NCEM Education Newsletter Summer 2009

intune

summer 2009

ISSUE 6

a chance for you to get involved!

NCEM COMPOSERS

AWARD 2009

WINNERS

Welcome to the NCEM’s education and community newsletter - the space for you to find out more about events and activities.

In this issue, find out about the new Mantra educational resource, the performance in the Schools Prom at the Royal Albert Hall and the latest Aimhigher initiative.

The prestigious NCEM Composers Award 2009, presented in association with BBC Radio 3 and The Tallis Scholars, has been won by 16 year-old Elizabeth Edwards and 23 year-old Michael Perrett.

The winners were announced at a special finalists’ concert at the NCEM, where all six short-listed pieces were performed by the York-based Ebor Singers.The competition was judged by Peter Phillips, Director of The Tallis Scholars, Chris Wines, Senior Music Producer with BBC Radio 3 and Delma Tomlin, Director of the NCEM. The competition saw over 50 entrants from up and down the country, with the youngest aged 11 years old.The winning pieces, written for fourpart a cappella (unaccompanied) choir, will be premiered by the internationally renowned The Tallis Scholars at the opening concert of the York Early Music Festival on Friday 10 July in York Minster. Highlights of the concert will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3’s Early Music Show on Saturday 25 July 2009.

There were two age categories in this competition – 18 years and under, and 19 to 25 years – and the six short-listed candidates had the opportunity to work with the Ebor Singers and the composer Christopher Fox prior to the finalists’ concert.

Elizabeth Edwards from Camberley in Surrey was the youngest participant in the shortlist. She is part of the Colourstrings Saturday Music School in South London, where she learns cello and piano.

At school, Elizabeth plays bass recorder in the recorder consort, string bass in the swing band and sings in the senior choir. She has just won a place as a music specialist at Wells Cathedral School and will begin her ‘A’ level studies in September. Her entry was entitled Arise, with text from Isaiah chapter 60.

Michael Perrett, a clarinetist from Hampshire, is currently studying at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Michael has recently given performances of Carter, Birtwistle and Holt and his formal study of composition began only recently. He now studies privately with Matthew Sergeant and hopes to study composition at postgraduate level. His piece, entitled God, is a setting of a minstrel song from Isaac Rosenberg’s verse-play Moses published in 1916.

Peter Phillips, Director of The Tallis Scholars now has the task of preparing the winning compositions for their premieres in York Minster. He said: “I was impressed by the dedication and seriousness with which these young finalists tackled the compositional process and illustrated their individual styles. Every piece was idiomatically written for a cappella singing and I am really looking forward to performing Elizabeth's and Michael’s winning entries. Michael’s composition in particular will be a technical challenge for us, which will be exciting; and we relish the opportunity of being able to support such talented people at the start of their careers as composers.”

The other shortlisted candidates were: William Blake (20yrs) from Beckenham, Kent, studying at Queens College, Oxford; Paul Edis (23yrs) from Durham;Thomas Neal (18yrs) from Stockton on Tees;Tom Harrold (17yrs) from Glasgow.

All compositions from short-listed candidates were recorded by University of York music technology students and can be heard on the NCEM website.

Information about the 2010 NCEM Composers Award will be available from September 2009 at www.ncem.co.uk

www.ncem.co.uk

INDIAN & PORTUGESE MUSIC FUSED ON-LINE A new on-line educational resource exploring Indian and Portuguese music of the 16th century has been launched by the NCEM to accompany Mantra: Musical Conversations Across the Indian Ocean – a national 11 date tour presented by The Orlando Consort which opened in York last month.

The award-winning Orlando Consort Matthew Venner, Mark Dobell, Angus Smith and Donald Greig – is joined by three outstanding Asian musicians Kuljit Bhamra (tabla), Jonathan Mayer (sitar) and Shahid Khan (voice) in recreating this historic cross-cultural encounter and applying their collective experiences to devise a radical and challenging new dialogue for the 21st century.

The inspiration for this collaboration is sublime Iberian and Indian music from the early 1500s.

On arriving in Goa, Portuguese missionaries set out to win the hearts, minds and souls of the local Goan population through the power of music.The newly built churches of the 'Pearl of the Orient' were filled with singing and playing, as western and eastern voices and instruments rang out together, creating an extraordinary blend of exotic and exuberant sounds.

Running alongside the Tour is a specially designed education programme. Young people from All Saints RC School in York took part in the premiere concert at the NCEM on 7 May 2009. In advance of the concert they worked with Orlando Consort singer Angus Smith and Kuljit Bhamra to find out more about these diverse traditions and devise their own compositions and improvisations inspired by the music they explored.

The on-line Mantra education resource has been compiled to help secondary school music teachers introduce and explore the inspiration behind the Mantra project by looking at aspects of Hindustani music, Western early music, and the fusion of the two styles. It comprises a series of downloadable information sheets, handouts for pupils and activity ideas, together with links to video and audio clips.The activities

are appropriate for pupils in Key Stage 3, but can also form the foundation of more extended work by GCSE and A-level students.

The resource, compiled in partnership with Alchemy, focuses on the arrival of Jesuit missionaries in Goa in the 1540s. It explores the music they may have brought with them, together with the Indian musical styles they might have encountered. It also speculates on the kind of music that Western and Goan musicians may have made together.

The Mantra Education Resource is available at www.ncem.co.uk in the educational resources section.

YOUNG ARTISTS COMPETITION FINALISTS ANNOUNCED Seven groups have been short-listed to take part in this year’s York Early Music International Young Artists Competition from 16 – 18 July 2009.This prestigious biennial Competition, which is part of the York Early Music Festival, has attracted interest from around the world.

The selected finalists are Concitato (USA); Ensemble Meridiana and Grand Désir (Switzerland); MetroMarina (Belgium); Le Tic Toc Choc (France); Purcelli Abubu (Austria) and The Marian Consort (UK).

Each will present a short recital on 16 and 17 July under the guidance of one of the world’s most highly respected singing teachers, Evelyn Tubb and then will perform in the competition final on the 18 July.

This competition is designed to develop excellence in Early Music Ensembles by providing highly professional and experienced advice and guidance across all performing disciplines in a nurturing and inspiring environment. Delma Tomlin, Director of the NCEM, is delighted by the response: “We look forward to enjoying what promises to be a thoroughly inspiring event for our audiences and an intensely productive three days for all the young artists involved in the competition.”

The winners of the 2009 competition will receive a cheque for £1000 as well as a series of concerts organised by the National Centre for Early Music and opportunities to work with BBC Radio 3 and Linn Records. Philip Hobbs, Recording Producer for

Linn Records said: “We are absolutely delighted to be able to support these young musicians at such a pivotal point in their careers.”

In addition the Friends of the York Early Music Festival will be presenting the prize to those who are judged to have offered a performance which ‘most appeals’ to the audience.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR HENRY!

The NCEM is working with the National Singing Programme, Sing Up, to celebrate the 350th anniversary of Henry Purcell – one of England’s finest composers – in a series of celebrations across England begining in Bury St Edmunds in May and concluding at the Music for Youth Schools Prom at the Royal Albert Hall in November.

The project has allowed the NCEM to join forces with many music professionals to pass on a tremendous amount of knowledge and skill to young people and has truly put early music on the national platform.

Funded by a grant of £45,000 from Sing Up to the NCEM, the celebrations start with a collaborative education project joining together professional singers from The Sixteen and young people from four Cathedral Cities with music leaders from the Choir Schools’ Association.

The project – which is led by members of the internationally acclaimed vocal group The Sixteen – will involve over 600 young people aged between 8 and 11 years in performances designed to celebrate the life of Henry Purcell.

This piece – which is structured around the life of Henry Purcell - will then be staged by The Sixteen and the young people in a series of matinee performances in St Edmundsbury, Liverpool Metropolitan and Lichfield Cathedrals and Southwell Minster.

Harry Christophers, Conductor and Founder of The Sixteen, says: "We are thrilled to be a part of this project.The Sixteen has been working for several years in education work and is constantly looking to expand the scope of its activity in this area.This is the first time we have been associated with something quite on this scale and, indeed, more importantly with such young children. We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with so many people from this age range and introduce them in an exciting way to the music of our heritage.”

Delma Tomlin, Director of the NCEM, was very pleased that the Centre had been able to initiate such a hugely significant project.

“Working with The Sixteen in Cathedral cities across England will give many young people the chance to learn about early music and the joy of singing as well as offering them an extra-ordinary opportunity to share the same stage as The Sixteen and their world famous director Harry Christophers.”

St Edmundsbury Cathedral Project

The educational project has been developed by Dr Cathryn Dew, the NCEM’s Educational Consultant, to reflect the history, music and sense of the drama of the period and is strongly linked to the National Curriculum.

Songs used in the project include London’s Burning – reminding the young people of the Fire of London in 1666, Ring a Ring a Roses to bring reference to the Plague which was still raging through London in the 17th century and some of Purcell’s most famous pieces including the ever cheerful Come Ye Sons of Art.

Sing Up regards this as a key project for their programme. Baz Chapman, Programme Director, added: “We are excited to be working on this project with The Sixteen and the NCEM. Sing Up is thriving on groundbreaking partnerships which result in these exciting, high-quality projects.”

The NCEM and Sing Up will continue to celebrate the music of Purcell throughout the year. In the autumn, they will be working with over 500 primary school children from 11 schools in York alongside the NCEM’s Minster Minstrels to prepare a short piece to perform at this year’s Schools Prom at The Royal Albert Hall on 9 November 2009.The piece, known as ‘Ode on the 350th Birthday of Mr Henry Purcell’ has been especially commissioned from Cathedral composer Dr Richard Shephard.The young peoples’ choir will be directed by Susan Hollingworth, musical director of the Scunthorpe Co-operative Junior Choir who won the BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year in 2008.

In addition to these activities, the National Centre for Early Music is developing a free on-line educational resource for Key Stage 2 teachers.

The resource, which will be available from www.ncem.co.uk in the autumn, will include special arrangements of Purcell’s music for young voices and activity ideas for teachers.

latest news

EVERYDAY OBJECTS MAKE MUSIC Basketballs, plastic bins and broomsticks are some of the objects used by BackBeat Percussion Quartet to create music on everyday instruments in a new two year education project running in partnership with the NCEM and Aimhigher North Yorkshire.

Young people aged between 14 and 16 are taking part in the ‘Found Sound’ project.They are from the following schools: Brayton College (Selby), Sherburn High School (Sherburn in Elmet), Holy Family RC High School (Goole), South Craven School, Aireville School (Skipton), Harrogate High School, Raincliffe School and Scalby School (both in Scarborough).The project is designed to use music as a means to engage with secondary school students from backgrounds where the continuation to higher education is particularly low. As well as making music, the workshops offer information

NAME CONFERENCE The educational resource ‘Hopscotch’ based around playground songs and games will be demonstrated at the National Association of Music Educators Conference in September at the University of York. NCEM’s community musicians will run a workshop outlining the development of this resource and will also explore the potential of singing games across the 5 to 10 age range for musical, vocal, language, physical development, communication and social skills.

about the benefits of continuing into higher education and look at the lifestyles of professional musicians.

All students taking part were treated to a special opening concert and workshop in May.They had the opportunity to find out more about the vast array of percussion instruments that the Quartet play including the snare drum, djembe, marimba, bodhran, bongos, tambourine, bones and spoons!

They were also given the opportunity to try out some of these instruments for themselves and the

session ended with everyone joining together to create a piece using broomsticks and beaters!

Backbeat’s percussionist, Simone Rebello was extremely excited about this project.“ The young people will take many experiences with them from this project, It provides an insight into our world and what we do as percussionists and also shows that music is very accessible, everyone can join in and contribute their ideas and see how a piece of music evolves.”

HANDEL’S TIME MACHINE

AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE A new annual award will be introduced this year to a member of the Minster Minstrels who has demonstrated the most enthusiasm, promise and achievement.The prize has been donated by John Marvin, former Chair of the York Early Music Festival and the winner will be announced on 12 July during the York Early Music Festival.

Design|www. RedBonsai.co.uk

contact us

There are still a few places available on this year’s Musical Play in a Week which will run from 10 to 14 August. Handel’s Time Machine is a mad musical adventure that sees a group of children whirled out of their everyday life and into the past.The young adventurers are to meet the young George Fredrick Handel, as he struggles from an early age to become one of the world’s most famous composers.

The course is suitable for young people aged between 9 and 14 years.

The cost is £80 and there is a downloadable application form on the NCEM website at www.ncem.co.uk

For further information about any of the activities, events or resources mentioned in this Newsletter please contact the NCEM on 01904 632220 or email info@ncem.co.uk To book tickets for events, please contact the Box Office on 01904 658338 or visit www.ncem.co.uk National Centre for Early Music, St Margaret’s Church, Walmgate,York YO1 9TL

All details are correct at the time of going to press but we reserve the right to amend the published programme if necessary.

Promoted by York Early Music Foundation Registered Charity No. 1068331