir-related news other than that. A few links, though:
How many of you who are football fans knew that the Champions League Hymn had words in three different languages all mixed together? It's actually quite easy to make them out if you listen while following the lyrics, but I must admit that until I saw them written down, the only bit I could understand was "the champions"!
There is a large new production of Carmina Burana at the o2 Arena in January. (The Guardian has an opinion on this!)
An interesting article from The Stage about the recent spate of musical reality TV contests.
Norman Lebrecht writes about Vaughan Williams being nice to choirs (and many other things).
Julian Lloyd Webber is upset that Jerusalem has apparently been banned.
Essentials of Music is a very good general guide to classical music which I hadn't seen before.
A story about how the lead tenor in an opera caught a cold and a member of the chorus had to fill in for him.
An interesting article about the effect of loud noises on orchestral musicians' hearing. (I was intending to write about deafness last week, with it being Deaf Awareness Week, but I didn't get round to it for various reasons. I will soon, though, along with the promised explanation of RSS feeds!)
And finally, I'm sure I'm not the only person hugely disappointed by this year's BBC Young Musician of the Year - not the musicians themselves, who seemed fabulous, but the TV presentation. Susan Tomes explains the problem very well (and the comments are well worth reading too - there wasn't a single person who thought the format was a good one, last time I looked) and adds further thoughts following the final. Such a pity! And I really enjoyed the performance of the boy who won, in particular - I just wish I could have heard more of him!
Friday, May 02, 2008
"So we sit on the harp?"
I'll do a longer post in the next few days (if only to explain what RSS feeds are for those who were wondering!) but I just wanted to alert you to the first review of last night's concert, in the Manchester Evening News. (The choir does get a brief mention.) I'll add other links if any more reviews appear.
EDIT: There's now a Telegraph review too.
FURTHER EDIT: And the Times certainly seemed to like the choir!
YET ANOTHER EDIT: The Guardian didn't have a lot to say about the choir, but they didn't like the piece! They did mention the amusing business with the score though :-)
I thought it went well, and the Harty was GREAT fun with the orchestra. I was quite taken with all the extra percussion bits in particular, and the mystic trumpeter himself was just lovely. And I particularly enjoyed standing next to an extremely competent young bass - I like being on the dividing line between sections. (And in Ashton I stood next to a similarly competent tenor, so I've experienced the work from two different perspectives!)
I must admit that the Elgar violin concerto bored me a bit, though, although it was brilliantly played. I suspect it's just that I don't know the piece well enough.
Anyway, the concert will be on Radio 3 on Monday 5th May at 7pm, and available online for a week after that (click the link to hear it - The Mystic Trumpeter starts about 15 minutes in, and lasts about 35 minutes).
And, I was allowed to sing after all - and in case you were wondering, I did of course tell the truth about why I missed Tuesday's rehearsal! A couple of people asked me what illness I claimed to have had, but I wouldn't do that.
EDIT: There's now a Telegraph review too.
FURTHER EDIT: And the Times certainly seemed to like the choir!
YET ANOTHER EDIT: The Guardian didn't have a lot to say about the choir, but they didn't like the piece! They did mention the amusing business with the score though :-)
I thought it went well, and the Harty was GREAT fun with the orchestra. I was quite taken with all the extra percussion bits in particular, and the mystic trumpeter himself was just lovely. And I particularly enjoyed standing next to an extremely competent young bass - I like being on the dividing line between sections. (And in Ashton I stood next to a similarly competent tenor, so I've experienced the work from two different perspectives!)
I must admit that the Elgar violin concerto bored me a bit, though, although it was brilliantly played. I suspect it's just that I don't know the piece well enough.
Anyway, the concert will be on Radio 3 on Monday 5th May at 7pm, and available online for a week after that (click the link to hear it - The Mystic Trumpeter starts about 15 minutes in, and lasts about 35 minutes).
And, I was allowed to sing after all - and in case you were wondering, I did of course tell the truth about why I missed Tuesday's rehearsal! A couple of people asked me what illness I claimed to have had, but I wouldn't do that.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Hark, how the cymbals clang
I'm not going to choir tonight - I'd never normally miss a piano rehearsal, but how often to you get a chance to see Manchester United v Barcelona live? I've been looking forward to it for three weeks! So, the rest of you who AREN'T going to Old Trafford, watch out for increased traffic :-)
I probably won't be allowed to sing in the concert on Thursday due to missing tonight's rehearsal, which is fair enough, but at least I've performed The Mystic Trumpeter once. I really enjoyed Sunday's concert in Ashton, despite the fact that my feet were killing me by the end, and I was very distracted throughout the second half because I was becoming more and more aware that the concert was going to run on much later than I'd expected, and the last train left at 2144. I did miss it (and I noticed quite a few of the audience leaving before the end, presumably for similar reasons) but I managed to get a lift home (although I felt extremely guilty because the person concerned had to drive a very long way out of her way!)
Yesterday morning I had the start of "Saarella Palaa" in my head for some reason (given that it's the least interesting bit of the song!) but ever since then it's been random bits of the Harty. Currently it's the cymbals clanging (hence the title of this post) but last night it was the bit just after that, with the monks. I think that's actually my favourite bit in the piece. (I know lots of people aren't too impressed with it overall, but I do really like some bits of it. It just goes on a bit too long! Mainly the huge baritone solo in the middle - which the soloist did beautifully, I just didn't particularly like the music!)
(For anyone who's not heard the piece - which will be most people, because it's never been recorded! - and is curious, this week's concert (which still has tickets available - you can buy online from that link) is to be recorded by the BBC and will be on Radio 3 at some point. I'll post details when we know more.)
Anyway, I've had a load of links stored up to share with you, and I sent them to myself at work so I could do a post at lunchtime - when I'm at home I tend to get distracted by other things before I get round to it! And I did *start* this at lunchtime... just finishing it at the end of the day before wandering over to Old Trafford.
So, these links are in no particular order other than roughly the order in which I acquired them.
Conductor does double duty as tenor loses voice
World’s Greatest Classical Music Album Cover
Virtuoso carries on tradition - about the lovely Jonathan - sadly the event it's advertising will have taken place by now - I wish I'd seen that!
After 500 years, the chimes they are a-changing - York Minster bells.
If you are a cat person but have never heard of Lolcats, have a look at the main lolcat site. (Warning: you will either love it or hate it.) My favourite recent ones are the Coke box one and the snow one.
Pomp & Circumstance, and Daleks - a Who's who of this year's Proms (and the Official Proms 2008 site is now online).
A daughter's brave tribute - make sure you watch the video of Catherine Todd singing "Somewhere" that's featured on this page. It's extremely moving - I'm not sure I could have done what she did at ALL, never mind do it as well as she did.
Norway king opens new opera house (its official website, with more pictures, is here).
Wii can conduct an orchestra too - should be fun to try! (And if you've not tried a Wii yet, make sure you do if you get the chance.)
When Your Dreams Fail - someone brilliantly articulating her feelings on realising that she would never be a professional singer after all :-( But to cheer you up again, there's Sweet singing in the choir... - a nice description of what it means to sing in a choir.
We need the English music that the Arts Council hates - interesting Spectator article
25 minute composition: "The Most Unwanted Song"
Perfect length for a pop song: 2:42
An Engineer's Guide to Cats - again, you'll love this if you're a cat person - if not, don't bother!
Anyone can get rhythm - someone taking drumming lessons.
No Fortissimo? Symphony Told to Keep It Down
A really clever clock - watch it for a while to see what I mean!
Some poetic inspiration - MEN article previewing The Mystic Trumpeter - mentions The Scott Brothers Duo site.
And finally - this 1-minute video might make you feel good about the world :-)
I probably won't be allowed to sing in the concert on Thursday due to missing tonight's rehearsal, which is fair enough, but at least I've performed The Mystic Trumpeter once. I really enjoyed Sunday's concert in Ashton, despite the fact that my feet were killing me by the end, and I was very distracted throughout the second half because I was becoming more and more aware that the concert was going to run on much later than I'd expected, and the last train left at 2144. I did miss it (and I noticed quite a few of the audience leaving before the end, presumably for similar reasons) but I managed to get a lift home (although I felt extremely guilty because the person concerned had to drive a very long way out of her way!)
Yesterday morning I had the start of "Saarella Palaa" in my head for some reason (given that it's the least interesting bit of the song!) but ever since then it's been random bits of the Harty. Currently it's the cymbals clanging (hence the title of this post) but last night it was the bit just after that, with the monks. I think that's actually my favourite bit in the piece. (I know lots of people aren't too impressed with it overall, but I do really like some bits of it. It just goes on a bit too long! Mainly the huge baritone solo in the middle - which the soloist did beautifully, I just didn't particularly like the music!)
(For anyone who's not heard the piece - which will be most people, because it's never been recorded! - and is curious, this week's concert (which still has tickets available - you can buy online from that link) is to be recorded by the BBC and will be on Radio 3 at some point. I'll post details when we know more.)
Anyway, I've had a load of links stored up to share with you, and I sent them to myself at work so I could do a post at lunchtime - when I'm at home I tend to get distracted by other things before I get round to it! And I did *start* this at lunchtime... just finishing it at the end of the day before wandering over to Old Trafford.
So, these links are in no particular order other than roughly the order in which I acquired them.
Conductor does double duty as tenor loses voice
World’s Greatest Classical Music Album Cover
Virtuoso carries on tradition - about the lovely Jonathan - sadly the event it's advertising will have taken place by now - I wish I'd seen that!
After 500 years, the chimes they are a-changing - York Minster bells.
If you are a cat person but have never heard of Lolcats, have a look at the main lolcat site. (Warning: you will either love it or hate it.) My favourite recent ones are the Coke box one and the snow one.
Pomp & Circumstance, and Daleks - a Who's who of this year's Proms (and the Official Proms 2008 site is now online).
A daughter's brave tribute - make sure you watch the video of Catherine Todd singing "Somewhere" that's featured on this page. It's extremely moving - I'm not sure I could have done what she did at ALL, never mind do it as well as she did.
Norway king opens new opera house (its official website, with more pictures, is here).
Wii can conduct an orchestra too - should be fun to try! (And if you've not tried a Wii yet, make sure you do if you get the chance.)
When Your Dreams Fail - someone brilliantly articulating her feelings on realising that she would never be a professional singer after all :-( But to cheer you up again, there's Sweet singing in the choir... - a nice description of what it means to sing in a choir.
We need the English music that the Arts Council hates - interesting Spectator article
25 minute composition: "The Most Unwanted Song"
Perfect length for a pop song: 2:42
An Engineer's Guide to Cats - again, you'll love this if you're a cat person - if not, don't bother!
Anyone can get rhythm - someone taking drumming lessons.
No Fortissimo? Symphony Told to Keep It Down
A really clever clock - watch it for a while to see what I mean!
Some poetic inspiration - MEN article previewing The Mystic Trumpeter - mentions The Scott Brothers Duo site.
And finally - this 1-minute video might make you feel good about the world :-)
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Breathe between your fierys
I'll do a post with links at some stage soon when I have time, but I just wanted to get this one up. Here are some mp3s for you:
Faire is the Heaven
Toward the unknown region
O clap your hands
O nata lux
Saarella palaa
Min rastas raataa
Venematka
Justorum animae (this one's not in the right key, sorry - I couldn't find a recording that was)
And, you thought it couldn't be done, but... here are some mp3s of The Mystic Trumpeter (yes, the Hamilton Harty version!)
But, before you get TOO excited, please be warned that these are not actual recordings (because there is no actual recording in existence) - these are computer creations for the sole purpose of helping people learn the notes. They are not intended to be listened to for pleasure :-)
Choose which one suits your needs best - you don't need to download all of them (each one is about 20MB - N.B. this means they will take several minutes to download on even the fastest of connections, so please be patient). The first one has the choir parts played by what the computer thinks is a vocal "doo" sound. The second has the choir parts played with a clarinet sound - might seem an odd choice, but it makes the notes much easier to distinguish. Both of these first two versions have the four parts at equal volume. The S/A/T/B versions each have the relevant part played loudly on the clarinet, with the other three parts played quietly on a vocal "doo".
I should also warn you that:
1. I haven't included every note, due to lack of time (the piece is much longer than I thought it was when I had the idea of doing this!) All the choir bits are there, though, with a few bars' cue before each bit (it shouldn't be too hard to work out where I've cut to each time), and I've added a few random piano bits where it seemed most helpful.
2. I have guessed many of the speeds - apologies if they turn out to be wildly wrong.
3. There is no way (that I know of) of getting the computer to sing the lyrics. I'm sure Sibelius will add this feature eventually though - there's not much else the software can't do!
4. I did all this very quickly, so it's entirely likely I've made a few mistakes that I didn't notice when I listened to the finished version. Apologies, if so - hopefully there won't be any that are bad enough to put you off.
Anyway, hope this is of some use. Do let me know if it is - I love to be helpful :-)
The Mystic Trumpeter - doo
The Mystic Trumpeter - clarinet
The Mystic Trumpeter - soprano
The Mystic Trumpeter - alto
The Mystic Trumpeter - tenor
The Mystic Trumpeter - bass
Oh, and while I'm being helpful, here's a map for Albion Church.
Faire is the Heaven
Toward the unknown region
O clap your hands
O nata lux
Saarella palaa
Min rastas raataa
Venematka
Justorum animae (this one's not in the right key, sorry - I couldn't find a recording that was)
And, you thought it couldn't be done, but... here are some mp3s of The Mystic Trumpeter (yes, the Hamilton Harty version!)
But, before you get TOO excited, please be warned that these are not actual recordings (because there is no actual recording in existence) - these are computer creations for the sole purpose of helping people learn the notes. They are not intended to be listened to for pleasure :-)
Choose which one suits your needs best - you don't need to download all of them (each one is about 20MB - N.B. this means they will take several minutes to download on even the fastest of connections, so please be patient). The first one has the choir parts played by what the computer thinks is a vocal "doo" sound. The second has the choir parts played with a clarinet sound - might seem an odd choice, but it makes the notes much easier to distinguish. Both of these first two versions have the four parts at equal volume. The S/A/T/B versions each have the relevant part played loudly on the clarinet, with the other three parts played quietly on a vocal "doo".
I should also warn you that:
1. I haven't included every note, due to lack of time (the piece is much longer than I thought it was when I had the idea of doing this!) All the choir bits are there, though, with a few bars' cue before each bit (it shouldn't be too hard to work out where I've cut to each time), and I've added a few random piano bits where it seemed most helpful.
2. I have guessed many of the speeds - apologies if they turn out to be wildly wrong.
3. There is no way (that I know of) of getting the computer to sing the lyrics. I'm sure Sibelius will add this feature eventually though - there's not much else the software can't do!
4. I did all this very quickly, so it's entirely likely I've made a few mistakes that I didn't notice when I listened to the finished version. Apologies, if so - hopefully there won't be any that are bad enough to put you off.
Anyway, hope this is of some use. Do let me know if it is - I love to be helpful :-)
The Mystic Trumpeter - doo
The Mystic Trumpeter - clarinet
The Mystic Trumpeter - soprano
The Mystic Trumpeter - alto
The Mystic Trumpeter - tenor
The Mystic Trumpeter - bass
Oh, and while I'm being helpful, here's a map for Albion Church.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)