With People, and For People....

I thought I'd start this post today with a couple of definitions for you all! Our adjudicator this year is not without use of technical musical terms, which is fine for those of us who are musicians and know what they mean, but I know it goes over many un-musical peoples' heads, and many times now I've had to answer the question of 'just what the hell is a melisma?!' - so:

"Melisma" - the singing of a single syllable of a word, but across many notes in succession
"Sotto Voce" - in a very quiet voice
"Recitative" - the singer is allowed/expected to adopt a more speech like pattern of singing (as though reciting the text, rather than singing)
"Portamento" - a fancy word for a 'vocal slide' between notes (and if over used, what myself and my friend Laura Simpson like to call 'vocal trombonery!'

We started the Tuesday morning session with a fantastic class, the Junior School Choirs Unison Singing. We (the audience) were treated to six brilliant school choirs, each excelling in their unison sound, and enjoyable performances. There was a really lovely selection of music choices here, across all schools, some of my particular favourites being "Johnny One Note" sung by Melrose, and "Motorway Cones" sung by Blanchelande - "Motorway Cones" in particular was commented on by the adjudicator as to how delightfully amusing it was, especially as, "there are no motorways on Guernsey!". A really high standard of class this, with every choir achieving either a Highly Commended or a Distinction. It was great to see the imagination of the children captured as well, with most choirs including actions for one of their songs, and in some cases, 'dance moves'. Peter Hewitt commented on how these moves were brilliant at enhancing the performance, even if not quite successful all the time with footwork ("careful of your future dance partners!" he did warn, jokingly!) It was Beechwood Choir who came away with the trophy, and I must say I was rather impressed with them too. They began their performance with an un-conducted piece, which is hard enough at an adult level, let alone under 12s! I really loved how the sound built up from two voices, to the first line of voices, and then the full choir, ending with a beautiful solo by Emily Northmore. Congratulations Beechwood, and indeed all the other choirs in this class.
- Even further congratulations really do need to go to the team who organise this class, and in particular Trish Grover, who has the art of organising who sits where and when (or 'junior choir Tetris as I like to call it!) down to a tee. It's really important at this age that young musicians get to hear other musicians perform, so as to learn from them, and Trish's system meant that every choir got to hear at least half the class perform (and for a lucky few, more than half). Well done Trish (and your team of helpers) for pulling it off so seamlessly!

After the interval (and the little bit of post-choir-chaos!) we were back to the music with instrumental classes: Under 12 Piano Jazz, Under 18 Orchestral Duet/Trio/Quartet, and Under 9 Violin - an impressive display of both young technical skills, and a variety of genres. Both the young lads in the Under 12 Jazz performed admirably, showcasing a great sense of understanding of the Jazz genre and all it's nuances, particularly the sense of swing and ease required for it. In the Under 18 Orchestral Duet/Trio/Quarter we were treated to a beautiful Oboe duet of "The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba", in which Annabelle Pizzey and Jack Tostevin-Hall displayed their warmth of tone on this difficult instrument, matching each other brilliantly. And finally, a lovely display of very young talent, the Under 9 Violin class showed us the very beginnings of music making. As I said earlier in the week, theres some excellent string tuition going on here, as evident again this morning by just how many of these violinist received Highly Commendeds, and how many ended up sharing 3rd place! A really lovely morning of music - varied in genre, but consistent in quality!

An army of cellos, waiting patiently to be played....

Beginning the afternoon session was one of my favourite classes, Under 14 Cello. Being a cellist myself, I know a lot of the repertoire, and I really enjoy hearing young up-and-coming musicians tackling this material and interpreting it their own way. It's also great to see how consistent the cello teaching is here, as every year more and more cellists just seem to be at a higher and higher standard of playing (and at a younger age too!). At this age of playing, intonation tends to be the biggest issue, mainly because you are tackling harder material, extended positions, and trying to develop a fuller more romantic sound with better vibrato - getting it all to come together is the challenge here, and it's good to see that these students are starting to tackle it well. This class was won by Evie Hart, with a great performance of the cello repertoire war-horse, "Allegro Appassionato" by Saint-Saens. Following the cellos were two smaller classes, the Under 18 Voice and Piano, and the Under 18 Recorder Groups. The theme for both these classes seemed to be the importance of teamwork and partnership, and creating an even balance of all parts/voices. Kirsty Dempster and Jack Colley achieved this very well indeed with their voice and piano class, earning themselves a Distinction.

Finishing off the afternoon we had two Secondary School classes: Music Making, and Choir. Both these classes really showcased the excellent work that's going on musically in all the schools across the island. The discipline all these students are learning alongside their respective instrument is a vital life skill, and it's clear all music departments are instilling this very successfully. What made these classes hard to judge was actually how different the groups were within the classes. In the Music Making Class we had a training band (Grammar), a big band (St Sampson's), and a GCSE chamber ensemble (Ladies College), and it can be really hard to compare bands that clearly have, not only different genres and instrumentation, but different age groups and abilities as well. I do think Peter Hewitt was good at considering this, and critiquing each group on their own potential, rather than a direct comparison - much fairer in my view! St Sampson's High certainly deserved the win with their big band combo, particularly for their last number "Bandstand Boogie" - pretty sure I heard a bit of audience clap-along to boot! In the choirs class, again, we had a huge difference between the groups in terms of genre and type: Guernsey Girls Choir are a full SSAA choir, whereas Grammar's 'Rhapsodie' are much more of a female vocal consort, and Elizabeth College's close harmony group has much more of a vibe of male barbershop about it! This class was a close one to call, with the Guernsey Girls just pipping the others to the top spot. Personally, my favourite performance was Rhapsodie's performance of 'The Voice'. I very much enjoyed the blend and atmosphere this choir got with this number, and the fiddle solo really added to the folk style (and I was still singing it on the way home!).

The Tuesday evening has become somewhat of a tension point for the Music Eisteddfod, as it has now traditionally become the night that we have all the large orchestral ensemble classes. And boy, this year it was on hyper-drive! Four competitors in the Under 18 class, and five in the Open! You really couldn't get a fuller concert program for cheaper tonight, that's for sure! We quite literally had everything, from full orchestral sounds, to big-bands/swing-bands, to wind bands and concert brass. Again what struck me most was the incredible discipline that these large ensembles have, and a great sense of teamwork across the board. St Sampson's High School Orchestra won the Under 18 class, and the Guernsey Youth String Chamber Orchestra won the Open class, both with impressive Outstanding scores of 91 marks. For me, the star performance of the night was the Youth Chamber String Orchestra. Their warmth of tone and was superb, and the intense sound they managed to create in places just had a real wow factor. Huge congratulations need to go out to, not just to the winners of these classes, but all the competitors and teachers who have worked so hard to achieve this high standard of ensemble playing, and to the parents who have actively encouraged their children to learn music and participate in this wonderful festival.

I think what was particularly wonderful to see throughout today was the camaraderie of all the children, congratulating their fellow competitors from other schools/ensembles, or themselves performing in several different groups. This, for me, is what the Eisteddfod is about - friendly competition in where you get to celebrate your own success, and perhaps learn from others successes.
To reiterate what was said to us by Peter Hewitt earlier in the week:

"Music is about making music with other people, and for other people"