June 2025 Playing Day

Little did we know the mental challenges in store for us as we slowly gathered and chatted over cups of tea and coffee.
Caroline started us off fairly gently with one of Steve Marshall's Jazzy Blues pieces. It was quite a workout for the lower instruments though, especially trying to maintain the speed Caroline wanted, and certainly got us warmed up. Delyth was playing contrabass, on which part Steve comments '(Optional), but it adds a great deal' - and it certainly did!
Caroline then handed out a piece by Machaut 'Ma fin et mon commencement', which Sarah Jeffery had included in her 'Palindromes and Musical Games' session at the SRP festival. In 3 parts, it seemed quite straightforward on first play-through. However she then had us play different parts backwards, quite difficult unless you're in the habit of practicing playing backwards (which Caroline tells us she frequently does, as a technique for practicing difficult passages). With a lot of concentration, we managed a reasonable performance by the end.
For anyone interested in trying this again, you can download it from IMSLP here.
After a tea break, Mirjam picked up the baton with a piece also discovered at the SRP festival in a session led by Chris Orton, called 'Polegnala e Todora'. This is a Bulgarian folk song with a time signature of 11/16 which she had arranged for SATB. Mirjam first demonstrated how she would conduct it and then led us through a set of exercises gradually building up to the full piece. If you're interested, there are several YouTube recordings of the song and more information including the lyrics - just search for the title.
Unfortunately I had to leave at lunchtime, so I don't know what Trina and Delyth had in store for the remaining players in the afternoon. I'm sure it was enjoyable though, and if anyone would like to fill me in, I will update this! [email protected].