Music

INTRODUCTION

The year 1992-93 has been a remarkable year in many ways. The drive to prepare for the U.S.A. tour has been ever present, perhaps even at times overwhelming. There also have been some notable staff changes within the visiting instrumental staff.

The prospect of the tour to the U.S.A. has, of course, helped the whole department, not just the tour members. The achievement of ever higher standards has been excellent to see, especially in such groups as the Swing Band and the Rockin' Hairdressers. The String Orchestra produced some excellent performances at the Summer Concert in a wide selection of Leroy Anderson favourites.

SCHOOL CHOIR

The school choir has learnt a good new repertoire this year, including an arrangement of 'Ezekiel saw the wheel' where one can hear the wheels turning. New pieces like 'The rhythm of life', Vaughan Williams' 'The turtle dove', Stanford's 'The bluebird', Bruckner's 'Christus factus est', John Whitworth's 'The Mermaid' were all designed to provide good contrast and wide range to include with the rest of the choir's repertoire for the U.S.A. Music Tour.

The upper sixth members of the choir have been an especially loyal group throughout their years at School and it was good to have every single one come to the U.S.A. with us.

The choir's 'big' services in the Minster again went well. At the carol service the now almost traditional opening processional was further embellished with two choirs alternating verses of 'Alle Psallite' with a thirteenth century pilgrims' chant variously sung and played on medieval instruments and modern brass instruments.

Christopher Braganza's solo in Howells' 'A Spotless rose' demonstrated why he has obtained a prestigious choral award to Clare College, Cambridge. The special seating arrangements for the service, because of a major concert in the Minster the next day, proved a real asset.

The Epiphany Procession was again a colourful and impressive occasion but one which has perhaps lost a little in the reduction of musical items and simplification of the opening procession.

The choir's major chapel services were good occasions and Sophie Pearson-Hill's solo soprano in Stanford's Magnificat in G especially memorable.

However, perhaps the most impressive performance from the choir came in the Christmas Concert when Britten's cantata 'Rejoice in the Lamb' was sung. Difficult rhythms, intricate tuning and awkward pitching demanding high standards of musicianship were overcome in a thrilling performance.

We wish the leavers well. The absence of some larger than life characters like Jack-Patrick will mean a significant reduction in rehearsal volume but most of all we miss their sense of unity and mutual support as a year group.

CHAMBER CHOIR

The year started with several invitations to sing at weddings which helped in raising funds for the U.S.A. tour as well as improving the group's singing. The repertoire has been expanded to include some intricate eight part arrangements of Beatles songs, for example 'Michelle' and 'Penny Lane' and some North Country songs arranged by Percy Lovell, former Director of Music at a School a few hundred yards away and grandfather of one of our Upper Sixth formers. Sociability is still an important requirement at rehearsals as is a sense of humour.

CHORAL SOCIETY

The Choral Society has performed in two major concerts this year. In November Vaughan Williams' 'Serenade to Music' gave many opportunities for solos and lush textures for the orchestra, Elgar's 'Songs of the Bavarian Highlands' were also given lively performances and were much enjoyed.

The highlight of the year was a large scale performance of major extracts from Mendelssohn's 'Elijah' in March. The whole of the fourth year of St. Olave's joined the Choral Society enjoying especially the famous 'Be not afraid' chorus. The St. Olave's Chapel Choir also gave a good account of the beautiful angels' chorus 'Lift thine eyes'.

The soloists Robert Thompson (tenor), James Morgan (bass) and Jane Mindenhall (contralto) all gave assured contributions.

Jane Mindenhall has led the orchestra very well throughout the year. In the main string orchestra concert — the Summer Concert — a group of Leroy Anderson pieces found a ready response from the audience. Jazz pizzicato, Plink, Plank Plonk etc. were 'easy listening' but not easy playing. They all demonstrated the developing quality of the strings. The best of all was "The Typewriter' with Jeffrey Gray as our 'temp' and Keith Pemberton on bell.

In the same concert Dominic Greeves played a concertino by Handel with authoritative well-rounded sound, Lissa Beckitt, in Poulenc's 'Cantilena', showed again what a lovely sound and sense of phrase she has, Faith Alexander, one of our young budding violinists, showed what a talented player she is in Massenet's Meditation, but the most impressive playing came from Tim Dunn, the soloist in the first movement of Crusell's clarinet concerto.

STARS AND STRIPES EVENING

What an excellent evening it was with the Swing Band setting the tone with 'That old black magic'.

The Choir sang several songs by Rutter, arrangements of English songs; in fact John Rutter has taken a personal interest in the tour, writing a letter of commendation for the tour brochure and programme.

The Rockin' Hairdressers milked the audience for all they were worth and this prepared them for their Radio York premiere later in June, just before the tour. They sang two songs live on Radio and gave an interview — all impressive stuff!

Tim Dunn's arrangement of Tuxedo Junction for Swing Band, Rockin' Hairdressers and Choir proved a great success as did his barbershop arrangements. His musical talents will be greatly missed next year.

THE ROCKIN HAIRDRESSERS

The Hairdressers suffered an early slump this year due to the loss of the 'ginger factor' — possibly supplied by Andy Moxon. But after a rigorous and prolonged season of auditioning, success was found in the euphemistically stout and manly frame of Oliver Button. Although this left only one bass and three tenors (who are naturally found wanting in some departments), the panache and flair of the ensemble grew in proportion with their style, to the extent that the applause after each performance was nearly as loud as that which accompanied their arrival on stage.

With a repertoire bolstered by 'Rock-a-bye your baby', the resurrected 'Graceful and Easy', the naff 'Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer', and the autobiographical 'They go Wild, simply Wild over Me' and 'Whiffenpoof Song', starring roles were usurped from all other participants in the Christmas Concert and the Stars 'n' Stripes evening in front of wildly partisan audiences of screaming teenagers.

In the guise of the St. Peter's Male Voice Harmony Quartet, the Hairdressers, after much heated deliberation, passed up 'Girl of My Dreams' for 'Ecce nunc benedicite' and 'O Vos Omnes' for the words and music for Lent — a change of direction much welcomed by Mr. Wright.

Several new pieces have sprung from the pens of the various members of the group. Arrangements of 'Manhattan Skyline', 'Rise Up', and 'In the Still of the Night' from Tim, 'Summertime' and 'A Nightingale Sang' from Andy, and 'Barbershop Song' and the illstarred 'Rudolph' from Jeffrey, among others.

The calendar's most exclusive social event, the inaugural Barbershop dinner, was held at a top Copmanthorpe venue, and was noted for the record number of barred Tatler and Vanity Fair photographers in the rain outside.

A year that has seen two radio appearances, in which the group's flowery rhetoric has reached previously unparalleled levels of pretentiousness, has also seen the departure of two founder members. The Hairdressers Mk II will still be operative in York for another year outside of School (parties, weddings, anything!), but Oli and Jeffrey will be sifting through ranks of young hopefuls in the autumn for the Hairdressers Mk III. (Handy hint to applicants — forget singing; you will be assessed mainly on ego, lack of modesty, and size of trousers!) Tim Dunn

The band this year has seen the amalgamation of disparate elements into what, we hope, is becoming a more secure and together unit. Seasoned campaigners, Jim Fieldsend and Matthew Pittman, along with band administrator Lissa Beckitt and leader Tim Dunn were the only remaining U6th, so great reliance has been placed on younger members, particularly, our plucky 3rd year brass section, who have come on in leaps and bounds. Thanks to Jim Lovell for coming in to reinforce them.

Our major event of the year was the Christmas Concert in the Memorial Hall, at which Leroy Anderson Year was officially declared with a performance of Sleigh Ride. The finale was John Blood's terminally cheery Christmas Express which was enjoyed by all except Cap'n Blood whose moment of glory went up in smoke when his whistle didn't work. The evening was rounded off with "Community Carols" which almost managed to fall apart when Cap'n Blood decided to conduct 'O Come All Ye Faithful' where 'O Little Town of Bethlehem' should have been! Only sterling work on behalf of the second leaders and lots of shouting from the woodwind finally enlightened him of his mistake.

The Easter Term saw no real concerts, the band concentrating on repertoire building. New pieces included Handel's Water Music, yet another march, Dunn's Cockleshell Heroes, and the excellent Charivari, a symphonic suite by contemporary Scotch composer Malcolm Binney.

The highlight of this term was the realization of Mr. Blood's idea of an 'Open Rehearsal'. A great time was had by all present, and I would like to apologise on behalf of the Music Department to all those who were turned away at the door when the hall reached its capacity.

On to the Summer Term, when we passed the gauntlet of the term's big concert to the String Orchestra and carried on building repertoire for the U.S. The Summer Fete in the Museum Gardens was the rather dubious highlight of the season, especially the virtuoso performance of the incredible U.S. Tour rhythm section — Tim Dunn (??), Nick Wight (Bass, Timps), Andy Moxon (Cymbals), Chris Braganza (Tambourine) and Mr. Jeffrey Gray (Triangle), all of whom performed with verve and charisma. The removal of the solo clarinet left the leadership of the band in the tentative grasp of Carole 'Where are we now?' Tong, who acquitted herself well under difficult circumstances. Thanks to Carole, who at Mr. Paterson's haute couture insistence, supplied the clarinets and percussion with essential matching clothes pegs.

It only remains to thank Mr. Pemberton for all his help and stalwart playing in the tuba section. He will be greviously missed in the States. Also to Cap'n Blood, for his patience, when most of us, at some time or other, have deserved to walk the plank.

Tim Dunn

After months of requesting, badgering, annoying, abusive phone calls etc. from certain jazz fans and six appeal members, Captain Blood finally conceded defeat and set up the mighty dreadnought that is now know as 'Cap'n Blood and the... Big Band'. After a few changes of personnel, which saw Carole Tong brought in to the top of the rigging and Tim 'Blissful Gliss' Dunn moved to join Jim 'Slinky Slide' Lovell in the engine room, and at least two full rehearsals, we were almost ready for our first outing — the Community Service Afternoon Tea. After a performance bursting with confidence, if not competence, of 'Hal Leonard's Easy Jazzpack' numbers 'Chica de Espana' and 'The Old Black Magic' which was greeted by frowns and sentiments like 'That's not how I remember it from the 30V.

Spurred on by what was nonetheless a good start, our next project was the 'Stars and Stripes Evening', an event whose mention seldom fails to raise a sigh of wistful nostalgia. JazzPak 2, and most of 1, was the centrepiece of the evening, with fine solos from Rich Hugill, Jim Fieldsend and Dom Greeves. By this time we had three Tim Dunn arrangements, two adding the Rockin' Hairdressers to 'Georgia' and 'Basin St.' and an opus magnus finale bringing in eight-part choir as well, of 'Tuxedo Junction'. It was good to see a performance where the music was appreciated as much by the participants as the audience, although someone should have told the trumpet section that Tuxedo wasn't a volume competition against the choir.

Our next mission was to 'play chapel' on Red Nose Day so, armed with two hastily arranged hymns from Mr. Andrew Wright and guest conductor Pluto (who was that?) we played 'Sing Hosanna' and 'At the name of Jesus', each verse of which was rendered in a different style by Jim 'n' Tim, the Amazing Rhyming Rhythm Section.

The Summer Term was spent ceaselessly building up the repertoire for the U.S. Tour. A brief but welcome diversion was provided by the Summer Fete, which gave us another opportunity to wheel out those crusty old chestnuts from the Autumn Term and discover to our chagrin, that the trombone section STILL can't play their solo in 'Chica'. But that's just a drop of benzene in the ocean of nectar that is the Big Band Experience, or as Cap'n Blood would more mundanely put it 'The ensemble works very well'.

Pass me that Jazzpak!

CENSORED CHOCOLATE — A ROCKUMENTARY

Out of the melting-pot of pre-band-rehearsal doodling, it was discovered that three people could actually improvise in sync. When this moment of magical cognizance had been achieved, the steamroller process, that is 'setting up a band' was unstoppable. Rehearsals were organised, songs were (loosely) orchestrated, and, of course, silly names were adopted. Thus having cajoled the Chaplain and Mr. Wright into sanctioning their appearance, Sly Panache, Leroy Growl, J. R. Mumbles and their young sidekicks Dirk and Jed played the Budweiser Blues and Johnny B. Goode before the whole School. If this understandably restrained performance established them as a mere Beezer Homes League blues band, their status was transformed to that of globe-trotting world superstardom by their stunningly powerful performance in the Museum Gardens on Bank Holiday Monday. The new British stars for the nineties, Censored Chocolate are traditional but not cliched, modern but not nouveau, scene but not herd. In recent interviews, Leroy, Sly and J. R. have confidently looked forward to not returning from their forthcoming tour Stateside.

Leroy: 'No we won't be coming back." Sly: 'They need us over there to spearhead the blues revival movement.' J. R.: 'We've already had lots of interest in us. We'll be finalising a deal soon.' And who could argue with that?

The Music Competition was brought forward to the Easter Term and this proved a good move away from the crowding of activities now existing in the first half of the Summer Term. Nicholas Carter, Director of Music at Queen Mary's School, Baldersby Park, and soon to move to Bootham, was our adjudicator.

There were many notable performances and it was especially pleasing to have a full singing class — an area which has developed greatly in the last few years.

Junior Woodwind Junior Keyboard Junior Strings Junior Brass

Rachel Harran (flute) Miki Ayton (piano) Virginia Mackie (violin) Gareth Mead (euphonium) Junior singing not competitive Best Junior Musician runner-up Senior Woodwind Senior Keyboard Senior String Senior Brass Singing Best Senior Musician Rachel Harran Timothy Brogden Cherry Alton (flute) Nicholas Wight (piano) Alison Blair (viola) Graham Kershaw (trumpet) Jane Mindenhall (mezzo soprano) Alison Blair

MUSIC STAFF

To all the full-timers and to all the visiting teachers I extend my thanks for all their hard work during the year. Some of the Associated Board exam results this year were the best yet.

We were sorry to lose John Parkes, Geoffrey Pearce, Ben Challis, Sharon Lyons and Diana Chapman during the course of the year. We are grateful to them for the service which they have given the School and wish them well in the future.

Paul Judge, our new electric specialist, has already proved a great success with the Junior pop group and his exploits at the Staff Concert on slide guitar was entertaining.

Tim Bayley has taken over the clarinet teaching with a refreshing sense of style — he also has many strings to his bow including playing the hurdy-gurdy.

Tina Blood has joined our team of piano teachers and has proved herself a caring and sensitive teacher. Andrew Wright