Chandos Symphony Orchestra Concert 15th November 2009

This is a report after the event, I'm afraid, not a notification that you should come to this. So I'm sorry if you missed it because this was a concert to remember.

We started with Wagner's Tannhauser Overture. How on earth did that man expect people to be able to play chromatic scales but with a tone stuck in somewhere for good measure just when you thought you had cracked it! And not once but over and over again. This has to be the most physically tiring piece for the left hand I have ever played.

Then we performed Shostakovich 2nd Cello concerto with the amazing, amusing, absolutely stunning David Cohen as our soloist. I have to admit I didn't know this work at all and wasn't too taken with the first movement when we first rehearsed it. It's very dark and brooding. But this is followed by two movement full of fireworks, arguments with the orchestra, and virtuoso "special effects" from the solo cello.




David and his 1735 Montagnana cello, stayed with Stephen and I on the night before the concert - the perfect and most entertaining house guest. We took him to visit Elgar's grave before the final rehearsal.



To finish, we played Rachmaninov Symphony no 1 - the second most tiring piece for the left hand I have ever played! My little finger went into cramp at one point every time we played it. The cello section had lots to do - Rachmaninov certainly gave us plenty of beautiful tunes in this work.

Our regular conductor wasn't able to be with us for this concert, so a new face was weilding the baton; Alice Farnham. She was a very nice lady but I wouldn't want to be without our Michael Lloyd longterm.

Our next concert is on March 14th - Elgar Violin Concerto (with Kathryn Rutland, who used to lead Chandos, as soloist) and Brahms 1st Symphony.

Musicians - Beware the iPod!!

As mentioned in the last post, I have been doing a lot of walking recently. I am not naturally the energetic sort - in fact I probably held the record for thinking of excuses to get out of PE at school.

This newfound energy and activity is for one reason only - I've been told to lose weight and get more exercise or risk developing diabetes.

Bum!!

There are some quite pleasant walks around this area (I can't always borrow a dog and climb the Malvern Hills!) but I've done most of them now, the noise of traffic drowns any chance of birdsong, so I've taken to plugging my earphones into my Palm Treo which has an MP3 player built in, and listening to that to relieve the boredom.

There are two problems with this;

1) I can't walk at a pace other than that of the music. My legs just won't do it! So to keep up the pace when the music is slow, I have to walk in quavers - and prestissimo just about kills me.

2) I was listening to West Side Story a couple of weeks ago and frightened the living daylights out of a passing elderly gentleman as I suddenly shouted "MAMBO!". I suspect I might be singing to myself too, which would be all right for normal people but I generally sing the bass line...

Off We Go Again!

For the past few weeks I've been avoiding certain aisles in the local supermarket - the ones labelled "Back to School Again!"

Much as I love teaching, I just don't want the holiday to stop. I've had time to be able to catalogue all my DVDs (and whatever music hadn't already been numbered and filed), spend time with my parents, go shopping for a wedding dress with my daughter, go swimming with my other daughter and go for long walks.

I suppose all good things come to an end and, as I have bills to pay and I haven't found the Worcestershire unclaimed two million pound lottery ticket during my tidying sessions, I'm in the process of working out timetables and sending out bills.

Also coming up soon is the next CHANDOS concert on Sunday 13th September. This is going to be a most unusual concert for us. Billed as "the lighter side of classical" it has such items as "633 Squadron", "Peanut Vendor", "Romancing the Bassoon" (which features jass trio as well as orchestra) and the interestingly-named "Symphony number Five and a Half" which is great fun.

Tickets from MALVERN THEATRES - don't miss it!

It's Incredibow!

Well, yes, it is - even if it is a stupid name!

I first saw one of these at a Chandos rehearsal. The lady who owned it was delighted with it and I was interested because I have arthritis in my thumbs and it weighs half what my normal bow weighs.

So I found this place, Dance of Delight, on the net, contacted them and they agreed to order one for me to try. They offer a full refund if you decide to return it within 60 days.

The day after I acquired this bow, I emailed them to say "Cash the cheque, there's no way I'm sending this back!"



It is light - it's made from carbon fibre. It's comfortable to hold, the sound is very clear, my hand aches less, my shoulder aches less and when I played a selection of four bows to my family, they all preferred the sound this one made. The tension is always the same - great for kids who never remember to undo their bows when they've finished playing! And at a quarter of the cost of a reasonable bottom-end-of-the-market cello bow, it's a great option for those on a tight budget.

I didn't expect to like playing with a bow not made from wood and horse-hair. I've been converted. Yes, I might well use a conventional bow as well and will certainly carry one with me, but as far as I can see, this will be my bow of choice.

I wonder when they'll start making double basses out of carbon fibre so that I can carry it myself...

Jack and Jill Update 2

"It is an infringement of Copyright to copy by hand or on blackboard, to print or duplicate, by any process whatever or to make lantern slides of any portion of Words or Music of this Copyright Song without written permission of the Publishers. Legal action will be taken against offenders."

I have it! It arrived this morning by pdf.

I managed to track down the publishers, who still exist in Sydney, got their permission by email, sent that to the Australian Library and, for the princely sum of $13.95, they sent me a copy.

Unfortunately, as you see above, fascinating in itself, it is very much bound up in copyright law, so I have now removed the words from the February 11th blog.

So - my heartfelt thanks to Carol in Liverpool for picking it up and pointing me in the right direction, J. Albert & son, the publishers, for granting permission, The Australian National Library for tracking it down and sending it to me and, most of all, thanks to the wonderful Internet, without which none of this would have been possible.

PS - I haven't told my mother yet - a surprise to come!

On the Straight and Narrow

I'm not a violinist. Though I did pass Grade 5 in 1968, it took me another three years to reach grade 6 in 1971, a month after I started cello lessons. One year later I passed Grade 6 cello and, realising that doing both was not an option, there was no contest which to abandon.
So teaching violin, which I do at New College Worcester is hard for me. I have three violin pupils there, two had already started learning with the previous teacher, and a 6th form student who started learning only a few months ago. Demonstrating how to use the bow is very difficult with students who are unable to see what I am doing or watch themselves in a mirror. There has to be a certain amount of grabbing their elbows and physically pulling them into the right positions, though in this age of political correctness, a necessarily limited amount.

Just after I started teaching there, I talked to Stephen and one of my colleagues about the problem of keeping the bow at 90 degrees to the strings - I wanted a means of holding the bow in position while the pupil was playing and between us we came up with an ingenious concoction made of two chopsticks stuck to a chopstick rest, shaped to the belly of the violin and attached to the violin by devious means of a smearing of blu-tack. Young pupil K.C. was delighted with his "snake fangs" and they could be positioned either at the bridge or at the end of the fingerboard to stop the bow from sliding up or down.

A couple of weeks ago, I discovered a device properly thought out, designed, planned and manufactured for the job. It isn't made from chopsticks - and it simultaneously stops the bow sliding up on to the bridge OR down on to the fingerboard. The college ordered two for me and this week they arrived.

The BOWZO was a huge success with both of my blind lads - K.C. asked if this was cheating and an enormous smile spread on C.S.G's face instantly. "I don't mind the neighbours hearing me practising now!" he said. I know how he feels - even I sound quite good!

I wrote to the people who make the Bowzo and asked if they make one for cello too as my partially sighted cellist has the same problem. They rang me back straight away to talk about it and have been in touch several times since. They hadn't realised what a help to partially sighted and blind students this would be and are delighted to be able to help us. The college has now put them in touch with the music advisor at RNIB. Who knows where this may lead...