UPDATE
MAKING MUSIC FROM A DISTANCE In usual times, the Homerton College Music Society provides regular opportunities for musicians to polish their performance skills, and for students and staff to enjoy lunchtime musical respite.
Lizzie Robbings
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HOMERTONIAN HOMERTONIAN
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ager to ensure that this valuable aspect of College life was not lost in the hiatus of lockdown, HCMS arranged a remote performance competition. “We had no idea how many people were likely to engage with it when everyone’s scattered, so we were delighted to get 13 entries,” says Director of Studies in Engineering Dr Miles Stopher, who co-ordinated the competition, edited the videos, and participated with his band, Nigel from Slough. Submitted from home, the eclectic selection of performances ranged from Chopin to Ed Sheeran and provided a wonderful opportunity to feel connected to the Homerton community through music. “Music has the ability to bring people together, even when they’re separated in time or space,” says Research Fellow in Music Dr Ross Cole, who judged the competition. “Performance and listening are therefore especially important at a time like this. I was looking for performers committed to their chosen idiom, bringing something new to these repertoires or traditions.”
Georgie Deri, (Second Year, Education) won joint first prize for her original song, Wannabe, which she sang while accompanying herself on the guitar. “Wannabe was inspired by the shifting role social media has had in our lives since lockdown,” she says. “The song touches on a few things; firstly the now unspoken expectation to remain constantly in touch and always online and how this has blurred the lines, maybe even changed, our perception of who we are in the ‘real’ world. Secondly, the simultaneous pressure to “be what you want to be” but also present yourself in a perfect and idealised way, feeling like a ‘wannabe’. I would like to thank HCMS for running this competition, allowing both performers and audience alike to enjoy and engage with a diverse range of music in these times when we need it most.” Joint first prize winner was First Year Music student Lizzie Robbings, who demonstrated both musical and technical wizardry by playing the violin, viola and vocal parts of Bach’s Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen. “My choice of this particular cantata lies in the significant role it has played on
Swathi Nachlar Manivannan
