The Stalybridge concert will be on Saturday 29th July 2006.

It is open to adult learners (age 21 or over) who have started or restarted learning their instrument after leaving full time education.
As one of the main ideas behind the Adult Learners concerts is to encourage and support those who are relatively inexperienced in performing beginners to intermediate players/singers are particularly welcome.
Diploma level players may apply for a reserve place but priority will be given to those below diploma level.
More information and application form can be found here.


Volunteer accompanists will be very welcome of course....

Looks good. Form will be on its way shortly

So sorry I won't be able to make this one as we are away that weekend.

As will mine!!!

After having so much fun in Leicester I'd pretty much convinced myself that Stalybridge is only a short hop from Sussex and was all set to come, but unfortunately the 29th July falls slap bag in the middle of my singing Summer School.



Amber
x

Poor old diploma-level musicians being discriminated against again!
Perhaps I should arrange that "higher grades" get together I was discussing with Debzie some time ago...

The reason why Susan and I are prioritising the Adult Learners is that they are the people who haven't had the chance, whether through school or a music degree or music college to perform in public. We have finite resources of cash and time at our disposal, and need to deploy these to help people who aren't yet in a position do this for themselves. And, in our opinion, someone who is capable of selecting and preparing enough works to take a diploma or music degree is at a level that they can start making their own performance opportunities.

If you want such an event to happen, Mr B., by all means organise one. I'll be happy to help if I can.

Cheers

katyjay

Sorry, but just remind me when it was that you were dicriminated against before????????

I really feel like coming to watch this one!

I would come and watch, but I will probably be away sometime around the 29th.

Car Expert

Isn't Stalybridge a bit of a distance for you also?

Yes it is. I don't think I would've gone anyway.

Car Expert

As I'm a newcomer to the forum I have only just learned about these adult learner concerts. I think this is a great idea. I would love to take part but it would help if the venue were reasonably close to my home town in Norfolk. Stalybridge is a bit far for me. Leicester would have been ok. London would be easy as I have somewhere to stay there. Some where in East Anglia would be ideal but I guess there has to be a critical mass of volunteer helpers in a given locality plus a cheap venue and good transport links if a concert is to materialise. Maybe I will just hope that there is a nucleas of concert-organisers in my region and perhaps something might happen.

How do you think I got into this?
I was wondering whether someone would organise a concert nearer to me when my teacher said, 'Go on then', the rest is history.....

Katyjay has given an open offer to help anyone who wants to get something going in their area but you need to find the venue yourself.

Sadly I won't be able to come and support you all at Stalybridge, as I'll be away.

If you are an adult learner, and you can get to Stalybridge on the 29th July, then I can highly recommend going. If it's anything like as well put together as the forum users concert in Leicester (as I know it will be), then it'll be great!

Yes, it would be good to have something in East Anglia one day...

You've got Delia Smith, sugar beet and Sizewell B... what more do you want?

...and my in-laws.

Me too...it is only 3.5 hours away

I can't come to this one, as it's the day when we go away on holiday. If it had been on the original date I could have come straight on from my Summer School in Liverpool......

Best of luck with arranging it, sbhoa!

How do you think I got into this?
I was wondering whether someone would organise a concert nearer to me when my teacher said, 'Go on then', the rest is history.....

Katyjay has given an open offer to help anyone who wants to get something going in their area but you need to find the venue yourself.
[/quote]

I have a venue in mind but I need to make enquiries.

Will need to check, but I think I'll be free - will need to give serious thought to what ,if anything, I can play!

I'm depending hearing on you playing - it's one of the reasons I'm coming up for the concert.

Snuglivixen, I'd love to hear you play live, as you've sent me recordings over the months, you have improved SO much!

You should play, snugli - it's the friendliest, most supportive atmosphere you can imagine

sbhoa: would I count as an adult learner for fluting purposes?

I thought about doing it (with a push from Nat) when it was the original date, but on 29th I will be returning to the Kenyan coast after a 4 day safari (hope you're all green with envy!!)

We will be there to celebrate my parents golden wedding, so including Mum & Dad, 3 kids + spouses and grandchildren that makes 17 in all. My younger brother and his wife couldn't make it as she can't have those dates off work.

So, I'll be thinking of you all sweating with nerves whilst I'm lounging by the pool (bar)!!

Have a really great time everyone, promise I'll come to the next one north of Brum , and even worse - I'll force Nat to accompany me (unless she's sacked me by then for not practising enough!)

Lynne

I can't be there that day Husband is singing in a concert, so I shall be there to cheer him on. Details of his concert will be available in a Proms guide near you later this week


Prod me about this - I might actually get around to extracting some digits to organise something.


Mmm, I could bring my Dad, his slightly strange wife and their retired greyhound along to an East Anglia concert. Then again...

Sounds very exciting - all the best for the organising and performing!!

???


What kind of standard would that be?

Would be a good one to come listen to I imagine

We discussed putting on a concert for some of the diploma-level members of the forums, probably having only a few performers but each having a longer slot. Life got in the way a bit and so the idea slipped from my mind, but I shall try very hard to remember to ask Revd Four-Hoods about using Valhalla Parish Church for a concert at some point in the autumn, probably about six to eight weeks before the autumn diploma onslaught. If I ask reeeeeeeeeeally nicely we might even be able to use the organ (three manuals, loads of pully-out things and more pipes than you can shake a hymn-book at), but we have a very protective organist who is reluctant to let anyone else even clean it, let alone play it.

But by dreaming about a concert which might happen, I'm hijacking a thread about a concert which will definitely happen. Get your forms in soon, oh Stalybridge artistes, 'cos it sounds as though slots are already filling up quickly!

I have a venue not far from Deborah we can use... Handy for the M25 etc. We are allowed to use the organ since I'm the organista emeritus LOL Reasonable grand piano and pubs very close by. Sounds an ideal venue to me

Looks like that's me and YAP out then . We're still in full time education, never mind starting learning when leaving it (I started age 19 whilst at university and am still there). I can assure you though that there is the same lack of performance opportunities for a grade 5 level pianist in a university as there is for any other adult learner in the country .

I hope the concert is a success . Sbhoa: if you want us to put the webpages on the official forum concert site (http://www.forumconcert.co.uk) just let us know .

Mr B: that certainly sounds like it could be a good listen . London is, however, rather a long way away, we could offer to organise something similar further north but I doubt we'd find somewhere with an organ.

We've been thinking of something like a weekend event with two days but we've had a lack of anything to do on the other day: maybe a two-day concert split could work, one with longer slots for diploma level players one day and one with shorter slots in which anyone can play.

AP, it's hard to pin down a clear definition of an "Adult Learner" that will focus the concert opportunity on the people who particularly need it.

If we just say "people who started or restarted their instruments as adults" we then get into the discussion of who is an adult (for example is an "A"-level student who is 18?) and also whether people who are at University preparing for a career in music who have changed instruments but still have those performance opportunities open to them from their degree should be counted. And a number of people on this forum who either teach or regularly hold their own recitals or play for money would argue that they are "Adult Learners" in that they are still learning their instrument.

My personal impression would be that you are an Adult Learner, in the sense of the people we want to make these concerts available to, but that YAP isn't. Similarly I was one, but am not any more. I'm not sure how to craft a definition that would work. Except possibly to qualify "full time education" to mean only up to the end of a first degree, and that only if it's a music degree.

I'd welcome anyone's views on this - I think it's an important issue.

Cheers

katyjay

Working on a definition that fits all variations is tricky.
AP, I would count you as an Adult Learner.

I feel that generally anyone over 21 and below dip. level who is NOT studying music on a full time course comes within the definition.
Anyone who is not sure whether they are eligible is welcome to ask.

In which case, I am ok for flute, I think??

Sorry, forgot to reply to that when I saw it first time.... yes.

Does diploma level include people who are working for diplomas but haven't yet actually passed one ( so aren't really diploma level) or does is actually mean people who have passed a diploma?

Mr B: a concert for diploma-level musicians sounds like a really good idea. Even if I don't yet qualify to play in it, I would love to listen to others of that standard playing.

It's tricky to know where to draw the line. Shortly before I took my DipABRSM, for example, I was diploma level (I passed) but didn't have a diploma. Maybe it depends on what circumstance:

• If it's a concert where priority is given to non-diploma level people, the line could be that priority is given to those who haven't yet passed grade 8;
• If it's a concert where priority is given to diploma level people, the line could be that priority is given to those who have diplomas or have passed grade 8 and are performing works they intend to perform in a diploma examination.

But then adults studying for diplomas *are* adult learners!

I thought that too

Thanks


So would I


I think katyjay's point is that anyone who can put together a diploma recital can sort themselves out a recital, and therefore aren't in need of a showcase for the talents.

Really? I live in a city with the RSAMD, a university full of music students, two orchestras, and concerts/recitals on pretty much a daily basis; and yet somehow I should be able to organise myself a recital?

Furthermore, as an amateur pianist, I can't join orchestras or choirs to get to perform or to make contacts....

Well to be fair you're certainly in far better a position to arrange one than a 30 year old grade 5 violinist is in the same circumstances, for example...


You might be able to find an amateur orchestra willing to let you play a concerto with them.

And also that they are not lacking in confidence as performers and so not really in need of the support and encouragement that these events are trying to give.

I feel a bit like I'm sinking in a sea of rules and regulations here.
I really don't want to start having an endless list of rules, if for no other reason then because I'd just get drowned out by all these highly educated people...
I am not trying to alienate people or get into arguaments. (sp?)
What I'm trying to do as organiser is to provide a venue and do the organisation to allow people to get together to meet other adults who are learning and to perform and enjoy their playing in a 'safe' environment.
As I see it the Adult Learners Concert is for the support and encouragement of those adult learners who..

1) Don't get so many performance opportunities. (and might think more than twice before performing anyway).
2) (This one is pretty important) Are not confident about playing to an audience.
3) Would like to meet other adult learners and play to a small, non judgemental group of people.

It is also open to local adult learners who are not forum members.

I decided on 21 as the lower age lmit because this is the lower age limit to be eligible for the choice of performance assessment instead of exam (apart from special needs).
This is not even trying to be an exhaustive list.

Please can you also remember that this is only the second year for these concerts so it is not totally unexpected that adjustments will be made in the way they work as experience builds.

Sorry if this is a bit rambling I'm trying to get down a little of what is in my head and am not sure if it is coming out too clearly.






Where in this do people like me fit? I passed grade 8 yet am about as far from Diploma level as grade1 is from grade 8 I think.


YAP.... you can go on the reserve list and if there is room on the programme you can play.

Yes, there's a big grey area - after all probably most of the people who take grade 8 never do a diploma...

Sounds a bit like a smaller version of the pipe-dream "Forums summer school"! - it would be fun. Might get expensive staying places though, unless we could somehow block book somewhere and get a discount (not to be moneypinching, but I just don't have a lot of cash, and it might be a bit much for local forumites to put up dozens of people!)

I don't want to go on a reserve list if I am just going to make the other performers on the day nervous rather than contributing something to the concert along with everyone else. I still don't know whether the general concensus of diploma-level players is 'inspiring' or 'depressing'....

From what I've been reading so far most people are going for 'inspiring'.

YAP, as I said on your comment slip, you just made me go WOW on Saturday...which is totally inspiring, not many people make me commentless!

Inspiring. Yes, definitely inspiring.