Huntingdonshire Music School Association

Is anyone interested in learning the tuba? If so there will soon be a college E-flat tuba available from the music school for anyone wishing to take lessons (so you don’t have to splash out the cash and you can see whether you and the tuba suit each other).

The tuba is a fun instrument to play. As it’s not the smallest thing in the world you definitely stand out when playing amongst others - no good then if you want to hide! The one that we have available is a 3/4 size.

One other advantage is that as there aren’t many around you do get asked to get involved with all sorts of groups from our very own Brass Band [0900 to 1000 on Sat morning] to any of the orchestras.

We have a number of loan instruments available from time to time in order to lower the initial cost of learning an instrument. It also allows you to see whether you and your instrument are made for each other in a low risk way. You have but to ask!

This is a rare opportunity to try something different. These sorts of opportunities don’t come up often. Talk to Gary Sieling [01480 379220]  or Robin Norman (our very own bass virtuoso) for more information. Don’t leave it too long as someone else is likely to have snuck in before you!

Some of you might have watched the BBC Play It Again TV series on BBC1 on Sunday nights. In this series every week an adult celebrity personality is given the challenge of learning a musical instrument and culminates in a major public performance with professional musicians. The series featured the following:-

• Jo Brand - organ
• Frank Skinner - banjo
• Aled Jones - drums
• Robert Winston - saxophone
• Diane Abbott - piano
• Bill Oddie - electric guitar

As part of the campaign to encourage adult learners the BBC laid on a series of events around the country where anyone could turn up with their instrument of choice and have a go with a professional BBC orchestra at rehearsing and then performing a well known piece.

We were asked to provide a stand at the Cambridge event. We also got a brief listing on the BBC website. Myself and some very good folk spent all day taking to very enthused adults and children during the breaks between rehearsals. Some others from the music school took part in the event itself and learnt ‘Tonight’ from Bernstein’s West Side Story. The final performance involved something like 250 people (see below).

What a day! We had quite a lot of ‘bites’ and a lot of promises to turn up and see things on Saturday mornings. There were something like 600 people there. I think I managed to turn round one lady who wanted someone to coach for singing near her in Newmarket to coming to see us if there’s a possibility to join in with a sing with swing event. I have a definite taker who is coming purely for the theory lesson (but once inside I’m sure she’ll succumb!).

The Oud and Hurdy Gurdy attracted a lot of interest and did their job well - thought we had quite an eye-catching stall (but I would, wouldn’t I!). The soundtracks from the Sing with Swing and Big 4-0 were pretty good (although we did have some stiff competition on the noise front in the afternoon).

There were some strange instruments - concert ukalele, mandela (octave mandolin). Everyone taking part seemed to enjoy themselves and the BBC and the orchestra seemed to do a fantastic job at including and encouraging everyone. It concluded with a performance of ‘Tonight’ from the West Side Story - sounded pretty good from the balcony - see below. It’d be interesting to hear from the performers and also those that took pictures or video or captured sound on their phones.

In fact everyone seemed to be having such a good time that myself and my daughter decided to attend the event at the Watford Colliseum 2 weeks later (and recorded the same for the HUMS Aloud podcast…

External Links

• Play It Again on Wikipedia
• Play It Again with the BBC (Official Website)

Well done to the BBC - well worth the license fee for this one event alone. It was really good to see people so enthusiastic about learning to play an instrument.

Background

Owen went to school at St Ivo and, as he said in his speech to us on our prize-giving day on May 21st 2006, he started cornet at HuMS but was “rubbish” at it so switched to percussion. His older brother Tim is also a percussionist, and now a professional. Owen played in local bands and also in Cambs County Youth Orchestra but he soon won a place in the National Youth Orchestra. He won the Percussion final of BBC young musician of the year in 2000.

He went to the Royal School of Music and graduated with first class honours in summer 2004.

Whilst at the Royal School of Music, Owen formed a percussion duo with fellow student Oli Cox. They called it “O Duo!” They first performed as ‘O Duo’ at St Martin in the Fields, London, in 2000. Together they won The Philip & Dorothy Green Award for Young Concert Artists 2004.  Oli Cox also graduated with first class honours in summer 2004. They have performed their arrangement of the Vivaldi Double Violin Concerto in A minor several times in Britain, with orchestras including the Locrian Symphony Orchestra.

As well as this, between them, Owen and Oliver have been broadcast on Radio 3, BBC Scotland and BBC2, the latter broadcast being in the winning performance of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Percussion final in 2000. They have also made concerto appearances with the BBC Philharmonic and the Philharmonia orchestra.

They have appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2002 and 2003, being nominated ‘Pick of the Fringe’ both years and winning ‘Best Music Act of the Fringe, 2003’. The duo were also given a concert series by the Tunnell Trust in 2003.

The duo also holds several awards in music education and work regularly for London Musici and the Philharmonia.  They often combine their concerts with exciting and original workshops for people of all ages.

Awards

• BBC Young Musician Percussion winner 2000
• NYOS Staffa Award prize winner
• Pick of the Fringe 2002, 2003 and 2004
• Best Music Act of the Fringe 2003 and 2004
• Winner of the KPMG Music in the Community award with Batterie
• Winner of the Martin Musical Scholarship fund, in outreach and education
• Allianz Cornhill Music Award at the RCM
• Junior Fellow at the RCM 2004-

Links

• O Duo (Young Concert Artists Trust)
• BBC Young Musician of the Year, 2000
• Royal School of Music (Junior Fellowships, News)