Grade Five, then what?.

Grade Five - then what?

When a student passes the landmark of Grade 5 we thought it would be a good time to offer them the experience being a soloist. This was the thinking behind a phone call I made to Alan Ridout. He was a man who loved to write for actual performances, and spent a lot of time encouraging musical youngsters.

The result of a long and riotous conversation, which puzzled the people in my office at the time, was a delicious series of Concertinos. Each piece could be played with piano, but was also scored for strings, so that the player could have a first taste of performing with a small orchestra (or string quartet.)

Once he had started he kept going, completing Concertinos for:

Flute

Oboe

Cor Anglais

Clarinet

Saxophone

Bassoon

Horn

Trumpet

Flugel Horn

Trombone

Tuba

Bassoon

Several of these have been on exam syllabuses over the years, but not everybody is aware that there are string parts available for performance. If you have a student who would benefit from a bit of stage experience, please give them this opportunity.

https://www.juneemersonwindmusic.com/search_advanced_ss.php?mode=advs&adv_q=ridout%20concertino

E 17 Hartley Suite for 3 bassoons

It was that wonderful sound...

Archie Camden - 1888 - 1979
(Halle Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra)

It was in the summer of 1965 at Queenswood School, Hertfordshire, that I first heard bassoons in any quantity. I was attending one of the Ernest Read summer schools as a helper. When my household duties were finished, I was allowed to play second violin in the Second Orchestra.

Walking across the netball courts one sunny afternoon I heard this magical pouring out through the open window of a nearby room. Three bassoons playing some joyful music. What a sound!

Straight away I tracked down the bassoon tutor, Archie Camden, and said 'I've decided I want to learn the bassoon!' He smiled and said 'You find an instrument my dear,  and I will give you some lessons.'

Wow! He was Famous! (I only had three lessons from him, but it was a great start.)

One of the other bassoonists on the course had an instrument to sell. When I got home I borrowed money everywhere possible and bought it. I was hooked for life!

Several years later the 'joyful music' that I had originally heard on that memorable day came into my hands, through some friends.: Suite for Three Bassoons by Geoffrey Hartley.

In 1976, with joyful gratitude, Emerson Edition published it.

June Emerson

E17 Hartley - Suite for Three Bassoons
Hornpipe, Waltz, March

https://www.juneemersonwindmusic.com/SUITE-score-and-parts-41931738-db94-41fd-a999-6d213b847261.html

Bassoons again...

A Noble Project

Laurence Perkins - former principal bassoon of the Manchester Camerata

Laurence Perkins is an active and enthusiastic ambassador for the bassoon. Not many students choose the bassoon as their instrument. The cost of an instrument can be an obstacle, and it is (let's face it) not the most extrovert and showy instrument in the orchestra. What's more it doesn't often play solos, so is seldom very visible.

However there is an impressive repertoire of wonderful solo works, and Laurence is making it his business to make sure they are heard and appreciated. Together with Hyperion he is recording two CDs of some of the most significant pieces. Please take a look at his site:

https://laurenceperkins.com/seagod-recording/?fbclid=IwAR26k5nLrOwLR45VSJufd1hpB5zuIbfj24f8ClwKpUF4w65fxfswkazW9yY

The bassoon is the good-natured philosopher of the orchestra. Although often at the middle or bottom of the harmonic structure, the bassoon adds warmth, stability, lyricism and character - and sometimes fun. When it has an orchestral solo it can often either make you laugh (Malcolm Arnold Scottish Dances) or break your heart (Tchaikovsky Symphony No.4). It is a most wonderful and rewarding instrument to play.

I am supporting Laurence in this project - I hope that you can too.

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/bassoon-recording

June Emerson

Michael Head

Michael Head

Michael Dewar Head (1900 - 1976)



As well as being a composer, singer and pianist, Michael Head was an examiner for the Associated Board. It was when he came to Ampleforth College to examine the music students that we first met him. We knew his lovely songs, and had recently heard Siciliana for oboe on the BBC. As well as offering hospitality we were definitely hoping to get our hands on this lovely piece!

I drove down to Ampleforth College to bring him up to our house. My son Daniel, aged about 9, was in the car with me.

'Now Mr. Head is quite an old man, and may be a bit deaf. When you speak to him try to speak very clearly,' I told him.

Michael got in the car, and I went back to the music department to get his suitcase. When I returned to the car he was roaring with laughter, and so was Daniel. Apparently Daniel had said, extremely distinctly 'I think you are the oldest man I have ever seen.'

Our relationship was very warm from then on (thank you Daniel!) and we not only acquired his lovely Sicilana, but also a very striking song The World is Mad, for voice, clarinet and piano, and three other works including oboe and bassoon.
Geoffrey asked his advice on adjudicating, as he had his first engagement coming up. Michael said that however awful the playing, it was important always to say something nice - even if it was just to compliment them on the way they walked on to the stage.

That first meeting was on March 10th 1976. In April I sent him the Louis MacNeice poem that eventually became The World is Mad. During the following couple of months several other works arrived. On August 3rd he wrote from Bulawayo, South Africa, where he was not only examining for the AB but also singing his songs at recitals, including The World is Mad - ink still wet on the paper.

You can imagine our shock when, on August 24th, we heard that he had died suddenly in Cape Town. It was peritonitis - he had not reached a hospital soon enough.

June Emerson

Siciliana - oboe & piano

Three Hill Songs - oboe & piano

Three Fantastic Pieces - bassoon & piano

Trio - oboe, bassoon & piano

The World is Mad - mezzo, clarinet & piano

Michael Head: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Head_(composer)



E10 Six Low Solos

Six Low Solos

Eric Hughes 1924 - 2000

Eric Hughes was an electrical engineer, who worked at GEC in Wembley during the 1950s at the time when transistors were first being developed. He was a talented jazz pianist and composer, and used to write a musical show each year for the members of the company to perform. I first met him when I was invited to play in the orchestra for one of their productions.

He decided to study composition more seriously, and enrolled for classes at Hendon Technical College. We sat next to each other for the theory and harmony classes and generally caused a lot of trouble - he was such a joker. Through our friendship he started writing shows for the Ballards Lane Methodist Church in Finchley, North London, which had a thriving dramatic group. Everything was fun. I still have copies of his songs 'I've got a Toothbrush in Kensington' and 'Knitting Sandwiches for Jim' - created for some comedy sketch.

Trying out some songs for a show - please note paper snakes coming out of the recorders.
Left to right: June Emerson, Laurie Hetherington, Eric Hughes, Jean Gunderson,

Ken Gunderson, Sidney the choirmaster.

The composer Alan Bush came to Hendon Tech. to teach the more advanced students and Spike (everyone called Hughes ended up being called 'Spike' of course) developed his style to a much more advanced level. Several of his works have been since been published.

It was at my request, and detailed information about which notes were learned first on the bassoon, that he composed Six Low Solos, which have been a godsend to beginner bassoonists ever since.

He always signed himself E. S. C. O. Hughes, which stood for Eric Spike Consecutive Octaves Hughes.

June Emerson

E6 Six Low Solos - Eric Hughes Grade I/2

https://www.juneemersonwindmusic.com/SIX-LOW-SOLOS.html

Something to remember about a bassoon's bottom?

Roger Birnstingl remembers...

Cecil James was the solo bassoonist of the Philharmonia Orchestra. He was the nephew of Edwin James who had been 1st bassoon of the LSO and gave the first performance of Elgar’s Romance in 1911. Cecil was a superb musician and played on the Buffet with the lovely nutty tone so difficult to achieve on ‘the mumblephone’, which is what Cecil called the German bassoon.

In 1955 the Philharmonia played at the Lucerne Festival with Fritz Reiner conducting. In the overture to Die Meistersinger there are two bassoon parts. Reiner wanted them doubled, so I was the 3rd bassoon with the 1st bassoon part. We had got through the first part of the overture and I was doubling all the forte passages. We were approaching the Apprentice Music, which uses oboes and clarinets with an important part for the bassoon. I did not know Cecil very well at that time, so when I noticed that he seemed to be having trouble with his bassoon, I thought ‘Goodness, I think I better play’ which is what I did. As I was playing, Cecil put his bassoon on the floor and sat back with his arms crossed.

Reiner looked up, stopped the orchestra and said

‘Vas is with bassoon?’, to which Cecil replied

‘If the young man wishes to play my part, perhaps I should go home.’

Reiner to Manoug Parikian, the leader

‘Vat he say?’

Manoug
‘Don’t worry, Maestro, just start again from letter B and it will all be alright’.

Alright it was, but I later learned that the Buffet has a cork at the bottom of the butt joint which can be used to adjust the intonation and this is what Cecil had been doing.

THOSE FOUR NOTES - Tchaikovsky Symphony No.6
the bassoonist's nightmare

 by Roger Birnstingl



is very puzzlinIt g why Tchaikovsky didn’t put those four notes on the bass clarinet, an instrument he used quite a lot, particularly in his ballet music, the Manfred Symphony and more. There must have been some technical reason why he chose the bassoon and this we shall never know. It is the only occasion that I have seen a bassoon part of any work with four pppp, so he must have known that he was asking a lot.
He conducted the first performance  himelf, shortly before his death. It's impossible to know whether the bassoonist played this passage on that occasion. My guess is that he did, and it was a disaster so that from then on it was played on the bass clarinet. Interestingly it remains in the  bassoon part and in the printed score. 
I have only had to play this bit on two occasions. The first was at the RFH with Markevitch conducting the LSO. I had got through the opening solo and was feeling relieved that the worst was over. Jack Brymer was in the middle of his long solo when I became aware that the bass clarinettist was looking at me with a desperate expression indicating that his instrument was not working. No choice for me but to play the notes for him, and with the reed I had on which was not the one I had used for the opening.
Jack, being a real pro, made a subtle crescendo towards my entry so that I could play fairly comfortably thinking ‘better too loud than not at all’. Amazingly, Markevitch gave me a bow at the end although I am sure that most of the audience had no idea why he had got me to stand up.
The other time was when the bass clarinettist of the Suisse Romande, a friend of mine, asked me to do this because he would have had a completely free week and wanted to go away. This concert was right in the middle so of course I agreed and worked out some tricks with a duster in the bell and the Bb key closed with a rubber band.

Roger Birnstingl started playing the bassoon at age 14. He was educated at Bedales School and later studied with Archie Camden at the Royal College of Music in London.
He has served as principal bassoonist of the London Philharmonic (1956–1958), the Royal Philharmonic (1961–1964) and the London Symphony Orchestra (1964–1977). He later served as principal bassoonist with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande until his retirement in 1997. He is currently professor of bassoon at the Geneva Conservatoire. He is also a joint president of the British Double Reed Society.

The BIG Double Reed Day

Sunday 19th November 2017

For Information and Bookings:
 

www.bigdoublereed.com

What Do Bassoonists Have in Common with a No.52 Bus?

by Graham Sheen

former Principal Bassoon, BBC Symphony Orchestra & 
Academy of St Martin in the Fields,
teacher, composer & arranger.

Apologies if you have heard this in a slightly different version, but the answer is that first you don't see any and then they turn up in bunches. And there will be a bunch of twelve assorted bassoon students and professors giving a concert at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama on July 7th at 1.00pm in the Music Hall. ADMISSION IS FREE and all are most welcome to our wide-ranging programme of both arrangements and original works, spanning music of four centuries and from the serious to the frivolous.

At Guildhall we have long had a tradition of the bassoon department presenting an end of year recital, though it has never been possible, owing to an ever more crowded events calendar, to hold one every year. We hope that as a result of timetabling bassoon ensemble playing on a regular basis and the support of Head of Department, Richard Benjafield, the bassoon department show will become annual treat.

It’s often said that Bach is indestructible, a claim which we be challenging with a performance of the first movement of the third Brandenburg Concerto (9 bassoons and contra). The central work will be the marvellous Triangulation by Richard Bissill (7 bassoons and contra), a beautifully conceived and brilliant balanced three movement piece which has deservedly established itself as a bassoon classic. Interspersed will be some of Michael Norris’s Bagatelles for trio and some new transcriptions for large ensemble of Rameau, Lotti and Gabrieli’s Sonata Pian e Forte. Our traditional finale will be, as always, Leroy Anderson’s Bassoonist’s Holiday, once mistakenly called Bugler’s Holiday.

That date again: July 7th at 1.00pm in the Music Hall of GSMD, Silk Street, Barbican.

LINKS

Guildhall School of Music & Drama

Website

Gloucestershire Double Reed Day

Gloucestershire Double Reed Day

Sunday 26th June 2016

For Information and Bookings:

www.glosdrd.org.uk

A Quintet Selection...

Some of our Favourite Wind Quintets

by June Emerson

(and The Canile Quintet)

It was a freezing night in 1969 when five wind players first met to play together in Hertfordshire. It was a successful and somewhat riotous evening and we became a regular wind quintet: The Camerata. Over the years two personnel changed and the name was changed accordingly, but 41 years later three of us were still together, with two others, as The Canile Quintet. Michael, the clarinettist, had suffered for some time with his eyes, and by 2011 he couldn’t see well enough to play any longer. It looked as if it was all over.

By July 2015 however, after several gruelling eye operations and with music enlarged to A3 size, he was ready to have another go. Hesitant and careful at first, by the end of the third day things were pretty well back to normal, and out came the champagne!

We played through almost all of our repertoire, and at the end I asked everyone to name their favourite quintet, and give the reasons for their choice. It was an extremely difficult exercise, and in the end we each chose two. These are the results:

Wendy, flute:

Invitación al Bolero from the Suite Popular Cubana by Dario Morgan, because in a short and beautiful piece everyone has something gorgeous to play.
Quintet Op.56 No.1 by Franz Danzi because there is so much of interest for all the instruments.

Steve, oboe:

Capriol Suite by Peter Warlock because it’s a lovely arrangement of lovely music which is far too good for string players.
Pastorale by Gabriel Pierné because it brings back happy memories of playing it at an outdoor concert in France - oboe offstage at the end.

Michael, clarinet:

Trois Pieces Brèves by Jacques Ibert because it is wonderfully written, particularly the second movement for flute and clarinet. The last movement is a challenge from which we were once saved at an outdoor concert in France by the arrival of the Mistral.

Novelette in C major by Francis Poulenc, because I just love it.

June, bassoon:

La Fille aux cheveux de lin from Debussy Suite No.1 as a sort of test, because it is only after a week of living, eating, drinking and playing together that we can get all the nuances and entries perfect.
La Cheminée du Roi René by Darius Milhaud, because of the wonderful sonorities, and the tender coming together of flute and clarinet in the final bars.

Christine, horn:

Sortie in E Flat by Léfebure-Wély because I want it played at my funeral, and I challenge anyone to hear it without smiling.
Quintette in C major by Claude Arrieu, because it is so quirky, and I love the rich harmonies in the slow movements.

Since its foundation the quintet has raised over £20,000 for various charities, and hopes to keep going for a good while longer. We’ll be celebrating the 50th Wedding Anniversary of Wendy and Michael in 2016.

LINKS:

For accommodating larger size music Michael can recommend

the Stagg extra wide music stand

Aeolian Orchestra Concert at St Giles' Cripplegate, London - 22nd April 2012

Sunday April 22nd, 2012

Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, Op.18

Shostakovich: Symphony No.5 in D minor, Op.47

Aeolian Orchestra

Conductor: Rory Storm

Piano: Lara Melda

The Aeolian Orchestra is joined by pianist Lara Melda, BBC Young Musician 2010, for Rachmaninov’s 2nd piano concerto. This is the first time Lara Melda, Rory Storm and The Aeolian Orchestra have performed together. It is also the first time that any of the three have performed the work.

Venue

St Giles' Cripplegate

Fore Street,

Barbican

London

EC2Y 8DA

Ticket Details

7 (£3 Students)

Aeolian Orchestra

For more information on the Aeolian Orchestra, visit their website: http://aeolianorchestra.wordpress.com

Emerson Edition Ltd - New Publications - October 2011

Unaccompanied Flute Jazzarhythms Paul Lewis E627 £5.50 Grade 6/7 Duration 8’40” Four new jazzy solos for flute: Teatime Jazz, Birthday Blues, Dotted Waltz and Midnight Rag. ISMN: M-57040-810-8

Flute & Piano Desert Winds Michael Regan E604 £6.50 Grade 7/8 Duration 4’00” An interesting and challenging suite of movements depicting three types of desert wind: Harmattan, Santa Ana and Brickfielder. ISMN: M-57040-811-5

Flute Quartet Sprites Geoffrey Walker E631 £9.50 Grade 7/8 Duration 2’30” A scherzo for flutes – a modern mystical echo of the magical worlds created by composers such as Mendelssohn and Weber. ISMN: M-57040-809-2 score & parts

Clarinet & Piano Brook Green Suite Gustav Holst, arr. Russell Denwood E602 £8.00 Grade 5 Duration c.10’00” Originally written for the string orchestra of St Paul’s School for Girls, this charming suite works brilliantly for clarinet & piano. ISMN: M-57040-783-5

Clarinet & Piano Serenade Frank Bridge, arr. Russell Denwood E624 £6.50 Grade 5/6 Duration 2’40” This is a gorgeous piece for clarinet and piano, adapted from the original for violin/cello, written in 1903. ISMN: M-57040-807-8

Bassoon & Piano Blue Fulvio Caldini E650 £6.00 Grade 8 Duration 4’30” A challenging, but brilliantly written bluesy showpiece for the more advanced bassoonist. ISMN: M-57040-813-9

Bassoon & Piano Autumn Day & Crunch Cat! Eve Barsham E626 £6.00 Grade 2/3 Duration 3’30” Two characterful and contrasting pieces for bassoon – good fun to play and enjoyable to listen to. ISMN: M-57040-805-4

Bassoon & Piano Walking Cimbrone David Dubery E639 £6.50 Grade 6/7 Duration 3’40” A characterful concert piece, written for Graham Salvage and inspired by a stray dog encountered whilst on holiday in Italy. ISMN:M-57040-814-6

Horn & Piano For Leah Arthur P. Barnes E637 £7.50 Grade 6/7 Duration 6’00” Written for his granddaughter’s senior year recital, this new piece by American composer, Arthur P. Barnes, makes an excellent addition to the horn-player’s repertoire. ISMN: M-57040-815-3

Trumpet & Piano An Excursion Gordon Carr E609 £9.50 Grade 8 Duration 10’00” An exciting new work for the more advanced trumpeter – recorded by Simon Cheney on his CD, ‘An English Trumpeter’. ISMN: M-57040-804-7

Clarinet, Bassoon & Piano Eight Pieces Op.83, Volumes 1 & 2 Max Bruch, arr. Russell Denwood Vol.1: E622 Vol.2: E623 £15.00 each Grade 8 Duration 15’30” & 17’30” An excellent arrangement of this wonderful set of Romantic chamber pieces. A new corrected edition of the original (for clarinet, viola & piano) is also published by Emerson Edition. Vol.1 ISMN: M-57040-800-9 score & parts Vol.2 ISMN: M-57040-801-6 score & parts

Wind Quintet Five Madrigals Henk Kox E632 £22.50 Grade 8 Duration 14’30” Not easy to play, but a witty and very effective piece in five movements: Leave the Cities, The White Cottage at the River, Tick-Tack Ticks Walk, Malparthus is Renard’s Home & Cinq Leffes Blondes S’il Vous Plait. ISMN: M-57040-803-0 score & parts

Wind Quintet Six Miniature Pastorals Frank Bridge, arr. Russell Denwood E618 £16.50 Grade 8 Duration 11’30” An arrangement of six of Frank Bridge’s Miniature Pastorals, originally written for piano. ISMN: M-57040-802-3 score & parts

The Carter Wind Quintet visit June Emerson Wind Music

Carter Wind Quintet

June Emerson Wind Music had a visit on 9th December from the Carter Wind Quintet who are one of our Launchpad prize-winning ensembles for 2010.

They braved the snow and ice to come and spend the day playing through many of our wind quintets. As the surroundings here are so picturesque, particularly with all the snow, they also brought along their concert clothes and a camera, taking the opportunity to get some new publicity shots!

Jessica Lowe (flute), Mary Noden (oboe), Holly Reardon (bassoon),
Emma Whitney (horn) and Emily Heathcote (clarinet)

It was lovely to meet them all. They really enjoyed themselves and found lots of new music to add to their repertoire.

June Emerson Wind Music News

Planning your Christmas Concert…?

Find it all in one place in the June Emerson Wind Music Christmas Catalogue! Produced annually, it contains everything Christmassy from our four main distribution catalogues (from instrumental solos up to flexible ensembles for schools) extracted and put together in one booklet to make choosing easier. Free of charge to anyone who'd like one.

This year's catalogue will be available soon.

Serenades for Val – Sunday 19th September 2010

This summer, Valeria Watts died at the age of 67. She was, amongst many other things, a part-time member of staff at JEWM and a real character.

Valerie Watts

It was her wish to be sent off not with a funeral but with a concert and a tea party, paid for by her estate. This went so well! The Helmsley Festival Wind Ensemble, conducted by Geoffrey Emerson, got together in the morning to rehearse and then performed in the afternoon to 70 of Valerie’s friends and colleagues who’d come along to remember her. All the musicians were friends of hers that she’d played with over the years, many of whom hadn’t seen each other in a very long time, so it was a wonderful reunion.

Valerie Watts' Memorial Concert

The concert began with words specially written by Valerie to introduce the concert, which made everyone chuckle! The programme consisted of Gordon Jacob - Old Wine in New Bottles, Richard Strauss - Suite Op.4, Percy Whitlock - Homage to F.D. (Frederick Delius), Peter Warlock - Beethoven’s Binge, Glazunov – Concert Waltz, five short pieces by George Gershwin, Richard Strauss - Serenade Op.7 and a piece commissioned by Valerie and written by Geoffrey Emerson incorporating specially requested tunes that meant a lot to her.

The concert was followed by a buffet and drinks which Valerie had insisted on paying for from her estate. She really did us proud.

You can read her obituary that appeared in The Guardian here.

A thank you to loyal long-time staff

In October this year one of our staff members, Barbara Watson, who has a huge variety of responsibilities but is mainly the Accounts Dept assistant, will be celebrating 20 years at JEWM. She's done a wonderful job over the years and we're very lucky that she enjoys it here so much!

She's not the longest-serving, though - Tracy Battensby (Office Manager) has been here for
24 years and John Toll (Accounts Dept) has been here for 29!

A big thank you to them and all the staff at June Emerson Wind Music for all their hard work.