Another very busy week. We have worked hard in the choir this week and it sounds great (see my last blog to check out the pieces we are doing). We have paid a lot of attention to detail to get the dynamics and diction right. It does now feel like part of a team that is performing really well together. I am looking forward to the performance next week.
Strings group is also coming together and we will be performing all four movements of Telemann's Concerto. Folk band sounds quite solid too. Playing up to speed with the correct bowings is more challenging than the strings group this time. We have been working on the arrangements particularly getting into and out of the tune. I also went to composition this week. I have finished two compositions recently and received feedback on them. A few things to tidy up but I am pleased with them, particularly the most recent one. Finally, I am still working on theory - analysis and aural training - chord recognition. Fiddle lesson later today.
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The third performance block has kicked off and is keeping me very busy. I am playing in the folk band. We are doing a couple of Strathspeys, Morag Haig Thomas by Donald Riddle (the Clunes Collection). I have played this tune before although a long time ago. The guitar accompaniment is lovely and lifts it. The second Strathspey is Weights and Measures by Gavin Marwick in D minor. Its an interesting tune with a darker feel. The last tune in the set is Myra's Jig by Ian Lowthian, a wonderful accordion player. I know him from performing at Durham last year. There is also a polka set with some playing in third position in one of the tunes. Finally we are also doing a song, Highland Mary by Robert Burns. Its great and beautifully arranged. There is an instrumental section with a rhythm and very fast reel for the fiddles. Its a lovely accompaniment but a challenge to get up to speed.
In the Classical Strings Group we are doing baroque music, Telemann's (unnamed) Concerto I, II and III: Cantabile and IV. Its really interesting. I enjoy classical playing a lot now. The violin parts are very achievable with a bit of practice. Its great to hear all the parts together. I am also singing in the main choir. We are performing three beautiful pieces Prairie Waters by Night by John Leavitt (my favourite), Gloria in Excelsis by Mozart and Now sleeps the Crimson Petal by Joyce Eilers. The pace is stepping up. I have transferred the learning parts onto my iPod and I listen to them wherever I go. We are singing Gloria in Excelsis in latin. I have sung in latin before - a long time ago. I remember it all though and so I find it easy to pronounce it. Its all great. Music theory also continues as does the practice for my recital. I was improvising eastern european jazz today using the harmonic minor scale over Am, Dm and E7. Also enjoyed playing the chords while others had a shot. It helps to internalise the chord progressions and tonal centres.
I went to see the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) perform Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughn Williams (1872 - 1958) on Tuesday. This was the last of the SCO's excellent Cl@six series. The performance was in St Cuthbert's church which is a beautiful venue and great acoustics. It was a full house. I love Ralph Vaughn Williams. Playing Fantasia on Greensleeves brought him to my attention again recently. There is a Vaughn Williams Society, which was formed in 1994 to promote his work. Many of his pieces (and he was very productive) were not well known - particularly his operas. The Society describes him as follows: "Ralph Vaughan Williams is arguably the greatest composer Britain has seen since the days of Henry Purcell. In a long and extensive career, he composed music notable for its power, nobility and expressiveness, representing, perhaps, the essence of ‘Englishness’. " At the turn of the century he was among the very first to travel into the countryside to collect folk-songs and carols from singers, notating them for future generations to enjoy. It was performed by Alexander Janiczek. Knowing how difficult the violin is to play - I am amazed at the skill and ability to play at this level. The piece took six years to write as it is played now. It was inspired by a poem written by George Meredith which was apparently not very good. Whatever - it certainly led to Vaughn Williams writing a brilliant piece of music. I thought it was stunning. They also played Mendelssohn Overture, Son & Stranger and Schubert's Symphony No 5. They were performed fine but were overshadowed by Lark Ascending in my view. Here is brief clip of Nicola Benedetti playing as shown on the Andre Marr show. If you are having a stressful day I can recommend watching it - beautiful. Lady Madelina Sinclair I performed a Strathspey today - Lady Madelina Sinclair - in a masterclass. Lady Madelina was the daughter of the Duke of Gordon and the tune was written by William Marshall (although there is some controversy about this) around late 1700s/early 1800s. He worked for the Duke, eventually rising to become his factor, and he was also a fine fiddler and composer. Lady Madelina, was apparently not at all beautiful. Nevertheless, she made up for this by being agreeable and intelligent. She did marry, but this was said to be only down to the skill of her mother, who managed to arrange to marry her off. She looks fine to me though but perhaps that is with a bit of artistic license. Strathspeys have very particular bowings. Its a jagged rhythm switching from short - long, to long - short with snaps, loops and arrow bows (which involves a down, up, up, up). The piece also has contrasting sections, with a strong dotted rythmn which switches into very smmoth triplets on single bows - crossing strings. It could be made easier by breaking the bowing up into separate bows but its definitely better to bow these in one bow if at all possible.
It went well on the whole and I learned a lot from the feedback about how to improve it further. The feedback technique today was three positives before talking about where you could improve. This was encouraging and motivating while constructive in giving us the areas to focus on. Its how I had been trained to give feedback to staff. There were also a few colleagues who performed very interesting pieces. I enjoyed it - a good day - if a challenge. Music theory is mind blowingly interesting and at the higher levels quite difficult. I was doing modulation today. Its a great skill to have and enables you to work out how to get to different keys by using the ii, V, or IV, V chord patterns.
I was also practising writing out chords and recognising modes from chord patterns by the chords, the dominant 7 and the half diminshed seventh which are the key - so to speak - to working it out. I have recently been working out the keys of a folk song which modulates from B minor, to C minor, to D minor and then to F# minor. Its good practice. I was improvising soul music this week. That was interesting.
Soul has its origins in Gospel, Blues and Jazz. We played in the Dorian mode. This is built off the second degree in a scale. Don't glaze over - this stuff is not that difficult. Soul chord progressions can be simple - mainly ii, V (so - in the key of C - the chords would be likely to be Dm7, G7 (dominant chord). The Dorian mode would run D - D (ie from the second degree of C) and uses the notes of C major scale. It works the same for any key. That's just the start though. We also used the blues scale here and there, and if the chords are Dominants +9 you can use mixolydian (basically a flattened 7th). Then there is the rythmns and voicings. This takes a bit of research and there are loads of great soul artists out there to listen to. Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and the Supremes. More on that later The BBC broadcast a programme last week about Jack Bruce, the internationally renowned bass player and vocalist. I caught up with it today on the iPlayer. Best of Cream was the first album I ever bought. I still have it. Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker ware big influences on my life. Sunshine of your Love is still one of my absolute favourite tracks and so evocative of that time - along with Deep Purple, the Who, Led Zepp, Jefferson Airplane …… Must be one of the most recognisable bass riffs ever. Jack Bruce has had some life. He has a fearsome reputation as a great player. He also writes great songs with Pete Brown, lyricist and poet. He has had his fair share of challenges. A struggle with hard drugs, the death of a son, the breakup of his first marriage, and liver cancer resulting in a liver transplant. He came through all of that and has survived. All the members of Cream have made it through - goodness knows how. Many people didn't. Jack Bruce is Scottish. He returned to Celtic connections this year and played with Lau - a really talented trad band with Aidan O'Rourke on fiddle (one of my favourite fiddlers), Kris Drever on guitar and backing vocals, Martin Green on accordion and Jim Sutherland on bodhran. The complete programme is on the iplayer for another few days. Watch the clip os Sunshine of Your Love below. Its completely epic - spans the generations. Respect to them all. Trad and Cream - what could be better? Monday was spent listening to and talking about country music. There are lots of different styles within country music. Its a huge topic in its own right. I blogged about Bluegrass earlier. Today we listened to Rockabilly and Nashville.
Elvis and Johnny Cash were early rockabilly artists. Both began their recording careers in the 1950s with Sun studios (run by Sam Philips). Evis' recording contract was sold to RCA and he then morphed into more of a rock and rolls star. Heartbreak Hotel was his first "pop" no 1 - its very bluesy. Johnny Cash wanted to sing gospel originally but was turned down by Sam Philips. He re auditioned and went into country instead. Cash, Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl perkins all went on tour together in 1956 and were known as the Million dollar quartet. I like the rockabilly style. Its quite raw and gutsy, with strong lyrics. By contrast the Nashville style of the mid 1950s was more commercial. It had more instrumentation, and more backing vocals - Nashville attracted lots of session musicians. It was smooth and, in my view a bit bland and safe. But it sold. Jim Reeves and Don Gibson were important artists. The Nashville style led to more sophisticated recording techniques - an art in itself. This has influenced recording today. Went down to the Sage with my daughter on Sunday. We both play guitar a bit and we decided to try a ukelele workshop for something different.
If you haven't been to the Sage it has loads of great music teaching events. Anyway, we were given ukeleles (yes - you don't even need to have your own) and we did loads of simple songs. We were all grooving along to Bob Marley. The tuning was high G, C, E, A . They are very easy to play, very small and light, cheap to buy and easy to carry. I can see why they are so popular. And they sound quite good. I'd recommend it as a day out and to try something different - although Sam and I could have done with going to a more advanced workshop probably. But it was great to have the chance to try one. There were all age groups there. Sam and I plan to buy a ukelele to join the ever growing list of instruments that live with us. Lucky ukelele.... |
Fiona Harrison
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