Being really clear about the date

Posted by: Peter

Our concert on 26 November has been cancelled, unfortunately. We’ve known about this for a week or so, but after my recent confusing posts regarding the concert on 6 November, I was afraid you might think I meant that concert. But I don’t: now that 6 November is behind us, I feel confident in stating that our concert on 26 November has been cancelled.

Also, Muriel’s been emailing members regarding a possible concert on 11 December, but this has been cancelled as well.

We are still doing a Christmas concert (4 December), so we will get a chance to perform the various new arrangements Roy’s been feeding us recently!

Tomorrow night (10 November) Aaron – our adopted composer – will be visiting us  with the first draft of the piece he’s writing for / with us.  Both Aaron and his mentor Fraser will be coming down next week (17 November) for us to do some more in depth work on the piece.

I think we’ve got off to a good start with Aaron already, as he seems to like us: hopefully Fraser will be impressed as well next week.

I think we already get very good levels of attendance at rehearsals, but we hope that all band members can make a special effort to be at both of these rehearsals and to arrive on time (I will try, but it’s such a long way…), set up promptly, and (in line with David’s Tips for Tuning)  get our instruments warmed up quickly, to make the most of Fraser’s and Aaron’s visit.

And, watch out for David’s second instalment in our Tips for Tuning series, which should be available by the end of the week.

Contact!

Our project to adopt a composer is moving along nicely now: we now know who he is.

Aaron Parker, our adopted composer

His name’s Aaron Parker. He was born in 1991 and currently studies composition with Gary Carpenter at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.  His works have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and on BBC by ensembles such as the National Youth Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.  He has taken part in collaborations with the Royal Ballet School and the Northern Ballet School.

When Aaron spoke to Roy yesterday, he said “I am looking forward to developing a meaningful, professional relationship with, gain insight from, and create a work for – and in collaboration with – an experienced body of amateur musicians.  I feel that enthusiasm and commitment common to musicians in such groups offers a valuable opportunity for a composer to make a contribution towards enriching their involvement with contemporary music.”

You can find out more about Aaron – and listen to some of the music he’s composed – by visiting his MySpace page.

Music to our ears

We’re adopting a composer! And he or she is going to write a piece of music specifically for us. And then, in about a year’s time (and this is the slightly scary bit), the BBC will record us playing it. Exciting times!

(I’ll come back to this recording later on, but for now it’s worth noting that, unlike more conventional adoptions, we won’t expect him or her to change their surname.)

This all came about because of our affiliation with Making Music - the UK organisation that represents and supports over 2,900 voluntary and amateur music groups throughout the UK.

Making Music – together with Sound and Music – have run the “Adopt a composer” scheme since 2004. The scheme is funded by the PRS Foundation, supported by BBC Radio 3, and each year, it enables 6 amateur groups to “adopt” an emerging composer. This adoption lasts about a year, during which the composer and group collaborate to produce a new work especially for the group to première.

This year – thanks to Roy, for the (no doubt) excellence of our application, we’ve been selected. Over 70 groups applied (and about 60 composers), so it’s already quite an achievement to be selected from this pool.  So far, we don’t know who we’ll be working with. Roy and Penny are going along to the launch event on 25 September at Somerset House, and we’ll find out then who our adoptee is.

You can find out more about the “adopt a composer” scheme from Making Music, or you can visit the “adopt a composer” blog (will we have access to post to this as well?) which also has an “About” page for further details.

This is a tremendous opportunity for the band, and I think it really gives us something to aim at over the next year. It’s exciting having our own exclusive piece of music, and this is an opportunity to stretch ourselves as a band and individually.

Given the fact that we’ll be recorded (and, presumably, broadcast to a grateful nation), Roy pointed out at rehearsal last week a few areas of playing as an ensemble that we need to focus on. I’m hoping that in the coming weeks and months, we’ll be able to bring in guest bloggers to write entries (or at least find articles or blog posts by others)  related to issues such as tuning and intonation, overall balance, and so on.

It’s not that we’re entirely hopeless in these areas – we did gain silver at last November’s National Concert Band Festival in Colchester, and we gave a rousing performance at the Royal Festival Hall earlier this year (OK, I’m ignoring the photo where that woman in the audience is yawning – can I just point out that that was while Roy was talking rather than while the band was playing…) – but there’s always room for improvement. What would be the point, otherwise?