John Rutter conducts Ryde Chorus...
...along with a few hundred other singers - actually almost 2000 in total - who took part in the Really Big Chorus performance if The Rutter Requiem at the Albert Hall on 12th July...
What an experience!!!
Musings of a Musical Director
Elijah
My first acquaintance with “Elijah” was at about 27 years old. I’d sung the solos in “Hymn of Praise”, and really liked it. It is really a choral cantata from the 2nd Symphony, but holds no comparison with the staggering effect of “Elijah” on first hearing.
I was singing Obadiah for the inauguration of a new Baptist church in Reading, and my son Jonathan, recently retired as a Chichester Cathedral Chorister, was singing the messenger boy. Obadiah starts really well, with “Ye people”, and then the incredible “If with all your hearts”. Then there is a very long gap. The new underfloor heating was rumbling away beautifully, and the soporific aroma of new carpet sent me right off to sleep for about 5 minutes, sitting on the front row with the soloists. Of course I was especially embarrassed as my 12 year old son shared that public podium with me.
On the way to coffee at the interval, I feared his opprobrium, but heard instead: “Dad, you really love this piece, don’t you?” “Yes, Jonnie, I really do…(nervously).. Why?” “’Cos I watched you: - your eyes were tightly shut”.
Which just goes to prove that you should never stop keeping up the act. Later that evening Jonnie sang the messenger boy to widespread acclaim, - and I attribute my not being found out to the fact that he stole the show.
Much later in life, I was lucky enough to sing in the Academy of St Martin’s recording with Sir Thomas Allen, and my very dear friend Anthony Rolfe Johnson. I was struck by the power of narrative and drama, constantly contrasting with lyrical music of extraordinary beauty. I never rehearse it without thinking of Anthony and the amazing purity of line as he sings. Part of the joy of music is the power it has to re-awaken wonderful memories
Philip Fryer March 2009.
Ryde Chorus
I have so enjoyed recent music making with Ryde Chorus, that I have been trying to assess precisely why it is so easy to become elated by the task of discovering new choral sounds. Famously, Lorenzo in The Merchant of Venice reminds Jessica as follows:
"The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils."
Certainly, for me, music has the power to move me at any time of day or night, and my tastes are so wide that I find pleasure in all but the heaviest rock and punk, but admittedly I have found as yet that the charms of rap elude me.
While searching, with difficulty, for something global to be happy about recently, I have felt a great new sense that the change in the United States might make for some real improvements worldwide. It’s easy to argue that things can hardly get much worse. This led me to research the musical habits of past presidents, and to discover the following interesting facts, about the pianos of presidents I can remember: Eisenhower: Haller & Cumston upright; Kennedy: Ivers & Pond grand; Johnson: Style L Steinway; Nixon: Geo P Bent upright; Ford: No piano; Carter: Ludden & Bates; Reagan: Steinway grand; Bush: No piano; Clinton: Baldwin grand; Bush II: No piano. Information on Obama not yet available. I would like to hear Lorenzo’s comments on these alumni, but recall that I always felt Gerald Ford to be, in Sellar’s and Yeatman’s phrase, “a good thing”.
If you would like to be amused by the recent Presidential campaign, try a Google search on: Obama vs McCain piano duel by Two4One. The playing is marvellous, as is the understanding between the 2 musicians who made it.
I leave you with the following enlightening fact from Louis Armstrong and Big Bill Broonzy:
“All music’s folk music – leastways, I never heard of no horse making it” .
Philip Fryer Feb 2009
TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS OF A SOCIETY SECRETARY?
I was asked by our Chairman to write a piece on the Trials and Tribulations of a Society Secretary? Easy I thought. You check your diary as to what social event is coming up, check that you have the right dress, shoes and matching bag, and hay presto – you’re ready!
But then I read the question again, and what I think he really meant was, the trials and tribulations of the society secretary, i.e., Ryde Chorus. Oh bother and I was so looking forward to wearing my new outfit!!
Where do I begin? My father always told me, the more strings to your bow, the better. I am still filling up this bow and last year I found myself being ‘coerced’ into the role of Ryde Chorus Secretary. A hard act to follow after our last secretary.
One thinks that it’s an easy job making sure that concerts are booked, rehearsal halls booked, and everything else that goes with it. I’ve had two children I should be able to do this standing on my head! But like any army, they need to be organised and the person to organise them is the secretary. She or he who must be obeyed!! Or I like to think so.
I wake in the night before a concert thinking ‘Did I ask the church warden if the organ was working? Do the posters have the right date on?’ Oh the agony of it all, the complete stomach churning that goes on hoping that you have done everything because so many people are depending on you. Am I making you feel sorry for me yet? The important thing to remember is, Don’t Panic! You are only human and as long as you tick off the endless lists of things you have to do, make sure that the members are up-to-date with everything and that your fellow committee members are on the same page as you, then, at the end of the day it’s all worth it. The end result is fantastic. The choir could make the angels cry.
I am very privileged to be secretary for Ryde Chorus, and those of you reading this thinking whether they should become a secretary for their club, have a go. Nothing gained, nothing ventured, but the pure satisfaction that we all turned up on the right night and that the organ works!
Libby Pike Feb 2009
Gift Aid
Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs has accepted that Ryde Chorus is a charity for tax purposes and is eligible to receive Gift Aid payments on gifts made after 9 March 2006. This means that for all subscriptions paid to the choir by tax payers since then Gift Aid payments can be claimed, which will be worth 28p for every £1 given before 5 April 2008 and 25p for every £1 given since then. That will help with budgetting for increased expenditure without being an extra charge on choir members, so it is hoped that all who are tax payers will sign a Gift Aid Declaration, authorising these payments to be claimed on their donations.
Chris Vivian March 2009
