Ashford Sinfonia

Three of us – Carole Collins-Biggs, Roger Pinnock and I plus a new friend, viola player Leigh Kennedy from Hastings – are just back from a highly enjoyable string quartet weekend course at Benslow Music. We played together for a total for over 10 hours and benefited from four hours of intensive coaching from four different tutors, each of them excellent in his or her own way. Mostly we concentrated on Haydn Op 42 and Mozart K168 and we all feel that we made a fair bit of progress. The skill, as always, lies in listening to each other and getting it together. Well, we’re more together than we were although that may not be saying much …

Do check out Benslow Music (Hitchin, Hertfordshire) http://www.benslowmusic.org/ where there are courses all year round for all instruments at all levels, along with some singing, theory and appreciation options. The accommodation is more than acceptable (think small student hall of residence or budget hotel) and there’s certainly plenty to eat and lots of interesting people to chat to. Another bonus is beautiful gardens and lots of birds to listen to and watch. This was my second course there and I’m really looking forward to going back in October.
Susan Elkin

David Worsley

I need to make two changes to set the record straight about my last blog. In no particular order: the title should have been “At the heart of the orchestra”, and not “The heart . . .”. My apologies to all who make up the “engine”. My second correction concerns the new horn player, Malcolm. He read the blog and was, sort of, kind of, OK with it. But though I had referred to him specifically, I had not mentioned him by name. Sorry, Malcolm.

Some definitions: rehearsal – Oxford English Dictionary says “practice for later public performance”. A good definition, yet I prefer the French word “repetition” (should have lots of accents) – which says up front what we must do – repeat, repeat, repeat. Last night we did just that. This time it was the strings and woodwind, with Wes resorting to counting out each bar ‘1, 2, 3, 4. 1,2,3,4. ‘. Just as it worked for us last week, it worked again this. Minims started to reach their full length.

As did rests. Rests are important. Perhaps a better word should be used than “rest” which implies putting the kettle on and making a brew? Too often in music they are hardly long enough to take a breath. The counting helps us to play each note at the allotted time within the bar. Only when every player hits the right time does the noise become music. Pity that the standard we can reach at the end of a rehearsal doesn’t carry over to the next. Hey ho.

But I was not the only one to enjoy the results. My wife, who is Finnish, volunteered “Finlandia started to sound good”. Only started? A way to go then.