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Benchmark
1 - 22nd
to 28th October 2007 |
New
site-specific panoramas by artist Bronwen Bradshaw |
photo collage: Bronwen Bradshaw
click
on image for photo album
Visual artist Bronwen Bradshaw was the first Palace Intrusions artist
in residence, producing a series of photographic panoramas and friezes
of the Bishop's Palace walls and moat in Wells. The first public event
of the project was a participatory drawing day led by Bronwen, working
with local people and coinciding with the national drawing scheme 'The
Big Draw'. The intention was to create a large collective panorama of
a view of the moat and walls. The public drawing day took place on 24th
October and resulted in three complete panoramas and one frieze, created
by 51 visitors to the project and witnessed by many others.
For photos of the
final panoramas see 'Exhibitions'.
| 
Benchmark
diary
by Melanie Thompson & Helen Ottaway
As lead artists of ‘Palace Intrusions’ our intention
is to enchant, surprise, provoke and generally endear ourselves
to the people of Mendip. We will do this by producing a variety
of events and artworks on and beside the benches by the moat in
Wells and during the coming year we will be writing a monthly column
in the pages of the Fosse Way Magazine.
It was a cold and
misty morning by the Palace moat in Wells. We had no idea how the
day was going to pan out, but by the time we’d finished setting
up we found ourselves transported into a perfect crisp and sunny
day with the kind of light which makes you feel you are in a painting.
We had set up five easels beside the moat in preparation for the
public and we were ensconced in our green and white Palace Intrusions
gazebo. The event attracted around 150 visitors - local people,
tourists and artists. Most people participated directly by taking
a place at one of the easels and drawing a section of the panoramic
view. By 2 o’clock we had produced three complete panoramas,
each made up of fifteen sections and a seven-piece frieze of the
palace walls.
We wanted to encourage an atmosphere of concentration, focus and
attention. This is difficult to achieve in a busy public place with
a group of people who don’t know each other but our aspirations
were exceeded. The people participating in the drawing seemed to
lose themselves in the act of capturing the scene in front of them.
Each person was asked to make sure that their section joined up
accurately with that of their neighbours. This resulted in a collective
way of working which exemplified the collaborative nature of the
project
Fosse Way
Magazine, 9 November 2007 - one of a series of essays published
throughout the year. |
Visitors'
comments
"Very enjoyable
and worthwhile." (TR, Wells Somerset)
"Great fun
participating." (HW, Montacute, Somerset)
"Well worth
the early start. A big thank you to the organisers." (JB, Wells,
Somerset)
"Unexpected
pleasure. Very good" (KJ, Ston Easton)
"Lovely
work and setting, busy, great idea and atmosphere. Looking forward to
the next." (CM, Langport)
"Nice communal
event, working with and alongside other people." (AC, Martock,
Somerset)
Bronwen Bradshaw
is an artist who works with print, artists’ books, video and photography.
Her work is inspired by music, movement, memory and events. She is also
an experienced teacher who has taught children and adults for many years.
Drawing, and close observation of the inner as well as the outer landscape
are central to her working methods.
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Benchmark
2 - 19th to 25th November 2007 |
Visual
performance by Melanie Thompson in collaboration with artist Jane
Hazlewood |
photo: Paul Roylance
click
on image for photo album
It was our intention
as curators of Palace Intrusions to offer the community a wide range of
arts experiences. For Benchmark 2, Melanie Thompson and Jane Hazlewood
offered the visitor a different way of participating. Over the five days
they made subtle alterations and intrusions in the area beside the moat.
Each day this familiar place with its benches, used by many people, went
through a minor transformation.
Benchmark
2 was a site-specific response to the actual benches surrounding
the Bishop’s Palace moat.
The theme was shelter.
Melanie Thompson (installation artist) and Jane Hazlewood (sculptor) were
resident throughout the week but special ‘interventions’ in
the form of live performance and installations on the benches happened
between 1.00pm and 2.00pm on Wednesday 21st to Sunday 25th of November.
These interventions took the form of ‘still lifes’, held moments,
each titled as if a photograph or a painting. Each day two ‘still
lifes’ were created and performed by Melanie, sometimes connected
by a journey in a large moving house.
|
Benchmark
Diary by Melanie Thompson
Every day at 1 O-clock we left the Palace grounds to promenade along
the moat pulling a large white muslin and bamboo house on wheels.
Each day the sun shone (which is quite extraordinary considering
the month and weather forecast).
The theme I had chosen for this commission was Shelter and what
it meant to me in relation to the benches and their usual inhabitants.
The objects I carried in my big house included, straw to lie on,
small white plaster houses distressed by the weather, a brass kettle,
plastic cutlery on a golden platter, white plaster shoes from a
family, a book and 4 black crows among other things…
Once I had made my picture on a chosen bench I became part of it
and sat or lay in complete stillness for 15 mins, creating an alternative
still life. Either Jane (who constructed the house) sat and drew
me or Helen videoed me before I packed up and moved on to make a
2nd image further along the benches. At the end I slowly returned
to the palace. Full circle, one hour.
What was this all about?
I am interested in the unexpected, the things that surprise you
and pull you out of your everyday existence into another place,
a place of imagination and dreams. That is why I work outside the
theatre and the art gallery to offer work to people who maybe feel
they know nothing about Art. Of course the reactions are always
mixed as they were over these 5 days of performances. Some people
just tried to pretend I did not exist, some laughed, some stayed
and looked. Many were interested but were not quite sure how to
interact. All these responses are valid; some commented, “she
looks asleep, Is she really asleep? One child asked her parents,
“Is she dreaming”? That is enough for me.
Fosse
Way Magazine, 7 December 2007 - one of a series of essays
published throughout the year.
|
Jane Hazlewood is a painter, sculptor and more recently through
collaboration has created videos, objects and sets for performances and
'special events’. Jane has been making work for exhibition for the
last 20 years. Living locally, Jane is not only an experienced artist
but also a G.P. This combination brings together a deep understanding
of the area and the people who live in it. In 2000 Jane collaborated with
Melanie Thompson on a one year event entitled The Scallop Project.
This project was based in a small village in Somerset which culminated
in a days event where Jane’s sculptures and objects and videos led
the audience through the past, present and future of this Pilgrim’s
village. This is the 3rd project Melanie and Jane have collaborated on.
For more information
about Melanie Thompson click here
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Benchmark
3 - 8th December 2007 |
A
multi-media promenade performance outside the Bishop's Palace, Wells |
photo: Paul Roylance
click
on image for photo album
With Christmas approaching,
Benchmark 3 was conceived as a magical journey by twilight
with music, stories, coracles, and origami swans and boats. Helen Ottaway’s
music was performed by three trumpeters from the ramparts of the Palace
walls. Melanie Thompson wrote and narrated the story and acted as guide
for the audience.
Everything in Benchmark
3 was designed to draw the audience around the palace Moat, circling
the Palace walls in a slow procession. Melanie Thompson's unfairy story
opened and closed the event, describing events past and present, imagined
and real and leading the promenade into the twilight; origami swans perched
on the surrounding benches; coracles led by the Bishop's swans slowly
paddled their way around the moat as the sun set, moving imperceptibly
from daylight to lantern light. A girl, the subject of the story, could
be glimpsed making her way along the walls with a lantern, following the
coracles and finally disappearing into the night.
Benchmark
3 was co-directed by Helen Ottaway and Melanie Thompson.
Music by Helen
Ottaway
Story by Melanie Thompson
Trumpets
Louis Dowdeswell, David Hynds, Jonathan Scott
Coracles
Faye Chamberlain, Joe Joseph, Harry Pizzey, Rory Proctor, Rachel Thompson
Girl
Lucy Ehrlicher
Origami
Kong Xunyi and students of Wells Cathedral Junior School
Helen Ottaway's
Music
The Music was specifically designed for the space: trumpets were chosen
for their ability to carry over distance; for announcing the celebratory
event, for splendour and for mystery. The three trumpets performed from
the ramparts of the Palace walls, sometimes together on one turret, sometimes
calling to each other from remote positions on the walls.
The piece begins
with a Fanfare calling the boaters, the story teller
and the audience to start the promenade. Repetitions of the fanfare also
serve as punctuation throughout the event. Swans is a
stately processional piece for the three trumpets played together from
the first turret accompanying the walk along the first length of Palace
wall. The third section, Coracles, is a duet between
two trumpets, a musical conversation, highlighter by single haunting trumpet
blasts from the third, now distant, musician from the second turret. The
final section, Round, is a dance played by all three
trumpets, one in each of the three turrets. perhaps this is the music
for the dance which follows the feast described in the story or perhaps
a dance to entertain the guests.
Melanie Thompson's Story
‘An
unfairy story’
by Melanie Thompson
Once upon a time a long time ago (1337 to be precise)
a great banquet was held in the new banqueting hall in the palace behind
us.
It was a sumptuous affair; the 268 guests were offered 672 loaves of bread,
a whole sheep, half a cow, a duck, chicken, and endless types of fish,
bream, hake, pollock and eel as well as 86 pipes of wine and 340 pipes
of beer.
Among the guests was a girl; she was the daughter of a musician, a trumpeter.
It was now late at night and she had fallen asleep amongst all the remains
of the food and drink in front of a huge roaring fire.
She began to dream -
She was outside the palace flying above it and looking down at where the
moat should be.
First she dreamt of prehistoric times when the wooly mammoths and the
hyenas and bears and bison would come out of the forests to the natural
watering hole which was later to become Wells. She heard the animals whisper
to each other a ‘good place to hunt and a good place to be hunted’.
Then she shifted her gaze and she saw the moat was built and it was full
of fish, carp, sticklebacks, and on the surface kingfishers. Slowly coming
towards her were 2 huge white swans, they went to the wall of the moat
and with their beaks and pulled a bell that rang out through the night.
Then they turned their gaze upwards and said in clear voices “men
are in the water now with lights and we can hear magical sounds follow
them, follow them for us."
The girl woke suddenly. She
had heard something! Something calling her. The fire had gone out and
the banqueting hall was empty except for a few sleeping servants. She
tiptoed outside and looked over the battlements at the moat below, all
was now silent except for a distant sound which she could not make out…
She then saw 4 coracles disappearing into the darkness, where were they
going? could she stop them? She rubbed her eyes, was she still dreaming?
She had to find out where they were going, into the future perhaps?
She was surrounded by the smallest city in England and at the start of
a great adventure...
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Benchmark
diary by Helen Ottaway
The day of our third Palace Intrusions event was memorable
in more ways than one. It was a disgustingly wet, windy, and as
it turned out, muddy day. When you are planning an outdoor event
you follow the weather forecast with fingers tightly crossed. We
had had amazing luck with the weather for Benchmarks 1 and 2: stunningly
crisp and sunny autumn days providing a brilliant backdrop for our
activities around the moat. Was our luck about to run out? Saturday
8th December came and it rained and rained and rained and then our
gazebo blew down and everything got covered in mud and we thought
“this will be a wash-out - no-one will come, the musicians
and boaters will get soaked”. And then the first miracle happened:
3 o-clock came and the rain stopped and the sun came out - just
in time for trumpet practice on the Palace ramparts. 4 o-clock came,
the appointed hour, people gathered, we had an audience and it stayed
dry.
Melanie began the event by delivering the first part of her un-fairy
story through a megaphone, positioned on the moat landing stage
surrounded by origami boats. The coraclers were in the water ready
to set off round the moat, the trumpeters were on the ramparts waiting
to offer up their first fanfare into the darkening air. Then a second
miracle happened: the Bishop’s swans glided into position
and began to lead the flotilla of coracles on their voyage around
the moat. We had promised a magical moment, something to savour
through the winter months, but this was something way beyond our
design, something totally unexpected and miraculous. I had noticed
the swans being particularly attentive when we had been rehearsing
the trumpet music. They were obviously taking everything in, preparing
for their role in the pageant about to unfold. As the assembled
crowd followed Melanie along the moat path and dusk fell slowly
lit by our torches under the Palace walls, people were heard saying,
" that's amazing, how did they get the swans to lead the performance?
"
By now the promenaders were on their way around the moat drawn along
by the coracles and the trumpets’ haunting refrains. As the
music grew, with fanfares and melodies echoing along the walls,
the walkers swung around the corner to see ducks fly across the
beautiful panorama of the Wells parkland, swept by the last light
of the sky. The atmosphere was full of magic as Melanie read the
final piece of the story and night fell, while the coracles disappeared
into the Palace grounds followed by the girl in the story.
We had intentionally set out to create something ethereal and otherworldly
with this event. As has been the case with each event so far, we
wanted to give people a different view of this very familiar landscape
and to feed their creative imaginations.
The place we have chosen to locate our year long project is a place
for people but it is also a place full of nature. We have been very
fortunate that the forces of nature have looked so favourably on
us and given us so much help.
Fosse Way Magazine, 18th January 2008 - one of
a series of essays published throughout the year
|
|
Walking
into a Winter Wonderland
A review by Anthony Lacny
On Saturday in Wells a band of intrepid thrill seekers gathered
beside the Bishop’s Palace moat taking advantage of the break
in the rain which had fallen so relentlessly all day threatening
to wash out the billed event ‘Benchmark 3: Coracles on the
moat with music by Helen Ottaway’. This left a cold but clear
late afternoon and as the light began to fade so we were urged by
a beguiling storyteller with a megaphone to “gather round”
and within seconds we were transported to an earlier more magical
time when people knew how to prepare for the coming of Midwinter
by holding a sumptuous feast. This was described in mouth-watering
detail and just as this image was crystallising in your mind so
others rushed to replace it: inquisitive young girls, coracles (round
boats) and a mystery. The atmosphere was completed when a compelling
(and infectious) refrain bore down upon us from a trumpet high on
the ramparts and was picked up like an echo by a second more distant
trumpet and suddenly we were on our way. As we quite literally followed
the story in a gentle procession around the palace accompanied by
the skilled boatpersons in their tiny boats the light began to fade
only to be replaced by candlelit lanterns hung along the outer walls
while glimpses of characters were snatched from Palace windows as
we journeyed through the short tale until we reached the farthest
corner and the poignant final image of a young girl walking away
from us into the darkness.......but that’s another story.
What a perfect antidote to the tawdry seasonal shop fest and jaded
rituals that awaited us when we stepped back through the gateway
into the 21st century. This was the real thing: lights, music, good
company and magic. A faint memory of being a child again, holding
on tightly to a parent in a crowd in the dark, as you walked along
bewitched by the lanterns of carol singers and the mesmerising Christmas
music.
This is the third in a year long series of Artmusic events around
the moat and benches outside the Bishop’s Palace under the
catchy title of ‘Palace Intrusions’ and if the others
are anywhere near as good then it would be a crime to miss them.
Fosse Way Magazine 21st December 2007
|
For more information
about Melanie Thompson and Helen Ottaway
click here.
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Benchmark
4 - 31st May to 1st June 2008
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| |
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'Speaker's
Green' - a weekend of talks |
photo:
Paul Roylance
click
on image for photo album
With an atmosphere
reminiscent of Speaker's Corner at Hyde Park in London and a prayer meeting
on the village green, this was an event for all the family. Each guest
spoke for 20 minutes and there were opportunities for questions and to
meet the speakers afterwards.
TIMETABLE
Saturday May
31st 2008
12.00 noon
Charles Hazlewood (Palace Intrusions patron)
Somerset Swan Songs
2.00pm
Ian Constantinides
The Philosophy of Repair
4.00pm
Mark Horton
Should Wells be a World Heritage Site?
Sunday June 1st 2008
12.00 noon
The Right Reverend Peter Price, Bishop of Bath and Wells
The Palace
2.00pm
Pat Wolseley
Why are lichens so interesting?
4.00pm
Duncan Speakman
Walking, Listening, Performing
Over a weekend of
classical English summer sunshine and showers, six people stepped up in
turn to an al fresco podium set up beneath the ancient yew on Bishop's
Green.
On the Saturday there was a conductor, a conservationist, and an archaeologist;
on the Sunday, a bishop, a botanist, and a sound artist. A third day might
possibly have included a butcher, a baker, and a candlestick maker. Next
time, perhaps.
Foreigners on the tourist trail of the Moat Path or the Bishop's Palace
must have acquired a nicely skewed understanding, that weekend, of our
native traditions, when, apparently, our open spaces are regularly occupied
by such eminent individuals freely sharing their thoughts with passionate
and infectious enthusiasm to anyone who might care to stand and listen.
Charles Hazlewood
Following his studies
at Christ's Hospital and Oxford University, Charles Hazlewood was nominated
by the BBC as the UK's sole representative in the European Broadcasting
Union conducting competition in Lisbon. He won first prize and following
this success he has established himself as one of Britain's most exciting
young conductors. He is currently Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC
Concert Orchestra, with whom he made his debut at the BBC Proms in 2006.
He brought the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain to the 2007 Glastonbury
Festival, making history in performing the first ever symphony concert
on the world-famous Pyramid Stage. Artmusic is delighted to have Charles
Hazlewood as Patron of Palace Intrusions.
Ian Constantinides
Ian Constantinides
trained as a materials scientist with the Atomic Energy Authority. He
started St Blaise Ltd in 1980 to conserve historic buildings by combining
the skills and philosophy of the conservator with those of the traditional
roles.
Mark Horton
Mark Horton is an
archaeologist and Head of Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at
Bristol University. He has lots of interests, Africa and the Caribbean,
maritime landscapes and academic issues of presenting the past through
TV and Radio. He has presented and co presented ‘Coast ‘,
’Time Team’ and ‘Inside Out ‘. He worked on excavating
the Bishop’s Palace in 2002 and has been involved in numerous projects
in Wells and Mendip over the last 15 years.
The Right
Reverend Peter Price, Bishop of Bath and Wells
Peter Price was appointed
Bishop of Bath and Wells in the summer of 2002. He has broadcast regularly
on BBC World Service and Independent Radio in London, has contributed
to a series for BBC Radio 2, and has been grilled by Jeremy Paxman on
Newsnight. Bishop Peter has a particular interest in small Christian communities
and contextual biblical reflection. He is active in issues of reconciliation,
and has made contributions to peacemaking in Northern Ireland, Iraq and
Zimbabwe. In 1999 he was awarded the Coventry Cross of Nails for this
work. A core team member of 'New Way of Being Church,' he has recently
published with Jeanne Hinton, Changing Communities - Church from the
Grassroots; and among his other books are Undersong - Listening
to the Soul, Playing the Blue Note and Seeds of the
Word.
Pat Wolseley
President of the
Lichen association. Pat is a botanist at the Natural History Museum, London.
30 years ago she started working on lichens, at first in this country
then expanding to the tropics. Since then she have worked in remote places
of Thailand, Kalimantan, Malaysia and more recently Sri Lanka using lichens
as indicators of environmental health. Since 2003 she has been working
in this country where she has been developing bioindication techniques
for nitrogen across the UK in conjunction with the Centre for Ecology
and Hydrology.
Duncan Speakman
Duncan Speakman is
a sound artist based in Bristol, UK. His work examines how we use sound
to locate ourselves in personal and political environments. Seeking out
the poetics of the everyday, he creates socially relevant experiences
that engage audiences emotionally and physically in public spaces. He
has been exhibited internationally at festivals including ISEA, Futuresonic,
ArteAlmeda, Navigate, InBetweenTime and Xtracts, and has created pieces
for a number of large scale site-specific events. In 2002 he was awarded
the Clark Trust Bursary for Digital Arts he has received critical acclaim
for his videoblog 29fragiledays. He is a senior lecturer in media practice
at the University of the West of England and is currently developing site-responsive
soundwalks.
Benchmark 4 was supported by
Waterstone's Bookshop, Wells.
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Benchmark
5 - 2nd
June to 30th September 2008 |
Soundwalk
composition, 'Song for Fifty Hearts' by Duncan Speakman |
photo:
Paul Roylance
click
on image for photo album
In the months prior
to the launch of his soundwalk, Duncan used his residency to make a number
of visits to Wells to find, record and compose his responses to a circular
walk around the Palace walls. The final composition, 'Song for Fifty Hearts'
was the result of 50 walks around his chosen route.
On the 2nd and 3rd June we were present with Duncan on Palace Green offering
passers-by the opportunity to try the walk and a chance to meet and talk
to the artist. Over the 2 days about 20 people of all ages and backgrounds
set off around the moat path to experience Duncan's piece.
From 4th of June until the end of September The soundwalk was available
from Wells Museum or as a download on the Palace Intrusions website.
|
'Nationally acclaimed sound artist Duncan Speakman will create a
unique soundwalk especially for Palace Intrusions and the Wells
environment. He has been visiting Wells during May talking to local
people and collecting material for the new work.
Duncan
says: "I am interested in how we use our ears to navigate;
to find our way around physical, social and political spaces. I
value an acoustic ecology, a heighteing of our awareness of the
sounds that surround us. For this project I am creating a soundwalk
to be heard on personal stereos (iPods, Walkmans, etc) while walking
the perimeter of the Palace grounds. I want to give people the ability
to hear further than they have before, to listen through walls,
through the ground under their feet. When you take the headphones
off I want your ears to be re-focussed on your surrounding, your
awareness heightened."
Join
Duncan on Monday 2nd or Tuesday 3rd June between 1 - 6pm to experience
the Moat Walk in a new way. Collect a personal stereo from the Palace
Intrusions gazebo on Palace Green, do the walk and meet the artist.
For
the remainder of the project (until 30th September) the walk will
be available on personal stereos which can be borrowed from Wells
Museum on Cathedral Green during museum opening hours. Alternatively
the walk will be available as a download
from the Palace Intrusions website.'
Fosse
Way Magazine, 30th May 2008 - one of a series of essays
published throughout the year.
|
|
Ethereal
audio art at Palace
'Soundwalk
- an ethereal piece of audio art - has brought a new perspective
to the Bishop's Palace in Wells. The piece is part of Palace Intrusions,
produced by Artmusic.
Audio artist Duncam Speakman says sound is his favourite sense and
he likes to explore its effect on the public personally and politically.
He explained that many ignore their surroundings and hopes his work
will allow people to "step outside the social theatre".
The walk runs the perimeter of the palace and takes around 20 minutes.
Soundwalk starts with the artist's voice and continues with a gentle
composition. Footsteps mingle with the sound of water and the boundaries
between recording and real life begin to blur. Throughout are snapshots
of conversations, the odd alien accent and a series of birdsong.
Despite these being everyday sounds, the same effect is not gained
by walking around without the soundtrack.
Duncan recorded each of his circular walks and layered them, naming
the work 50 Hearts.'
Hayley
Curtis
Wells
Journal - 12 June 2008 |
Downloads
Duncan Speakman's
soundwalk composition, 'Song for Fifty Hearts', can be heard as a Quicktime
audio file here
(24.9 Mb).
Alternatively, you may download it as an mp3 file from here
(16.6 Mb).
Duncan Speakman
is a sound artist based in Bristol, UK. His work examines how we use sound
to locate ourselves in personal and political environments. Seeking out
the poetics of the everyday, he creates socially relevant experiences
that engage audiences emotionally and physically in public spaces. He
has been exhibited internationally at festivals including ISEA, Futuresonic,
ArteAlmeda, Navigate, InBetweenTime and Xtracts, and has created pieces
for a number of large scale site-specific events. In 2002 he was awarded
the Clark Trust Bursary for Digital Arts he has received critical acclaim
for his videoblog 29fragiledays. He is a senior lecturer in media practice
at the University of the West of England and is currently developing site-responsive
soundwalks.
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Benchmark
6 - 8th to 11th July 2008 |
'It's
a Brass Thing!' - a processional performance created by Helen Ottaway |
Young musicians from
across the Mendip area joined with local brass players to perform a new
piece of music, which stretched across areas of Frome and the City of
Wells both physically and acoustically.
It's a Brass Thing!
was designed to provide young beginners with the opportunity to perform
in a professional setting alongside more advanced student instrumentalists
and accomplished musicians. Over three days more than 200 students from
10 schools took part filling the green spaces of Frome and Wells with
processions and fanfares.
Tuesday 8th
July 2008
1.00 - 2.00pm Victoria Park and Bandstand, Frome (part of Frome Festival)
photo: paul roylance
click
on image for photo album
Thursday 10th and Friday 11th July 2008
1.00 - 2.00pm Recreation Ground and Bandstand, Wells
photo:
paul roylance
click
on image for photo album
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Benchmark
Diary
'This
week in Frome and Wells, young musicians were on the move. "It's
a Brass Thing!" is the sixth event in the year-long arts project,
Palace Intrusions, and was designed to give beginner brass players
the opportunity to perform with more experienced musicians in an
exciting outdoor event.
Last
Thursday in Wells, a large procession of schoolchildren with brass
instruments formed outside the Cathedral, while another was getting
ready on the Moat Path. At precisely 1 o'clock the event began:
two processions made up of trumpets and trombones, each accompanied
by a band of senior players and a lone drummer, started moving through
the town towards the bandstand.
Gradually
the marchers and the music grew closer, drumbeats and fanfares approaching
from both sides. It took about 10 minutes of marching and playing
before the processions came face to face at the gates to the park.
The
music stopped and the players filed around the park to the bandstand.
On reaching the bandstand the assembled players performed a short
concert conducted by Somerset Music tutor Keith Thomas.
Friday's
performance was threatened by torrential rain and the processions,
relocating to the wet weather venue, could be found marching around
the inside of the Bishop's Barn. Far from being a disappointment,
this alternative version was quite as inspiring as the outdoor one,
with the audience seated (musical chairs style) back to back in
the middle of the barn whilst the processions marched around the
outside. The effect was reminiscent of an indoor parade ground or
riding school, and the audience was treated to a wonderful bit of
'surround sound'.
"It's
a Brass Thing!" was devised by composer Helen Ottaway, who
also wrote the music for the processions and the main bandstand
piece. Helen Ottaway specialises in composing music for particular
places and for large mixed ability ensembles.
The
composer said: "The children clearly had a great time taking
part in the project and were really inspired by being part of such
a big ensemble and by being able to perform with really experienced
players. They performed brilliantly."
Schools
which took part were St Louis Primary School and Vallis First School
(Frome, Tuesday 8th July); St Benedict's School, Glastonbury (Wells,
Thursday 10th and Friday 11th July); Wookey Frst School, and St
Aldhelm's School, Doulting (Wells, Thursday 10th July) and Binegar
First School and Wedmore First School (Friday 11th July).
Senior
players included local musicians, members of Frome Town Youth Band
and Cheddar Valley Brass and students from Frome Community College,
Wells Cathedral School and The Blue School, Wells.'
Fosse
Way Magazine, 18th July 2008 - one of a series of essays
published throughout the year.
|
For more information
about Helen Ottaway click here
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