Trafford Hall, Chester
NWEMF Summer School 2012
VOICES & INSTRUMENTS
Location: Trafford Hall, Chester
Reviewers: Tom and Diana McLean
The risk of being presented with a great feast is that one is tempted to want to try everything with uncomfortable consequences. Fortunately, in the case of this great feast of music, tutor expertise and fellow participants’ friendliness, one really can try everything and come away with only a great sense of satisfaction. Perhaps we should explain by way of calibration that we are one expert soprano and one bass with ….. well let’s just say he benefits from practice.
We arrive to find Trafford Hall, elegantly complemented by its imaginative gardens, warmed by an afternoon of glorious sunshine. We are welcomed with tea on the lawn and then a first look at the music, Byrd Occuli Omnium and Palestrina Missa Brevis. Familiar territory to our expert sop and most encouraging to the practising bass who thinks he will indeed be able to manage this.
Dinner is a lively affair where the large tables lead to people mingling between different groups, and the conversation, lubricated by a glass of wine from the bar, flowed freely over what was to come. The friendly and inclusive atmosphere is immediately apparent and grows during the week, encouraged by informal late evening sessions of singing lead by the course tutors.
The following morning dawned bright enough for Deborah Catterall to lead her whole body warm ups outside in the sun, and so each group, choir, viols, lutes and recorders set off to their workshops, the choir in the airy ball room where David Hardie really started to make us work. David’s keen ear for accuracy of tuning and blending of voices soon became evident as he worked our initial approximate attempts into a more elegant ensemble.
Then at mid morning a change of pace to a series of mixed groups, voices with lutes viols and recorders. At this point our bass starts to find the sight reading challenging but not impossible prompting the comment “I am always better the second time around, I should just never sing anything for the first time.” A selection of the items worked on will eventually be presented to the whole group at the end of the week when the performers feel confident or have had a glass of wine or two.
In the afternoon we are offered a range of options for small consorts of voices or mixed instruments. Our soprano particularly enjoyed singing in a session of mixed voices and viols under the guidance of Peter Syrus, and in all the workshops we found the atmosphere supportive and encouraging. The tutors were particularly successful at pairing instruments and voices to provide an exciting challenge to expert and developing skills without leaving us floundering.
In the evening Grace Barton’s talented recorder Trio Polyphonica gave a delightful tour of renaissance recorder music showing just what delightful musicality can be coaxed out of such simple beginnings. It was especially interesting to learn how the instruments were crafted and how they developed.
And so the pattern of the week was set. We sampled most opportunities; introductions to recorders and viols; renaissance dance with Elizabeth Dodd, which quite suited our sedate approach; lute songs for every permutation of voices from Martin Eastwell’s prodigious library. It was particularly fascinating to sit in on a voice workshop with Martin Eastwell and Deborah Caterall and see what tremendous advance an hour of expert and insightful tuition could work. Already we are planning what piece we will prepare for next year’s tutorial.
As the week progressed we began to see how the content of each workshop would contribute to the two concerts on the theme of “Music for Prince Henry” and “A Pilgrims Solace” to be performed at the end of the week. Finally the week wrapped up with a flurry of mutual entertainment; the course concerts; serenading of the company at the course banquet, and finally Roger Wilkes leading the traditional session of late night madrigals.
Tom and Diana McLean
First published in September 2012 Newsletter
