I would like to wish all of you my best wishes for a very pleasant day in Headingley on Saturday.
The weather is glorious and very warm here at the moment. I have to leave for Suffolk shortly, but will be back here on Monday to hear your stories and see the pics !

Eee I've come over all northern and I can tell you I'm reet downcast I wont be there...

Maybe next time? I'd actually like to meet you

Thank you both I'm just putting the finishing touches to the programme and then I'm going off to meet DaisyChain and mwl1 to rehearse our pieces


Edit: Sorry but time's run out - if it's not too late when I get back, I'll try and do it then

The programme is now completed with many thanks to St George for doing a brilliant job as always

http://www.yorkshire-music-lessons.co.uk/c..._programme.html


DaisyChain, mwl1 and I have been rehearsing tonight and it's been a great evening, thank you mwl1

Can't wait for Saturday

Are you doing all of the Dvorak 9th?!... Wow!

Don't see why not ...although I think we're planning to start with the Finale cos we like being eccentric and then see if we've got time for the other movements

I'll repost the link to the programme so that it's on this page and doesn't get missed, and again thanks ever so much to St George for doing it so beautifully

http://www.yorkshire-music-lessons.co.uk/c..._programme.html


Talking of St George, just to confirm that he'll pick up all the following people from Leeds Station soon after Willobie's arrival...

9.06 sbhoa, Barry
9.2x Phantasmagoriana
9.36 willobie

If anyone else needs to be picked up, please let me know

Yay!
Long Live St George!

I'm a bit scared now

Hear Hear!


Just a couple of other things to mention...

Pianists might like to know that the best piano is in the exam room at the far end of the building on the ground floor - would everybody please let the solo pianists use this room. If you're a solo pianist and the room is in use already, just ask the College administrator which rooms the other best pianos are in.

There are lots of very cheap CDs for sale (about £1 I think, maybe less), also sheet music and books. Everybody is welcome to buy anything that's for sale, just see the College administrator.


First Aid Mistress is DaisyChain. But hopefully nobody will need her services


And a final reminder not to forget to bring your Acknowledgement so that you can get into the College!



PS. Just seen Babybird's post - I was terrified before my first forum concert at Chester but it was all right on the night - really it was!!

Me too...

W

The programme looks great!

Nice one St George!

I think your duet together will be very appropriate looking at the weather at the moment

No, it's just like this today so that it will be bright and clear tomorrow!

Not looking forward to travelling such a long distance in it, but I have my CD of I'm Sorry I Havent A Clue, so that should keep me smiling.



Ambs
x

You'll both be fine, you'll see...

Lovely programme, lots of contrast, looking forward to it. Should be there around 9.30, by car.

Looking forward to meeting you oldnotes, hope you have a good journey, and you too Amber, drive safely

Me too Seeing the programme (nice work, btw) makes it more real somehow and so far I've managed to "forget" the performing bits and just thought I'm meeting some forumites on Saturday...

Looking forward to meeting all of you tomorrow!

PS> Arriving around 11.30am

I've been the same until I had a rehearsal with my accompanist mwl1 last night and I suddenly realised I was actually going to performing instead of as well as just enjoying myself

On the Sunday, just to confirm that the very nice man at the Reed Organ and Harmonium Museum has said that if any of us want to have a play on his organs, we'll be very welcome to

Excellent! I always like to have a play on organs!

Glad last night was the success it was - I felt slightly more "with it" when I'd eaten! My aunt runs a PYO strawberry type establishment - a few weeks later and we could have hired her out to provide strawberries for the event!

Eeeeek - I'm on right at the start!

Just hope the railways are running to plan - I should be there by about half past one if all goes well.

Good Luck everyone and have a super time.

Wishing I was there too.

I will be thinking of you all. Have fun!!!!

[
I've sent it - did you get it? If you want to reach me quickly it's better to PM me, as I can only get into my emails from my home computer.

We should be arriving at about 9.30, all being well with the traffic.

We're planning ot arrive about 9.30 too. See you all there.

Thanks for your thoughts janexxx, hope to see you at some other event soon

Yes, got your email thanks ChrisH, no problem. See you and everyone else in the morning!

It's a beautiful day here if anyone's just setting off - the sun is shining, the sky is blue and there's not a cloud in sight. Look forward to seeing you very shortly!


Edit: It's getting even better now the sun is getting higher - I think it's going to be warm hot We can sit in the garden, yay

It is a lovely day indeed. My boyfriend better be awake to give me a lift to the college later. He only got in at half 3

I can throw a bucket of ice cold water over him if need be

Just about to leave - see you all soon!

W

Just about to set off - thank you to everybody who's sent me emails or PMs with good wishes and support and see you all sometime later!

I'm home Thanks everyone - I had a great day And well done to everyone who performed I'm really tired now though

I'm home too! Well done everyone, and thanks for a jolly day!

We're back too. Thank you skylark for another very well organised event.

Lovely to catch up with everyone and very nice to meet all the newcomers.

Thanks to Oldnotes for the Piano accompaniment, Barry for all the organising, hillyb for making me laugh as usual and ChrisH for being good company.

Just got back too!

Thanks for a brilliant day - and especially to oldnotes for accompanying me! General concensus seems to be that I should keep the new viola so I'd better pay for it!

Lots of highlights of the day but especially the performance by Amber & Panthera which was so musical. Other highlights incuded the performance by Addy & Liddy (and oldnotes) - and the kazoo orchestra!

Lovely to meet lots of new people - it was great fun!

W

Thanks to everyone involved who made it an enjoyable day. Am very tired now, must be all that kazooing!

My thanks too, to everyone who helped create a musical day to remember. Hope to see you all again one day.

Glad it went well. Hope to be with you next year!

Just got in after our other ventures. It was great, thanks Skylark

Hope it went well!

I've just got in too, I was led astray by Addy and Liddy and St George

Thanks to Petrat, Barry and Sbhoa for doing a great job leading the various large ensembles. And thanks to all of you who contributed cakes and biscuits, especially Babybird's homemade biscuits

I've really enjoyed every aspect of the day... meeting up with familiar friends again, meeting several new faces, listening to lovely music beautifully played and sung, and some great entertainment. I hope everybody enjoyed it as much as I did.

And I must thank everybody for the bubbly and the beautiful flowers - I think they're larkspur and the fragrance fills the house, they more than make up for the lack of flowers on my lilac tree


---------------------------
PS, Has anyone lost a beaded bracelet?

A big thank you to Skylark for organising such a fantastic day, it all went very smoothly. Also, thank you to Barry for doing lots of musical organising, thank you to Petrat for her fantastic efforts with the kazoo orchestra (I really think we should aim for higher things with that one - Britain's got talent, Xfactor?). Thanks also go to Oldnotes for helping me to overcome my nerves, and for his fantastic piano playing, and also to Notmusimum and her daughters for being good company.

It was nice to meet Daisychain and Hillyb as well. I loved Hillyb's funny anecdotes about the Manchester Sax Day.

I really enjoyed the concert, and thought everyone played really well. As I discovered, it's very nervewracking playing in front of an audience

Well done to everyone who came, played, organised, made food, prepared food, and anything else I may have forgotten!

I don't have a clue how mwl1 coped with having accompaniments thrust at him at the last moment like he had - well done you!

And Panthera is a real find - I'll be PMing you in the week Panthera.

And one final mention : the flute ensemble. Turned up in the morning, to have Babybird, phantasmagoriana and others ask 'what are we going to play in the ensemble'?

So it was a quick sift through music the notmusimum family had brought, find something, and play it. And all the flutes were magnificent, and played beautifully - really proud of the lot of you!!!

Roll on the next forum event is what I say! Well done to all involved again!

Well I'm back!

Thank you so so much to everyone who made me feel so welcome. I had a great time, and it feels as though I've been away on holiday!

It was great hearing everyone perform, and I think there's so much talent here on the Forums. I really enjoyed hearing people I've heard before and seeing how their playing has developed over time. I'm glad you're going to keep your new viola Willobie!

I'm sorry I didn't get to speak to everyone. I think it's always the same, that the time flies by so quickly. Catch up with you next time!

The meal afterwards was a right laugh. Thank you for chauffering me St George, so I could have a drink! (I needed one by that time I can assure you!)

I particularly enjoyed meeting Petrat for the first time. Thank you for all the work you put into creating the Kazoo orchestra and Recorder ensemble - it was great to have the opportunity to play with others even though I'm not an instrumentalist. And your voice is truly awesome. I was singing in the car on the way home and experimenting with my cheek muscles and was really surprised by the difference it made, so thank you for putting me in touch with yet another part of my body!

Special thank yous to Panthera and Sbhoa for your wonderful accompanying. You both have a lovely calm and steady presence, which is just what I needed on stage to help keep my nerves under control.

And another special thank you to Barry and St. George for duetting with me. It's the first time I've duetted with men - thank you for being gentle with me!

And the video recording has come out great, so thank you again to St. George and also Daisychain for filming me. My singing teacher will appreciate the opportunity of seeing how I performed on the day, and it's a lovely reminder of a fun time.

Skylark, your organisational skills are phenomenomenomenal, and thank you to you and everyone else who worked so hard and put so much into making the event so special.

My goodness, all these thank yous, this is sounding like an Awards Ceremony speech!

I'll shut up now, and go and get on with my housework!

Ambs
x

No problem, it was fun.

Wanna duet with you again!

My turn to report in. It was my first forum concert and (though totally nerve wrecking) what a fantastic day! The kazoo orchestra was really interesting and addy/liddy alone was worth the journey from London...

Big thank you to skylark for organising.




Will be waiting...





It was you who provided me with the calming presence! I really enjoyed accompanying you, Ambs

I'm so sorry to have missed it all!! It sounds like you had the usual great time with all the usual suspects and some others I haven't met yet.

I was being baked in Llandudno in the Guides stand in the Urdd Esiteddfod! And then even worse than talking to a reporter from the Western Mail on Monday..... a BBC reporter came looking for me (I was quoted and named in the newspaper) so I had to do a piece to camera that was used on the 7:30 news last night - in Welsh!!!

I didn't do too badly, and fortunately they used the bit where I actually sounded quite fluent - my Motherinlaw phoned afterwards to say that I had "sounded like a native". I think that might have been stretching it a bit, but I was happy with it!

Haven't filled in the form for Stalybridge yet, but have been busy clarinetting with our choir as we have a concert on Friday night. Wish me luck!!

Probably something to do with the fact that the flute ensemble director had had to drop out only a few days earlier! It seemed a shame not to try and get something else together though, so thanks notmusimum for bringing some replacement music and glad it was worthwhile bringing your flute in the end Barry!


He took it in his stride didn't he - what a pro! But I never doubted for a moment that he would not just cope but excel when the other accompanist dropped out - I've seen mwl1 sightread and he's brilliant



Yes good luck! Hope it goes well for you!

Any photos yet, anyone?

Yes I've got dozens!

I just haven't had chance to get round to loading them yet

Been out all day at the Early Music Shop in Saltaire, followed by the Reed Organ and Harmonium Museum with some of the people who attended the concert. Both are well worth a visit!