News from our members

We welcome your brief news (max. 150 words) and high-res images. Please email mj@ism.org The next deadline for copy is 28 January 2022 for the March/April 2022 issue

Alan Bradley Etherden ARAM, DipRAM,LRAM, ARCM

18/04/1956-27/10/2021 ISM member since 1979

A tribute by Jan Etherden, his sister

Alan Bradley Etherden was a gifted pianist, a kind and skilled teacher, and a fine amateur potter and painter! He attended the Royal Academy of Music from 1974, latterly studying piano with the late Guy Jonson; and was the winner of both the Lilian Davies (pianoforte) and Walter Macfarren prizes in 1980, before going on to study with the late Louis Kentner. Alan was a deeply compassionate man, he loved animals and cared greatly for the vulnerable of this world. He leaves behind a beloved wife, cherished mother, proud sister, and loving extended family.

New videos on wellbeing and performance for musicians

Alexander Technique specialists at UK conservatoires and elsewhere have created a new series of free videos to support musicians of all levels, writes ISM member Catherine Fleming, who is one of the contributors. The aim is to introduce ways of finding comfort, balance and freedom in playing and singing. It is the start of a library which will be developed over time. The videos can be viewed at: youtube.com/channel/ UCs52JNSCqgq7TkjKh4eSA_A The Alexander Technique is a 100-yearold method for reconnecting with our innate balance, freedom and sensitivity in movement. Often associated with the performing arts, Alexander Technique is recommended for anyone who wishes to reduce or eliminate tension in what they do. Its effectiveness in dissolving back and neck pain is well known, and has been backed by rigorous scientific trials. performingself.org.uk/musicconference-2021.html

alexandertechnique.co.uk

Mucky Herbert Music – Independent Publisher

Mucky Herbert Music was founded by composer Mark Elvin in 2020, initially as a self-publishing platform for his own work. The catalogue currently consists of works for orchestra, brass ensembles, and educational material including three unaccompanied studies books – the ‘Journeys’ series – for Clarinet, Trumpet and Tuba. Journeys by Tuba is currently in the Trinity exam syllabus, with two studies per grade. As well as the technical requirements, the studies allow the player to think about performance and musicality. The ensemble pieces have been well received, with On This Day, In This Life being shortlisted in the recent Making Music Awards.

Two more series of books are being prepared, in collaboration with other composers, and are planned for release early 2022. For further details of the catalogue, and testimonials for all the work from leading musicians, please visit muckyherbertmusic.com

NMC releases Param Vir’s first portrait CD

Composer Param Vir’s first portrait CD is now available on NMC, featuring four major works from his catalogue from 1987 to 2014, performed by leading UK and European ensembles.

Born in Delhi in 1952, Param Vir moved to London in the 1980s to study with Peter Maxwell Davies and Oliver Knussen. His music connects European modernism with an Eastern sensibility, freely drawing from mythology, art and literature. Wheeling Past the Stars

sets texts by Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore to explore the themes of love, politics and nature.Klangforum Wien join forces with virtuoso sarod player Soumik Datta for Raga Fields. Before Krishna takes inspiration from the images around the birth of Krishna; the ‘Krishna Row’ twists and turns in the hands of the London Chamber Orchestra. In Hayagriva, Vir explores aspects of the horse-headed Vishnu’s supernatural powers. Commissioned and performed by the Schönberg Ensemble.

nmcrec.co.uk

paramvir.net Oh Freedom, Kalinka and Sakura, as well as a wide selection of inspiring (and often hard-to-find) world songs in many languages from Southern and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, the middle East and the Americas. Translations, brief performance notes, and a bibliography further enrich these volumes. Fabian Lochner is a choral director and educator who has worked with choirs of all abilities for over 25 years. His arrangements aim to be true to the idiom of each culture, and range from very accessible part songs for joyful community singing to exciting and sophisticated performance pieces.

Vocal Health and Rehabilitation

An extended extract from ISM member Alison Mary Sutton’s forthcoming book, Vocal Health and Rehabilitation, has been released as an e-publication.

The extract is entitled ‘The Heart of the Breath and MTD Case Study’, and consists of the completed breathing chapter and the first of six case studies from the main book. The written text has been augmented throughout with bespoke illustrations, audio and video clips. Details can be found at comptonpublishing.co.uk

New world music choral collection

A World in Harmony is an exciting new three-volume collection of 71 new arrangements for a cappella choirs by Fabian Lochner, published by Upper Esk Music and available through uppereskmusic.com. This beautifully produced new resource for world music choirs includes well known favourites such as Morning has broken,

A World in Harmony a new collection of 71 acapella choral arrangements in 3 volumes is pleased to present . . . by

Fabian Lochner

Rev A rich new resource for lovers of world music with haunting new harmonies – a must-have for community choirs and performing choirs alike! The music is varied in both style and origin, with sacred and secular music from Israel, Western and Eastern Europe, Africa, India, Russia and America (including a number of African-American spirituals)

Order your copies from Upper Esk Music:

Upper Esk Music Andrew Dyer Appletree House, 5 Church Street, Castleton, Whitby, North Yorkshire YO21 2EQ Tel: 01287 660656 e-mail: andrew.dyer@uppereskmusic.com

Enhanced digital tutorial magazines

The latest in online learning includes The Maestro Online Digital Library, launched by educator, choral conductor, organist, pianist and vocal coach Dr Robin Harrison. The enhanced digital magazines incorporate short tutorial videos alongside text on every page and are entirely focused on skill development. The courses (piano, organ, aural, ABRSM sight-singing, pop vocal embellishment) work as follows: • start with the sound/music, focus on what you hear, label it. Use famous songs to train the mind and ear, to make you more acutely perceptive than before • skills include aural, solfege, chords, counterpoint, much improvisation, guided reading and sight-reading. Students perform and develop musicianship rapidly • aimed at the many: beginner to advanced singers, young and older students, pop vocalists, pianists, organists, GCSE, BTEC, IBAC and A level, diploma/degree students

(aural even includes augmented 6ths through fun repertoire, modulations and more!). the-maestro-online.com/ music-courses-online

ISM members are eligible for 10% off using ‘ISM10’. Dr Robin Harrison contributed to The Routledge Companion to Aural Skills Pedagogy, Before, In and Beyond Higher Education.

Stepping Notes music teachers’ courses return to in-person sessions

After enduring a bruising time during COVID, Nikhil and Angela Dally’s Stepping Notes Music School (dally. org.uk) is slowly piecing itself back together. We believe that music is meant to be made by real people, singing and moving together in real time and real space – not online! Our first live face-to-face post-COVID music teachers’ course in October featured the wonderful Jimmy Rotheram, and was a triumphant and joyful occasion – so different from the ‘Zoom and gloom’ of the past two years. Buoyed by this success, here is our programme for spring 2022: a series of live face-to-face workshops, led by Nikhil Dally, on Teaching Musicianship Through Singing and Movement, which can be booked separately or together. Aimed at teachers of children aged two to nine, these workshops will take place in Egham (Surrey), and will cover: Workshop 1: Pulse and rhythm (Friday 18 February 2022) Workshop 2: Pitch, scale, melody and harmony (Tuesday 12 April 2022) Workshop 3: Metre, phrasing and structure (Tuesday 31 May 2022) For further information, please go to: dally.org.uk/ TeachersCoursesSpring2022.pdf