Broken Consort

A 'broken consort' is an ensemble made up of instruments from more than one family, for example, a group featuring both string and wind instruments.

Friday 25 November 2011

Class - 24th November

We had another 'whistle stop tour' through our pieces for next week's concert at our class last night. In addition to working on our large ensemble pieces...which I filmed and will be adding to our YouTube channel as soon as I find the time...we managed to get through most of the small group items too.

Here's what we played:
  • 'Caprice for Clarinets' by Clare Grundman - Helen, Theresa & Dermot
  • 'Subjects Obey Army Farm' by Donaldson & Kahn (Arr. H. Brammer) - Heather, Emily, Kath, Polly, Diana & Imogen
  • Woodwind Trio by M. Hedien - Penny, Judy & Mike
  • 'Serenade for Seven' (with 6 players this week) by Ronald Hanmer - Penny, Judy, Annabel, Theresa, Dermot & Mike
  • 'Chants sans paroles' by Tchaikovsky (Arr. Sobrielo) - George, Margaret & Angela
  • Trio in D minor by Boismortier - Emily, Diana & Kath
  • Quartet in D minor 'Tafelmusik' by Telemann - George, Imogen, Heather, Margaret & Joan
  • Something by Handel that I didn't catch the name of... - Annabel, Polly & Angela

Friday 18 November 2011

Class - 17th November

With only two classes left before our end of term concert, we were busy, busy, busy last night! We whizzed through our large ensemble pieces...which were all sounding much better now we're not so top heavy...and through two rotations of small group items too!

Here's what we played:
  • 'Caprice for Clarinets' by Clare Grundman - Helen, Theresa & Anya
  • 'Subjects Obey Army Farm' by Donaldson & Kahn (Arr. H. Brammer) - Heather, Emily, Kath, Polly, Diana & Imogen
  • Woodwind Trio by M. Hedien - Penny, Judy & Mike
  • Trio Sonata in G Minor by Boismortier - Annabel, Polly, Imogen, Margaret, Angela & Joan (though not all at the same time!)
  • 'Serenade for Seven' (with 6 players this week) by Ronald Hanmer - Penny, Judy, Annabel, Theresa, Anya & Mike
  • 'Fantasy' by Faure (Arr. L. Moyse) - Heather, Helen & Angela
  • Trio in D minor by Boismortier - Emily, Diana & Kath

Thursday 10 November 2011

Class - 10th November

Tonight's class was a little bit different...with the Church being used for a rehearsal for the licensing of their new vicar, we decamped to two of our members' houses to rehearse some small chamber group pieces. It worked quite well...although I needed to run back and forth to hear what was going on everywhere...thankfully the houses were quite close together!

Here's what we played at Kath's:
  • Quartet in D minor 'Tafelmusik' by Telemann - George, Imogen, Heather*, Margaret & Joan
  • Trio in D minor by Boismortier - Emily, Diana & Kath
  • Trio Sonata in G minor by Pepusch - George, Diana & Imogen 
  • Trio Sonatas by Corelli - Emily, Kath, Margaret & Joan
  • And apparently something by Handel that I didn't hear...
And at Angela & Mikes:
  • Woodwind Trio by M. Hedien - Penny, Judy & Mike
  • 'Vocalise' by Rachmaninov - Theresa, Dermot & Angela
  • 'Fantasy' by Faure - Heather*, Helen & Angela
  • 'Serenade for Seven' (with only 5 players!) by Ronald Hanmer - Penny, Judy, Theresa, Dermot & Mike
 * I don't know how Heather managed to be in two places at once?!

Thank you to our hosts for a most enjoyable evening!

Thursday 3 November 2011

Class - 3rd November

We were still missing a few players this week...it's amazing how everything sounds so different with just a few missing parts...and it left some people feeling rather exposed! We spent quite a bit of time on our large ensemble pieces this evening, because we're not going to be able to do those next week as we'll be split over two locations next time...that should be fun!

Small group items:
  • 'Caprice for Clarinets' by Clare Grundman - Helen, Theresa, Dermot & Anya
  • 'Subjects Obey Army Farm' by Donaldson & Kahn (Arr. H. Brammer) - Heather, Emily, Kath, Diana & Imogen
  • Quintet in D Minor by Keller - George, Judy, Penny, Annabel & Joan