Looks like I'm first home.
Had a lovely day. Was good to meet people at last.
Hope everyone else had a good time too, they seemed to, and that you all had safe journeys home.

Watch this space for next year....

You beat me to it! It was fantastic. You did a wonderful job and we're all sooo happy and thankful to you!!!

It's really weird now putting faces to some of the identities on here. I thought everyone played very well indeed. If you'd seen the nerves before... I really don't know how they managed to play so well.

I just hope the missing link is ok. Wonder where he went?
Bril that katyjay came so far to join us. Some of the others had a fair way to travel too.

Well I'm off to eat, but I just had to make sure everyone heard what a wonderful job Sbhoa did organising such a successful day! Thank you!!!

Ahhh, so glad it went well - look forward to hearing more about it later.

Just got home and wanted to thank everyone (again) for a really really great time.

Even those who couldn't be there for real had sent us good luck wishes (and the now famous ABRSM vibes)))))))))))))))))) ). I've never seen such a collection of extremely nervous people, but we all (somehow) got through our pieces and were thoroughly supported by all there.

Thanks for all the feedback folks, I got a little overcome and I think that added to my already "gibbering wreckiness", but yetanotherpianist was a wonderful support as my accompanist and followed me brilliantly, and cetainly helped to hold the whole thing together.

Absolutely wonderful to meet people for real..and you know you are ALL fantastic.

I'm hoping I will have stopped shaking in time for the next one

I thought janexxx played very well, and I had the best seat in the house It was good to see so many people there; maybe next time we can convince a few more people to come!

Thankyou thankyou thankyou

*takes another bow*

I enjoyed all the performances, everyone gave something of themselves didn't they.

CONGRATS EVERYONE

sbhoa, any chance of a copy of whatever goes in the paper and of course the "official" photos???

Will make sure everyone gets to see what the local press put in next week.

Will do something about the photos too.

Thanks to the organiser, an excellent day!!

PS You were right about the Buffet at staleybridge station, i was getting quite comfortable in there by the time my train came!!

Is that still going? I remember it in the late 70s as a real bar complete with handpumps. Is it like that now?

Hi everyone,

Brilliant concert yesterday. Everyone performed so well despite the nerves !

Maxine, Tasha and I really enjoyed it. So sorry I couldn't stay for the second half

Had to get over to Cholmondeley castle for the firework extravaganza. I was helping . It was the 200th anniversary of Battle of Trafalgar.

Again, was brilliant, Manchester Camerata wonderful ! Didn't get through my front door until 1am this morning.

StuMac, how were you and what did you decide to play eventually ?

Look forward to more reviews from yesterday !

Well done again !

Sounds like it went really well, congratulations to everyone! What did you all play and did everything go according to plan? Were bananas liberally dispensed?

Hi Fred.

I played Beethoven Adieu - Piano and a piano/cello duet (me on cello)
Resta con me (Einaudi) with my friend Tasha.

Yes. Plenty of bananas - thanks Sbhoa !

Everyone played brilliantly !

Fiona

Yes, always got several 'guest' beers on as well as a selection of the good belgian bottled beers.
Quite popular as a local.

To get back on topic before someone notices...

There was one more good luck message which I got later.
When I got home there was a beautiful flower display waiting for me with a message From Christine to say sorry she couldn't be there and wishing everyone good luck from her and the ABRSM.

Will post the programme in the next couple of days so that you can all see exactly what you missed .

Well done one and all!

Perhaps my hands will have stopped shaking by next year so I can hit the right notes! I'm thinking of trying hypnotherapy for the nerves!

Great day Susan!

What a kind gesture!

Well done to everyone who took part. It sounds like you all had great fun!

Hope I'll have begun to learn by next time too and can join in as well.

Elisabeth

On behalf of myself,Suzy and my pupils.

Just to say a big Thankyou to Sbhoa and everyone else involved in the organisation of,including Christine ( lovely programmes too ). It was a fabulous day and we hope it becomes an Annual event.


VERY WELL DONE,EVERYONE

Well done - two performances on different instruments was very impressive indeed!

Played Le Onde - made quite a few mistakes due to trembling fingers!!!

Send me an e-mail address and I'll send you photos! I can't find a way of poating them on here.

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to say that I'm so pleased to hear the concert went well and was a success. Christine is on a well deserved holiday for a couple of weeks but I'm sure she will be logging on to the forums when she has a chance (yes really).

Best regards

Louise Cleverdon
Forums Admin/Moderation Team

Thanks to everyone for such an enjoyable day, I think I feel slightly more confident about performing now too so that's a positive outcome too , I really didn't know how I would react to a real audience as opposed to just a single examiner but I was pleased to survive!

It was really good to meet everyone although not one single person looked like I'd expected; at least now though some people know that I'm not male .

About the comments too: I was told they were supposed to be anonymous so I didn't put my name on them (always behaving and doing as I was told ) but when I got mine they almost all had names on them so if you have an illegible (but nice, of course, I didn't write anything nasty...) comment on a very small piece of paper it's probably from me (unless it sounds particularly like an examiner's report comment in which case it's probably YAP's ).

I think I'd worked it out!!!

I suppose if you leave it anonymous then you can feel you can be more honest, and feedback is feedback whoever it is from, and if is good or bad.

Thanks for yours, and I must say that the feedback idea was great, and I got a real boost when I got home and read them.

I had 2 comments which seemed to have 'teacher' written all over them.
Very nice comments though...

I think it has helped me to feel a bit more confident about performing too.

By the way, I can't take credit for the feedback idea ... that came from Amber I think at Katyjay's concert in February.

I can't help it I've never seen comments about music that weren't written by an examiner.

I'm looking forward to next year; I might do something completely different and play some Byrd....

Except mine!!!

OK, that should have read 'I'd never seen...' , and thanks for your comments - I take my Bach quite seriously so I'm pleased it was even vaguely comparable

Just got back from Manchester, after three hours of sitting in a traffic jam on the M6

We had a super time, and the concert went really well. People who suffered nerves conquered them and managed excellent performances.

Yet Another Pianist is a star accompanist - thanks again!

And, of course, big THANK YOU to Sbhoa for organising it. And for bringing enough bananas to sink a battleship

Cheers

Katyjay

Hello Louise

Is it OK for people to post pictures of the Concert on here providing everyone is agreeable? I only managed to take six and to be honest they are not very good,so I'm not going to bother.

Is it also OK to mention http://photobucket.com/ with regards to StuMac's posting? ....Hello, StuMac .... that could help with his picture problem.

If not,please edit my posting.

It was great meeting everyone

Hi Semele,

Yes of course that's fine. If anybody has any problems with posting pictures I'm sure between the remaining members of the Forums Admin Team we can help out.

It might be a good idea to find out if other members who are in the photos are OK with this though, and we may only be able to leave them up for a limited time as they may slow the forums down for other users. I will consult my IT colleagues about this however.

Looking forward to having a peek at them myself!

Louise

Forums Admin Team

Well done - two performances on different instruments was very impressive indeed!

Played Le Onde - made quite a few mistakes due to trembling fingers!!!

Send me an e-mail address and I'll send you photos! I can't find a way of poating them on here.


Hi StuMac,

Thanks for that, I was very nervous too

I'm sure you did a brilliant job of Le Onde - nerves or not !
I had heard a lot of your practising beforehand and it was lovely

I've sent you a PM with my address. I'll forward anything I've got too.

Fiona

I have a few pictures (not checked them out yet, but will soon), and will share once I get them downloaded (unless they are all absolute rubbish!!). Happy for you to use any with me on.

well done, you guys! sounds like another great success!

Hah!!!!! I was in the same traffic jam as you. Miserable wasn't it.

I was at the concert and was very impressed with everything so my congratulations to all, especially Sbhoa who not only organised it but performed too.

Love Suzy

Just got back to the wilds of Scotland!


I think this link should work, I've put a few photos there. I'll post a few more if it works OK. Not too sure about public albums!!

Photos of concert

Hi Stuart,

Hope you had a good time in Scotland. The photos are very good. Look forward to seeing some more.

Thanks v much !
Fiona

Photo's are great - I look forward to seeing the rest of them. Thanks

Aw, they're lovely photos - glad everyone enjoyed themselves too !

Jen

Stu,
Photos are great!

My husband videod the whole concert and took great delight in rewinding my mistakes whilst I was driving home! This probably did my driving skills a power of good - not sure about my piano!!

Anne

Well, the story didn't make the local paper .
Seems we couldn't compete with the guy who won the 'Hunk in Trunks' competition .



Ooo, that's not nice.. unless he was editting them out and leaving you all the good bits...
Maybe he should play next time....

Hi to everyone who was at the concert on Saturday .... wasn't it a fantastic day ... I've never shaken so much in my life, my knees were literally knocking and my hands just had a mind of their own, but somehow I managed to play!!!!!!! I just hope I'm not first on again next time!!!!

I dedicated my piece to my little girl Ellie, who was 6 on Saturday, but I just want to say thanks to Fiona, if it wasn't for her I wouldn't have been there at all, you believed in me, you're a great teacher and above all - what an inspiration you are, love you loads xxxx

Thanks Susan it was great, well organised, happy and fulfilling, by the way I sent the e-mail to emiline white so hope something comes of it.

If any of the wonderful people from Chorlton can drop me a line I would love to hear from them, I forgot to ask what your member name was. If you ever produce a cd I WANT A COPY, your harmony was just beautiful, and if you ever get together again drop me a PM cos I'll come running to a gig, a jam or even just a chat n a brew.

Love to StuMac, what a lovely man you are, I'm gutted I missed you play, I heard you practice and that blew my mind so I can imagine what it was like.

The lovely lady who played the violin in the first half, I'm sorry I don't know your name, I just want to say how much I admired you to get up there and dedictate your piece to your friend, I was very touched by your kind words and your wonderful performance, you're a star, and I'm sure your friend would agree with me, god bless you.

Lovely to meet you all, great day, looking forward to the next, maybe we can go out for something to eat afterwards, there are plenty of great curry houses in Stalybridge.

MAXX

Hmm, so for next year we need to wear swimwear? It brings a whole new dimension to imagining the audience in their underwear

PianoAnne - do you have any means of putting the video onto the internet, even if it's just so people can see their own performances? If not, I could do it if I had a copy of the video and the permission of the videographer (obviously, I would only make performances available to the people who did them, or if they were happy for it to be made public it could be). I think it would be interesting, and helpful for people, to see themselves perform.

Maxx - good to see you on the forums, I had no idea Fiona was your teacher!

Would there be performing rights issues with making them public?
It's not something I really thought of before the concert but I seem to have heard some time about potential legal problems with videoing concerts (and even weddings). Does anyone know anything about this?

Scanning posts, I caught only these two bits of that post... LOL!

It looks really good, I really wish I could go to the 24th Sept. one now.

Good point: the Einaudi stuff then wouldn't be able to be made available as he's not been dead for 70 years... (I guess we could have the video but not the sound ) Anyone playing anything by a composer who has been dead for that long would be fine though as long as they (the copyright owners of their performance) and the person doing the video (the copyright holder to the video) were in agreement.

PianoAnne - do you have any means of putting the video onto the internet, even if it's just so people can see their own performances? If not, I could do it if I had a copy of the video and the permission of the videographer (obviously, I would only make performances available to the people who did them, or if they were happy for it to be made public it could be). I think it would be interesting, and helpful for people, to see themselves perform.

As the videographer was my husband, I'll tell him he has no objections!

Yetanother pianist -I'm not a 'techy' so, yes, I'd welcome some help as long as no-one objects!

Susan sent me some feedback written after I had left on Saturday - thank you all sooooo... much! My shattered confidence has returned since I opened the envelope an hour ago!

See you all next year.

Anne

Hi everyone.

Thanks for everyone that left feedback for me at the concert. I really enjoyed reading them. You are all too kind !

Yes, I've only played for about 4 months but I'm definatley going to play some more - in between piano, violin and 2 orchestras

Maxx, thank you very much for your lovely comments. You are a pleasure to teach
It's the effort you put in that makes you play as good as you do. Keep up the enthusiasm you are doing absolutley brilliantly !

AP - I've been teaching Maxx now for a while. We are so similar how we play and learn and we just click. She's very eager to learn and I'm very proud of her !

Look forward to the next concert !

Fiona

Looks like I missed a treat! Where is the next concert? Is is far from Cornwall?(stupid question)

Funny you should say that... those were my thoughts about a concert in the Manchester area....

How about we hire a big minibus and tour the UK, going to 5+ different venues throughout the day (or maybe week?) and getting performances from members everywhere?