Emily White final report

Dates

02/09/2008 00:39:00

Woking info on RonaldCenter who does what02/09/2008 00:39:00 Rights are owned by National Library of Scotland Royalties payable to British Heart Foundation Bardic Editions – not relevant Needs Musicoligist to make programme notes on the quartets for the CD booklet ?

Designer for CD and booklet Biography – sally Garden Evening Concert - Emily Recorded Quartet –Emily

Education and Community Inclusion part of Ronald Center Project 02/09/2008 00:39:00

Playing at community events Playing with local traditional musicians, both learning folk fiddle techniques and repertoire, (listening and playing) and performing classical violin pieces, and including local players who are not classically trained in the performance of classical music.

Performed –at Tin Hut Folk Club, Fyvie Folk Club, and Fyvie Burns supper evening with Strathbogie Fiddlers and Huntly Folk Club (Rose and Thistle, ‘The Auld Pit’ Farmers market (in square, in booth) Example of some pieces performed at community occasions Bach Partita in D Minor (solo violin) played at Tin Hut, Farmers Market, The Auld Pit Sonata Seconda a Sopran Solo by Dario Castello c 1660 (Violin, with traditional viola player and keyboardist playing accompaniment including three rehearsal) Luskyntire by Paul Anderson (solo violin) Spey in a Spate with local traditional fiddler ‘We ar nae Fu’ (Burns song – sang at Burns supper, Fyvie) Scottish Songs from 1547, on sackbuts, cornette, electric guitar and fiddle The Auld Pit, by Paul Anderson, played at The Auld Pit ‘The Journey Home’ by Paul Anderson’ played at the Auld Pit Da Full Rigged ship - trad played at Farmers Market O Mary young and Fair – played at Farmers Market Medatation from Thais by Massenet – played at the farmers market

Easdale Choir Easdale choir was formed by word of mouth. I enquired in shops and the Library, cafes, at the curlers ball, and at all folk club sessions for any interested singers.

Some members are experienced folk singers, two familiar with choral singing, the remainder new to reading music, part singing, and performing classical music. The choir was formed for the purpose of performing Ronald Center’s unpublished hymn ‘God be in my Head’ at

the Ronald Center Festival. Its success led it on to perform at the Tin Hut, to make a private CD recording , and perform at the CD launch, singing the Ronald Center Hymn and a three verse song in medieval French, in four parts. The emphasis was on the fun of singing together, learning by ear, and the natural musicianship of everyone.The result was a high quality performance by any standards.

Very few choirs sing without accompaniment from piano, organ or guitars, and without a conductor. I am very proud that my belief that none of these things are necessary, and untrained singers are perfectly capable of using their ears and singing in four part harmony together was confirmed by Easdale Choir.

Response from a member She joined because she was bullied by me into joining. She thought perhaps she could sing, because she could sing along in the bath – but felt her voice wasn’t strong. It made her realise that it didn’t matter, becase it was relaxed, and no one seemed to be extremely experienced, and that it was new, fun. She hopes it will continue. She oferred d to be the one to do the phoning to get everyone together.

Response from another member She joined because she felt it was a wonderful opportunity to do singing with lots of different people from the community, have a go at singing in harmony, and because she felt anything is possible, and it was interesting to see if that were true. The result she called a powerhouse of creativity that let everyone blossom. She is hoping that it will carry on for the enjoyment of singing.

Huntly String Orchestra The string orchestra was formed when I located the manuscript score of ‘Lachrimae by Ronald Center in the National Library of Scotland. It is unpublished, and was written for a 9 part string orchestra. He is said to have written it in despair, believing his music would never receive acclaim in a wide context. He originally titled it ‘requiem for an artist’.

We rehearsed at Easdale House, and in the Strathbogie Church to performing

The players were two local fiddlers, local viola player, two local classically trained children, (Katie Lovie led the orchestra and played the solo part) and the Isla Quartet. It meant that the two aspiring classical players, and the fiddlers were playing alongside professional classical string players, and we were a very mixed age group. It was incredibly challenging, especially for those not familiar with reading music in classical repertoire. As with the choir, it was unconducted - highly ambitious for a chamber orchestra – and demanded high listening skills and courage. It was a very powerful part of the concert, and in my opinion was a triumph.

Primary School choir The choir was already up and running, directed brilliantly by Mrs Gillian Innes. They were singing popular songs, and songs from World War II. I played along, improvising accompaniment on the trombone. I taught them a unison melody of ‘God be in my Head’ over a series of weeks, and some voice warm up games. We performed in the square on the second day of the Ronald Center Festival, 3rd May, all the war songs, with trombone and keyboard accompaniment, and the Ronald Center Hymn. The regular Farmers Market customers, stall holders and tourists, parents of the of the choir ,and those on the Center Walk heard the children’s performance.

Dance and Duet The presence of professional dance Lean Koetser led us to collaborate with a dance for the Ronald Center Festival. Lean Koetser choreographed a ballet for six members of Gordon Schools sixth form, to the music of Center’s string duo. After many rehearsals it was performed at the Opening evening concert at Castle Hotel. The live musicians were Rebecca Rees, cellist from the Isla Quartet and me on violin.

Education

I went into the Gordon Schools Primary School to give “Open Ears’ sessions = 4 half an hour classes each week Visiting the Nursery, 2 P1. Sessions included playing live classical music, singing with the children, playing musical games and doing listening time. At least 8 weeks of visits.

The aim of the sessions was to have fun with classical music, and encourage the children to respond actively to the many stories it can tell.

Sessions with Nursery (Tuesday morning and afternoon) And Primary 1 (Tuesday afternoon and wed afternoon) Performance of classical music on instrument, and on CD recordings Story told via music Music games to participate in Singing songs in rounds.

Feedback for how the music sounded, and how did it make you feel, or what story was being told by it.

Below are some examples of performances Session 1 Instrument – Violin. performed; Mozart Violin Concerto in Dmajor (excerpts), Bach Partita in D minor - first and fourth movements Cd listening: Beethoven Violin concerto, second movement (section) Story – Hector the rabbit goes to Aberdeen

Session 2 Instrument: trombone. Performed: Ferdinand David trombone concerto (excerpts) Mozart Horn concerto number 2, Excerpts Twinkle little star (not in all classes) Story told Hector digs the Burrow (not all classes) Cd Music Ronald Center String Quartet number 1, movement 2 and 3.

Mozart Horn Concerto Rondo Session 3 Instrument: Sackbuts (renaissance trombones – historical copies) Performed: Pastyme with Good Companye, by King Henry VIII, Greensleeves anon (attrib King Henry VIII) Flow my Teares, by Dowland.

Story told - how the sackbut was used in the time of King Henry VIII (fanfares, banquets, to send the king to sleep) (they marched in pretending to be king to fanfare etc - then tried to fall asleep to greensleves) CD Music Under the Hammer, by Keith Dempster, Clarinet quintet by David Ward, (both contemporary Scottish Composers) And Nocturne by Chopin.

Session 4 Instrument: modern violin Performed: Ronald Center Duet for violin and cello Ronald Center Hymn ‘God be in my Head (showed the manuscript to children, explained that the dots tell you what note to play - asked them to be my music stand, and turn the page) ‘Sleep’ by Ivor Gurney Spey in a Spate (trad scotts) ‘Journey Home’Paul Anderson Story: Hector the rabbit’s best friend Joe goes home to London.

Session 5 to 8 - introduced the baroque violin - got them able to identify the difference from a modern violin (no chin rest, strings made of sheep gut. (great moment, when I played something on it a little boy said ‘ that was the music of a dead sheeps insides…”

Taught them two songs : ‘My paddle’s Keen and Bright’ and ‘Little Brown Sparrow’ which by the end they were able to sing as rounds in two parts in assembly ( I was away so missed the moment of glory) On the last session, I took all my instruments in, and they were generally all able to identify correctly ‘Sackbut’ trombone’ ‘violin’ and

‘brok Violin’ (they never quite got the word baroque) They were able to say that the sackbut was old, the trombone modern, ‘Brok’ violin old, modern violin new.

They listened to Carnival of the Animals by Saint Saens, and danced with glee to the skeletons, and crawled and roared to the Lions, and gently danced to the tortoise.

I felt that the Schools trips were entirely successful. I hoped to show them how fun and exciting classical music is - and how to listen - to open the ears till they were able to listen to a string quartet by Ronald Center, and make something of it. Many people though this was too ambitious. The children managed it by week three. In spite of stomping, clapping singing, drum banging, acting, (being kings/princesses etc) storytelling and all other such child-friendly tricks - what they loved the most and kept asking for, was lying still “shut the eyes and open the ears’ and listening. I got more and more ambitious – and played them an extraordinary array of classical music from 1600 to this year, and they never found it more than they could cope with. I was very proud. (Plus they ended up able to sing in two parts, and some had trouble talking when I first arrived!)

The performance and research part of the Ronald Center Residency.

The project was a four month residency as Musician in Residence with Deveron Arts with several strands, all related to the neglected music of local classical composer Ronald Center 1913-73.

The centre of the Center project was to premiere and record the unplayed second string Quartet of Ronald Center. For this purpose I formed a string quartet comprising myself and three colleagues from London who specialise in performing British new music. The Quartet was named the Isla after the local River Isla. The Isla flows from Rothiemay, where Evelyn Center lived before she married Ronald, into the Deveron in Huntly, where they spent their married lives.

I also wanted the facts of his life to be gathered and an accurate and well written biography of the man to be produced - as I could find almost nothing on him online, and nothing at all in reference books prior to my residency. To this end, and in search of the manuscripts I made a trip to the archives in the National Library of Scotland. Thanks to the work of a retired family solicitor the Copyright was discovered to belong to them, and they graciously granted us permission to perform, and record the works. I saw many letters and programmes of interest in the archive as well. Due to the pressing nature of the performance side, the task of completing a biograophy was in the main carried out by Dr Sally Garden and Maureen Ross. Maureen did grass roots and archive research into the man on a personal level, which is still ongoing and produced creative prose, a DVD of images set to his music, and a poem ‘April Angel’ on the subject. Part of her writing is published in the booklet of the Ronald Center CD. Dr Sally garden’s well researched biography is available online at www.monsgrapius.com and on the sleeve notes to the Ronald Center CD

Taster Concert 2007 I gave a recital of various composers relating to Center, and some of his works in Huntly Episcopelian Church February 2007, as a round up of my first month research into his music. I formed an ensemble called Huntly Bones, of trombone players including a child from Nairn, a local professional trombonist recently graduated, a local amateur trombonist, an absolute beginner trombonist (Nuno Sacremento) and international soloist John Kenny. We`played works by Paul Anderson, arranged with his permission by me, and some early music - a professional cellist from London performed JS Bach (a favourite composer of Center’s ) and with me, James Oswald, the Scottish baroque composer. I performed a song by Center on the trombone, Center’s string Duet - a contemporary piece of Scottish music for solo trombone, and a new composition I wrote for the performance featuring amplified bicycle wheel , solo trombone and voice. Local folk musicians Keith and Pam Cockburn performed traditional fiddle tunes and songs.

This initial month showed me how complex, and slow getting hold of copies of the manuscripts of Centers String Quartet number 2 would be by the end of it the copyright question, as to who held the rights had

still not been clarified - and I knew I had to visit the national Library in person if I were to continue the project. The first time I really heard Center’s music fully was in the concert. The song we performed was exquisite (‘Even Song’ on the church organ and solo trombone ) very powerful - and desperately sad. It made me wild with curiosity to get to play the quartet, and to hear what he was saying with it..

The main event of the project was a Ronald Center Festival weekend on May 2nd and 3rd 2008.

This incorporated a range of activities: three concerts, outdoor performance by school children, a guided walk, performance dance, lectures (including a speaker from Luxembourg, and the broadcaster James Naughtie) poetry performance, an associated exhibition in the Huntly Museum (ongoing), the launch of a commemorative whisky, launch of a website, lunch in the former residence of Ronald Center and a folk session. The main concert at which the 2nd String Quartet received its world premiere, was attended by approximately 200 people and hosted

by James Naughtie, a former pupil of Ronald Center’s. The audience were not given programme notes describing the premiered Quartet, but were given blank post it notes, on which to write their first impressions.

They are collected and displayed by Maureen Ross, and contain some very strong positive responses. They are an invaluable first hand response on record of Huntly public to a Huntly musician.

The Ronald Center Festival and especially the final concert (in Strathbogie Church where Center was organist,) was a gentle pun on ‘Center of Huntly’ - and included works by Center, but also the people and music at the heart of Huntly. The Huntly String Orchestra performed ‘Lachrimae’ by Center, Easdale Choir and Garmouth singers performed ‘God be in my Head’ and ‘There is no Rose’ by Ronald Center, Traditional fiddler Paul Anderson performed, as did Pam Johnston and Keith Cockburn, fiddler and traditional singer. The point was not just the excellence of Center’s fantastic string Quartet (it received an ovation) but to draw many different groups into a concert and celebrate that music is for all and a thing of joy. That Ronald Center did not foster this feeling in many local residents in his time made the success of that atmosphere all the sweeter.

The festival concluded with an full, loud and cheerful folk session at the Rose and Thistle pub - attended by many performers and audience members.

The Isla Quartet recorded the Quartet in the ARC Studios, Mintlaw. (Ronald Center’s family roots are nearby, in Old Deer) in the days following the festival. We then decided to also record the Violin Sonata and the piano Sonata, featuring Joseph Long, the Aberdeen resident recital pianist who had opened the festival, and Philippa Mo from the Isla Quartet, and the pianist Richard Evans. I had the role of producer during the recording sessions, and then went on to edit the disk over five days at Mintlaw Studio. The CD was professionally produced and launched at a concert on the 29th Aug 2008 and is now available for sale. In addition the score of the Quartet has been typeset from the handwritten manuscript by David Ward and was unveiled at this event. As a professional composer, he has developed a great understanding of the work through this typesetting, and I would like to see him write a piece of text in response. I feel that would be of great value and interest.

Contributors to the text in the CD sleeve notes are James Naughtie, Maureen Ross, Richard Evans, Dr Sally Garden, Philippa Mo, Joseph Long and me.

Conclusion The conclusion is one of confirmation. Ronald Center’s music is fascinating, original, and worthy of national recognition. The potential of a town to collaborate in classical music activities with a broad range of participants and audience can be realised. I am capable of having fun playing classical music games with nursery age children, and developing something fundamental at the same time. The breadth of vision of Claudia Zeiske is the inspiration behind the project, its ambitious scop and its stylishly designed publications. Its success was also due to the vast work of Sue Brown, Kelly Anderson, Fiona Manson, to the support of the staff at Gordon primary Schools, and the warm, open minded , up – for - it residents of Huntly.

I have had an enquiry from a music society in England into giving a lecture concert similar to the CD launch, because of interest in the CD.

I hope to take the Isla Quartet further London - taking the works of Center further afield. One player suggested that a Wigmore Hall recital, or Purcell Room Recital featuring the works on the CD would be appropriate. I would love to follow that up. An online interview with Matthew Wadsworth asking me about the CD will be available soon. He will be reviewing the disk. www.matt@matthewwadsworth.com

Budget

02/09/2008 00:39:00

Facts needed for sleeve notes 02/09/2008 00:39:00

02/09/2008 00:39:00