Another new member . . . well, not immediately

Our biggest congratulations to our flute section leader, Dr Jane Crooke and her husband Dr Simon Crooke on the birth of their lovely little girl, Sandy Ruth - and another cousin for the band's Musical Director, Dr David Baxter!

Sandy was born on 17th September, 2012 weighing 6 lbs, 12 ozs and has the comfort of an older brother, William, to look after her as she grows up.

Here she is having a little yawn . . .

Conductor meets our patron!

As part of his 'day job', our Musical Director and Conductor, Dr David Baxter, took his school chamber choir to central Scotland where they sang in Edinburgh Castle, Dunblane Cathedral and other selected venues. On Monday 2nd July, the final day of the tour, the choir stopped in Glasgow where they were given a guided tour of the  The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and a 'meet and greet' with the Conservatoire's principal, Professor John Wallace, who is of course one of the band's two patrons!

The choir couldn't believe how friendly and accommodating he was, making sure they were ok and being looked after and chatted and spoke to all as though he had known them for years!  "It was a real privilege to meet Professor Wallace", said former band member Rory Jones (tenor), "to think that he was the same person who played at the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana all those years ago.  Lauren Coulter (soprano), was equally enchanted by meeting one of the glitterati of the world's trumpet players. "He was just so amazingly friendly and so modest, especially as they were so busy getting ready for their graduation ceremony the next day!", she added.

John Wallace also inquired about the band, wanting to how it was going and what we were playing.  He was also interested to learn how the various sections were getting on and David enjoyed telling him a few stories and anecdotes about some of the members!

Here is a link (audio) to John Wallace (trumpet) and Dame Kiri te Kanawa (soprano) performing 'Let the bright seraphim' (Handel) at the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and the late Lady Diana Spencer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuB1wTjySM0

Just a thought or two . . .

This isn’t really news about the band – more a set of variations on a theme.  The musings were prompted by reading the post on Facebook about our MD and his choir visiting the Royal Scottish Conservatoire in Glasgow (where, of course, one of the band’s patrons, John Wallace, is the principal) while on tour in Scotland.  This started a train of thought about students, teachers, music, musicians and all the links between them.  Plus, of course, audiences, who form a very important part of the mix.

Occasionally members of the band can be heard muttering things like ‘Oh, not again’ when a piece of music that’s been played a million times comes up.  Come on, we’ve all said it!  But probably not all about the same piece, and there’s a clue.  Because who’s to say that someone in the audience isn’t hearing that piece of music for the first time?  And maybe, just maybe, it could change their life – either by inspiring them to find out more about music, or even by motivating them to begin making music themselves.  As someone once said, every performance is a premiere.

You just can never tell when that spark, that moment of magic, will catch and hold.  Maybe it could be hearing a particular piece of music, maybe it could be the performance of a particular musician, maybe the inspiration of a dedicated teacher.  In the band right now we’ve got a wind player who began on the clarinet after hearing Emma Johnson play and a brass player whose entire career path changed as a result of discovering music.

And it works the other way, too.  During the band’s comparatively short existence, seven members have gone on to third-level music studies at both university and conservatory.  The longer-serving brass members will have happy memories of the times when John Wallace, in the days when he was still playing trumpet professionally, visited us for workshops and performances.  Who knows whether one day, some of our current members may find themselves as John’s students, now that he’s heading up the Royal Scottish Conservatoire?

Change of venue for concert on 16th June!

Our 'Midsummer Melodies' concert on 16th June has been moved from Elmbrook School to Erne Integrated College, for reasons beyond our control.

Please spread the word!

Apologies from all in the band.

A bird or a plane?

Was it a bird?  Was it a plane?  Was it . . . hang on, has Peter Jackson been holding auditions locally for extras for the Hobbit films?  Because there’s been this hooded figure, dripping wet, dashing round town at breakneck speed recently, staying just one step ahead of the Olympic torch relay, zooming in and out of shops and other premises far too quickly to be shopping.  So what’s going on?  Couldn’t be the Hobbit films, could it?  Nah – too tall for a hobbit, too flabby for a dwarf, not photogenic enough for an elf, all major parts already cast.  But that hood, the suspiciously fast loping gait, and all that water pouring off everywhere…  Maybe a baddie?  An orc, say – you know, Gigbag the Gruesome – or, yeah, maybe a Black Rider, but on the hoof, as it were.  (Sorry about that last one.  Terrible half-pun lurking, couldn’t resist.)  It’s a fair bet one of the local gentlemen of the cloth got a bit of a turn when he saw the dark, dripping figure thumbing the bell at his house.  Probably thought it was a visit from Mephistopheles!  But no, panic not, folks.  It was merely an emissary from Fermanagh Concert Band, belting round the town on band business.  A poster here, a sponsor’s courtesy call there, tickets to be delivered.  Anyone opera lovers reading this could sing it to the relevant bit of the Barber of Seville, you know the one: ‘Figaro qua, Figaro la’ and so on.  So yes, basically we can report that posters for our forthcoming concert are now in venues all over town, all our sponsors have been invited to attend, and tickets are now available for sale at KB Music in Queen Street.  Tell your friends!  Bring your granny along!  Brainwash your kids into taking up an instrument!  But just be there and we can all enjoy the music together.  It’s only £8 for adults and £5 for everyone else, frankly a bargain not to be missed.  See you there!

Saturday 16 June, 8.00pm, Erne Integrated College, Enniskillen.

NEXT GIG

Our forthcoming ‘Midsummer Melodies’ concert will close our current season and round off the year’s work.  It takes place on Saturday 16 June at 8pm in the hall of Erne Integrated College, Enniskillen.  Tickets are now available, priced at £8 or £5 for concessions (children, students and senior citizens) in advance via the website or from KB Music in Queen Street, or on the night at the door.  As already mentioned, there will be a featured spot in this concert for the Elastic Band and the main band will be playing what promises to be a really enjoyable and entertaining selection from our (extremely varied!) repertoire.  There’ll be jazz, light classics, blues, big band numbers, film themes, songs from the show . . . plus solos, a Dixieland combo, improvisation…  yes, we’re a versatile bunch!

NEW BAND MEMBERS

During the current year we have welcomed two new members to Fermanagh Concert Band and at present are expecting to be joined by two more in the immediate future.  Plus, it’s likely that at least one and maybe more of the Elastic Band may be stepping up to the main band when we begin our next season in the autumn. 

So, do you play a wind or brass instrument?  If you do, and you’d like to join us, what are you waiting for?  Get in touch – details per the Elastic Band above.  Music stand, gig bag and all music provided, so all you have to do is bring yourself, your instrument and your enthusiasm for making music!

THE ELASTIC BAND PLAYS ITS FIRST GIGS!

Yes, in the month of June, barely six months after its launch, the Elastic Band goes public.  On Saturday 16 June they’ll be doing a featured spot in Fermanagh Concert Band’s end-of-season concert at the Elmbrook School and on Thursday 21 June they’ll be playing in the Lisnaskea Festival.  Congratulations to all Elastic Banders who’ve worked so hard to come so far in such a short time.

WANT TO JOIN THE ELASTIC BAND OR GET MORE INFORMATION?

Simple: contact us either on Facebook, or email us via the website, or ring us on 07842880589.

MEMORIAL CONCERT

On Saturday 12 May in the hall at Enniskillen Library we had a great evening, if a rather bittersweet occasion in that the concert was organised by Enniskillen Presbyterian church in memory of Andrew Reid, a local solicitor who died last year and who was, all too briefly, a member of the saxophone section of Fermanagh Concert Band.  We were pleased to play for this occasion, the money raised being in aid of a project dear to Andrew’s heart, the restoration of the Presbyterian church hall.  Our musical services were acknowledged by a financial donation, an extremely generous gesture for which we are most grateful.

The hall was packed on the night and we delivered a programme chock-full of variety selected from our current repertoire.  Afterwards everyone mingled for chat over supper and it really was quite an occasion.

By the way, although we usually play for a fee, as described above we can always negotiate alternative arrangements with promoters, for example accepting a donation afterwards if the event is organised for charitable purposes.  Worth a thought, if anyone reading this is thinking of putting such an evening together.  Get in touch!

A LARK IN THE PARK

On Wednesday 11 April we were very honoured to be invited to provide the live music for a day of family-based events organised by Collegiate pupils in association with Enniskillen Museum in an attempt to win back Forthill Park for general public use.  As everyone knows, this lovely open space in the middle of town has for far too long been the resort of some very dodgy types who have spoilt it for more law-abiding citizens.  Came the day, and the sun shone (intermittently – we also had the inevitable April torrential showers), the picnic parties came out in force, there were games and general jollifications… and us!

The bandstand in Forthill Park is a piece of genuine Victoriana, all wrought-iron curlicues and finials, but unfortunately it’s also extremely small.  Too small in fact to accommodate all members of Fermanagh Concert Band, so as on one or two other occasions we reduced ourselves.  Not in the ‘honey, I shrank the kids’ sense, but by restricting ourselves to one player to a part.  By doing that, and taking into account the fact that some members couldn’t be there anyway as the gig was scheduled for the middle of a working day, we managed to squeeze into the space available.  When the rains came, we squeezed up even further but then had to hurriedly spread out again.  What no-one had noticed until the deluge poured through it was that a panel of the bandstand roof had been removed, leaving the centre of the band exposed to everything the heavens chucked at us!  However the sun came out again fairly quickly so the fun wasn’t dampened for too long.

FERMANAGH CONCERT BAND RETURNS TO BALLYSHANNON

On Saturday 18 February our long-awaited return to the Abbey Centre at Ballyshannon occurred.  We first played there a couple of years ago, on what must have been one of the hottest evenings in Irish history.  Spending most of a performance worrying about what will happen if half the band faints on stage must be a great concentrator of the mind, because somehow we gave one of our most successful concerts – so much so that we were immediately asked to play at the Abbey again.  We were delighted to agree but all kinds of technical hitches intervened, meaning that although we were scheduled to give a Christmas performance in December last year, the gig had to be postponed.

But, all good things are worth the wait and we finally made it back on a very, very cold February night (but the auditorium was still extremely toasty – they must have a very efficient heating system at the Abbey!).  We shared the night with Ballyshannon Brass and Reed Band, who took the first half of the concert while we signed off the evening with the second half.  On this occasion we branched out a bit repertoire-wise, programming several pieces that require solo or solo-ish spots by various band members.  Very nervous-making, but we pulled it off and yes, we’ve been invited back again, hopefully for a Christmas concert that will really take place this year.

THE ELASTIC BAND STRETCHES ITSELF!

The start of 2012 may yet prove to be one of the most significant in Fermanagh Concert Band’s history – and it’s all down to another band!  The band we mean is the Elastic Band, our latest venture and a most exciting one at that.  As extensively covered in the autumn of 2011 in the local press, this group was set up with a seeding grant from the Joan Trimble Awards scheme.  The Elastic Band is a sister group to Fermanagh Concert Band, serving as both trainer band, improver band, feeder band – basically it’s for ‘musicians in waiting’ who for whatever reason aren’t quite ready to dive straight into the main band.  By definition therefore it’s for you if you’re a younger player, if you’re an adult learner, if you’ve recently taken up a new instrument . . . and all these categories of player are represented in the current members of the Elastic Band.  Since January they’ve been meeting every Monday night and great progress has been made.