Music creator Finn McLean talks about their collaboration with the Glasgow Community Concert Band as part of Adopt a Music Creator 2024. ...
Composer Angela Slater on the run-up to the first performance of her piece by Lincoln Ukelele Band
The performance of my piece ‘Ukulele Fantasy’ by The Lincoln Ukulele Band is fast approaching. The band have been practising my piece with great dedication and it has been wonderful to hear it transform over the last few months.
The last rehearsal was one of great positivity, and it was great to see the band really enjoying the challenge of the music. The band has learnt to cope with complex rhythms and unusual notation, and have developed their ensemble skills, being required to align and overlap multiple parts carefully and to follow a conductor!
It hasn’t been an easy piece for the band to learn, particularly with the rhythmical challenges of the second section. However, the band has taken it in their stride (and good humour!) and I feel that the piece has helped them all to develop as a musicians. I have learnt a lot through working with the band, especially in terms of finding innovative ways to communicate my musical intentions to players of all abilities, something that is really important to this project.
After working with the band for just over a year and seeing how they have changed and developed over this time has been wonderful to observe. I feel both the band and I have learnt a lot through this collaborative project. I’m greatly looking forward to the performance of ‘Ukulele Fantasy’ this Wednesday (7 December 2016). Tickets can be bought on the door and are also available by contacting lincolnukuleleband@hotmail.com or 07843 714327.
