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Miriam Iorwerth updates us on Helensburgh Orchestral Society's musical activity during the pandemic, including award success for their MD and an exciting performance on the horizon.
Like many groups, when the pandemic hit we had to cancel our upcoming concert, and wondered how we would keep our musical community going when we couldn’t meet in person. We first started weekly online social meetings at the time we would usually rehearse. This was extremely welcome, as for many members, the social aspect is as important as the musical aims of the orchestra. This continued throughout the summer, and in autumn 2020, our musical director, Robert Baxter (recent winner of best instrumental music director at the 2021 Making Music Awards!), led us in starting Zoom rehearsals.
'We decided that commissioning a piece would allow a composer, Peter Longworth, to take into account some of the interesting features of playing online and be able to tailor the music specifically for our ensemble, as well as providing valuable work for a freelancer during the pandemic.'
As time went on, and we realised the possibilities of playing together in person were a long way off, we needed a new challenge. Given that Zoom isn't an ideal way to rehearse ensemble music composed for more traditional settings, we decided that commissioning a piece would allow a composer, Peter Longworth, to take into account some of the interesting features of playing online and be able to tailor the music specifically for our ensemble, as well as providing valuable work for a freelancer during the pandemic. The commissioning process was only possible due to a grant from Creative Scotland. The piece is titled ‘Mosaic: Aria, footsteps, and bells’ and will be performed online on 30 October.
Our conductor was familiar with Peter's work (as well as having taught him trumpet when he was much younger!), and given the unusual nature of the project, thought he would embrace the challenge of writing for an online piece. The connection with Scotland was also a factor, although Peter now lives in London.
'Initially, we worked on putting the parts together and creating flow between them (and making sure we all knew when to mute and unmute - one of the biggest challenges of performing the piece!)'
We had a couple of workshops with Peter, trying out ideas for particular instruments, to see how well they would come across online. Only one instrument can play at once due to the limitations of Zoom, so this idea shaped the whole piece. Peter also needed to consider how he would include cues on each of the parts, as our conductor is unable to provide specific visual timing cues due to latency and inconsistencies in the video. Initially, we worked on putting the parts together and creating flow between them (and making sure we all knew when to mute and unmute - one of the biggest challenges of performing the piece!). In more recent rehearsals, we have been working on the character of the individual parts.
Find out more about Helensburgh’s online concert scheduled for 30 October on their website. Follow the group on Facebook.
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