A date for the diaries of the clari and sax players among us : the annual Colchester single reed day will be at the Colchester Institute on Sunday 15th May '11. Lots of chances to play, listen and browse

I'm hoping to go again : and I hope to get involved with the masterclasses again, for which they always get big names in (Antony Pay last year for the clarinettists), and you can be any standard from grade 1 up for the masterclasses - hope to see some more forumites there!

Thanks Barry, I'll try to keep the date free as I enjoyed colchester when I went in 2009 although it is a long trip for me.

Cool : hope to see you there Do you fancy trying the masterclass if you go?

Mmmm masterclass - now am I that brave?
I'll think about it if my exam and concert solo go OK (1st and 2nd Dec)

Hope it all goes well I'm sure you'll get a lot out of the masterclass, being able to work with top clarinettists is great

I'd like to do a masterclass some time....... but not the way I'm playing at the moment.

You'd get a lot out of a masterclass sbhoa, however you feel you're playing currently.

Might need something a little nearer home though.

I'll keep my eyes open

I know you are right and it was a friendly atmosphere there in 2009 - so maybe.

I'll post who's doing the masterclass as soon as I know - it's usually announced around about January.

The clarinet masterclass this year will be given by RPO clarinettist Richard Addison.

And so will the saxophone masterclass, which I guess means that people will be able to see both the clari and the sax masterclasses (previously they were scheduled at the same time as each other)

Click here for more details, including how to get an application form. Also, have a look at the second photograph down, and see if you can spot the forumite...

looks familiar but who is it?

The conductor in that picture is Jeffrey Wilson, and frankly he's worth the entrance fee alone

I have the form, and have scanned it into my computer. Give me a shout if you'd like a copy. I was the only forum representative in 2010, so it'd be nice to have company this year

Got my form here I will get it sorted. Looking forward it as I missed last year ( I had even paid for the ticket) still thats life.

It will be nice to meet up again.

It will David, it's been rather too long since our paths last crossed...

Yup will be good to meet up again

Have decided I'll be subjecting the masses to Stanford's Three Intermezzi in the masterclass. Bring earmuffs.

a really nice piece. Look forward to hearing it.

A quick reminder : applications for this close on Easter Monday - effectively this means forms must go away by tomorrow at the latest.

i'm coming to this event for the first time.

i also know two of the workshop leaders

to the forums!

Do come and say hello if you spot me (will probably be somewhere near the front giving Jeffrey Wilson as much of a pasting as he'll give me )

Photo is on my profile! (and I'm sure most of the forum will vouch for the fact that I'm normal )

Thanks

and i'll try

i'm a clarinettist so you'll probably see me quite a bit

Jeff is a tutor at the college i go to so i already know him (well kind of)

Also one of the workshop leaders (Anthony Bailey) just so happens to be my clarinet teacher at college

Oh he's fab He gave me a Jeffrey Wilson pen two years ago. I still have it



He's fab too, as is his clari quartet (Chinook).

Do come to the masterclass. I will be slaughtering the Stanford Three Intermezzi

people i know at college keep saying jeff wilson is a legend

I'll ask anthony about his quartet in my lesson tomorrow

i put down on the application that i was was thinking of doing the masterclass. it'll definitely help me

I'm also hopefully doing the clarinet choir and jazz workshop as well as the masterclass.

i can't wait to hear it. I've never heard of that piece though

He is, Rach123, he is



Fab



Oh, go for it : I've done the last three years of masterclasses, and they've been good for me!



I'm doing clari choir, but have opted for Klezmer this year rather than jazz. The jazz stuff is good though



Hope I play it in a suitably entertaining fashion!

jeff actually seems like one when i saw (and talked) to him yesterday.

you can call me rach. Rach123 is the username i use on quite a few sites i'm on

i can't wait for the single reed festival. at least i won't have to leave colchester for it.

Hi Rach123 Hope you enjoy Colchester




mmmm, normal......

yeah he is

OK Rach



Nice to have what I think is one of the best clarinet/saxophone events on your doorstep!



Thanks Louise!

Hey Louise. and i actually live in colchester and go to to the college where this event is taking place.
btw, just call me rach


I'm wondering what the masterclass actually entails so i'm a bit confused. I was going to ask Anthony about it in my lesson yesterday but i didn't.

This will be my fourth Colchester masterclass, so hopefully this will cover most bases.

I'll assume you've picked a piece already. During the day (usually straight after the first mass playthrough), Charles Hine will ask masterclass participants to meet him in the main foyer, where he will allocate times to play through with the accompanist (hoping it's still Daniel, he's fab ).

Then, in the main masterclass, the person conducting the masterclass will say a few words, then each participant will work with him/her (him this year!) on various aspects of the performance. Especially if your work is long, do not expect to get all the way through it!

It's good fun, and I'm looking forward to doing it again!

I'm not sure if i'm actually gonna do it then. i'm not very confident with playing in front of people.
I'll proably ask Charles more about it when i see him at college.

When you say the accompanist's name is Daniel, do you mean Daniel Law? cos if so i've played with him before in college so i kind of know what he's like

Yep, that's the guy, Rach. He'll probably recognise me at 500 paces now

Do have a chat to Charles. They're well worth doing, if you can overcome your nerves, and certainly for the previous three times I've done it, the audience numbers are pretty minimal.

Ok, i will. thanks for the info barry.

What do you think you'll play if you do the masterclass, Rach?

maybe one of finzi's bagatelles or one of my grade 6 pieces

although if i can get the c2 piece from the grade 7 syllabus ready before the single reed festival then i might play that.

Cool Finzi's always a good bet

Which grade 6 pieces did you do?

i haven't done the grade 6 exam but Anthony said i could skip it.

It was Andante (A1), the A3 piece (which i've forgotten the name of) and vocalise (B1)

I really want to try and play Brazilian Walk by Rob Buckland. I was listening to it earlier and it sounded quite cool. It's the C3 piece i was talkig about

Ah, OK. Do you mean C3 (which is Chris Gumbley)? You have two A pieces mentioned there. A3 is the Tartini/Jacob.



I know it's on sax, but have a listen to this, it's Rob Buckland playing his own piece, so pretty much a definitive account!

well i've been playing the a3 piece in my lessons, i started with c1, got stuck so i went to c2.


that's the one i was listening to. and i found out it's the c2 piece in the grade 7 syllabus.

Cool It's rare that you get to play good Baroque music on the clarinet, so it's well worth doing the Tartini



It is, and many of my pupils have played it in their exams with success

i've only done the allegro molto section though.

i had a go at brazilian walk earlier. It sounded quite good to me

i've kind of decided what i might do at the masterclass

The 'Prelude' from 5 bagatelles by Finzi.

Rob's a good guy, met him more than once (at the Royal Northern, where he's one of the saxophone tutors). He plays a seriously mean saxophone



One of my favourites

i played one of rob's pieces "Scaredy cat" for grade 5


and yay. all the better for playing it then

That's also a good piece : Rob doesn't really write bad works!



It's a good showy piece : that and the Fughetta (which you'll probably come across at grade 8) are I think the best two movements in the suite

i've played the first 3 movements and i have to say i like the prelude the best.

You'll probably be fine with movement 4 as well. That was originally the last movement, until Finzi decided to turn his four bagatelles into five!

ive played it through once but found it quite hard.


I asked Dan whether he was the accompanist for the masterclass earlier and he said he didn't know as he hadn't been told. it's just that i was hoping to get a sneaky rehearsal in with him before the single reed festival