My London Weekend

[Rupert]

Off to London. Leaving the house at 4.30am! The train from Tiverton stopped at several stations on its way to Bristol Temple Meads where I took another train from platform 13 to London Paddington.

Leaving the house itself was a bit of a palaver, umming and aahing about whether or not to bring the laptop. Shall I? Shan’t I? I set off without it and went to get some cash out. Meanwhile I’d left the mobile at home. Then doubled back to get the mobile, which I'd left behind. Went on up the hill and then decided I did want the laptop after all and turned round to get it. Mobile phone had fallen on the car floor. In picking it up I dropped the car keys. Picked up the laptop and put it in a case with its lead and went out to the car. Couldn’t find the keys and was given the other set instead! They turned up of course as soon as I arrived at Tiverton Station.

Only man on the train at Tiverton when it pulled up at 5.42 a.m. was the parent of a child who had been in my choir at MMS! Small world! Transferring trains at Bristol found myself following in the wake of a couple of likely lasses with makeup bedecked faces and inappropriate clothing for the cold conditions! I don’t think they were aware of that though! Once on the London train couldn’t find my seat but later discovered the seat numbering on the ticket was designed to throw you off the scent by putting in extraneous letters. Anyway discovered also that I can plug my laptop in under the seat! Hence this writing is happening as I hurtle backwards towards London at a hundred miles an hour or more!

The dawn as we approached Bath was golden and bright and the sun grows brighter as we travel further east. A heavy frost covers the fields with ice covered puddles, remnants of recent flooding. Wildlife in the fields, some deer, and then later as the rain slowed two giant hares raised themselves up to look disdainfully at the train before getting on with a bit more nibbling.

About to go to a musical experience at the riverside studios. I saw it advertised on Facebook of all places, a masterclass about orchestration, and on an impulse emailed them to ask if it were suitable for a music teacher like me. Price was not too exorbitant so having now booked train tickets and a cheap hotel room I’m on the way there! Bit adventurous for me, no idea whatsoever what to expect.

Train due to arrive in London at 9.27, but train track problem may hold us up as there’s a track fault and we’ve got to take our turn on a single track line. So far just coasting, not brought to a halt. May need to move quickly when I get to Paddington though in order to get to the studios in time for the start. Train did stop momentarily next to giant concrete cooling towers near Didcot throwing plumes of white steam or condensation up into the blue sky. Apparently the arrival will now be 18 minutes late.

On arrival at Paddington found the Hammersmith and city line and got to Hammersmith station by about ten past ten, only 5-10 minutes walk from the station to the studio where I picked up a plastic folder full of information and CDs of sound clips. I expect these would be really useful in a project on instruments of the orchestra. Quite a large number of people attending, although not enough to fill the seats. People of all ages, but mostly younger than me! People who apparently write for film, some of them students I expect, others who need to find out more about the instrumentation. Picked up some useful material, but generally I think I’ve probably heard or seen most of it before. It could be that some of the attendees only work with electronic sound or midi and are learning how to apply that to the instruments. I’ve really come from the other end.

Lectures, as they seem to be, are being given by Rodney Newton, who has been heavily involved in percussion, but particularly it seems in recording sessions. He’s quite interesting to listen to, in particular when he plays his own excerpts which are impressive. Lots of info when he got on to his own area, the tympani, and the percussion part continues tomorrow. Some interesting bits of info about wind and brass, with ranges and effective pairing. I’m looking forward to hearing more about how he combines and sculpts with the different timbres, which I think will come when we take a closer look at a couple of his pieces in greater detail.

Sat by the Thames to eat my packed lunch. Have spoken to some of the other attendees, but didn’t really get into the situation where I could spend time with them so I took a couple of photos of Hammersmith Bridge and ate a roll before going back into the studios and reading a little of my book before the afternoon session.

Found the hotel after the evening session. Walked past it at first, but then saw the street numbers and worked my way back. A bit basic, but adequate. The floor creaked, the telly had a dreadful picture, you had to hold the shower unit because it had fallen off the wall, and there were no pillows, but the mattress was comfortable, it wasn’t smelly, it was warm and there was somewhere to plug in the laptop! In spite of thin walls with very dodgy noises coming from the next room (I suppose it was Valentines day!), I was able to read my book, work a little on a new composition, (why did I choose Clarinet Choir!) and allow myself to be distracted by the lottery show, which proved as fruitless as usual.

Popped out and got a KFC and a cheap pair of earphones to use with the laptop, before having an early night. Despite the lack of pillow I slept surprisingly well and went down to breakfast with all my things so I could leave straight away. Breakfast was cereal with toast and coffee, and a glass of mango juice, which was just enough, before walking out in the direction of the studio. It wasn’t open at 8.30 when I got there so I walked along the river bank and took a lot more photos of Hammersmith Bridge. It seems all of London’s joggers use the Thames bank, and there were hundreds of rowers in the river. Caught sight of cormorants in the water. Returned to the studio to find it open, which is where I’m writing this! I did a little more work on the composition, but the background muzak came on so I gave up and wrote instead, I’m going to stop now and be a bit less antisocial!

Various discussions ensued and some were related to the use of computers in music. The dilemma between the Mac and the PC, where the general feeling was that the Mac with appropriate software was the easier to get going with and would give less trouble, but the PC was not rubbished by any means. Programmes included the Cubase platform on the PC and Logic, at the moment on the Mac. Another programme called ‘reason’ which it was believed would run on both was seen to be good for working with pupils. These will all be worth checking out. It’s quite amazing the difference between writing for recording and writing for live performance. When recording there’s no need for everyone to get together, sometimes parts are recorded in different studios and brought together. I sort of knew this, but didn’t realise quite how widespread it is. Live parts and sampled parts can be mixed and altered. Thanks to Amos and Wayne for this mine of information. (I don’t know their second names).

The studio session continued to discuss the percussion section, and this was obviously Rodney’s particular area of expertise. Although a wealth of information, together with excerpts and illustrations were all very interesting, and perhaps really useful for teaching materials and resources, I found myself wanting to move things on. He had created a large listening bank, which we have been given on CD, and sometimes he would begin to talk about something, having missed an audio example of the previous section and start to play the CD. When he realised the clip being played was the one missed out he kept going back to replay, and repeat himself a little. I wouldn’t have minded if he had skipped through a bit, we could always follow it up at home with the materials. This meant that by lunch time we had only just finished the percussion section and had all the strings to do before he started to show us how he combined them all in ‘small ensemble’ writing. This was the bit I really wanted to hear.

I stuck around at lunch time, so no more pictures of Hammersmith Bridge!! I had a steak and kidney pie from the café at the front of the building, hoping to join in conversation there, but it never really progressed beyond pleasantries, and then went to the back bar, where the soup looked really good. I was invited to join a table where conversation was wide ranging but came round to music and education, I’m sure I didn’t initiate it! Experience of music teaching and the paperwork that comes with being a ‘music service’ teacher strangling the enjoyment and stifling creativity seemed all very relevant to my own situation. We learn, after all, to play instruments, not just work them. Playing, playing with, playing around with, although there is an element of study and discipline the feeling of play, or of the un-intellectual element of performance shouldn’t be lost. Well I know what I mean anyway!

Then after the lunch a conversation overheard that shed a little light on the constant references to pay and conditions, doubling fees, overtime and such that continually punctuate the lecture. Rodney is obviously a very strong Musician’s Union man and had been quite militant in his time. I think then that although the paying of session musicians is obviously a very serious affair and considerations such as making parts as explicit as possible so that the player doesn’t have to waste time asking questions, making sure percussionists and specialist instrument players know what to bring with them and knowing you’ve got enough space for everyone, are all very relevant, after all time costs money, perhaps the spirit of playing, rather than working, mentioned earlier isn’t really completely lost!

The afternoon kicked off looking at strings and voices, both of which I knew more about than him! However his insights into working with string players and conductors were illuminating and entertaining at times. Then a short comfort break before looking at the Seascapes, a piece he’d written for a sound library where he had to make limited resources sound like a full orchestra. This was the bit I was really looking forward to and the last minutes of the short break were interminable as I realised it was going to overrun and I was going to have to leave early in order to catch the train. I explained to him that if I walked out it wasn’t because I wasn’t enjoying myself!

The discussion of the two pieces showed many possibilities of combining instruments and achieving effects. In a way although he was limited in numbers of players he had a much wider choice of instruments to work with. In my case I’ve got to write for the instruments available, which is not quite the same thing. Even then I often include parts for instruments I don’t have in the hope that one day I’ll get the right players together. Anyway I marked out the score with lots of things to look at. Hope the seascape is all on the discs, but I have a sneaking suspicion it’s not! Had to leave just after 5 when discussion of the second piece was underway, but still felt I had learned a lot from it.

Got to Paddington with minutes to spare, so I had left at the right time. In fact most of the underground, apart from my bit of the Hammersmith and City line had been closed for engineering works, so I was really lucky with that! Found my seat within a minute or so of the train slipping out of the station. Good that you can plug a laptop in on the train! Spent some time working on the piece I started at the Hotel, and have just about completed 16 bars of it. Then working a little more on this account of the weekend’s proceedings. Dark outside the train, so none of the views I had seen before on the way in. When we did arrive at Tiverton, about 20 minutes late, everyone seemed to get off the train. I’ve never seen so many people crossing the pedestrian bridge at one time. Guess what! Engineering works further down the line meant most of them were transferring to buses! Lucky again. I’d reached my destination and found my little muddy Fiesta to drive home.

[Rupert]

violincon2.MID
and the second slow movement. Volume and balance all wrong, but the general jist is there.

[Rupert]

violincon.MID

Now the first movement of a violin concerto I'm writing for a talented young musician in my Junior Orchestra

[Rupert]

Riverside.MID

A rough version of the piece started in London. I think there will be more to this eventually.

[Mandi]

Hi Rupert!

Thanks for your encouragement re my blog!

I'm glad your time out in 'the smoke' proved interesting although challenging on your attention-keeping skills, by the sounds of it!

I loved your 'kids' by the way... endearing little things aren't they, goats, when they are THAT small!

Catch up with you soon.

M
xx