I have just returned from a wonderful five day choir tour to the continent. The most striking thing about the choral experience had to be the acoustic properties of the wonderful churches in which we sang. Most resonant was La Madeleine, Paris where the reverberations could be heard as many as 10 seconds later and you could feel the echoes coming back at you from different parts of the building at different stages. St Salvator, Bruges and St Severin, Paris were about equally reverberant and much more alive than our familiar cathedral in Chester.
The repertoire suited these rather opulent buildings in which we sang. The insistent ’Maria’ of Gorecki’s ‘Totus Tuus’ haunted the psyche. Duruflé’s ‘Tantum Ergo’ and Ducasse’s ‘Crux Fidelis’ with French organ accompaniment floated around the many interior curves of La Madeleine. As a baritone though, Naylor’s ‘Vox Dicentis’ had to be the musical highlight for me.
Whilst the majority of the choir visited Euro Disney on our day off from singing, I was able to spend a day sight-seeing in Paris and fully appreciate the Parisian architecture set amidst seasonal colours. A selection of my favourite photos taken on this excursion have been posted into a flickr photoset. Whilst Paris was great, my recommendation would be not to take a taxi even half of the way into Paris if you value your Euros.
Alongside the musical, the social aspect of the tour was particularly fine. It was a pleasure to sing with both the boys and girls and to have additional support from numerous deputy lay clerks. Time was spent sampling some of the Belgian beers on offer in the bars around Dixmuide where we stayed for two nights as well as in the (rather extortionately priced) hotel bar at Mercure Coudray Parc, south of Paris.
Details of the 7th Wirral Festival of Speech, Music and Drama have been published.The music festival will take place on Friday 19th and Saturday 20th March, 2010 at Birkenhead High School, 86 Devonshire Place, Birkenhead.Details of the festival can also be followed on the facebook page and twitter feed.
Further details and sample recordings of the piano set pieces for this year’s festival can be found below and sample recordings will be included as soon as they are ready…
Class 101a – Piano Solo (8 Yrs and under) – Air by George Dyson Air
Class 101b – Piano Solo (8 Yrs and under) – Own choice (1 piece not exceeding 3 minutes)
Class 102 – Piano Solo (9 Yrs and under) – Tango Argentina from Piano Time Jazz 2 by Pauline Hall Tango Argentina.
Class 103 – Piano Solo (9 Yrs and under) – Own choice (1 piece not exceeding 3 minutes)
Class 104 – Piano Solo (10 Yrs and under) – Gedike ‘The Moth‘ from Keyboard Anthology 2nd series Bk 1
Class 105 – Piano Solo (10 Yrs and under) – Own choice (1 piece not exceeding 3 minutes)
Class 106 – Piano Solo (12 Yrs and under) -You and Me by Alan Haughton You and Me
Class 107 – Piano Solo (12 Yrs and under) – Own choice (1 piece not exceeding 5 minutes)
Class 108 – Piano Solo (14 Yrs and under) – Gedike Miniature from More Romantic Pieces 3 (Gedike Miniature).
Class 109 – Piano Solo (14 Yrs and under) – Own choice (1 piece not exceeding 5 minutes)
Class 110 – Piano Solo (16 Yrs and under) – Poetic Tone Picture by Grieg Op.3 No.1
The Entry Fee is £4.50 for classes 101-107 and £4.75 for classes 108-110 and the closing date for entries is 31st January, 2010
For some beginners, five-finger arrangements of popular pops and classics prove to be more motivational than lesser known tunes serving purely as exercises.
This simplified version of Beethoven’s Fur Elise for the absolute beginner requires only a slight change of finger in bars 9-13 where RH finger 4 moves from D# to E and RH finger 5 moves from E to F. At bar 14 the fingers return to their original position.
Changing the metre from three to four eliminates the need for a pickup bar and though it elongates the rests, it is an easier rhythm to feel and play along with the backing track below.
5 finger Fur Elise – 120bpm
Dear Will and all your students,
Thank you very much for the very generous cheque of £300 that you have sent for a KMS bursary. We really appreciate all the hard work you put into performing at two student recitals. We do trust you really enjoyed performing and putting the recitals on and that you enjoyed meeting and hearing Terence Ayebare.
Your money will go out to Kampala soon and a student will be allocated to you and information about him or her will be sent to you.
Thank you once again.
Best wishes,
Fiona
