Category: /wg

[wg] West Gallery Music workshop with Dr. Francis Roads

Please join us for a special workshop in English “West Gallery” Music,
led by West Gallery expert
Dr. Francis Roads, on Tuesday, July 26, at 7:30 p.m.

The workshop is open to all singers and melody-instrument players, and
will be held at St. Maryâs Episcopal Church, 258 Concord St., Newton
Lower Falls, Mass.

Admission is free; a collection will be taken to cover the expenses.

This is an unusual opportunity to learn about West Gallery music from
one of the leading experts in the field.

FRANCIS ROADS studied music at Pembroke College, Oxford and the Royal
College of Music, London. He has devoted himself to researching and
performing West Gallery Church Music; he is an active member of the
West Gallery Music Association, and leads many workshops and other
music-making sessions throughout England.

In 1997 he founded the London Gallery Quire; in 2002 he was awarded a
Ph.D. by the University of Liverpool for his thesis on West Gallery
manuscripts in the Isle of Man. In 2003 he led a West Gallery
workshop here in Boston, and is looking forward to his return visit.

WEST GALLERY MUSIC is traditional music from English rural churches;
most of it dates from the 1750-1850 era. The music is known for its
folk-like compositions and its robust singing style and instrumental
technique.

The music is suitable for all types of singers; the pieces are not
particularly difficult, but are hearty and rhythmic, and fun to sing!
If you like choral music, folk music, early music, or shape-note
music, you will enjoy West Gallery Music.

Melodic instruments are also welcome: Bowed Strings, Flutes,
Woodwinds, Concertinas, Serpents, and Trombones are the most suitable
(please note that Percussion, Keyboard, Plucked or Strummed
instruments are NOT appropriate for this type of music).

To learn more about West Gallery Music, see the West Gallery Music
Association’s Web page at: http://www.wgma.org.uk.

St. MARY’s CHURCH is at 258 Concord St in Newton, just off Rt. 16,
near the Wellesley border. Heading west on 16: after crossing over
128, Concord Street is a right turn at the next light (the Lower Falls
Wine store is on the left). There is plenty of free on-street
parking, and Riverside and Woodland T stations are less than one mile
away. The building is wheelchair-accessible.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, please contact:

Bruce Randall

(978) 373-5852

melismata@hotmail.com

Bruce’s message about NEFFA

Hello everyone!

This is it! The last NEFFA email! Unless I forgot something, or some
major cat-ass-trophy erupts between now & then (like snow?)…

Don’t forget we also have a church service on April 24. There’s a
little info about this at the bottom of the page. More will come.

COPYISTS:
Please let me know how many booklets you’re making, so I’ll know if I
need to make more. Please do this soon, so I’ll have time to react.
And bring the booklets with you on Sunday! Don’t Forget Them!

GENERAL INFO.

The workshop is on Sunday from 12:00 – 12:55 in the Small Hall. This
is where we’ve been before. I assume the chair setup will be similar.
We’ll sit in parts with the basses to my right, the way we set up in
Newton.

This workshop is a lot of fun, has always been well-attended, and is
one of the best ways to introduce the music to more people. But we
need to be efficient and organized in advance, to make it run
smoothly.

Try to get there a little early; the previous session is the “Ladarke”
sing-along; if you want to do this, you’ll already be there. Or sneak
in towards the end of the session.

Bring your stand if you need one, and all your instrument parts (don’t
laugh! I’ve seen it happen!) if you play an instrument, but don’t
bring your regular music book; we’ll sing from the special handout.

WHAT TO DO.
I’ll need people to do these things:

BEFORE:
– a few people to greet in-comers, hand out booklets, encourage them
(we can’t force them) to sit in voice-parts, and generally be helpful.
A couple people might want to stay near the door so people who come in
late will get welcomed.

– some people to hand out booklets within the room. It takes some
strain off the greeters.

– 4 people to hold the signs (I’ll bring these) to designate where the
voice-parts are seated.

DURING:
– everyone should sit in their favorite voice part, scattered amongst
the rest of the people. If someone near you seems confused, try to
help them out (within reason). Being a Good Example is usually the
most helpful – Sing Lustily And With Good Courage!

– one or two people could make rough estimates of how many attendees
we have. I’ll see if I can find out how many chairs they have; this’ll
help the count.

– if I tell the Bassoon Joke, and you’re sick of hearing the Bassoon
Joke, try to laugh anyway. It will encourage others to do the same…

AFTERWARDS:
– a few people to collect booklets . I’ll encourage everyone to take
theirs home, but some people might not want to; if we gather them, we
won’t leave the room in a big mess. Also make sure the chairs aren’t
too disarrayed.

– if people have questions, encourage them to come out to the corridor
and talk with us. We NEED to be out of there on time so the next event
can set up. I’ll have a pile of green flyers near the exit door, and
another pile in the Hall-O-Flyers. Also the back page of the booklet
will have information on it.

++++++++++++
OTHER STUFF. If you’ve been to NEFFA before, you can skip this part:

– If you’re on the Performers list I submitted a month ago, you can
pick up your pass at the Performers Sign-In table in the lobby. This
gets you into the festival for the whole weekend. If you didn’t give
me your name, you can buy a ticket at the ticket table.

– DON’T plan on showing up just before noon and getting in! Allow an
hour for parking and bus-riding. The parking lot is across town. Don’t
try to park near the site unless you get there before sunrise!

– Please do other stuff while you’re there! It’s tons o’ fun, and
you’ll see and hear lots of cool things. A lot of us are also doing
other things there, so you’ll see some familiar faces. Don’t forget
your dance shoes and your lunch money!

If you have any questions or answers, let me know before Friday
afternoon. I will be at NEFFA all 3 days and will probably be too
tired to listen to messages at night.

ALSO Remember we have a church gig on April 24th. There’ll be at least
one rehearsal, on Thursday the 21th, and possibly another if I can
find a time. We’re doing about 5 songs, so it shouldn’t be too
difficult. Look for another email soon!

I will see you all there! Have fun!

Thanks,

Bru

[WG] Songs for Neffa, and a plea for copyists

NEFFA is almost upon us – only 10 more days! I’ve finally finished making a booklet of tunes for our workshop, including:

Arise and Hail – Babylon Streams – Corfe Castle – Cranbrook – Folkestone
– Lingham – Lydia – Pentonville – Poole – Psalm 95 – Spanking Roger – Wiltshire

That’s 12 tunes, which is more than we’ll have time for, but I want to be
able to make the final choice on the spot. This includes several we’ve
never done there before, plus several all-time favorites. Or favourites,
I suppose. We’ve got a big-time groaner, some arse-kickers, some Thomas
Hardy references, some folky-sounding ones and some more-elegant ones. Something for everyone…
If you see any on the list which you’re not familiar with, maybe you’ll have time to look at it before we have to do it with 100 other people.

So, Now – I need some volunteers to make copies. It’s a 22-page booklet,
which needs to be copied double-sided, and stapled. It’s all laid out so
that 2-page pieces will come out on facing pages.

If you can make a batch of copies, without getting in trouble with your boss, let me know ASAP and I’ll get a master to you. We should plan on having about 140 copies, since we got 120 people last year. If I get them
copied at Stooples (I know it’s spelled “Staples,” but they always mess it up), it will cost me about $231, which is rather a lot considering it’s
a volunteer event (and I don’t have a real job)…

I hope everyone’s having a good week. Maybe it won’t snow any more between now and Neffa. I’ll send another email next week with the final Neffa
information.

Thanks,

Bruce

Business email from Bruce

Since we don’t have a “normal” meeting for a while, and because some of t=
he regulars were away last time, I need to bother you with another email =
today, because there are a few business-things I need to organize.

1. NEFFA

a. I’m starting to assemble the tune book for NEFFA. If you have a favori=
te tune you think we should do there, let me know Real Soon. I’m going to=
include a mix of things, as usual – a couple of butt-kickers, one of the=
more “elegant” ones, something with a connection to Thomas Hardy, a Chri=
stmas song, a death-and-blood groaner, &c.
I’ve got lists of what we’ve done in previous years; I want to repeat a f=
ew occasionally and introduce some new ones. I’ll let you know in advance=
what tunes we’re doing, in case anyone wants to learn them.

b. Once the booklet is ready, I’ll need some people to make copies. It’ll=
be about 20 pages long and will have to be double-sided and stapled. If =
you can make some without getting yelled at by your boss, let me know. We=
‘ll need a total of about 130-150 or so.

2. CHURCH SERVICE APRIL 24th.

We have another church gig, on April 24th at St. Mary’s (where we regular=
ly meet). They are very nice about letting us use their room, so we shoul=
d do something nice for them in return. I don’t know any more details yet=
The music director will call me after Easter, and I’ll let you know wha=
t the deal will be.

If you can do this, please let me know (if you signed the paper last Sund=
ay, I’ve already got your name). We’ll have a couple of evening rehearsal=
s sometime next month, after NEFFA is over.

That’s about it for now. Happy Spring! I hope it doesn’t snow too much mo=
re.

Thanks,

Bruce

Bruce’s Announcement of the March 13 meeting

I hope this will be the last email from me for a while! If you’ve recent=
ly joined this list – we don’t usually have the frantic flurry of message=
s that we had these past few weeks.

The regular West Gallery workshop is coming this weekend, and we have som=
e other newses as well.

1. THANK YOU

Great Thanks To All who participated in the Medway church service. I thought it sounded great, and the church was very pleased to have us there.
I hope everyone had a good time and didn’t lose too much sleep! All the
people in the church said they really enjoyed it, and some of them took
the flyers, so maybe we’ll see some of them at another event.

They videotaped the service; if anyone wants a copy, we should be able to
get some.

2. NEXT MEETING

The next regular West Gallery Music workshop will be next Sunday, March 13th, at the usual time (1:30 – 4:30 PM), at the usual place (St. Mary’s C
hurch in Newton Lower Falls).

Easter is coming up, so we’ll do the two “Hymn for Easter Day” pieces, an
d also the “Hymn for Good Friday” with all its blood and gore.
I want to do “Old Foster” again; we sang it last month, and it was unfami
liar to a lot of us. Since we won’t be having a regular meeting in April
, we can celebrate April Fools Day early by doing “Psalm XLI” and of cour
se the “Hotchpotch Hymn” (sung to the tune of “Dulverton”). If there’s a
nother song in the book which you’d like to do, let me know!

Please bring your friends! We’ve been getting quite a few newcomers rece
ntly; I hope this trend continues. If you know any Oboe, Clarinet, Basso
on, or Concertina players, twist their arms – we don’t get many reed inst
ruments, and it would be nice to have some more. Of course, singers and o
ther instruments are welcome too!

Who has the West Gallery Music Video? I forget who last borrowed it. If
you’re done with it, someone else might want to see it.

If anyone is involved with concerts, dances, sings, or other events with
other groups, please bring some flyers and put them on the table. This i
s more efficient than trying to announce them during the meeting.

3. NEFFA:

Next month we won’t be meeting in Newton because Neffa is the same weekend. We’re leading a West Gallery workshop at Neffa on Sunday, April 10, at
Noon in the Small Hall.

Start thinking about what songs we might like to do there; the procedure
will be the same as last time, with a booklet of songs for everyone. I’ll need some people to make copies, some people to hand them out, welcome
people, and show them where to sit (we’ll also have the signs, like last
year), and everyone else should sit in the room amongst the assembled multitudes.

Stay tuned for more about this. Yes, that means another email!

4. ANOTHER GIG.

We’ve been asked to perform at the Sunday morning service at St. Mary’s (
where we meet) on April 24th. A few people already said they’re availabl
e for this, so I presume we’ll be able to rustle up a goodly crowd. I do
n’t know any further details, but I’ll let you know when I find out. I t
hink the service is at 10:00 (not at 8:45!).

We’ll have a couple of rehearsals on different week-nights (it won’t snow
). Watch this space for further updates. Yes, that means yet another em
ail!

5. TUNE LIST:

Please check the Tune List has at the web site (www.laymusic.org/wg.html)
If you’re missing anything, let me know. I can also give you a printed copy of the song list if you can’t get to the web site easily.

You should take your music booklet with you if you plan to come regularly
, or even irregularly. Put it in a 3-ring binder so it doesn’t explode.
I always bring a few booklets for newcomers, but I’d rather not carry to
ns-o-stuff around.

6. WEATHER OR NOT (repeated from last 3 months):

A) Now that the Weather season is upon us, be careful on the stairs at th
e church. We’re supposed to use the door at the right-hand end of the bu
ilding, but please use the ramp at the center door instead if you need to
; I always unlock this door.

B) If I need to cancel a meeting because of weather, I will send an email
to this list, probably on the morning of the meeting. If you don’t have
access to your email on that day, please call me (978-373-5852) if the w
eather is questionable.

C) If you need a ride from the T or elsewhere, send a message to this lis
t; if someone’s coming your way, maybe they can give you a lift.

I hope to see you on the 13th! And please pass this message on to other
people who might be interested.

Best wishes,

Bruce Randall
melismata@hotmail.com
978-373-5852

See our web page at http://www.laymusic.org/wg.html

See the West Gallery Music Association’s web page at: http://www.wgma.org
uk

Final email from Bruce about Medway gig

Hello again! This is the absolutely final email about the Medway gig. Tha
nk you all for a pair of productive rehearsals. I think this will be fun.

1. All the stuff in the long email from Monday night is still correct, ex
cept:

a. Gwehelog Grace – this is being done with the congregation. Add an Inst
rumental verse as introduction, then the 2 verses and Amen as written.

b. We’re not doing Lydia, Frome, or Allendale. These were extras in case
we needed them, but we already have enough songs.

2. I would like to be ready to go by 8:30. The service starts at 8:45, an
d I don’t want a lot of last-minute messing around while the congregation
is coming in. If we’re ready at 8:30, we can tune the instruments well,
maybe sing something as warmup music, and be relaxed and settled when it’
s time to start.

3. Singers should stand up to sing. I will forget this; if one person rem
embers the others will see it and remember also.
There are enough chairs for everyone; I checked last night. Tenors and ba
sses might be a little squished. If anyone doesn’t like those metal chair
s, there were a couple of wooden ones somewhere.
Please don’t wear anything with perfume or odor. It’s pretty tight quarte
rs, and I get sneezy. I hope they don’t use incense!

4. Communion will be served at the railing between us and the congregatio
n, so we won’t have everyone walking between us. A couple of us will nee
d to go elsewhere so the servers can stand there.
The front row people, when we’re not doing anything, should try to keep y
our stands, feet, &c., back, so they don’t get trod upon by the servers.

5. CORRECT ORDER of SONGS. There are also a couple of hymns & canticles f
rom the hymnal, which you can sing if you want.

– Prelude: PSALM 122.

– CORFE CASTLE TUNE.

– ZADOCK. after first lesson.

– PSALM 23rd. after second lesson.

The Sermon:

– LINGHAM.

– BIRMINGHAM.

– STOCKS.

– GIBRALTAR.

– AN HYMN FOR EASTER DAY.

– OTFORD.

– Offertory Hymn: CRANBROOK. With the congregation.

– Communion Hymn: GWEHELOG GRACE. With the congregation.

– Postlude: PENTONVILLE.

I hope that’s everything! Let me know if you have any questions or answer
s. I’ll see you on Sunday!

Thanks,

Bruce