Now Hear This!

Top brass to launch new Lunchtime Concert series

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With music on campus now in full swing, we’re also celebrating a ten-year music-making partnership between the University of Kent and Furley Page, as the new Lunchtime Concerts series starts next week with Bones Apart.

Bones Apart
Bones Apart

The award-winning all-female trombone quartet is celebrating its own tenth anniversary, and this concert has a Shakespearean theme, featuring music from Mendelssohn to Leonard Bernstein and Duke Ellington.

Solicitors Furley Page have been sponsoring the University’s lunchtime series for ten years now, and their generous support has enabled us to bring an array of world-class performers to Canterbury, and enrich the cultural life of both the University and the local community. Our thanks to them for their continued support.

The concert takes place in the Gulbenkian Theatre on Monday 10 October, beginning at 1.10pm and finishing at 1.50pm, so there will be time to get to your afternoon lectures and seminars afterwards.Admission free with a ‘give what you can’ collection (suggested donation £3).

More details on-line here.

Furley Page logo
Sponsors of the Lunchtime Concert series
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On the beat: Concert Band, Big Band and Orchestra rehearsals begin this week!

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If you’re a budding instrumentalist, then don’t forget that rehearsals begin this week for the University Concert Band, Big Band and Symphony Orchestra.

All wind, sax, brass and percussion players are welcome in Eliot Hall tomorrow night, as the Concert and Big Bands swing into action.

Chorus
Chorus of approval...

On Thursday evening, the Symphony Orchestra begins rehearsing in Eliot Hall. All string players above Grade 6 welcome; wind and brass players can come along and play and will also need to sign up for auditions at the weekend.

Full details of all the rehearsals can be found on-line here, and the complete Concert Diary for the term here.

Don’t be brassed off: join in.

Notes on Music

Meet the Music Society: music social tonight

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With the heady excitement of Freshers’ Week behind us, this week sees the musical gears of the University begin to grind into action.

Tonight, the Music Social gives students new to the University the chance to meet this year’s Music Society, and find out about all the music going on this year; it’s your chance to network like-minded musicians, from string and brass players looking to form quartets to singers wanting to audition for Chamber Choir or join Chorus, lovers of ‘Glee’ to find out about Sing! or form their own ensembles, or guitarists and bass-players looking to form a band. Free refreshments, musical entertainment (and possible even a quiz); tonight, Eliot Hall, 7.30pm.

On Wednesday, Concert and Big Band swing into action: Concert Band rehearsals begin at 7.30pm, Big Band at 8.45pm, again in Eliot Hall.

On Thursday, the Orchestra stirs into life: string players at Grade 6 standard and above welcome, woodwind and brass players may also come along and will need to sign up at the end of the rehearsal for principal player auditions this coming Saturday.

Next week: Chorus and Chamber Choir. More details on those two soon.

Keeping It Real: reviews.

High societies: at the Freshers’ Fayre

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With Freshers’ Week in full swing, the campus is a-swarm with life, and yesterday’s Freshers’ Fayre saw all the student societes attempting to seduce new (and former) students into the myriad temptations on offer by each society as part of the University’s rich and dynamic campus life.

High Society!

The Music Society and Music Theatre Societies spent the day promoting their respective groups to the thronging masses passing either through the Eliot marquee or the Jarman Piazza gazebo.

The Music Society has a brand-new look this year, trending rich purple colourways [is this a fashion column ?] and a new society logo. Pictured left standing their ground amidst the throng on the front-line: Ben Walker (Band Librarian), Chris Gray (President), Matt Bamford (Chorus Rep), Hannah Lilley (Chorus Librarian), Kathryn Redgers  (Orchestra Libraria), Nicola Ingram (Secretary),  Rachel Richardson (Chorus Librarian) and Adam Murgatroyd (Band Rep) loyally wearing the sandwich-board.

Well done to all of them, staunchly manning (and woman-ing!) the society stand throughout the day; thanks also to those who also helped but didn’t make it into the photograph!

See you all at the Music Social in Eliot Hall on Monday evening for some refreshments, the chance to network like-minded musicians and some live musical entertainment.

Society Ladies: (l-r)Kathryn Redgers, Aisha Bove, Rachel Richardson and Hannah Lilley
Notes on Music

Whatever you do: make music!

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Whatever your musical tastes and interests, the University has something for everyone! From Chorus and Orchestra to Concert and Big Band,  Chamber Choir, jazz, Sing! and Guitar Club, plus a range of music societies catering for your desires: make music a part of your university life.

University Big BandVisit the music department website to explore the range of music-making activities on offer, and use the ‘Getting Started‘ page to guide you through all the auditions and first rehearsals as term begins.

Whatever you do: make music!

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Three days to launch!

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Freshers’ Week is but three days away now, and the Music Department is drawing breath before the musical merry-go-round begins in earnest.

Holy smoke!

Starting next week, auditions and interviews will begin; Freshers’ Fayre welcomes new and current students alike on Thursday, so keep an eye out for members of the Music Society, Music Theatre Society, RockSoc and others clamouring for your involvement this year. There’ll be copies of this term’s Music brochure and the ‘Getting Started’ guide to first rehearsals at the Music Society stall, and members of the committee will be on hand to answer all your questions about the forthcoming musical year.

The Music Social takes place on the following Monday: come to Eliot Hall at 7.30pm on 26th September to meet members of the University’s musical committee – there’ll be refreshments, entertainment, and a chance to find out more about what goes on.

Crouch – touch – pause…

Be My Guest

Season of mists and mellow Open Days…

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Brochures: check. Leaflets: check. Laptop: check. Wireless connectivity: check (finally, thanks Sarah Y!). Scholarship information: check.

But there’s something missing, something crucial. Oh wait: Revels! Check. Phew.

University campus
Green and pleasant land...

Yes, it’s Open Day again, and the Director of Music and I are once again at the ‘Making Music at Kent’ stand, o’er-brimming with details about the musical life of the University and the music scholarships. Campus is buzzing with visitors to the University, and the hall is full of vibrant youth enquiring about courses and musical opportunities at Kent. And we’ve got chocolate…

11am update: we’ve seen visitors from Derby, Herts, and the prize for Coming from Farthest Flung Corner is currently by someone from Lincolnshire. Singers, guitarists, a violinist, bass-players have all passed by the stand. Hopefully there’ll be a lull so we can grab a quick coffee shortly…

12.45pm: (after coffee!); a steady stream of visitors to the stand, coming from Surrey, Essex, Bedford, and including singers and instrumentalists, and suddenly a trend of interest in Music Theatre (Music Theatre Soc: take note!). Lots of interest, too, in the new music building – visitors to the campus today are walking past the construction site, so there’s something tangible towards which to point them: “See that steel skeleton ? In year’s time…”

2pm: heading into the final hour, further visitors from Cambridgeshire, Chelmsford, Surrey, and the Revels are running low, a sure sign the end of the Open Day is in sight. If all the visitors translate into students here in 2012, our Concert and Big Bands and choirs are going to be bursting, Music Theatre Society will be awash with soloists and RockSoc inundated with guitarists and bass-players. Bring it on!