Girls out

It’s an annual outing to hear and record various group from the Canberra Girls Grammar School at Wesley.  The performers are many and the groups and works are equally extensive, instrumentals of various formations and music from brass to Bach, guitar, flutes, trios, a quintet and choir to Mozart to Shostakovich, Michael Jackson and Carole Bayer Sager.  Some tunes are obvious and popular and hugely inviting; others more obscure.  The guitar group did Billie Jean by MJ and the Gabriel Singers performed Let it be in a very successful, subtly edited arrangement of our own local John Black.  And then there's Handel, Boccherini and a few lesser names.  Some players were particularly impressive but no names and all were keen and involved and confidently led by their teachers on the day.  We must just hope that those who want to continue with their music studies still have a place to go.

Various combinations of musicians and singers from Canberra Girls Grammar School performed at Wesley.

AI daze

In these days of AI and social media stalkers and the rest, it's sad that I can't take a pic of the performers (at least not without permission) but I understand.  Tragic, though.  Instead you have old and new tech with Wesley's decent organ pipes and the newly installed EV PA for the streamed services.  That's modern too, I guess.  But I was there to record the Canberra Girls Grammar School annual performance on the Wesley stage.  This year it was Telemann, Beethoven, Mozart, Danzi, and Vivaldi from various instrumental groups, a piano trio, clarinet and sax ensembles, string and wind quartets.  There were some lovely performances and a few standout players, one who I noticed playing a string of wind instruments in different groups and a saxist who sounded to me to be jazz formed and a very competent first violin.  I also noticed some lack of confidence, occasionally expressed by rushing in challenging spots, but nothing unexpected.  But my favourite for the day was the choir; I love singing and the clear purpose of words.  They performed Faure and Stef Conner, both religious pieces, accompanied variously by piano and clarinet.  I drooled over a particularly high (coloratura?) voice that floated over the other parts, but I also enjoyed the young female voices, after hearing various choirs of non-standard format recently, the boys choir from Kings College Cambridge (boy sopranos and more) and a local men's choir (ATBB).  All interesting and different and with words and that floating high soprano.   It's like a piccolo: so present it's impossible to miss.  A lovely outing.

Students from the Canberra Girls Grammar School performed at Wesley.

After NYC

I ran straight from Wynton Marsalis to Wesley for an outing from the Music Academy at Canberra Girls Grammar School.  This was a series of ensembles, flutes and saxes and clarinets and wind and vocal and just one trio of violin, flute and piano and also just two teachers sitting in, one of piano and one amongst the flute ensemble.  Now these can't justifiably be compared to Lincoln Center professionals.  These are students, reasonably early in their arts, performing locally, but they were satisfying and well regarded by my various mates with music backgrounds.  The music was fairly obscure.  I recognised a Khachaturian piece performed by that trio of violin, flute and piano and they did it well.  This was not an easy piece, all solo passages and quick fills and done really nicely.  Otherwise names were Luter and Lickl and Jeanjean: not known to me.  I did recognise the Strauss II Tritsh Tratsch Polka, lively and lovely and jovial.  I left with all my mates talking of how our music is in good hands.  I agree, and not just music.  Modern kids are impressive and thoroughly informed.  But politics intrudes everywhere (not just from me!).  To start the concert a student gave an intro with a recognition of country and I heard noisy huffs and poohpoohs from the back of the hall.  I recognised the voice and, when leaving, found him arguing in the foyer with an event organiser.  The argument went back and forth with no resolution or satisfaction as these arguments often do.  Sad that.  Two perfectly nice people (I frequently speak to both) but also some misinformation and belligerency.  To some we all do it, but it's not pretty.  My track, The Talking cure / The Pots, speaks of a similar situation on a cruise ship with a vet from Yarralumla, no less!

Students from the Music Academy at Canberra Girl' Grammar School performed at Wesley.

The talking cure / The Pots

School bells ring

Another of my Wesley Wednesday recordings but when I arrived I was stunned.  There was an orchestra filing into the Music Centre in uniform.  It was the Canberra Girls Grammar School Music Academy, or at least some of it, and not an orchestra but several performance groups: two string quartets, flute, sax, guitar and clarinet ensembles and a Hand Bells group.  Now that was something different.  This is a group playing 52 hand bells, tuned chromatically, so it all makes like a piano performance, but gloriously resonant, sonorous, chiming.  I'd never heard one before.  I'm told there are two hand bell sets like this in Canberra and they cost.  Not surprised; I assume they are individually  tuned.  Each bell has an internal ringer and they can be played with mallets and damped against the body or otherwise.  The Selections from Mamma Mia that they played was one of my faves of the day, but then it's ABBA and so attractive.  There were a few Mozart pieces, which I admired in my more serious frame, and a very apt and touching guitar trio rendition of Paul Simon Sound of silence.  And several latin pieces, mariachi, Tico tico, tango, and even some early jazz, a rag and Rocking roses.  So a varied presentation, but I have to give it to the hand bells for the unique tone and rarity.

Various ensembles from Canberra Girls Grammar School performed at Wesley.

Early days

The path to becoming a musician is a long and demanding one and it's one that never reach the end, at least not until you do.  You are always learning.  But it's interesting to go back, to see and hear young musicians taking relatively early steps.  Often these steps are big ones but either way they are interesting.  Today at Wesley we saw a concert from the Music Academy of Canberra Girls Grammar School.  The music was madly varied; there were stronger and less strong parts and instruments.  Intonation, tentativeness were common early problems.  It's easy to understand.  I can still be tentative after many years.  On the other hand, dynamics were strong (they very obviously teach that!), technique, approach.  Timing sometimes was unstable with quick lines just not keeping up.  But I loved some cello playing; the bass clarinet sounded a dream; the take on Debussy was  both challenging and fascinating and nicely played; again, the dynamics were ever-present.  And just the breadth of the music was astounding.  Lickl (classical era Austrian) and Mozart, through Debussy (yes! String quartet Gmin op.10 mvt.3) on to early jazz, Chattanooga Choo Choo and Svoboda Bongil Bongil Blues through to Lennon McCartney Eleanor Rigby and Freddie Mercury Bohemian rhapsody, no less, with parts written for accompanying trio (piano, e-bass, drums).  And various combinations of Wind quintet, String quartet, Flute ensemble, Flute & Clarinet ensemble, Clarinet ensemble, Guitar ensemble and that Sax ensemble with the trio accompaniment.  Total players?  I counted 28.  Nice outing and fun.  My faves?  Debussy and Bohemian rhapsody.

Various groups from the Music Academy at Canberra Girls Grammar School performed at Wesley.