Henley Festival
14 Friday Street
Henley-on-Thames
Oxon RG9 1AH
admin
+44(0)1491 843400
box office
+44(0)1491 843404
fax
+44(0)1491 410482
info@henley-festival.co.uk
the discussion room
Well done all! July 13, 2008
A BIG congratulations goes to all young players and all instrumental champions!
You were all magnificent.
Good luck with all your music-making!
Waow ! I was so impressed !
Thank you very much to all of you in this project for giving such a great opportunity to our children. Charlotte is enjoying every moment with the orchestra and has been very inspired by the spirit and quality of Shout!
BRAVISSIMO !!
Carole Hérault.
good luck tomorrow! July 11, 2008
Thanks for such a great rehearsal last weekend. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow ... I hope you are too.
preparing for next Sunday July 1, 2008
Hello all ...
I hope you've all been practicing hard!
I'm looking forward to trying out the new music on Sunday and starting to put the whole thing together.
Colin
artist of the month June 27, 2008
In case some of you wanted to find out a little bit about some of the other things I do as a 'composer' you can have a look a the front page of the PRS Foundation's website: www.prsfoundation.co.uk
There is a little feature about my work and some choices of music.
the Big Sound Symphony June 17, 2008
Well done to Serena Lambert who came up with the title 'The Big Sound Symphony'! I have chosen this title because it seems to sum up what we're been doing so far (although of course there will be some soft sounds as well in the piece!).
Thanks also to all of you who came up with all the other (brilliant) suggestions.
I look forward to seeing you all in a few weeks at the next inspiration day. Keep practicing hard.
another great day May 21, 2008
Thanks everyone for working so hard. It was another inspiring day. I've got lots of ideas now and I'm hoping to create some music for the percussionists to go with those 'Mechanical Mayhem' pieces.
See you all on Sunday May 14, 2008
I'm looking forward to our next 'inspiration day' on Sunday when I'll be bringing lots of new bits of music to try out. Any ideas on that title yet?
hello,
my idea is to call it mini mayhem to show that it is children, or you can use mini music mayhem as it is longer and will make the people more interested.
love holly harrison
(concept-holly harrison)
(written by her older brother-thomas)
Holly ... this sounds great. We certainly do create mayhem at times when we play don't we!
COMPETITION April 30, 2008
Do you have a good name for Colin's piece? Then tell us here and why you think yours is the best one. Colin, Mandy and Stewart will be choosing the winning entry at the Inspiration Day on 18th May and there will be a small prize.
Colin is writing some individual movements or sections at the moment called Big Noise, Drone Zone, Mechanical Mayhem, Jazz Waves, but we need an overall title.
So get your thinking caps on!
Mandy
hi colin,i have got a name for our peace: "The future big noise in the zone". I called it like that because it is going to be in the future and it will have a success with it's noise.
by charlotte
Charlotte's made a good start with an excellent suggestion. Lets have lots more please by the end of the week.
Dear Colin, I think "The Big Sound Symphony" is a good name for the piece of music you're writing because its going to be big, loud, musical and great!
from Serena
Serena ... thanks for this. It certainly sounds exciting!
i think that the piece should be called orchestral fever.i think you should pick this name because it is fun and cool but also i spent quite a while trying to think of a name and this one just pooped in i also have other names like music madness(it shows that we play musical instruments),starting from scratch(as we are all starting from the beginning) or SHOUT FOR THE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA (i think this one is a good name because it includes the name of what we are doing and also it shows that we are in a orchestra.
oops i forgot to put my name on my ideas were the ones orchestral fever,Music madness,starting from scratch and SHOUT FOR THE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA
from Florence
p.s I PLAY THE DOUBLE BASE!!!!
I like the sound of 'Orchestral Fever' and 'Shout for the Orchestra'.
dear Colin,
hello its Florence again i was just wanting to ask when do we find out who one the competition
from
Florence
Hi Florence.
Well done for your ideas. Entry deadline is Friday 13th June, so we'll have the winner's name and name of the piece here on the website next Monday. A prize will be awarded at the next Inspiration Day.
Mandy
Hi Colin,
I thought about the name for the pieces and 'Zam Bam' came to mind then I thought 'Rythmical Fever'. I am enjoying playing big noise.
Rebecca Schacht
I think it shoudl be called 'Shout About It' or 'Shout it Out' becasue the project name is Shout and we are shouting about what we have achieved with the orchestar.
Thomas Boyd-Thorpe
lots for you to hear March 18, 2008
Hi all,
There are now audio clips of the music we created and played on Sunday up on the website. You'll find them in the usual place (under the picture on my diary page). It would be good to hear what you think.
Please do be patient ... they take a little bit of time to load up. You'll need to wait until the control bar appears. 'Then' you can press the play button.
Yeh, well, it certainly shows 'we got rhythm'. I'm amazed at how well everyone followed the conducting! Bravo!
Paul
Hi All,
As a parent, Sunday was extremely heartening and inspirational! I watched and listened in utter amazement. I couldn't believe how far the project has come in such a short space of time. Congratulations to all in the orchestra and those driving this project forward. It's fantastic. Thank you.
Chris Macleod
Colin, as an aside, do you use virtual instruments? If you do please let me know at chris@gforcesoftware.com
hi colin,i have got a name for our peace: "The future big noise in the zone". I called it like that because it is going to be in the future and it will have a success with it's noise.
by charlotte
well done orchestra! March 18, 2008
I just wanted to say well done to everyone. I thought Sunday was a truly inspiring day. (I got lots of ideas!) I think the orchestra made a fantastic sound. You were loud and exciting when you needed to be, and also very quiet and delicate as well. I hope you all enjoyed it and learnt a lot about playing together.
In the next couple of days I'll put up the recording of 'Big Noise', 'Mechanical Mayhem' and 'The Drone Zone'. See what you think. If you listen hard you might be able to hear yourself.
Sunday was brilliant, although I am not sure I have fully recovered yet. I hope my violins have had a good couple of night's sleep, as I am just off to teach them now! Well done to everyone, I think we all did extreamly well. I look forward to our next session in May.
Laura Reineke
Hi
Sunday did come together really well. We finally know what kind of orchestra we have! I am still reeling from the 'cellos and basses managing to play in 2 parts in their pieces in the sectional group. It was the first time they had met together and they pulled a rabbit out of the hat!
Paul
Inspiration Day yesterday March 17, 2008
Well done to everybody for a brilliant first orchestra day! Mechanical Mayhem was my favourite bit and it was really interesting to hear all the different sounds you can make on your instruments. I know what to get for the tuck shop next time too - more haribo.
Keep practising! Mandy x
... and maybe 'cheese and onion' crisps (my favourite)?
'First Sounds' March 4, 2008
... you can hear the music by pressing 'play' underneath my picture on my diary page.
Dear Colin,
Iwould really like some more cello in,but I am not very good at bowing yet!
Love,
From
Lily xxx
Pizzicato can be really good. I'm hoping to put lots in the piece. I'm a 'cellist as well. I remember that bowing used to hurt my little finger though!
All the Peppard 'cellos bowed beautifully in their lessons yesterday - that includes Lily!
Paul
Take a listen to yourselves! March 4, 2008
After visiting some of you a couple of weeks ago and recording you playing and talking, I've made a piece of music mixing you all together. It what I call a 'collage' and I've called it 'First Sounds'. If you listen carefully you may be able to hear yourself. There are violas, flutes, clarinets, a 'cello and a double bass all mixed in as well as some interesting suggestions (right at the end) about what I might include in my new piece.
Please let me know what you think of this. Its a kind of 'music diary' of my day in Henley.
Dear Colin,
I think it is very good. I play the cello in Peppard School.
Love Lily
I hope that I can visit Peppard School next time ... perhaps to record some bowing?
Dear Colin
I've been thinking of a name for your song for a couple of days now. Now I've thought about it
finally. The crazy magician I think it is a good name for the song only because it surprises you.
BY SAM BROWN!!!
Great idea Sam! Is Colin the Great Magician?
Mandy
I like the 'magician' idea ... or just the word 'magic' with something else?
hello all professional 'champions' January 11, 2008
This is a blog to all the professional champions who will also be playing in the new piece.
Its been great to meet you all so far.
What sort of music do you think suits your instrument, and best brings out its qualities? Have you any tips for me as a composer?
Colin
hello its Florence,
you may remember me because you recorded me and Christie playing on that ipod!
i play the double base and i think that the best music for us would probaly be quite slow flowing music!
from Florence
It's really good to hear from you. Are you string players using the bow yet? We're looking forward to getting everyone together on 16th March for the first time. I wonder what sort of sound we'll all make together?
Florence ... watch this space. Coming soon (hopefully) will be a short piece I made using the sounds from that day I visited your school. The sound of your double bass and some of your suggestions for the piece can be heard.
What will the piece be like? January 11, 2008
'Welcome' to all the new young instrumentalists on the 'Shout' project!
You may know already that I'm composing a brand new piece for you all to play together in July.
I'd be really interested to hear your ideas as to how it should sound. Why don't you join this blog and tell me?
I want it to be soft at one point then really loud. And I want it to be fast then slow.
p.s. I hope I'm really good at it.
from Ella
Please make sure there is a good bassoon part!
from Millie
i think that it should be quite loud and bouncy yet flowey all the same
from florence
Quite happy and fun to listen to.
Hope I will like it.
from charlotte
Hi Ella, Millie, Florence and Charlotte,
Great to hear from you! I'm glad you've suggested loud and soft. I love contrasts too. I'd like to make the music change lots of times so that we can explore lots of moods and colours. I'll certainly try my best to make interesting music for the bassoon, as I'd like to give all the instruments a challenge, and times when they can show off a bit.
Looking forward to meeting you all for some zany explorations (and some hard work) together on March 16th.
Hi everybody in the orchestra, not to mention our champions and the master, Colin.
I just want to throw in my good wishes to all of you for the up-coming inspiration day. As a number of you know I can't be there on the day as I shall be travelling back from my 'other' Festival in Barbados - where I am now. Great to hear that once again the press is getting interested and will be coming along. I hope everyone has a really great day a fortnight from now. Making music with other people is one of the great fun activities. I look forward to hearing - and reading - all about it!
All good wishes
Stewart
Dear Ron,
THANK YOU FOR TEaCHING ME THE VIOLIN I HAVE learnt ALLEGRO By Susuki My FRiEND TAught ME IT HER TECHER IS LAura. From Victoria Taylor.
p.s my favourate instramant is the violin that is why i play it