Exeter Recorder Orchestra have agreed on a date for our next concert (and first under the baton of Pam Smith): Saturday 7 March, evening, at St James Church, Mount Pleasant Road, Exeter.

This is what we've been rehearsing:
William Boyce, Concerto Grosso in A minor (adapted for recorder orchestra from the original in E minor)
John Hawkes, Festival Overture
Steve Marshall, Variations on A Chantar (based on the 14th century melody by La Comtessa de Dia)
Popular Renaissance Dances, arr, Denis Bloodworth:
- Michael Praetorius, Courante
- Tylman Susato, Pavane
- Samuel Voelckel, Courante
- Christoph Demantius, Galliard
- Susato, another Pavane
- Susato, Ronde
Modest Mussorgsky, Gopak from Sorochintsy Fair, arr. Paul Clark
Marshall, Symphony No 2 for Recorder Orchestra *
Giles Farnaby, The Lord Zouche's Maske, arr. Clark
Philip R Buttall, The Lone Ar-ranger, arr. Marshall

Aeolienne, tenor 1 (soloist in *)

Sounds like a nice programme - but it's a bit too far to come... The London orchestra are also working on the Buttall at the moment - it's great fun!

W

Am about to add both the above event and the Yorkshire Strings weekend in Scarborough to the calendar, as well as a bandstand concert in Salford in September 2009

Subtle change to the forthcoming 15th August Scotland gig.

A shift north, to Inverness.

And a certain mwl1 helping out

Couple of small changes to the calendar:

The Northern Ireland contingent have decided to concentrate on just the two playdays, on Saturday 30th May, and w/c 17th August, so the possible event on 31st January has been dropped. I'll be at both the May and August events, armed with the folders of music the people who came to Eccles have already seen!

The handbell day in West Byfleet, Surrey now has a proposed date, the 29th August 2009.

Yay, have penciled this in

Also, just noticed the London forum concert is now in May. Any chance it would be the 16th or 23rd? I'm away the first two weekends in May...

Good news everyone! The venue has said yes! So there will definitely be a handbell day, in West Byfleet, on Saturday 29th August!



Am looking at either 2nd or 16th, and good news for you Panthera is that I have 16th as first choice. The 9th is an 'SRP Saturday', the 23rd I'm already busy, and the 30th I'll be away in Belfast.

Have added an interesting looking flute choir playday at Leicester University to the calendar (on 28/3). Thank you nickjones8 for finding/recommending it!

Hi Barry

I saw your post about putting "Come Sing" events on the calendar - can I ask you to add the Come Sing Handel's Messiah on Saturday 18 April 2009 in Leeds. This the the link to the thread giving all the information. Thanks!

Sure. I'll add the Cardiff one in due course too.

Hi Barry... do you think you could amend the Players for Pleasure entries for January and May on your first post please to make it clear that they are concerts - at the moment you've just got them down as an "event", which could be anything, and with so many dates on the calendar, it would be a shame if someone who was looking for a concert at which to perform missed seeing the Leeds opportunity because it didn't actually say "concert". Thank you

And now that the new thread is loaded for the Leeds Concert on Jan 3rd, if you could change the link to http://forums.abrsm.org/index.php?showtopic=33670 , it would be much appreciated

I can only manage the 2nd - 16th is also an SRP Saturday...

W

Skylark : done (and I've changed the January website link to direct to your application form page rather than the homepage).

This year, as you may have discovered, I'm also putting on other events where either forumites are performing in a recital (for example, Aeolienne's recorder recital in Exeter on 7th March), and also events where forumites will/are likely to gather in large numbers. To that end, I'm about to add to the calendar the rather excellent Woodwind Playday, organised by the East London Clarinet Choir, on Saturday 31st January. It's for all woodwind players, not just clarinettists, and is at the Salvation Army Hall on Oxford Street, London W1. You'll need to be at least grade 5 to cope with the parts. Jo.clarinet, Carl and I went last year, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Duly added. St. David's Hall, Cardiff, 22/2/09. Thanks for the info petrat.

Expect a confirmed date for the next Eccles playday to be posted in the next week or so (for 1st quarter 2009). Invitations will go out to all of you who came last time, plus some others who couldn't go to the one a couple of weeks ago, but have showed interest in future events. The invitations will also include all the Eccles plans for 2009, and they are exciting!

The Fleet Flute F(l)estival, as promoted by andante_in_c, on Saturday 28th February, now on the calendar.

It's getting a bit crowded, this calendar.

um, personally I'd find it easier to follow if it was split so that each of the months had an individual heading

.... but that's just me...

I was thinking it was getting perhaps a little busy looking...

How would people like the layout of the calendar to look?

here's a few options:

Option 1:

Sunday 4th January : Reigate, Surrey : Carousel Clarinet Quartet in concert

(i.e. the current layout)

--------------------------

Option 2:

February

Saturday 28 : Fleet, Hampshire : Flute day with andante_in_c

--------------------------

Option 3 :

Split the calendar into regions of the UK, for example :

Events in Wales

Saturday 21st March: Benllech, Anglesey, North Wales : Forum concert, organised by petrat.

------------------------

Option 4 :

Split the calendar into types of event, for example :

Adult Learner concerts

Saturday 7th February: Teddington, South West London : Adult Learner concert, organised by katyjay and AmandaL

I'm very tempted by option 3, but will go with a majority view

Hello barry-clari and all.

I am new joinner and did my exam last week - Terrible time at the moment, just wait and wait!
I play the clarinet (total 20 years includes looong break) and play the oboe.
And am interested in join workshops / Forum / event for Oboe or Clarinet in Lodnon area. (live in SE, greater London)
I am very happy to find this forum, which I am surprised to meet many adult learners like me, so fantastic!

Could you please let me know once you confirm the date - especially interested in small ensemble/chamber music! I will keep checking forum anyway.

Very nice to know everyone!

Welcome to the forum.
Events are organised by different people so your best bet is to keep an eye on the calendar for something you'd like to attend. There is usually a separate thread with a link on the calendar once an event is open for booking and if you are not sure what's going on at a particular event you can always either ask on forum or send a PM to the organiser.
Most events are not instrument specific but welcome all (or most) instruments.
Some are mostly solo or pre arranged small ensemble concert type events and playdays are , well, what it says on the tin really, days (or half days) for getting together to play in an orchestral setting.
Events off Forum are also on the board where a forum member makes it known that there is an open event which forum members may be interested in.

Thank you very much Sbhoa.

I am looking forward to join in next year.
Nice oppotunityh to meet new people and make a music and friends!

Welcome to the forum!

I'll keep the calendar regularly updated with all sorts of good stuff! Hope to see you at an event soon!

Thanks for the responses to how the calendar should be set up.

I've decided to convert broadly to option 2, with colours now to represent regions of the UK rather than types of events (some people wanted regions to be signified), and the type of event will be signified in bold print.

The 8 regions will be Scotland/Wales/Northern Ireland/Yorkshire and North East England/North West England/The Midlands/East Anglia and the South East/South West England

Hope people like it!

Hi I am new to the board, is there any update on the adult learner concert in Cardiff? I would be very interested in that, give me something to aim for!!

Also, sorry if this is explained somewhere obvious that I can't see, but what is the difference between an adult learner concert and a forum concert? Is the standard higher at a forum concert or does include younger players as well?

The Adult Learner concerts began on the forum but are open to non forum members too.
Forum concerts are similar but usually for forum members only.
Generally speaking all abilities of players are welcome at both types of event but Adult Learners concerts are mostly aimed at 'grade level' players.
Forum concerts may admit suitably chaperoned under 18s. They've also tended to have some large ensemble item which participants can choose to take part in.

LooneyTunes is working on the venue as we speak, then the two of us will co-ordinate diaries and we should then be ready to announce further details.

Thankyou both! I shall keep my eyes peeled for the Cardiff concert

eirlys, and other members who are not sure what happens at these concerts, you might find it useful to have a look at the thread called Forum Concerts and Other Events which is pinned at the top of the Forum Events sub-forum - it gives detailed information about each type of event, and also links to photographs from previous events

I've added the Thameside Clarinet Choir playday on Sunday 26th April to the calendar.

I've started to make the entries in the calendar more comprehensive, do let me know if you want any changes to be made to any entries.

I've also noticed, having put the regional colours in, that some colours are much more common than others (there's a lot of red for South East/East Anglia and orange for the North West, but just one yellow entry for the South West, for example). If you live in an area that's under-represented with events, and there's a playday or similar happening near you, do let me know. The aim is to make this a comprehensive resource.

For the Leeds one on 3rd Jan you've just mentioned "choral/ensemble opportunities" but most people in fact come for the opportunity to play a solo as well as in ensembles (especially pianists!). If you could change it to "solo/choral/ensemble opportunities", that would be appreciated

Done skylark.

Must find that saxophone day in Nottingham (1/3) to add to the calendar

The Nottingham Saxday on March 1st is now on the calendar.

While expanding the entry for the Yorkshire Late Starters' String weekend in Scarborough on May 22-24, I found what looks to be an interesting opportunity for string players of any standard to take part in a playday in the same place on the Bank Holiday Monday (25th). You would be studying a single work with the aim of producing a good performance at the end of the day. Details are here.

Have added to the calendar a chance to play with the Ulster Orchestra, in Ulster Hall, Belfast, on Sunday 5th April. This looks a great event, thanks to Andy-piano-flute for the information. The website is here.

Now on the calendar : the confirmed date for the 2nd Eccles orchestral playday : Saturday 9th May.

Hello barry-clari.

When is the Greenwich area orchestra playday?
Looking forward to hear from you, it is really around the corner from my home!

Hi oboe d'amore!

Haven't yet booked the hall, expect it though to be towards the end of 2009.

Have added the Single Reed day at the Colchester Institute, Colchester, Essex on Sunday 17th May to the calendar. Morgan's Munchkin, Carl, clarinet_michelle and I went and enjoyed ourselves there last year. hope to see a few forumite faces again this time round!

Now added to the calendar : diapason's Wurlitzer organ recital of light music on Wednesday 21st January at 1pm, at the Lancastrian Theatre Organ Trust Heritage Centre, Peel Green, Eccles, Greater Manchester

A few reminders about closing dates:

The closing date for both the Teddington Adult Learners' Concert (7/2/09) and the orchestral playday with the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast (5/4/09) is Monday 5th January. Details about both events are in the calendar.

The closing date for the woodwind playday on 31/1/09 organised by the East London Clarinet Choir at Regent's Hall, W1 is 12th January.

Also, the closing date for the BBC's Come and Sing Elijah on 22/2/09 at St. David's Hall, Cardiff, is 1st February. Again, details of this event are in the calendar.

January events/messages! I'll post one of these on or about the 1st of every month Some of this info is repeated from previous posts.

The closing date for both the Teddington Adult Learners' Concert (Saturday 7/2/09) and the orchestral playday with the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast (Sunday 5/4/09) is Monday 5th January. This means, to be safe, please post your forms tomorrow to avoid disappointment! Details about both events are in the calendar.

The closing date for the woodwind playday on Saturday 31/1/09 organised by the East London Clarinet Choir at Regent's Hall, W1 is Monday 12th January. You'll need to be grade 5 minimum to apply for this. Lots of big names from the woodwind world will be there, including James Rae, Paul Harris and Caroline Franklyn.

Also, the closing date for the BBC's Come and Sing Elijah on 22/2/09 at St. David's Hall, Cardiff, is Sunday 1st February. Again, details of this event are in the calendar.

Jo.clarinet, Carl, Deborah and I are in concert this Sunday, 4th January, 3:30pm at St. Mark's Church, Alma Road, Reigate, Surrey, as the Carousel Clarinet Quartet. All welcome!

Still loads of time to send your forms in for phantasmagoriana and I's York Orchestral Playday on Saturday 21st February, at the Friends Meeting House, Friargate, York. Minimum standard grade 2, all orchestral instruments welcome. Website is here.

The Fleet Flute Festival is still accepting applications well into February (this event is on Saturday 28th February). Details are in Viva Woodwind, PM andante_in_c for more info.

Finally, it's skylark's Players for Pleasure event in Leeds this Saturday (3rd January), at the usual venue, Yorkshire College of Music, in Headingley. Applications for this closed back in December, good luck to all the performers.

Watch out for more events as 2009 unfolds, if you're organising, or visiting any musical event in the UK, do let me know (email/PM/in person), and I'll add it to the calendar, and promote as necessary.

Two Chetham's School for Music, Manchester events added to the calendar:

* a Piano Day for all ages and abilities on Sunday 8th February.

* the annual Chetham's Piano Summer School on w/c Saturday 15th and w/c Saturday 22nd August.

Website links are in the calendar.

PLAYDAYS

Playdays are where forum members all play together as an ensemble. Some of the more experienced players kindly bring music for everybody to play, usually in parts so that all levels are catered for. There's no audience, nobody plays a solo and everybody is welcome to come along, whatever your standard. The music is not available in advance of the playday - everybody just sightreads on the day. This is not as scary as it might sound to less experienced players, and I write this as a Grade 2 clarinettist! If you can't quite follow the music, you "fake" it - this was a new concept to me when I first started playing, but everyone does it at first! And it really is a brilliant way of improving your sightreading ability. A playday session usually lasts around four hours, with a break for a cuppa and a natter half way through.

Hi Barry

I've copied the above, which is what I've written in the "Forum Concerts and Other Events" thread, to see if you want to change it to reflect the different types of playday - ie the one where there is just a small, very informal get-together of forum members only and where all types of instrument are played, including recorder (!) (as Market Harborough used to be); and the new type of Playday which incorporates local orchestras and is much larger and starts in the morning. I could put some links in to the Eccles photographs as well if you like. I could split the section into two - just let me know if you want me to do this

The playday concept has got somewhat larger since the forum Harborough playdays!

Eccles was a substantial all day orchestral playday, and as a rule these playdays will absorb any bowed strings, any brass, any percussion, orchestral woodwind and saxophones, from grade 2 upwards. The scale of these is rather bigger, and rather more aimed at local individuals/local groups (though of course forumites are most welcome from all parts of the UK).

At the moment there are plans/concrete dates for these sorts of playdays in York, Eccles, Somerset (brand new and shiny ), Belfast and London.

The smaller (a la Harborough) playdays - nothing as far as I know planned at the moment, but certainly they haven't been dismissed! Also there are playdays like the handbell day, the previous flute and clarinet days etc. It's a very broad spectrum, some playdays will suit some instruments better than others, and a full scale orchestral playday would mean a recorder would struggle to be heard (a recorder would have been swallowed up by louder instruments in Eccles).

If you can make what you will of the garbledness above skylark, then by all means add something to your thread, and yes, photgraph links would be good.

I think that the scale of a playday can't necessarily be predicted in advance.
Yes, for Eccles it was decided that it would be a whole day event but how well it would be taken up was guesswork. I think that financially it would have broken even with about 15 participants which is a bit closer to the original Harborough days.
I wouldn't have described it as incorporating local orchestras. It was advertised to them (in 2 cases by a forum members who chose to take the information to their orchestras) and this is where several people came from.
There was always the chance that this wouldn't happen as often those already playing in an ensemble of some sort don't feel the need to take part in days like this.
As far as I recall there was an attempt to pull in more local people in the Harborough area rather than to keep it to a small group of forum people.

Another thing that might dictate size is the skill/experience (and library?) of whoever is leading the event.

OK, will sort something out!

Aeolienne's recorder orchestra gig is confirmed for 7:30pm on Saturday 7th March, in Exeter. Details are in the calendar.

Re the next Leeds concert, I'm wondering whether to change the date, for quite a number of reasons including...

1. I'm looking into arranging a recital for the advanced musicians to perform at, on the day after the concert. This is likely to be at a stately home within striking distance of Leeds, but at the moment I haven't got any flexibility on dates. If we have the concert at the college again, it needs to be during a holiday break as otherwise there are normally classes on a Saturday morning. If I can't get a recital date at a nearby stately home on the last day of May, then the recital can't take place. Flexibility on the date of the concert would give more chance of the recital being able to take place.


2. Late May is around the time when school or college students are doing exams. For older students, the exams become increasingly important. A clash of dates means either than the students have to forego coming to the concert, or risk putting themselves under undue pressure. If this can be avoided, so much the better.


3. Some forum members have said that they would like to come to the Leeds concert but can only do so if it's during the summer break. It would be nice to meet up with these members if possible.


4. I'm working towards taking my Grade 6 theory exam in the June session, which takes place on 20 June. I know I won't have much time to be working on theory whilst I'm organising the concert, which means cramming for 3 weeks between the concert and the exam. I'd prefer to avoid doing this if possible.


5. From a personal point of view, May is going to be an extremely busy time for me at work, and again I would prefer to avoid other commitments if it can be avoided.

When taken together, it seems to make sense to change the date of the concert to late July or early August. If anybody who is thinking of coming to the next Leeds concert has any views, I'd be grateful if you'd let me know, either on the thread or privately. If you haven't got my email address, feel free to PM me, although it does make life so much easier to get emails rather than PMs if you've got my email address!

Thank you



PS. Re the recital, by "advanced musician" I'm thinking G7/8+, either instrumentalist or singer. If you would be interested in taking part, please let me know

Been tidying up a few loose ends in the calendar.

Those of you in the South West will be pleased to know that there are plans for an orchestral playday in Taunton this year, in the autumn.

Also, a few other bits 'n' pieces.

* The late spring/early summer London event is also going to be an orchestral playday rather than a forum concert, venue will be the same place as for the single reed playday (Greenwich). Date to be announced shortly. I'm looking to do something more forum concert-esque towards the end of the year.

* Applications for the 2nd Eccles playday will open at the end of February.

* It is unlikely there'll be a Braintree event this year now, many apologies. I'll continue to look into the possibility of things in East Anglia in the future.

* and finally, don't forget it's diapason's organ recital in Eccles tomorrow! Details are in the calendar.

I've had some responses back about the possible date change for Leeds, but will await some more and will look further into recital opportunities before confirming the date.

I'm still not online at home - I can access the internet from my iPhone at home but it's very slow so I don't do it much. So I'll apologise in advance if I don't respond to all the messages I get, but I will take comments into account

If your event (now an orchestral playday) isn't now going to be 16th May, Barry, what other dates are you thinking about? As you probably saw from my earlier post, I was wondering whether to change the date of the May concert in Leeds, and I'll try and avoid it clashing with any other event if I know the dates of other events.

It may still be 16th May. I'm going to the venue in the next week or so, with a few possible dates in May/June, latest of those is 20th June, bearing in mind other events, Clapham SRP dates (so no 2nd Saturdays of the month) and other committments I have. I'll also be involved with sbhoa's Stalybridge concert on 18/7 (which is now up there with Christmas, birthdays etc. as a must attend event!!!!)