Not content with her relentlessly busy summer (see previous post here), second-year Music Performance Scholar reading Sports and Physical Sciences, Heather Moss, took her folk ensemble to perform as part of the Tenterden Folk Festival last week. Here’s her story…
The day started bright an early when we all clambered onto the coach on our way to Tenterden. When we arrived we went and collected our Artist Wristbands from the artist reception which was a surreal moment! We then made our way to the venue, where we were greeted by Gavin and his amazing team of musicians who were here to lead the music session. More and more people started to arrive and the session was in full leaps and bounds.
We went around the room and every person started a new tune and everyone else played along having either known the tune before or picked it up by ear. It was an amazing environment to be in and be surrounded by some amazing folk musicians.
It then came to our turn to perform so we formed our semi- circle and performed our 15 minute set. Our set included a wide range of tunes from waltzes to reels to polkas, which followed with lots of clapping and applause.
After this the session continued and everyone was thoroughly enjoying themselves! Once the session was over we decided to go and have a look around some of the festival stalls where I believe a couple of new instruments where purchased… Then we quickly ran over to the road where a procession of Morris dancers was taking place, which was the first time that many of our group had ever watched Morris dancing and they were totally amazed. We then purchased some food and sat down to listen to a couple of gigs until we travelled home and chatted about lots of new folk music which we want to learn,
Heather Moss
The night started off with Tranquil Abiding by Jonathan Harvey, of which I had never heard of before, but was very excited to see after hearing the Head of Music Performance, Dan Harding, express his interest in this piece! [True: I love this piece! Ed.} Harvey’s music conveys his interest in Eastern spirituality into music writing, with this piece relating to meditation where the ‘mind is not observing the rest of the universe but is at one with it’. This was a great piece to start the Proms with, as the small orchestra moved as one to create a slow, breathing rhythm, easing the audience into a state of relaxation. At first upon hearing it, both my mum and I felt it was horror movie-esque, however after reading the programme, this made sense, as it represented the thoughts diverting the mind, as the piece then stills itself creating the sense of calm. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this piece live and seeing how the orchestra moved independently to then ending as one breathing entity. I highly recommend seeing this contemporary piece if ever given the chance!
The second half was occupied by Gustav Holst’s, The Cloud Messenger, another piece I was also unaware of before. The Chorus were singing an adaptation of a 4th/5th century poem, whereby the cloud was asked to send a message to the narrator’s wife. Consisting of seven verses, it talks about the natural wonders the cloud will see on its journey and is overall a beautiful poem. A contralto solo was also performed by Jess Dandy, who had an incredible voice and added to the tenderness of the poem. This piece is rarely performed, as in its first performance (1913), apparently the chorus fell apart! I am glad to say this reputation was not followed this night, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it and following along with the words sung by the chorus.
A unique experience, in a specially crafted incarnation of Bryars’ seminal piece, the students, a combination of Music Performance Scholars and Award Holders, including students reading Law, Economics and Chemistry, rose to the occasion in a piece that requires a quite different set of skills, using a modular score, stopwatches, and a pre-recorded (and rhythmically uneven) vocal track against which to play.
After the concert, Trish and Ross stayed on to work with some of the students exploring improvisation, rhythm, and the physicality of the ‘groove;’ players included several of this year’s Music Award Holders.
A morning devoted to Faure’s sublime Requiem was followed by an afternoon working on Brahms’ epic Symphony no.4 with the orchestra alone.
It was a pleasure to welcome back a few familiar faces as some alumni who will be joining us for Saturday’s concert came back to Colyer-Fergusson to take part in the rehearsal.
Directed by Floriane Peycelon, the ensemble delivered a programme focusing primarily on women composers, with a scintillating Suite for Strings by Libby Croad; a movement from the wonderfully colourful Piano Quintet by Louise Farrenc, for which the ensemble was joined by first-year pianist, Ronja Haller; an enigmatic compositional response to Tallis’ If Ye Love Me by local composer Juliet Lewis (who also conducted the piece); before the programme closed with a full-blooded string orchestral ‘reimagining’ of music from Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, with the closing Lament featuring final-year student, Jack Chan, on solo viola.
A great programme and an enthusiastic audience; many thanks to the church’s Coffee Concert series for welcoming us.
and the term came to a rousing conclusion with the Big Band’s annual Christmas Swingalong, conducted again by the evergreen Ian Swatman sporting a Christmas Hull City jumper.
And making her debut with the big band was first-year singer, Tayo Fanifosi, whi delivered several crowd-pleasing festive numbers.
If you missed it, the piece will be performed again on Friday 9 June as part of this year’s Summer Music Week, our annual music festival bringing the musical year to a close.
