June 2026 Playing Day

Our June Playing Day was conducted (the whole day!) by Lesley Chapman, who some may remember, came for a half day last year. We had a really good attendance, with a group of 5 players from Newport joining us for the first time (welcome to Liz, Sue and the others whose names I can't remembr)  and many of our regulars.

Lesley has a different approach to our usual seating arrangement, with tenors to her left, trebles to her right, and descants and basses sitting in the centre. It means that we can all hear the bass players, which - as they are often the backbone of the music - is great idea.

She had prepared a good selection of music, and pitched it just about right for the majority of players. Sadly I had to leave at lunchtime, but I really enjoyed the morning's playing, especially when we moved around to play next to someone playing another part. It was lovely to be immersed in the music.

Here is the list of pieces, in the order we played them:

• William Byrd (arr. Helen Hooker): The Earle of Salisbury's Pavane and Galliard
• Clive Lane: Air (for recorder quintet)
• Jay Ungar: Ashokan Farewell (from 'The Civil War' film)
• David Moses: Bolivian Bolero
• Antonio Lotti (arr. Helen Hooker): Salve Regina
• Marg Hall: Chief O'Neill's Favourite and other great Irish Tunes
• Muff Lucas: Sleepytime Rag
• William Damen (arr. Helen Hooker): O Lord How Joyful is the King
• Geoffry Russell-Smith: Moments of Delight (for six recorders)
• Marg Hall: Blue Spectrum

Thank you so much to Lesley for an excellent playing day. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. And we hope to see some of the new players back again next month! Remember it will be our last session before the summer break during August.