>>>>>> STOP PRESS - 4th JULY MEETING HAS BEEN CANCELLED <<<<<<
It was another somewhat 'cosy' turnout for the June meeting with an attendance of ten. This was a good thing to some extent; the meeting consisted primarily of those playing the ensemble piece on FGS day. With only a week to go before the big day, it allowed us to concentrate on Fauré's Sicilienne without boring non-FGS folk to death!
Half time coffee and savoury refreshments were kindly provided by Trevor. There seemed to be an extended refreshment break with everyone chatting longer than usual, maybe because there was only a couple of solo performances this evening.
There was definitely an accidental Gaelic theme to the solo pieces:
Marion
The Lakes of Killarney and Killarney Jig by David Burden
Vince
Spancil Hill, written by Michael Considine in a traditional Irish style.
After the break, John Mann guided us through a bit more ensemble practice and then introduced us to a fun piece called Moto Perpetuo by Roy Chilton. It contains lots of interesting bits, like palm-muted chords and rather discordant modulations. This could become a regular warm-up piece for the ensemble in future.
The next meeting is Saturday 18th July.
Hope to see you all there.
June Interim Meeting
This was the first of the additional meetings that we recently decided to have in addition to the regular monthly meeting. The prime reason for these is to get in some more ensemble practice. And, under the expert guidance of John Mann, that is exactly what we did.
The turnout was lower than for our normal meetings but luckily we had at least one player present for each part of this year's chosen piece for Federation Day, namely Sicilienne, Op.78 by Gabriel Fauré, The lower numbers allowed us to arrange the ensemble in a semicircle which helped us to 'gel' a bit more, I think. We practised the Sicilienne mainly and even had a look at the Federation Day main piece (Guitarchestra). After the coffee break we strove to fine-tune bits of the Fauré until we were all a bit too tired of it - "shall we run through it just one more time?" we were asked. "NO!" came the quick and unusually assured reply!
Being the first of its kind, there was a somewhat tentative atmosphere as members got accustomed to the new format. It was well worth it purely for the extra practice it allowed us to get in ahead of the big event in three weeks' time. No doubt the format of these additional sessions will gradually fall into place over the coming months as we work out what we want from them.
The turnout was lower than for our normal meetings but luckily we had at least one player present for each part of this year's chosen piece for Federation Day, namely Sicilienne, Op.78 by Gabriel Fauré, The lower numbers allowed us to arrange the ensemble in a semicircle which helped us to 'gel' a bit more, I think. We practised the Sicilienne mainly and even had a look at the Federation Day main piece (Guitarchestra). After the coffee break we strove to fine-tune bits of the Fauré until we were all a bit too tired of it - "shall we run through it just one more time?" we were asked. "NO!" came the quick and unusually assured reply!
Being the first of its kind, there was a somewhat tentative atmosphere as members got accustomed to the new format. It was well worth it purely for the extra practice it allowed us to get in ahead of the big event in three weeks' time. No doubt the format of these additional sessions will gradually fall into place over the coming months as we work out what we want from them.