The morning was
given over to workshops for upper and lower strings. The upper
strings explored various different instrumental techniques that were
going to feed into the performance of Blue Grit later in the Day.
The cellos worked together on some ensembles and prepared the
wonderful Rick Mooney arrangement of Bile them Cabbage Down, for the
concert.
Come lunchtime it
was time to go busking. Amazingly most of the children attending the
workshop
were ready to stand up and busk for Just a Minute. The
competition rules state that you have to play for a minute in any
style you like, but in such a way as to be likely to attract an
audience on a street corner. In this rehearsal there were some
displays of nerves and we were not too worried about the one-minute
time frame. However, come the final, we were much more strict about
the timing and with judges Tasmin, David and William poised to make
comments and Bruce (from event sponsor Barnes & Mullins) ready with
timer and gon
g,
things moved up a notch in all senses. Every single performer upped
their game, some changed their piece to one better suited to a
busking situation, all had found a few minutes alone to practise and
a couple displayed great ingenuity in extending their piece to last
the full minute.
To close the
lunchtime busking rehearsal David played one of his own competitions
and then Tasmin remembered that she had once been on the radio and
asked to play to close the programme. After the performance she was
told that it had been the perfect length, exactly one minute, so she
took her place to see whether the Bach Gavotte could stand the
rigours of the Just the Minute timekeeper – and it did!
There were three
extremely generous prizes donated by ESTA Corporate members,
Sandarac. Gary from Sandarac presented 17 year old Carol Jones,
runner up, with set of strings. Carol improvised with great spirit
to extend her performance right to the moment the one-minute gong
sounded. He also presented Jasmine Blackshaw-Britton (9 years old)
with a bow case for her cello bow in recognition of her spirited
performance of a Scott Joplin Rag. The winner, 10 year old Jack
Shannon received a beautiful hand crafted violin for his performance
of Drowsy Maggie. This really got everyone’s feet tapping with his
rhythmic drive and assured performance. Tasmin and Steve (from
Sandarac) presented the violin.
The closing concert
started with some short pieces played by Tasmin and closed with a
rousing performance of Blue Grit. Blue Grit is one of David le
Page’s compositions commissioned last year for the Grittleton
Chamber Music Course. It has parts for bass drum and cymbal, which
were played by the ESTA sponsors, Gary and Bruce. Steve joined me on
bass and all the ESTA organising committee and tutors brought out
their instruments to join in. Blue Grit features just about every
instrumental technique you can think of, but more importantly
succeeds by having the musical content and form of a really good
piece. What an experience for young string players – to sit in an
orchestra surrounded by professional players and have Tasmin’s
wonderful sound flowing over them from the back of the violins! If I
have any sad thoughts about the day it is that more young people did
not share the experience and that more ESTA teachers did not get the
chance to discover David’s piece and how it can be put together with
a disparate group of young people.
Next year I shall
not have a summer concert for my students, instead they will all
attend the workshops at Clarendon Muse and busk for Just a Minute.
If you live within striking distance of Watford, maybe you could do
the same?
better way to kick-start this revival than with a day
featuring a guest appearance by ESTA President Tasmin Little,
workshops with David le Page (upper string workshop), William Bruce
(lower string workshop), the Sandarac Just a Minute
competition, now in its second year, the “Guess the age of the
instrument” competition, a concert plus cakes, cakes and more cakes!
This was a day that many missed, but Sunday June 19th
should be firmly inked into the 2011 diary right now.