Performance Week 3

On Monday we started the week with sectionals for concert band. I found this really useful just having the clarinets on their own to work through the difficult parts. I then went to a talk from Ninian Perry who is a freelance musician. He started off his a career as a performer and now runs paragon, a music ensemble with the aim of helping people create and perform their own music. His talk was really interesting about his life and it was interesting to hear about paragon as I had never heard of them before. I then had contemporary ensemble. We quickly ran through a new piece which we are thinking of performing in the next performance block. I then went and had a run through with Catherine for our clarinet and guitar piece. We decided that we were not going to have it up and running to performance standard for the concert on Thursday night so we have had to postpone it for the next performance block.

I started Tuesday morning with choir, where we just ran through all the pieces and gave them some final touches before the concert. I then had Jazz band. We also just ran the pieces and fixed a couple of sections. In concert band we put all the parts we had worked on in the sectionals and made sure as a band we were doing them. It sounded much better.

Wednesday was the day of the Jazz band concert. We had a rehearsal in the morning which went really well. I then taught my clarinet pupil. I could see a great improvement and taught her a new piece. I then came back to college for half past five and watched the first half of the concert. It consisted of all the pop bands. It was really good, I had never seen any of them play before but I really enjoyed it. The folk band played while I was warming up so I never saw them, but I saw the big band play. They have improved so much this year. It was amazing. I really enjoyed it. The upside down band then played. It was really good and we got a really good response.

On the Thursday we had the classical concert. Throughout the day we were just running through all the pieces and getting everyone into their places. The concert started at seven o'clock. The choir were first on and sang really well. I watched all the other performers who were good and then the concert band were last. I was playing the solo in the second movement of the Holst piece. My hands were shaking but I felt amazing after it. Shrek dance party had a false start as no one came in so we had to start again. Once we were finished the applause was amazing. Overall I think the concert was a lot better this year than it has ever been.

Performance week two

On Monday I had concert band where we did a lot of work on the second military suite in F. There are quite a few tricky parts in it which needed a lot of work but sounded a lot better after this rehearsal. In contemporary ensemble we got the music for a piece called In C. It is basically made up of 53 cells which contain different rhythmic patterns which are repeated until the player decides to move onto the next one. In choir, we had sectionals for the first hour to work on our two pieces then put it together for the second hour.

I only had choir on Tuesday, where again we had sectionals for the first hour and then came together for the second hour. We started a new piece called "Jesu, joy of man's desiring" by J.S Bach.

On Wednesday I have choir again. In contemporary ensemble we ran through In C before the performance on Thursday. Catherine and I also decided on our piece for guitar and clarinet. I got asked to join the jazz band where I am going to be playing bass clarinet. Simon wants to have two bands. A regular big band and an upside down band which consists of 5 clarinets playing the saxophone parts, saxophones playing the trumpet parts and a rhythm section. We are playing Jumpin' at the Woodside.

On Thursday I had wind band followed by a performance of In C. This lasted for an hour and we could just drop out when needed. I was really tiring and my lip was sore by the end of it but it was really good fun and amazing to be a part of. We then discussed what we are going to be performing at the concert next Thursday.

On Friday I had jazz band where we ran through the piece we are playing. I also taught my first student today which was very exciting. It was strange teaching especially someone I know but it was fun. I hope to get more students to teach.

Performance Week One

During the first performance week I attended the windband, where we are playing the Gustav Holst Second Suite in F and Shrek dance party. We sightread through the pieces and worked on the tricky sections that need to be together. We also had sectionals to work on individual parts. I am really enjoying windband so far this year.

To do something a bit different I decided to join the contemporary ensemble. Myself and a guitarist are going to get together and write a contemporary piece for guitar and clarinet using extended techniques. I am really looking forward to this as I have never done anything like it before.

I also took part in the choir, we are singing Amazing grace and Londonderry Air. I am quite enjoying it. Amazing grace is really fun but difficult to sing. The Londonderry Air is a really nice piece.

Overall so far the performance week has been really good and I think the concert will be a lot better because we are more focused on the music.