My project which I am excited about
Posted: 25 Jun 2012, 00:24
(Just in case there's anybody left here at all to see it!) 
It's not terribly piano-ey, though it will certainly involve me having to play the piano as part of it...
I'm emerging from what has been a very difficult two months on the personal front not only for me but also for a close family member whose life suddenly went pear-shaped in a very distressing way, and this is going to be a big lift if it happens as planned. Last week I went to see a production of Iolanthe in a big barn done by one of the village societies in this area, and I realised how much I missed doing that kind of work, which I was doing a lot of before I moved to Cambridge.
Part of the reason I don't is that I can no longer sing, which is very distressing to me, as it was my first instrument and the subject of my teaching diploma, so I can't do all the choir training i used to do; and I spent nearly ten years teaching in school when I came here, which was probably what finally did for my voice. But I was also musical director to a load of projects in different societies and community activities, musician in residence at an adult day centre, did fringe opera for about eight years in the summer, trying to make it more accessible to people who thought it was "not for them"... and so on. Now, I thought, all I do is sit at home and teach people to play the piano. All well and good, but there must be more. I know the point of being a has-been is that at least you HAVE BEEN, but I didn't want to thnk I'd stopped "being"
So this week I've been whizzing into action. Whizzing very slowly
I've chatted up a few friends and useful people, and I think I've started setting the wheels in motion for the Cherry Hinton Community Opera. Long way to go yet. But the idea is to put on productions which will involve (almost) anyone who's really interested. Not something elitist, but more like what we were doing before I moved here.
The piece I really want to do is The Beggar's Opera, which I've done before, and included as well as esperienced performers quite a few who didn't know they could sing or act or dance. So it's a good vehicle for community performance. But I don't want to jump in with both feet, so I'm hoping that when I have a team round me, they will agree to start with something small but perfectly formed, and I want top revive something I did in about 1994.
The boy Mozart wrote this little opera called Bastien und Bastienne, about two shepherds and a shepherdess, and I updated it and added an extra character and a small chorus of girls; it's called The Agony Uncle, and I've had the files on my computer now for years, so I've been tarting them up and gradually uploading them to Score Exchange.
The first one's here http://www.scoreexchange.com/scores/127895.html
and the rest can be found from that. Although it does use a chorus of girls, I'm not sure I can take it into schools because it's - ahem - a bit rude in places, mentions sex quite a bit (not much in the numbers I've uploaded already, it gets worse. Or better, depending on your tastes)
But it's also very very funny. 
If this gets off the ground, we'll be abke to plan for the Beggar's Opera, and eventually, though it may take a few years and a lot of money, something like Britten's Noye's Fludde, which must surely be the ultimate community project! I'm finding this prospect quite exciting
Meanwhile back to the daily grind, I have three pupils doing Trinity exams next Saturday and seven, if you count 3 prep tests, doing ABRSM on July 4th; one already gone last week, a grade 1 who's already left the country (aw, c'mon, V****, it wasn't THAT bad, surely?)
It's not terribly piano-ey, though it will certainly involve me having to play the piano as part of it...
I'm emerging from what has been a very difficult two months on the personal front not only for me but also for a close family member whose life suddenly went pear-shaped in a very distressing way, and this is going to be a big lift if it happens as planned. Last week I went to see a production of Iolanthe in a big barn done by one of the village societies in this area, and I realised how much I missed doing that kind of work, which I was doing a lot of before I moved to Cambridge.
Part of the reason I don't is that I can no longer sing, which is very distressing to me, as it was my first instrument and the subject of my teaching diploma, so I can't do all the choir training i used to do; and I spent nearly ten years teaching in school when I came here, which was probably what finally did for my voice. But I was also musical director to a load of projects in different societies and community activities, musician in residence at an adult day centre, did fringe opera for about eight years in the summer, trying to make it more accessible to people who thought it was "not for them"... and so on. Now, I thought, all I do is sit at home and teach people to play the piano. All well and good, but there must be more. I know the point of being a has-been is that at least you HAVE BEEN, but I didn't want to thnk I'd stopped "being"
So this week I've been whizzing into action. Whizzing very slowly
I've chatted up a few friends and useful people, and I think I've started setting the wheels in motion for the Cherry Hinton Community Opera. Long way to go yet. But the idea is to put on productions which will involve (almost) anyone who's really interested. Not something elitist, but more like what we were doing before I moved here.
The piece I really want to do is The Beggar's Opera, which I've done before, and included as well as esperienced performers quite a few who didn't know they could sing or act or dance. So it's a good vehicle for community performance. But I don't want to jump in with both feet, so I'm hoping that when I have a team round me, they will agree to start with something small but perfectly formed, and I want top revive something I did in about 1994.
The boy Mozart wrote this little opera called Bastien und Bastienne, about two shepherds and a shepherdess, and I updated it and added an extra character and a small chorus of girls; it's called The Agony Uncle, and I've had the files on my computer now for years, so I've been tarting them up and gradually uploading them to Score Exchange.
The first one's here http://www.scoreexchange.com/scores/127895.html
and the rest can be found from that. Although it does use a chorus of girls, I'm not sure I can take it into schools because it's - ahem - a bit rude in places, mentions sex quite a bit (not much in the numbers I've uploaded already, it gets worse. Or better, depending on your tastes)
But it's also very very funny. If this gets off the ground, we'll be abke to plan for the Beggar's Opera, and eventually, though it may take a few years and a lot of money, something like Britten's Noye's Fludde, which must surely be the ultimate community project! I'm finding this prospect quite exciting
Meanwhile back to the daily grind, I have three pupils doing Trinity exams next Saturday and seven, if you count 3 prep tests, doing ABRSM on July 4th; one already gone last week, a grade 1 who's already left the country (aw, c'mon, V****, it wasn't THAT bad, surely?)
) 
But it's brilliant news that you might get Your Very Own opera company up and running - and what a break being on Radio 3!! Canive yer ortograf please??