I'm afraid I can't make the 9th either. But I hope it goes well for you.

Have looked at National Rail Enquiries : the timetable to/from St. Albans on 9th January is 'reduced' between 11:30 and 14:30, so it's worth keeping your eyes open...

I am flying to Singapore previous night!

You're obvioulsy a man who uses the trains a lot! I didn't think to check this - so good spot.

In the name of forums, many a train operating company has received money from me

At the moment, there's full engineering works up to and including the weekend of 8th/9th January. You won't be able to always book things before the engineering works are published (indeed, that's usually the case), but it's always helpful to publish details on your event thread as soon as details are available.

Along with Teddington...I've written myself a note to check the date with my husband this evening. I think it should be fine.
And I have thought of something to play, unaccompanied

Now I need to know the audience overlap to know if I can play the same thing at Teddington, if I can manage both!!

9th and 16th are both fine for me. I was wondering about bringing the kids to the play event, so they can play too (along with husband) but not necessarily the meal. Has anyone got any objections?

They are well behaved (for devils!)

Were the event to be the 16th, I'd be around : but don't base it around what I can do - make it convenient for yourselves OctaviaPiano/David. You'll never be able to please everyone with the date.

I wouldn't worry about playing the same piece twice. Of course, each time you play the performance is different. You can always use the snorbens event as a practice, since it'll be more informal than Teddington.

On the basis there are a few who can't make the 9th, can we gauge interest for the 16th?

mini Mo

No objection to your children, as they will be playing at the event. Look forward to seeing you all there.

Anne



All

The following are interested in this event for the 9th Jan, and can also make 16th Jan:

davidmackay
Solari
Mini Mo + 2 children
Maizie
Me


If we move the date to the following week, ie the 16th, would anyone else be interested? If we can get more people, it's worth changing the date.

Let me know what you think.

Anne

Does it need to be people off the forum that attend? As I know one or 2 people that I could ask.

Mini Mo

The event is open to anyone who wants to come and play an instrument, sing, or do something else related to music. The more the merrier as far as I am concerned.

If a non-forum person wants to come, this is fine, just let me have their name, as we need numbers to finalise the booking.

Anne

I'd be interested if it were the 16th. I can't make the 9th. I know the church well, as I was born and brought up in the St Albans area.

I can come on the 16th so if the date changes, please count me in!!!

Great, I'll add you to my list of people for 16th. We'll be making a decision by midday tomorrow, as we need to make a firm booking for the hall.

Anne






missypiano

I'll add you to the list for 16th.

Anne

Two more added to the list if it is 16th

andante in c
MissyPiano

Anyone else?

Also, I'd like to ask the people attending whether you would like a running order. I've noticed that most forum events seem to have this.

Please can you let me know if you want to perform near the beginning, middle, end, don't mind, or would prefer not have a running order.

Any thoughts?

Anne

I don't mind where I appear in the running order. I will go and time myself in a minute, I don't think my piece takes very long to play at all...

By the way, if anyone does fancy having a bash at some accompanying, then I'm happy to be a guinea pig for you. Before you worry...I'm not that good (and haven't been piano accompanied since 1992 )


Edited to add - it comes in at about the 3 minutes mark, my piece

Mazie

Sorry, I can't accompany -hopefully someone eise will volunteer. Can you remind me what instrument you play, and will you need anything else (such as a music stand)?

Anne

I'm interested in taking part on the 16th. If there is someone who is prepared to do some accompanying that'd be good, otherwise I'll do something unaccompanied.

It will be great to see you there, katyjay. what instrument will you be playing?

Anne



All

It looks as though there is more interest in 16th January than 9th January, so let's go for the 16th.

As far as I can see, everyone who could come on the 9th can also make the 16th, so nobody should be disadvantaged by this change.

Look forward to seeing you all there.

Anne

Singing, probably. Or possibly recorder.

I'm quite sure I could make either date, and will attend.

Regards, Peter.

Great, it's definitely 16th now, as more people are available that date.

Look forward to seeing you there.

Be aware of the limited ability we have to accompany!

Anne

16th should all being well be fine.

I'm a lousy pianist, but if there's anything very easy (and I'll be the judge of what 'very easy' is ), then I'll try accompanying

Have you been round the M25 roadworks lately?

I am interested, and would be prepared to do accompaniments if they aren't too difficult and I have plenty of advance notice - I'd like to see them before deciding! Barry, if you play your cello I'm sure that I could accompany at that level!

No worries - I've chosen an unaccompanied piece to play. It's just if anyone wanted to try out some accompanying, I was offering to have a go along with them
I'm a recorder player, I can bring along a music stand fo rme (and others) to use

I would like to attend if it's the 16th

Lois

It will be great to see you there. What instrument will you be playing?

Anne

The last piano playday was very informal indeed. It started out with people having a bit of a chat, and then tentatively playing scales, pieces they were comfortable with, or generally messing around on the piano to break the ice from what I remember.

It was then a matter of people playing as and when they felt like it. I think that due to the fact that there was no programme, people were a lot more relaxed about playing, as there was no expectation or pressure. It was also fine to just get up and walk away if things got too stressful and ended up snowballing (like I did halfway through an Einaudi piece where I got lost!). I think the informal atmosphere is important as it encourages conversation, and when you realise that everyone is in the same boat, it becomes much easier to get up and play!

I think with small numbers, this approach is fine, as it will police itself and everyone ensures that pretty much equal time is given to each person for playing. The problem with a higher attendance is that it becomes harder to manage, and you need to ensure that no-one is short changed.

So, we now have the following for this event on 16h January:

davidmackay
Solari
Mini_Mo plus 2
Maizie
Andante in c
Missypiano
katyjay
controller76
bari-clari
shepea
lois
Me


This makes a total of 14, which is probably about as many as we can accommodate. If anyone else expresses an interest, I'll keep a waiting list in case of cancellations.

We will work on setting a firm cost (which we expect to be £10 maximum), and will let you know once we have done this.

Does anyone have any comments on where they would prefer to go in the running order? Please respond here, or send me a PM, and I will try to accommodate the preferences of the majority.


Anne

I'd like to come and play the cello. If there was someone to accompany that would be nice but otherwise I could proabably play some Bach. Is there still a place?

I think with the numbers we are getting up to we may have to think about some sort of running order, if only to ensure that nobody ends up with too little time because in the informality someone has used up more than intended. Of course, there's no reason that it has to be rigid - say there were three slots assigned to three different people, there's no reason they couldn't swap around, or share the time by alternating who plays what, and so on. Even if we have an informal running order, we don't need to have printed programmes and that sort of thing, so it can be flexible.

Of course, I say this thoroughly selfishly, as having decided on the short piece I'm going to play at Teddington - and was thinking that I might also play at this event - I've come across some a completely different music that I might have a bash at for this event instead. Only it's much longer than the three minutes I mentioned earlier Fortunately, it is in fact a suite of pieces so I can trim it down to as short as it needs to be in the end by dropping pieces out Hey, I could play each piece as an 'interval' while people are shuffling around deciding who is going to go next on the piano

But we don't need to have it all written-in-stone in advance - providing that on the day everybody gets an equal opportunity to do their thing.

Swisscello

I can put you on the waiting list, in case anyone drops out.

Anne




Maizie

If we have a running order, do you have a preference for going near the beginning, middle, end or don't mind where you are in the running order?

Anne

Personally I think even if we had a loose running order it would quickly change as it did at the London event; we all thought we would be playing for a set amount of time but we were all so nervous that one song at a time was enough.

I really think we should keep it as relaxed and informal as possible; almost like a bunch of friends sitting round a piano and having a play!

I know a few attendees would concur.

Mini-Mo

I think the difficulty with this approach is that it is not just a piano event, it is a concert where people will be playing different instruments.

I don't think an unstructured event would be fair to other instruments, or to those of us who want to practise performing in the usual way.

What I'm thinking is that we will have a running order, but if anyone for any reason does not want to finish during their time, then we will have an 'Action Replay' spot at the end, so that anyone who panics can have another go later.
This should accommodate those of us who want to practise performing with an allocated spot, and also provide an opportunity for people to have another go if they can't manage it first time.

With the number of people we have currently, each person will have a fairly short amount of time for performing, so I think this could be a good compromise to suit everyone.

Anne

I'll probably inflict some piano playing on you all but I'll bring my clari in case anyone fancies doing some duetty type stuff

Lois

Oh yes fair point... when I replied I assumed there was still only about 6 of us attending.

I fancy doing some duetty type stuff

OctaviaPiano : how are you going to sort out payments : in advance or on the day?

On this occasion, it will be payment on the day (to davidmakcay, who is handling the finances for this event). It will be £10, with the aim that we break even. Any surplus funds will be donated to charity.

The afternoon will be as follows:

1. Arrivals at 2pm. 1 hour for rehearsal, meeting each other, tea/coffee, chat, etc.

2. 1.5 hours of performance time (with a comfort break in the middle). Everyone will be allocated 5 mins of performance time. They may choose to use this or not. If they don't want to use it, we will move on to the next person, with no fuss. Also, if someone begins this session, and their performance does not work out as planned, they may choose to stop at any point, with the option of doing it again later if they so wish (see para 3 below).

3. 'Play it again, Sam'. The final session will be an opportunity for anyone to have another go if they feel the first attempt did not go as planned, or for anyone who does not want to do their allocated slot. This session will be unstructured and spontaneous. The aim is to ensure that, at the end of the event, everyone feels good about their performance, and has an opportunity to have another go if the first one did not go at they intended.

5pm - finish. davidmackay is organising the meal afterwards, and will post nearer the time about this.

There will be no pressure of any sort to make up your mind in advance about whether you want to do 2 or 3 above (or both). You can decide at the time. The whole event will be informal, but with some structure for those of us who want to practise doing a timed performance.


Anne

Looks good

Haven't decided which instrument(s) I'm bringing yet, but I'll have picked something well before the day.

Sounds good to me...I'll be off to see what I can find that's 5 mins or less in my collection of 'unaccompanied stuff' now

Happy to do a recordery duet if you like Maizie

Going on other similar Forums events that I have attended I think that you may find that one hour will not be enough for warm-up time if everyone is going to take advantage of it, unless you have additional room(s) available. It's amazing how fast the time goes in the pre-concert period!

Suepea

Thanks for this comment. My experience in this whole area is limited. When I did a weekend course recently, we had very little time for rehearsal, and no opportunity to use the performance piano until the actual performance itself. I had therefore not realised that people usually have some rehearsal time (someone else has sent me a PM to mention the same point, which is why I have now built in 1 hour, which is all that we have available on the day).

I'll need to put this one down to experience, and if there is a next time I'll make sure that we build in more time for rehearsal in future.

Anne

I don't know what your venue is like, but it may be possible to have more than one person rehearsing at the same time, if people don't need the piano

National Rail Enquiries have just said that trains to and from St. Albans on 16/1/10 will be 'revised', and that a revised timetable will be published nearer the date...

A duet with the wonderful Barry

We can have a quick chat about it on Sunday

Lois

Just another thought. If anyone is playing something easy I wouldn't mind having a go at accompanying. I would need the piano part quite soon though to give me time to practice. The piano part would need to be around the Grade 3 or 4 level.

Lois

The room is fairly large, so I would think this should be possible. We also have a fairly large kitchen area, so people with portable instruments may want to use that space.

Anne

Maybe us Clarinet players should think about The Victorian Kitchen Garden Suite if we're going to be practicing in the kitchen?

Regards, Peter.