There was one in Northern Ireland but the numbers were small... and that included 4 who travelled across the sea.

Though it might be a great thought to have events everywhere there are things to take into consideration.
One is that someone has to take the initiative to organise things but this is not the whole story.
Currently I think that most events are viable because of travellers from outside the immediate area. I think that Katyjay's Adult Learner concert is possibly the one that has now attracted enough people from the 'local' area to not be relying so much on those coming from a distance. Local area is quite wide too.
You have to take into account that not everyone who is shouting for an event nearby will attend if there is one for various reasons. Also with a relatively limited number of people who will attend events regardless of location if there was one everywhere on a regular basis there would n't be enough people to go round and non would cover costs or have enough attendees to make a reasonable concert.
One possible knock on from these events is that it may become possible to organise similar local events but attracting local adult learners who are not forum members. Form my experience this can be very difficult to get going.

One consideration with event venues is accessibility by public transport making it possible for more people to get to one or another.

I'm sure you mean the Irish Sea, it'd be a very long way round via the Channel



Without that, there's no event!



I would say the definition of 'local' in forum/adult learner event speak is very broad, as sbhoa says. I would say, for example, that Egham (North Surrey) could consider the whole of the South East, plus areas such as the Solent, Wiltshire and well up into southern parts of East Anglia to be local. For Stalybridge, that'd be right across the Northern industrial belt from Liverpool to Hull, plus Lancashire, the rest of Yorkshire and much of the North Midlands.

Glasgow did well for locals, too. And sbhoa, I think you're doing yourself down on the getting locals in. Particularly on the clarinet front!



And even for those of us who do travel, it may be the date won't suit for one reason or another (I've not made a Gloucester concert yet, because of clashes).



Extremely critical, this.

As far as I'm aware : in 2012, there is (or in the case of Egham, has been) events of varying descriptions planned for Egham, London, Cardiff, Gloucester, Stalybridge and Glasgow. That's a decent swathe of the country covered - much of the UK is within 100 miles or so of a venue. Last year was not dissimilar.

In Ireland, the 'Channel' is the Irish Sea. So when an Irish person talks of 'across the Channel' he/she means this country - Britain.

The clarinet situation is a little unusual (and I still say it's impossible to manage...) but I'm not much over 50% non travellers.

I am one of them- I would outright stop attending if I was going to be filmed or photographed with the result going on the internet. (I wouldn't object to my accompanying someone and that being recorded for lesson purposes, I know that happens). Nor would I like my photo on the internet not put up by me.

well, I just thought it would be a nice idea for those of us who can't attend for one reason or another.

It's quite possible that other people might not mind And actually, I wouldn't object to an audio recording of me being online, I just really don't like pictures or videos of me to be publicly available. This is because I have had problems with online stalkers before. It really changed my perspective of online privacy.

I was just curious to know what these events are all about, what happens, formats etc.etc.

Ah- understandable - happy to describe Egham in that case.

Anyone signing up is given 5 minutes to play (they don't have to fill up all the time). These can be solo or duo or ensemble. This year there were two ensembles - flute, and clarinet. They were sort of loosely organised on the Egham thread in the events subforum. There is a running order, but it's by random allocation. There is a printed programme, but the various pieces / players aren't announced.

People who need accompanists may either bring their own, request one, or if they know someone else playing at the same event, ask them personally. I accompanied four people at Egham; one was someone who asked me if I would accompany them and three were assigned. The rule is that the accompanist must have the music by three weeks before the concert or you will play unaccompanied.

On the day itself, the church was open from 11am. That's when people started to rehearse. The rest of the time we're sitting around chatting and drinking tea. I didn't have that much chat-and-tea time because I was doing runthroughs with people.

It really is low-stress - sometimes people go up and only get through half, or they say that they are only going to play one piece of the two that they originally listed. All of this is fine! The only requirement I guess is showing up and taking part in some way or another (though the organiser katyjay will doubtless correct me if I am wrong).

Feedback is an important part of these. We are given slips of paper and pencils and asked to give positive feedback to each performer. We all are extremely capable of remembering and going over in our heads, each wrong note or thing we did wrong- so the feedback slips are a concrete reminder of all the things that we did right. I tried to write feedback for everyone including the people I accompanied but didn't always manage just because there are so many players!

At the end of the concert, a large group went for dinner. I wasn't able to join them but I did last year and it was brilliant. I would love to go for more events, but I'm not always able to get there easily as I don't drive, and taking the train up the night before is not usually feasible. However, I don't see that as a problem for me - I think it's great that the events are dotted around the country so that people from lots of different places can attend.

Edit: The Egham webpage is here. https://sites.google.com/site/adultlearnersconcertegham/

The FAQ says a lot about the format, etc.

Thanks corenfa. My curiosity is satisfied.

Actually the Egham concert order of performance looked great - it's just the sort of thing I like. Hope it was all 'alright on the night' so to speak.....Thank you for the link, corenfa. I assume you performed in said concert?

You're welcome. I did play - I was happy with the way I played because I felt I'd got all of the things down that I wanted to even though I got very nervous. I don't usually get nervous but this time, I am between techniques as my teacher is completely deconstructing things, and I don't feel that my new technique is quite rock solid yet. My feedback mentioned specific things that I tried to bring out, and that shows that I did manage to bring them out. My performance certainly wasn't perfect, there was a bit full of accidentals that even in practise wasn't perfect every time and I just made a total hash of it on the day but it wasn't obvious unless you knew the piece very very well. I think the musical effect was there, and I felt that it was more success than not because of that.

Edit for some more philosophical musings - how is it that I could possibly think it was more a success than not even though I made a hash of some of it notes-wise? I think that above all, a certain musical effect is what I am aiming for. Obviously if I make *too much* of a hash of it, that will be lost, and I will have "failed" to get across what I wanted to and to be true to the music. But it would be possible to get all of the notes perfect and *still* fail musically; my teacher did tell me in one lesson: That was dead boring, can't you do better? She also told me I was playing very cleanly and very precisely but with no expression.

yeah, makes you realise what you're missing stuck in miserable old working-class Birmingham!!!

The link to sbhoa's Northern version doesn't work but after removing the https secure I have it in another window and am gonna look that site over. July is the next one apparently.

Please note Sbhoa's site at the moment reflects last year's concert. This year's website won't be up for a little while yet.

This year's Stalybridge concert will be on July 14th, by the way.

I've updated most of it already but the application form won't go on yet.
Applications open around Easter time.

I would lke to try to get to the Stalybridge this year if you will have me !

As if sbhoa wouldn't have you!

Once applications open, get the form and fee in before (1) the closing date and (2) sbhoa sells out.

...and this is a popular event...

Wot she said....(besides, there's a potential gap in my usual line up of accompanists ...)

Indeed you would. Not that much to expect.

Think I'll buy myself a Bose wave to cheer myself up after being unwell. They sound great for classical music.

It's not good when bits drop off your clarinet.....

UK entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 : Engelbert Humperdinck

Can't be worse?

Peter Andrex?

have we seen who are representing Ireland?? The Fable of the Mischievous Dog by Aesop comes to mind....men often mistake notoriety for fame......i.r.m.c.

True

'Tis an anagram of Pluck The Green Birdmen

Or if you think it more appropriate, Treble Gender Chipmunk

I could do a better job representing old perfidious Albion at Eurovision with my rendition of 'Fantasia on 2011-2012 ABRSM grade 3 Piano pieces)

Ray Moore (ex-radio 2) used to call him Uncle Bert drank the ink.

Hardly matters. It's all purile dross anyway.

At twelve noon I am driving over to my mechanic and dropping my car off for its service/MOT. My mother is supposed to be simultaneously leaving her house, meeting me there, and driving me back home.
We arranged this on Tuesday. It would not be...um...out of character for my mother to forget.

So I want to phone and say 'what are you doing in fifteen minutes time then mother?'.
The problem is, if she has remembered, she will get the Right Hump at the implication she might forget anything ever.

Ah well, I figure I'm in trouble either if I don't remind her and she has forgotten, or if I do remind her and she hasn't. I'll just go for crossing fingers that she has remembered and thus doesn't need a reminder!!

Good luck Maizie. My old Volvo S80 sailed through MOT on Monday at 101,500 miles.
Alas I lose it next Wednesday and will use an spare company Honday Civic (2.2 Diesel) to month end when I retire (coming down your way in it 17th-20th). Should get my new Yaris T Spirit Thursday next week, but company pay my private fuel, so wont use Yaris much until end month.

I managed to fix it though. It was a bit scary!

Which bit was it?

the bit that the link key and middle hole ring is attached to on the top joint.
I just finished playing and it dropped off!

Thank you - it should be fine, having managed a grand total of 4730 miles since its last MOT.

And my mother remembered And while we were there, we made an appointment for her MOT, with me returning the favour transport-wise

I just wait while the tester does my MOT's?? It doesn't take long. They often let me have a look under the car with an inspection light to check for underbody rust too.

I rack up about 22,000 miles per year and the companyt don't pay the fuel costs, sadly

It's the annual service and the MOT at the same time; don't have your skills when it comes to servicing it myself

We were at the vet's today, waiting for an injection for Monty, our dog. There were a number of other dogs/cats etc in as well. Overheard a lady talking to her dog, who was called Lottie. Hmm I thought, that's a forumite. Lottie was being introduced to Maizie (golden retriever)! And blow me down, the cat in the cage was called Louise!

I just dared my Dad into having his first piano lesson....he's always wanted to learn, but has very large hands with sausages for fingers and is a bit arthritic and thought he wouldn't be able to..... He's also been quietly learning his G1 theory with DS ....so he agreed, and flew through it!! Loved it too...just goes to show you are never too old to learn....he's 81!! He'll never make a concert pianist - and will need to find his own technique to work around his stiff joints, but it doesn't matter, he had fun!

That's good, I've tried to do likewise to my wife but her dyslexia means she cannot read the notes, plus she is a little bit arthritic in the hands too.

Here's an abstract thought. Wouldn't it be groovy to wake up one morning and see the words 28 UNREAD EMAILS when I open my inbox. It always says 0. Nobody loves old turkeyface 'ere, not even the habitual spammers from Vietnam.....

Fly, Little Bird (Classics To Moderns 2 p31) is like playing twister with one's right hand in bar 3. There must be a way around it, he ponders. It's that C#, a right pain in the wazzock but then again just a matter of opinion.

Just found a fantastic way to practice scales and arpeggios. Pick a scale and say aloud the name and details of that scale, for example 'Eb Major Scale Both Hands' or 'G Minor Arpeggio Left Hand' and then play it. I am finding my concentration actually improves doing this as I feel like it might be an ABRSM examiner saying what I'm saying and so I feel like its better preparation and I'll know what to play in the exam room. I've spent an entire morning doing scales and arpeggios this way (with intermittent tea breaks) and you know what......I'm 99.8% perfect on my scales and arpeggios at Grade 3 level (plus I've managed to squeeze in a Paul Harris Sightread test at g2)

That's something positive for a change, eh???

Oh yes, and trust in your music teacher. He/she certainly knows how many crotchets make five!

My colleague discovered this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17232058

I would love to test out the end product!

Is that the one about the alternative violin strings?

Arachnaphobes are advised NOT to follow that link.