Adult Learners' Musical Afternoon - St Albans

Date: Saturday, 16 January 2010

Venue: Church Hall, St Stephen's Church, 14 Watling Street, St. Albans, Hertfordshire AL1 2PX.

Travel: Parking available on site for those coming by car. Public transport options are:

1. Train from Euston to Watford Junction, then Abbey Flyer train from Watford Junction to St Albans Abbey. The service from Watford to St Albans runs about every 50 to 60 minutes, so if you are using this route I suggest you check times and connections. St Albans Abbey station is about a five minute walk from the venue.

http://www.londonmidland.com/your-journey/timetables/

click on 'Watford - St Albans' to find the timetable, which is in .pdf format.


2. St Pancras International to St Albans City (Thameslink). First Capital Connect run regular trains, but the station is about 1 mile from the venue, so we will arrange to pick you up from here if you send a PM to David Mackay or me. Please note that all Thameslink trains will start and finish at St Pancras on 16 January.

http://www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk/Main....vent=Timetables


Time: Begins at 2pm - will last for 2 or 3 hours (depending on numbers attending).

Cost: The final figure will depend on numbers attending, but we are hoping to keep this to about £10 per person. The aim is to break even, but if there are any surplus funds these will be given to charity.

Refreshments: There is a kitchen where we can make tea/coffee etc, and this will be included in the price. David has volunteered to organise this, as well as the post-event meal. He will be posting about this once we have firm details of who is attending.

Age limits: Over 18s welcome. Under 18s welcome if accompanied by a parent, guardian or similar.

Event information:

The aim is to enjoy the afternoon by performing and listening to others perform. All standards welcome, from beginners to more advanced.

Steinway piano available for anyone wishing to play.

Other instruments welcome (although there may be limited availability of pianists skilled enough to accompany, so be prepared to perform unaccompanied, or you could bring pre-recorded backing music).

Anyone who wants to sing is also welcome.

Once I have information about who wants to attend, and what instruments you will be playing, I can firm up details (such as how much time each person will have to perform).

Who wants to come and play?

Anne

This post has been edited by OctaviaPiano, 31 December 2009

Hi Octaviapiano, and welcome to the forum - I guess you met quite a few forum members at ProCorda!


Pinned at the top of the Forum Events sub-forum are three threads which you may be interested in.

The 2009 Calendar will give you an idea of what's taken place this year, and there are likely to be similar events in 2010. A 2010 calendar has been started and you'll find that in the Forum Events sub-forum as well.

The first few posts in the thread entitled "Forum concerts and other events" will give you an outline of what happens at each type of event.

There's another thread called "Playing Opportunities near you". Most of the first post is about orchestras which forum members are involved with. At the bottom of the first post is a link to an organisation which runs residential courses (ARCA - Adult Residential Courses Association). I can't say if they're similar to Pro Corda because I haven't been to Pro Corda, but there are lots of residential music courses around the country. You might also like to check out Benslow which specialise in music courses - they're based in Hitchin, Herts so very local for you, and you can be non-resident as well. Lots of forum members, including myself, have been to Benslow and really enjoyed it

Have fun, and hopefully will get to meet you at an event some time!

Hi Skylark

Thanks for the very speedy response. I need to clarify my earlier post, as I've already looked at the events calendar, and can't see anything in Herts or Beds. I'm not really looking for another course, just informal opportunities to practise performing, such as forum concerts. They are all quite a distance from me, so I was just wondering whether there was anything like a forum concert in Herts or Beds.


If not, is anyone else from the area interested in getting together to organise something?

Anne

As you've probably seen, I think the nearest would be the Adult Learners concert in Teddington which Katyjay organises, normally in February. As far as I know, there's nothing planned specifically for Herts or Beds.

In forum event terms, Herts/Beds would be considered very local to Teddington. People do tend to travel long distances to attend these events, partly because of the performing opportunity and partly because it's nice to keep meeting up with people who have become friends. At the event I've just organised in Gloucestershire, people came from as far afield as Kent, London, the south coast, Devon, the West Midlands and Yorkshire. It's not unusual for people to travel down from Scotland or even over from the continent for an event.



Solari has just organised something like this in central London for beginner/intermediate pianists. It's taking place on Saturday and it sounds like it's going to be a really fun day! I'm sure he'd give you some pointers if you wanted to organise something similar local to you

Well if you want a concert to go to may I put in a shameless plug for Hertford Symphony Orchestra concert on Nov 9th. My daughter is in that orchestra and they are tackling Shostakovich 10th Symphony

Hi Anne

A local Herts event would be good. There's definetly one or two others around here who could be persuaded to come along. I guess the problem comes in finding a venue. The London event is happening this Saturday, but is fully booked I think. Depending on numbers and potential venues, it may be a another session in London might work better than Herts.

I mightbe interested in a Herts play day or similar, as I would get daughter interested as well

Hi David

It would be good to try to organise something locally, especially as the trains seem to run to a reduced service at the weekends, and getting into London can be a lottery.

Has anyone tried to organise anything in Herts/Beds before? I think you're right in that the issue would be finding a suitable venue (ie with piano), that was not too expensive.

Any suggestions on venues?

Anne

Hi Anne,

As yet, we haven't done anything in the northern Home Counties, and at least at the moment, there's as far as I know, nothing planned in the area (nearest would be Teddington, as skylark said, or there are I believe direct trains from parts of Herts and Beds to Brighton, where an event is planned for late summer 2010. I'm also looking at doing more in the London area next year, and I'd think that Solari will be too).

You're right about the main issues : the piano (if you need one) has to be a reasonable piano, that is at least in tune and with a good even touch. As a rule, if you're doing a large all day event, paying more than £250 is heading you for a loss, for a smaller event (eg Solari's piano days), the price you pay for hall hire should be correspondingly less.

Give me a shout if you want more info on organising things

I just had a quick search online to see if there were any rehearsal rooms in Herts / Beds with a piano. Blank.

I suspect a more fruitful approach would be to contact a school or church. No doubt this would be cheap, albeit who knows what the quality of the piano would be like. Failing that, sounds to me as though London is the best bet.

Unless anyone has a Steinway in their orangery?

I go and check out the piano personally and then for an Adult Learners or Forum concert at least I arrange that they have in the week of the concert. I budget for this in my costings for the event. Don't let 'our best piano is lovely it's a Steinway(or similar)' take you in.......If you arrange an event that needs a piano then check it out (or get someone who you trust to check it out if you don't play yourself).
If you aren't using it for accompanying you may get away with not having it tuned for the event as long as it's regularly maintained anyway.
An orchestral playday or similar doesn't need a piano but it does need somebody with a reasdonable library of sutiable arrangements and also somebody who can lead/conduct is useful.

Thanks to everyone for all your words of wisdom. I'm looking into finding a venue with good piano in St Albans. If I can find anything, I'll see who is interested in attending (although I do not think it would be restricted to just piano players).
There seem to be two possible venues, both with fairly large halls, so any event could accommodate other instruments as well.

I'll let you know once I have checked out the venues in detail.

Anne

I might be interested to come if this goes ahead as St Albans is quite easy for me to get to!

Good luck with your search.
Do remember that if you are having an event where any instrument is welcome you need to think about accopmaniments. Usually we've managed to have pianists attending who are able to help here but sometimes it gets a bit tricky. It can be a good way for pianists to get some accompanying experience.
Of course there is the option of having a machine available so that people can use recorded accompaniments (make sure it can be heard, some are not powerful enough) or you can ask those who don't have someone to accopmany them to choose to play unaccompanied pieces.

I'd be interested if a venue could be found within walking distance of one of the main line railway services.

If you could find somewhere with two pianos that really would be worth the journey!

Luton or Bedford would be better for anyone coming from the north as St Albans needs changes of trains to the local service, or into London and retrace steps back to St Albans. Just a thought.

Super-sleuth OctaviaPiano has found a venue in St Albans with a Steinway. One (or both) of us will check it out and report back. Total cost for this event should be £30 - £40 depending on time, so it shouldn't take many willing victims to make it affordable. I'll need to double check, but so far it looks like there are 4 or 5 interested. If you fancy it, post or drop me a PM.

David

Don't worry about arriving by train. I'm happy to taxi.

I think (based on the rest of his/her post) eastmidspiano was concerned as much about access to the station on the train because St Alban's isn't a main station. From my nearest station on the East Coast mainline, a journey to St Albans involves 2-3 changes depending on the train. For me, Luton and Bedford aren't any better as i'm on the 'wrong' mainline, but they do have more mainline services which might be better for other forum members. If you are wanting to do a full forum event then access from other areas of the country is an important consideration, but this is less of an issue if you just want a small get-together for local people.

Thanks Flossie
The intention is just a small local event as it's mainly beginners. If we can get critical mass, then St Albans will be the location.

Anne and I have site visit scheduled for next Tuesday at St Stephens church in St Albans. If it's suitable, I'll suggest a few dates. I'd suggest a Saturday afternoon works best. The rest of the year is broadly booked up, and apparanetly bookings are already being taken for 2011! However, panic not, as Sat afternoon slots are still available Jan / Feb next year. Watch this space.

Well done both of you : hope you get something going

Even if I don't attend, I'm more than happy to promote for you.

Would this putative event be piano-only or open to others?

Just curious as St Albans is relatively just-down-the-road for me

I *think* a decision will be made once a site visit has been done Maizie.

Please tell me we wont be playing on a big church Organ?!!!

If the date is convenient, I might drive up and attend seeing as it's a pretty easy trip around the M25

In all seriousness, I know some forum people have expressed interest in doing something church organ related sometime...

I'd quite like a go on a Church Organ

I've no objection to it being open to non-pianists. Although I guess we would need someone decent on piano (i.e. that wouldn't be me).

In terms of the venue, what I am looking for in order to determine whether it is suitable for other instruments?





They have a Steinway.

Size, mainly. If the venue is very small, you'll start having case storage/playing space issues if you have cellists/players of large saxophones and suchlike attending. Even with a small venue though, you'll be able to fit some players of things other than pianos in.

Do they, out of interest, have an organ?

[/quote]


Do they, out of interest, have an organ?
[/quote]


We can check the organ situation when we visit, which will be next Tuesday. For anyone who has a real interest in organs, there is an organ museum in St Albans. I've never been, but here is the link:

http://www.stalbansorgantheatre.org.uk/


Anne

Cool

I am pretty sure there'd be forum members very interested if there was a good organ in the venue that could be used...

If no accompanists are available, then you can make it a piano-and-unaccompanied-instruments only event
I shall wait and see how your recce goes on Tuesday!

...or, alternatively, go down the Solari route and offer the chance for people to 'have a go at accompanying'. As long as I'm around, I'm willing to be a guinea pig for anyone who wants to try accompanying me

I may be interested if I can tie it in with a visit to my daughter in Sawbridgeworth, she might come too.
However I'm in Far East for two weekends in January.

Hello Everyone

Just a quick note to update you on this. David and I went to see the venue at lunch time; the Steinway piano is very lovely, and the hall is very big and should be more than big enough for us. It's a modern church hall, with all the usual facilities. There is also plenty of room for people who want to bring other instruments, so the event will not be restricted to just piano.

We have been unable to get a firm date booked as yet because the person who does the booking was not available. We will continue to try to contact her over the next few days, and will let you know when we have a firm date. As previously mentioned by David, it is likely to be a Saturday afternoon, some time after Christimas, but we'll let you have further details as soon as we can.

Regards

Anne

WOW! Brilliant, St. Albans isn't too far from me, so count me in, if other instruments (such as Clarinets) are involved.

Regards, Peter.

The room is definetly large enough to cope with quite a few (non-piano) musicians. Although I'm not so sure about clarinetists. I've heard all these rumours about wild parties and outlandish behaviour about the clarinet brigade......on second thoughts, are there any more clarinet players who want to come along?

Me???? Outlandish behaviour??? Never!!!

As long as the date suits, I'll come along.

Says Euridice!

I thought I made an excellent Euridice. I remembered all my words

Back on topic : have you decided what sort of event you're likely to do OctaviaPiano/David?

errrrr....
is there a choice?
people come along
perform
laugh
food and drink afterwards

seriously, what different type of events are you thinking of?

I like that as a plan

Yes, good plan!!! Looking forward to it!!!

Do make sure, if you're going to have accompanied pieces, that you get some people happy to accompany

Thanks Barry - good point.

My teacher mentioned she might like to come along, so that would be at least one person of a standard who could accompany.

Hello Everyone

Adult Learners' Musical Afternoon - St Albans

Date: Saturday, 9 January 2010

Venue: Church Hall, St Stephen's Church, 14 Watling Street, St. Albans, Hertfordshire AL1 2PX.

Travel: Parking available on site for those coming by car. Public transport options are:

1. Train from Euston to Watford Junction, then Abbey Flyer train from Watford Junction to St Albans Abbey. The service from Watford to St Albans runs about every 50 to 60 minutes, so if you are using this route I suggest you check times and connections. St Albans Abbey station is about a five minute walk from the venue.

http://www.abfly.org.uk/Timetables.htm


2. St Pancras International to St Albans City (Thameslink). First Capital Connect run regular trains, but the station is about 1 mile from the venue, so we will arrange to pick you up from here if you send a PM to David Mackay or me.

http://www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk/Main....vent=Timetables


Time: Begins at 2pm - will last for 2 or 3 hours (depending on numbers attending).

Cost: The final figure will depend on numbers attending, but we are hoping to keep this to about £10 per person. The aim is to break even, but if there are any surplus funds these will be given to charity.

Refreshments: There is a kitchen where we can make tea/coffee etc, and this will be included in the price. David has volunteered to organise this, as well as the post-event meal. He will be posting about this once we have firm details of who is attending.

Age limits: Over 18s welcome. Under 18s welcome if accompanied by a parent, guardian or similar.

Event information:

The aim is to enjoy the afternoon by performing and listening to others perform. All standards welcome, from beginners to more advanced.

Steinway piano available for anyone wishing to play.

Other instruments welcome (although there may be limited availability of pianists skilled enough to accompany, so be prepared to perform unaccompanied, or you could bring pre-recorded backing music).

Anyone who wants to sing is also welcome.

Once I have information about who wants to attend, and what instruments you will be playing, I can firm up details (such as how much time each person will have to perform).

Who wants to come and play?

Anne

What is parking like at the venue?

There is a car park on site that takes approx 50 cars. We are assured there are no other events on this afternoon, so we will have 50 spaces. There are a couple of steps up to the venue itself, and the hall is at the back of the building.

Advice is to go right to the back of the car park, and use the steps at the back, as David and I used the front steps and had to walk all the way around the building to find the door!

Anne

Great, I'll drive up then

Oh dear, 9th January is out for me, I'm afraid - hope you have a good time...