Tag Archives: Big Band

Scholars Spotlight

Scholars’ Spotlight: Rebecca Fanning

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Continuing the series profiling this year’s Music Scholars. This week, trumpet-specialist Rebecca Fanning.

 

I first picked up the trumpet aged 7 when my Mum asked me if I wanted to play a musical instrument. None of the music teachers at school had any space except the brass teacher who decided to take me on. After asking me what particular brass instrument I wanted to play and me not knowing there were any other brass instruments, I chose the trumpet!

Brass cheek! Rebecca Fanning
Brass cheek! Rebecca Fanning

I steadily worked my way through the clubs and bands at Redbridge Music School, attending Wind bands, Jazz bands and Brass Bands until I arrived in the Symphony Orchestra there. While with the Symphony Orchestra I was privileged enough to play at the Royal Albert Hall in 2012 which has to be the highlight of my Musical Education! I have also spent nine happy summers at Beauchamp House Summer Music Camps in Gloucestershire which is where I developed my love for music and built up my confidence to experiment with improvisation.

When choosing my University it was important for me to find a place where I could continue my musical education and Kent did just that. I have started lessons with Alex Caldon and I look forward to starting on new repertoire for my Diploma this term with him. It was a real privilege to have been given the opportunity by the music department to see Alison Balsom play the Hummel Trumpet Concerto, the same piece that I played for my grade 8 and whom I admire greatly for breaking the stereotype that the trumpet is not, stereotypically a ‘girly’ instrument.

I had a very busy first term playing with the University Concert Band, Big  Band and Orchestra preparing for the grand opening of the Coyler-Fergusson building which was a truly fabulous event. The new building has provided a wonderful space where music can be celebrated on Campus and I look forward to using the facilities and working with the Music Department further during my time at Kent University.

Rebecca Fanning

See all the other features in this series here.

Jazz Booth

Licence to thrill: Concert and Big Band next week

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The University Concert and Big Bands will be given a licence to thrill next week, in their annual roof-raising concert on Friday 15 March in the Colyer-Fergusson concert-hall.

Double-O heaven ?
Double-O heaven ?

Entitled From Bond to Basie, the concert will include popular big band classics and music from the James Bond franchise, as well as showtunes.

Steph Richardson

At the helm will be conductor Ian Swatman, joined this year by third-year Music Scholar and Drama student, singer Steph Richardson (read an interview with Steph on the Big Band blog here).

The concert starts at 7.30pm in the Colyer-Fergusson Hall; we’re delighted to say that, in a new twist, tickets for seating in the choral risers are available to University of Kent students for a mere £5.

More details online on our ‘What’s On’ events diary here.

Don’t’ miss it: the event truly promises to be an All Time High…

International Impact, Scholars Spotlight

Scholars’ Spotlight: Mathilde Farnabe

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Mathilde Farnabe
Mathilde Farnabe

Continuing the series profiling this year’s Music Scholars. This week, saxophonist Mathilde Farnabe.

 

My name is Mathilde and I am currently doing my Masters Degree in Psychology here at Kent Uni. I came from France in September 2011, so a lot of my music experience  relates to my years in France.

I started taking music lessons when I was six because my dad always wanted me and my sister to play an instrument, as he is a guitarist. The following year I could choose to start an instrument so I went to have a look in different classes to see what I wanted to do.

For some reasons, saxophone attracted my attention and I started right away. For about ten years I was working with the same teacher, Jean-Henri Roan and I do owe a lot of my progress to his very committed and serious work with me. We worked on a lot of different classical, romantic or baroque pieces which to this day are still my favourites. I developed a lot of musical skills listening to him play and understanding what was written and how to interpret it.

In 2006 he brought me to a competition called “Concours National du Jeune Musicien” where I achieved my best performance and won a soprano saxophone, which was a great encouragement and reward for my work. I also took part in music camps every summer for four years, in the “’Académie Internationale d’Eté : Musique au Pays de l’Affiche ” in which I had the chance to play in amazing quartets and concert bands, as well as what stays my preferred formation to this day: a sax ensemble. I met a lot of different people in these summer camps and in particular my teacher’s teacher: Patrick Saltel. I was then encouraged to take lessons with him instead, which taught me a lot. I joined his concert band, saxophone ensemble and even orchestra where I was playing the oboe part with my soprano.

It was very sad when I had to leave  everything behind in September 2011 to come and study in England. However I am now very pleased to be part of the music players and moreover scholars at the University of Kent, and I am very much enjoying the Big Band and Concert Band concerts and rehearsals in this new magnificent building. I have also started playing with a saxophone quartet which sounds great!

Mathilde Farnabe

See all the other features in this series here.

Scholars Spotlight

Scholars’ Spotlight: Cory Adams

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Continuing the series profiling some of this year’s Music Scholars. This week, percussionist Cory Adams.

 

I was 3 when I got my first drum kit. It was a toy of course, yet I think it did spark my passion for percussion and music. I started taking snare drum lessons when I was 8 years old at primary school; we weren’t fortunate enough to have a drum kit, so kit lessons would have to wait until I started high school.

Kit and caboodle: Cory Adams
Kit and caboodle: Cory Adams

Kit playing seemed to come naturally to me, and as my teacher saw potential in me, he asked me (when I was 12) to start playing with ‘Saxation’. This was a saxophone ensemble (with rhythm section of course) that was run by members of staff from the Wakefield Music Services. This environment enhanced my playing dramatically, so I immediately started playing with the music department at school. I joined the swing band, concert band, orchestra, guitar group and choir- to drum of course! I even joined the folk group to play djembe.

Progressing through the drum kit grades quickly, in year 10 I decided I wanted to become an all round percussionist. Therefore my teacher introduced me to the glorious instruments that are the timpani drums, xylophone, glockenspiel and vibraphone. This did however mean I now had to learn how to read treble and bass clef- it’s so much harder than drum kit music!

At this age (15), when I was preparing for my grade 7 and being the principal percussionist at school and at music centre, I was asked to be the principal percussionist for the Wakefield Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Wakefield Youth Jazz Orchestra. This was a real eye opener. The standard of playing in these ensembles was incredible, and being a ‘newbie’ I was petrified. It didn’t help either when I had to play Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony and the intro to Also Sprach Zarathustra on timpani in my first concert.

It was also at this age when my theatre/show playing was tested. I was asked to play for an amateur dramatics group’s performance of Annie. I had such a great time, however it was disappointing that I couldn’t actually see the performance as I was stuck in the orchestra pit. I must have done a good job, because a year later I was asked to play again, this time for their medley/compilation of various musicals.

I was 16 when my teacher asked me to play with him for the Wakefield Metropolitan Brass Band. My initial reaction was, “you mean the youth band?” His response was, “No, I mean the proper one”. I could not have been more ecstatic- the band are a Championship Section band, which play against the likes of Black Dyke, Brighouse and Rastrick and Grimethorpe- the band that play in the film ‘Brassed Off’. This was the start of my dramatic improvement in all forms of percussion. I soon later (in 2011) completed my grade 8 with distinction.

From loud and raucous music to the soft tranquil haven that is Jazz. I have been playing jazz for 3 years now in a trio back home, and I have to tell you- it is a real money earner! And everyone knows we all need a bit of money now and then. I was quite sad to be leaving my trio when I came to university; however I didn’t know I’d be meeting three awesome jazz musicians. I now play with these guys and we are The Colossus Quartet- we are taking bookings so please get in touch!

I should now probably talk about what I actually do at University. Aside from the jazz quartet I play with the University Concert Band, Big Band and Orchestra. I love playing with these bands as I get to play so much tuned percussion; my tuned ability really has improved because of this. I look forward to my years at Kent being involved with the music department, I’ve already made many great friends and I’m sure I will make many more.

Cory Adams

Read the other profiles in the series here.

Scholars Spotlight

Scholars’ Spotlight: Victoria Lockwood

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Continuing the series profiling some of this year’s Music Scholars. This week, woodwind specialist, Victoria Lockwood.

 

From a very early age, music has always been an integral part of my life. Many of my summer holidays were spent in a tent at various folk festivals, watching my Dad perform with his folk bands. More recently I have begun to make guest appearances with them on stage at various venues, including the Cambridge, Sidmouth and Towersey Folk Festivals. I started having lessons on the clarinet in middle school and then also took up the alto saxophone in secondary school.

Victoria Lockwood
Reed all about it: Victoria Lockwood

I played in a variety of music groups throughout my time in middle and secondary school, from the school orchestra, clarinet group and jazz band, to the soul band, choir and chamber choir. This gave me plenty of opportunities to perform and I’d always find myself in more than one item in a single concert!

In 2010 I was persuaded by the head of music to play the school’s baritone saxophone in the school’s jazz band, which I really enjoyed and ended up playing it in several other groups as well. I was then asked to play ‘Reed 4’ along with teachers, students and professional musicians, in the orchestra for the school’s production of ‘West Side Story’. I had to play clarinet, bass clarinet and baritone saxophone, which ended up being a bit of a squeeze when we had to fit everyone in the pit! In 2012 I also played in the orchestra for the school’s production of Oklahoma. Whilst in sixth form I took A level music.

Outside of school I was actively involved with Milton Keynes Music Service for many years, where I played and performed with the Senior Wind Orchestra on 1st/solo clarinet and with Advanced Jazz on baritone saxophone. In the 2011 Gala Concert in Milton Keynes Theatre, I played the solo clarinet part in Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.

I have also participated in the Music Service tours to Lake Garda, Italy, and Paris, France, as part of the Wind Orchestra, Big Band and Choir. I travelled to Ghana in 2011 with a small group of students and teachers from MK Music Service to help teach students at a local music organisation, as well as giving concerts in a range of venues.

I love any opportunity to widen my musical experiences and brought back a Djembe from Ghana and also a Sitar from India, where I went as part of a school cultural exchange. Whilst in Ghana I had the opportunity to work with a local drumming group, which was incredible, but after a while it does feel like your hands are going to fall off!

Back home I play alto and baritone saxophone with a soul/funk band, which has given me a chance to write and arrange the horn parts. We have performed at a range of events, from pub gigs to New Year’s Eve, Birthday and Garden parties.

I’m currently playing clarinet in the UKC Symphony Orchestra, and Sirocco group, and alto saxophone in Concert Band, and Big Band. The musical opportunities at Kent have allowed me to experience a broad range of repertoire and I felt privileged to have performed a piece that had been commissioned especially for Concert Band. I really enjoyed playing in the Gala opening of the Colyer-Fergusson building last term and I am looking forward to the concerts coming up this term.

Victoria Lockwood

Read the other profiles in the series here.

Notes on Music

Around the blogs this week

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Over on the Big Band blog, On the Beat, we’ve an interview with Steph Richardson, singer with ths band this year, about her musical interests and rehearsing with the band in preparation for their concert next month (read more).

Window
Image: sumbrealism.blogspot

Whilst on the choral blog, Cantus Firmus, the Chamber Choir has been exploring the narrow boundaries between sound and silence and practicing singing oh-so quielty, ahead of their Crypt Concert next week (read more).

And for all you saxophonists, there’s a review of a gig at Pizza Express from Radio 3 New Generation Artist Trish Clowes, a lyrical live set which is currently on iPlayer, which you can hear until Tuesday (read more).