Winners!

 

gifted and talented students

a two day summer school for 14-19 year olds this took place at st cuthbert-mayne school on the 30th and 31th of july 2008 15 students, four rooms and seven staff, this high support ratio saw a rapid development take place in an amazingly short space of time!

see the pics

expert staff covered the range - woodwind, brass, drums, guitar/bass/strings, recording technology, music technology, composition and improvisation.

 

meet the tutors (l-r) damien - recording engineer, recording technology, production and post production (vocals), steve - course administrator, reed instruments, gary - course design and leader, all woodwind and brass, composotion and arranging, style and idiom, adam - music/computer technology, pre-production and production, jamey - drums, vocals, pre-production, recording technology, style and idiom, pat - schools liaison, course administrator and rhythm instruments, arthur - composition, all string instruments, pre-production and production, recording technology

here's what the students said ....... "i thought the activities were fun and enjoyed myself very much" "thank you for teaching me loads of styles on the drums" "do it agin!" "thank you very much" "it was very good fun and i really enjoyed it" "brilliant!

we began by considering the personal side of music - 'what does this piece of music do for me?' but then wonder- if music is just down to subjective likes and dislikes then how can we ever assess music as good/successful/effective? and so on. furthermore if music were just a matter of taste how could the students work in groups with any sort of agreement in any common direction? to answer these and other questions we listened to a piece of music and analysed it, effectively profiling it by using a range of musical terminology. a shared use of musical language enabling a common experience of music, that is to say, it enabled us to work together. having established that it was possible to work together the formal input ended and it was over to the students,they set off on a common goal which was to produce a recording of a performance by the end of day two.

as exceptional students they were expected to progress by means of intuition, imagination, invention but also in a systematic, reasoned, structured way. a combination of these approaches ensured creativity and productivity. it was expected that the final recorded performance contained aspects of composition, improvisation and prepared material assembled using music technology. there was a lot to do in the limited time available so the students needed to be thinking not only about what to do but also about how it was going to get done!

the big gig 08 with mike westbrook village band

 

photo courtesy patrick hadfield a superb final celebration concert led by guest tutor and jazz arranger and composer mike westbrook

took place on saturday 12th july 2008. the legendary british composer and band leader took the workshop on tuesday 8th july for both monday and tuesday groups. musicpeg commissioned dr westbrook to prepare a special arrangement of his composition 'love and understanding'. gary bayley rehearsed both workshop groups independently in the weeks prior and the two groups came together as one band under mike's direction as the culmination of a fantastic 4 band gig supported byan audience of over 100 people. the piece was performed as the finale to the concert with the addition of members of mikes 'village band' n.b. an abridged version of 'love and understanding' appears on the mike westbrook cd 'citadel room 315' and is a good place to start for those curious to investigate his music.

greg abate workshop special monday july 7th 2008, greg abate (composer, arranger and international jazz recording artist) hosted a 'one-off' special workshop. greg has taught at the legendary berklee college in boson u.s.a. he conducted the workshop on the monday 7th july for both monday and tuesday workshop groups greg reviewed and assessed the progress of both groups with the musical material they have been playing in the light of of his many years as a 'road warrior' alto saxophonist and as a classroom educator. he gave specific attention to detail as well as anecdotes from his past experiences with a variety of jazz legends. whilst it is true that greg made clear what the important issues are that the music required of the groups, his methodology was that individuals may be given friendly advice but never 'torn into'. he knew we were not a 'pro' outfit and if or most of us it is a hobby, but members were free to approach him individually to gain a more detailed objective assessment of their playing style. so thansk to greg for a great workshop event admission to this special workshop was conditional on prior attendance of all workshop dates since the inception in april 21/22.

see the pics

see what greg has to say about us first gig our first gig for the african workshop was held on sunday 29th june 2008, a great sunday afternoon open-air gig at the cuthbert mayne school annual fete.

for some of our members this was their first time out! others were old hands!, and everyone had a great time click here to see the pics of the jam session we ran our first musicpeg jam session on wednesday may 14th 2008 at the unon inn , denbury (nr newton abbot) the featured 'house band' was faq click here to see the pics! workshop one (african, afro-american wokshop) -

summer 2008 this is an exciting highly rhythmic music workshop featuring hypnotic melodies and grooves. at this workshop expect to find both those starting out in improvising and sight reading who welcome structured activities and also those who will be familiar with and continue to get a "blast! and buzz!" from this genre. dates for workshop 1 : april 21, 28 may 12, 19, june 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, july 7/8 workshop two (the jazz workshop) - summer 2008 this workshop examines the harmonic structure of the "song" by introducing compositions from the canon of "jazz standards", we also look at a range of devices employed by the skilled jazz musicians, familiarity with which in effect constitutes a common "jazz performance language". those new to the group performance context of improvisation with minimal direction from printed scores would benefit from joining the african workshop (see workshop 1 above) with its focus on musical awarness and "ear training". dates for workshop 2: april 22, 29, may 13, 20, june 3, 10, 17 24

here is a copy of the flyer we used to appeal to the younger musicians for one of original workshops carried out in conjuction with torbay arts council