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Jazz and Improvisation Techniques with Pete Hartley by Hans Grünewald: Jazz is a style of music characterised by improvisation, blue notes, particular phrasings etc, all features which are not necessarily part of classical musical education. So it is always an adventure to approach such an exiting subject. Pete Hartley, professional violinist and mandolinist, managed to familiarise our group of some twenty mandolin players, one guitarist, and me with my mandola, with more details. Based on the tune Minor Swing he first addressed the chords and the rhythm. Then he went into scales, a topic which can keep a musician busy for years. Having in mind that the whole workshop lasts only one hour, Pete had to set a few milestones, focusing on minor and pentatonic scales. He furthermore helped to fill our ‘bag of tricks’ with arpeggios, chromatic runs, and adding some ‘spice’ like flatted 9th. All was perfectly demonstrated. Of course there was not enough time to practise what we had been shown. This is left as homework. Taking into account the complex nature of the subject and the short time available, I feel that Pete made the most possible out of the workshop. Well done Pete!
Latin with Dave Griffiths by John McGowan: Amo, amas ,
amat … over 40 years ago I attempted Latin at school and failed but
the first workshop I attended gave me a flavour of a different type
of Latin and provided an enjoyable and exhilarating start to my day
of workshops. I picked it because I heard Brejeiro at the last Rally
and thoroughly enjoyed their performance and Dave’s obvious
enthusiasm for Latin music. None of us in his workshop was
disappointed. Dave worked on the rhythm first and explained that we
should perhaps always start there in order to get a feel for the
music, the way other cultures do in Africa and
Mandolin Composers with Barbara Pommerenke-Steel by Jill Lundquist: Barbara introduced representative works from five composers; Leone lived in the 18th century, Beethoven in the 19th, and the other three are living now. Each of the contemporary pieces evoked a different situation, mood, or emotion. The workshop used an effective, strongly hands-on approach; we played a brief excerpt from each piece a few times, which let us get more of the flavour of the piece han listening or looking at the score would have done. Careful time management let us play four of the five excerpts, but poor Beethoven went unplayed. Barbara packed considerable information and direct experience into the hour, and the music choices were interesting and inspiring. Fortunately there were no salespeople, else I would have left with more music than I can carry! The pieces were: Paul Mitchell-Davidson - Lotus Blossom from Four Progressive Pieces for mandolin and piano (Astute Music, astute-music.com), Gabriele Leone - theme and variation from La lumiere la plus pure, Alison Stephens - Ferris the Cat from Six Adventures (Astute Music), Ludwig van Beethoven - Sonatine (WoO 43a), Oliver Kaelberer - Trauermarsch der Sonnenstrahlen from Kleine Suite für Mandoline solo Nr. 2 (Vogt & Fritz www.vogtundfritz.de)
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Come and Try Mandola with Barbara Pommerenke-Steel by Laura Griffiths & Ashley Willis: Barbara and Alan Jones did a fine job introducing some of the more mysterious members of the mandolin family and entrusted us with instruments from her mandola mountain - generously supplied by members of orchestras and ‘Hobgoblin Music’. For many participants, including ourselves, it was the first time we’d held a mandola. Barbara showed us how to handle the unwieldy beast, along with the ‘one finger one fret’ fingering, somewhat unfamiliar to those of us who’d never strayed beyond mandolin shores. The ‘guitar-hold’ was further new territory for us mandolinists, but tuned one octave below the mandolin, the guitarists weren’t getting it all their own way. Barbara and Alan passed around everyone, and after sorting out some individual tribulations, we were soon playing a fun duet. Barbara then discussed the original mandola repertoire before we tried an extract from Differencias by Victor Kioulaphides. Alan pointed out we’d all been carried away with our new-found, but classically handled friend, and wasted no time in marvelling us with some folk music on his bouzouki. After a whistle-stop world-tour of mandola-a-likes, Alan unlocked some of his secrets - gdad tuning and some powerful chords…All in all, a great workshop!
Mandolin Concerti with Frances Taylor and members of CBSO by Philip James: On arriving at the workshop, I was impressed that Frances had obtained sponsorship to enable members from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra(CBSO – Sara, Jackie, Wendy and Cathy) to attend. did not rush into getting twenty mandolins playing without helping us. She explained the background to a Concerto, and the difference between playing as a group and solo playing with group support. The discussion included the history of how the music would have been recorded at the time and Frances brought along a copy of one of the original works for us to see. Parts were supplied for all abilities. To increase our focus, we were divided into four groups, each group played with the CBSO to help everyone understand the pulse and flow required.Frances explained how to improve speed for the Allegro piece and encouraged us to play in a more relaxed way. Everyone settled down to the pace of the piece with the final result being a lot more rewarding. The Andantino piece with the additional accidentals changed the mood of the group. The pulling of the third beat of the bar created the dragging feeling of a tepid Italian holiday with sweet soft tremolos that Frances had described. Finally, the Gig was scattered with triplets which required the plectrum hand to develop different up and down pick stroke patterns, creating the correct emphasis. Handouts of references of further great Concertos, a definition of ‘Concerto’, brief history of the composer Emanuele Barbella and some CD references closed the workshop.
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