Studley Castle Classical Guitar Weekend



Or...an invitation to a musical weekend with Ray Butcher?

Now ladies, no need to swoon, its not what you  think!!..its all above board.(the fretboard that is) …read on…

The Enfield Guitar Society have through their chair , arranged for a Classical Guitar weeknd on the lovely grounds of Studley Castle

The event will take place from Friday 14th November 2014 at 6:00pm and conclude on   Sunday 16th November 2014 at 1:00pm

Venue Studley Castle, Castle Road, Dudley B80 7AJ

Program

 Friday - check in from 3:00, Meetup,6:00, dinner 6:30, 7:30 play ensemble until 10:00 or tiredness sets in.

Sat.  Breakfast,

9:30 ensemble until buffet lunch around 12:30.

2:00-4:00 ensemble. 

4:00 -6:00 Free time to practice duets, trios,etc

6:30 Dinner.  

8:00-9:00 Concert by Ray,

9:30 until tired play along with any music.

Sun. Breakfast,

9:30 ensemble until 11:00. 

11:30 Student concert and ensemble piece.

 Buffet lunch 1:00 then off home


£250:00 - Monthly payments accepted

Limited to 20 Guitarists.



Course Tutor is Ray Burley. The standard will be from grade 3-7 without any pressure. Music for duet, trio and quartets will be available. partner(s) will be available.



 Full Board - e-mail Ray Butcher  for full details raymond3325@gmail.com

 

May Meeting 2014

Another night of practice and fun at the Bromley Guitar Society...actually, according to Jeff Goodman (Facebook) it represents a rather polite and scholarly discussion between the supporters of Carulli and Molino in the 19th century!

Who would have thought there would be so much aggression over a harmless minuet??

For those of you reading this newsletter for the first time  I can assure you that BGS Meetings are much more genteel and civilised than suggested in the etching…although things tend to get a bit rough if the refreshments are not available!!

Still as we work our way towards the Federation Day in June, the pressure will be on. All members attending the day are working really hard on Nota Bene. Just to make things really more interesting Ray has presented us with a copy of the ensemble music for the day

Monky Business by P Nuttall- a humorous piece based on monks preparing for a meal.

This month’s solos included
Marion Davis:   Andante   (Giuliani)
Freddy Carvalho: Don’t Get Around Much Anymore Duke Ellington
Andrew Ferrier :Butcher of Winnleah from the Van Diemen’s Suite by  Gareth Koch
John Mann: English Suite (John Duarte)

Special thanks again to Trevor and Larisa for the refreshments. And special thanks to John and Ray for leading the ensembles

We were really impressed by the numbers who came to the meeting despite the FA cup final and a large number of apologies.

Even though Arsenal won!!

International Guitar Federation Summer School July 2014

This looks too good to miss!!



Guitar courses run by six of the greatest guitarists around! The IGF are offering four courses in the July Summer School.

They include
  • Jazz Fingerstyle taught by Martin Taylor (assisted by Dario Cortese)
  • CLassical taught by David Russell (assisted by Rafael Aguirre)
  • Acoustic Fingerstyle taught by Mike Dawes
  • Flamenco Guitar taught by Juan Martin

Visit this link for more information

The summer school starts on Frioday 25th and finishes on Monday 28th July at Kings Place.

Students from all levels (except absolute beginners) are accepted

April Meeting

April has been rather kind to us all this month! The weather has been unseasonably warm and the evenings have been quiet and drowsy....save for that 3rd  Saturday of the month when it becomes the Night of the 'Pluckers'!!  And so it was  on April 15th!!

Numbers were generally quite good despite the absence of Enfield's Number One Lumberjack and Generalissimo of the Ensemble arrangements, Mr Ray Butcher!! We suspect that the call of the wild was too much for him to take in (either that or the fact that he was recovering from his tree felling adventures with his new Chain saw!!)  Enfield , so the legend goes, once had a thriving forest but not any more!!.  I suspect it was the 'call of a pint' from his local that proved to be more irresistible...

And our 'Chair' was enjoying the fleshpots of Amsterdam under the careful supervision and control of the long suffering Therese. As there were no police news or international incidents reported from the Netherlands, we can assume that he was on his best behavior at all time. Well that's what he tells me...I will check with Therese for verification.

The evening ensemble  aerobics  started with a few simple pieces from Ray's collection of pieces which was a bit of a struggle. Both Steve and I have our strong points in other areas, but leading ensembles is probably not one of them.  Thank goodness, John Mann  finally  arrived to put us both (and everyone else) out of their misery with a return to Mr Levesque's rather jazzy ensemble piece Note Bene.

After a refreshments provided by Trevor Pike and Larisa Liebermann, we had a great round of solo performances.  They included

  • L'Encouragement (Sor)  played by Vince Chittenden   and Larisa Lieberman
  • Milonga (Pujol) played by Vince Chittenden
  • 'Blow away the Morning Dew'(anon) sung and played by Trevor Pike
  • Jesu Joy of Mans Desiring (Bach) played by Fred Carvallho
  • 'Angie' (Davey Graham) played by Malcolm Lane
  • Preludio Tristan (Pujol) and 'For my Father (Andy McKee) performed by Rob Sellery
  • Preludes 1 and 5 (Villa Lobos) by Miles Roberts

We  then had another stab at Monsieur Levesque's piece but judging by John's expression (which says it all) , we still need a bit more practice before its inaugural BGS launch at the Federation Day.

See you all in May

Andrew

London Guitar Orchestra Concert Saturday 17th May



(Thanks to Larisa and Trevor)

Here’s a riddle- What does the London Guitar Orches-tra share with the Bromley Guitar Society apart from Trevor and Larisa?
The answer?  The same day for their concert and for our BGS meeting!  Fortunately at different times
 


St. Georges Parish Church, High Street, Beckenham, Kent, BR3 1AX
on Saturday 17th May 2014 at 11:00
See
St.Georges Saturday Coffee Concerts
 
The  programme includes the following pieces:

Praetorius - Courant, La Bouree, Spagnoletta, Ballet
Vivaldi - Concerto alla rustica: Vovace, Adagio, Allegro
Haydn - Chorale St. Antoni
Albeniz - Cordoba
Piazolla - Adios Nonino
Kindle - Kalimba

...and a wee surprise as encore

Well if you want to find out more you better be there at 11:00am!

And then we will see you at St Marks for a debrief and pluck'n strum at 6:30 that evening

What a busy day! And what a busy month!!

BGS Spotlight: Seven Nocturnes for Classical Guitar by John W Powell

Some of the rather undeserved  'perks' of being in a Guitar Society include getting some nice 'surprises' sent through the post for review

One such delightful surprise was a copy of the scores and CD for  John W Powells ' Seven Nocturnes for Classical Guitar'. I felt that Christmas had come early!!

The pieces are beautifully arranged and , like all great music pieces, disarmingly simple to perform.  However I find them  incredibly complex in intensity and delivery which is why I enjoy them so much. Nocturnes refer to musical compositions that are evocative of the night and John's pieces don't disappoint.  They are reminiscent not of the night so much but of a nice warm evening, sitting outside in the garden,  watching the sunset over a glass (or two)  of red wine along with some cheese and olives. Even in London!!

The pieces are a delight for listening. My particular favorite is Nocturne No 3 (Lento) where the application of a couple of B flat notes among a range of arpeggios convey a rather melancholy, wistfulness to a warm evening.

They are also a delight to play as well. My sight reading, as my colleagues at the Bromley Guitar Society will attest) is not particularly that great. However the simplicity of John's arrangements of the Nocturnes make the performance an easy and particularly satisfying experience. This is helped by the relaxed advice John provides in the score notes.

You can experience a taste by watching John  perform Nocturne No 1 (I also note from the video that John also has a nice stock of wine bottles at close hand which strikes me as eminently sensible!!)




If you are interested in buying a copy of the music and CD, please contact John at his email address howmusicworks@yahoo.co.uk