QM's early-music group, Cantigas, will be taking a rest this coming term, not due to lack of interest, but to lack of time. I've decided to give room to a traditional music ensemble instead, on Monday evenings. Cantigas will return after the summer break. I'd like to take a moment to thank all the performers, and reflect upon what many think is an extraordinary ensemble.
Most people's impression of medieval music is monks in habits singing Gregorian Chants. Cantigas set out to dispel this myth. Music was as varied during the medieval period as it is now. The Crusades and the Muslim domination of Spain had a profound effect upon European music, with many instruments of the modern orchestra finding their way to northern cities at this time. One of the most important manuscripts from this period is the 'Cantigas de Santa Maria' compiled under the leadership of Spain's, King Alfonso X. The manuscript not only contains music and texts, but many detailed drawings of musicians. One image became emblematic of QMusic: a Christian and a Muslim playing music together. In these violent times, music can help bring out the best in people.
The first incarnation of Cantigas performed at the March, 2006 concert (including my nine-year old daughter on keyboard). The repertoire consisted of three songs from the Cantigas. For the second incarnation of the group (containing three members from the first group, with three newcomers), we performed songs by female composers from medieval France. These songs were originally written in personal diaries by women who were not generally allowed to express their innermost feelings in society. Just think how astonished they would be to learn that their private songs were being performed 700 years later in a Scottish students' union! I think it only fitting that such songs were performed at a university founded by strong women.
So much for the repertoire. Another significant aspect of performing with Cantigas is learning HOW to perform medieval music. If a pianist wants to play Chopin waltzes, all he/she has to do is buy the score from the local music shop, listen to a few CD recordings, and possibly hear live performances. With medieval music, things are not quite so easy. There is no performing tradition, no body of recordings (although that is changing) and no authoritative texts. All the performers are given is a single line of music (the same for each performer) and a direction to 'do something with it'. All the participants initially felt somewhat alarmed at this, but most stayed the course, even going so far as to publicly improvise a prelude to a song at the recent December concert. Just think about that for a moment: musicians who had never played medieval music before, after just a few weeks, improvising an entire piece of music. Bravo, Cantigas. You will return!
Thursday, 21 December 2006
Monday, 18 December 2006
Goya and music
The new Director of the National Gallery seems to have a bit more grit about him than his predecessor (whom I once very nearly knocked down with my car - another story). No 'three graces' here, but an exhibition of some of the most challenging and horrific images in the history of art: the etchings of the late18th, early 19th-century Spanish artist, Francisco de Goya.
The National Gallery has images from three collections: bullfighting, war and 'folies'. In the first, Goya clearly sides with the bull, portraying men as little better than a pack of wild dogs. The series ends not with the execution of the bull, but with the matador being gored to death.
His anti-war series pulls no punches. For the first time in the history of art, we see the full horrors of war, with both the French and Spanish armies being accused of all too-human atrocities. The images resonate as much now as they did two hundred years ago. Beheadings, severed limbs, castrations, rapes, civilian bombings - it's all there in discomforting detail.
The folies depict the surreal existential madness of the human condition. Goya is often seen as both the last of the 'great masters' and the first of the modernists. Here, one can see the birth of a style which would influence Picasso, Dali and many other 20th-century artists and thinkers.
As I walked around the small exhibition, I was wondering why music at Goya's time did not express itself in a similar vein. Who was the great musician of the day who could encapsulate the utter horror of war, the utter despair born of the futility of the human condition, the sound of the surreal? Only Beethoven springs to mind, but not even he could provide a suitable musical soundtrack (to borrow a modern phrase) to Goya's art. How could one portray sheer ugliness in music, and yet still engage and move the listener? The language of music at that time was struggling to free itself from aristocratic elegance. It was a struggle which would take another hundred years before creating a new grammar and syntax, a new concept of form and formlessness, only to find itself confronted by another great war, but on a much larger scale. It seems as though war will never leave us, and art, music and literature must constantly evolve new ways of guarding against it.
Where is the Goya for our own time?
During the 7th December concert, just over a week ago, I accompanied Kristin Macdonald in three songs, seguidillas (boleros), by the Spanish guitarist-composer, Fernando Sor. He lived through the same period as Goya, and although their art cannot be compared, they did share similar experiences in their lives. The Peninsular War introduced to a poor and corrupt Spain the concepts of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, which Spanish liberals , despite their natural aggression towards an invading army, found attractive. When the Spanish people (not the aristocracy or the church) summoned sufficient strength and numbers to beat off the French, many liberals who had sympathised with the French ideals, found themselves in a difficult position. Many of them (including Goya and Sor) found themselves living in France. For Sor, this was the beginning of a new life. He flourished as a performer, teacher and composer, based mainly in Paris but with visits to London and Moscow. Goya, the older of the two, found himself in an alien world as he struggled to define his and our existence. In some ways he was very much of his time, whilst also being a 'modern' who could be regarded in some ways as being still ahead of our time.
The National Gallery has images from three collections: bullfighting, war and 'folies'. In the first, Goya clearly sides with the bull, portraying men as little better than a pack of wild dogs. The series ends not with the execution of the bull, but with the matador being gored to death.
His anti-war series pulls no punches. For the first time in the history of art, we see the full horrors of war, with both the French and Spanish armies being accused of all too-human atrocities. The images resonate as much now as they did two hundred years ago. Beheadings, severed limbs, castrations, rapes, civilian bombings - it's all there in discomforting detail.
The folies depict the surreal existential madness of the human condition. Goya is often seen as both the last of the 'great masters' and the first of the modernists. Here, one can see the birth of a style which would influence Picasso, Dali and many other 20th-century artists and thinkers.
As I walked around the small exhibition, I was wondering why music at Goya's time did not express itself in a similar vein. Who was the great musician of the day who could encapsulate the utter horror of war, the utter despair born of the futility of the human condition, the sound of the surreal? Only Beethoven springs to mind, but not even he could provide a suitable musical soundtrack (to borrow a modern phrase) to Goya's art. How could one portray sheer ugliness in music, and yet still engage and move the listener? The language of music at that time was struggling to free itself from aristocratic elegance. It was a struggle which would take another hundred years before creating a new grammar and syntax, a new concept of form and formlessness, only to find itself confronted by another great war, but on a much larger scale. It seems as though war will never leave us, and art, music and literature must constantly evolve new ways of guarding against it.
Where is the Goya for our own time?
During the 7th December concert, just over a week ago, I accompanied Kristin Macdonald in three songs, seguidillas (boleros), by the Spanish guitarist-composer, Fernando Sor. He lived through the same period as Goya, and although their art cannot be compared, they did share similar experiences in their lives. The Peninsular War introduced to a poor and corrupt Spain the concepts of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, which Spanish liberals , despite their natural aggression towards an invading army, found attractive. When the Spanish people (not the aristocracy or the church) summoned sufficient strength and numbers to beat off the French, many liberals who had sympathised with the French ideals, found themselves in a difficult position. Many of them (including Goya and Sor) found themselves living in France. For Sor, this was the beginning of a new life. He flourished as a performer, teacher and composer, based mainly in Paris but with visits to London and Moscow. Goya, the older of the two, found himself in an alien world as he struggled to define his and our existence. In some ways he was very much of his time, whilst also being a 'modern' who could be regarded in some ways as being still ahead of our time.
The exhibition at the National Gallery of Scotland runs until late February.
Friday, 15 December 2006
Music Party
A time, place and date have been finalised for the musicians post-concert drinks party: The Jazz Bar (of course), Chambers Street, Sunday 17th (this Sunday) at 5pm. All performers from the concert are invited. See you there!
Thursday, 14 December 2006
Comments - now no need for Gmail account
A few moments ago I noticed that visitors were required to have a Google email account in order to place a comment. I have now lifted that restriction. Feel free to leave comments. There is a degree of Moderation by me, so no spamming allowed!
Rob
Rob
December 7th concert videos
I've uploaded videos from last week's concert. They are very dark, and the sound is quite poor - small camcorders and poor lighting. But worth a look nonetheless. Some day we'll do the video production professionally. To see the videos, click on the link on the right-hand side of this page.
Viewing the videos has brought up the pressing question of where to stage the March concert. The Drama Theatre at Corstorphine Campus has excellent lighting and good acoustics, but a limited seating capacity and it is difficult to work up an 'atmosphere'. The Students' Union on the other hand has great atmosphere for the loud groups, but less so for the quieter performances. It has a large seating capacity, but not so good lights and sound - great for discos, but not so for concerts. The next concert will be the last at this campus, before we move to Newcraighall. Hopefully all the issues will be resolved there :-)
Viewing the videos has brought up the pressing question of where to stage the March concert. The Drama Theatre at Corstorphine Campus has excellent lighting and good acoustics, but a limited seating capacity and it is difficult to work up an 'atmosphere'. The Students' Union on the other hand has great atmosphere for the loud groups, but less so for the quieter performances. It has a large seating capacity, but not so good lights and sound - great for discos, but not so for concerts. The next concert will be the last at this campus, before we move to Newcraighall. Hopefully all the issues will be resolved there :-)
Your Comments
I should point out that comments are welcome. Just click the 'comments' link at the foot of each blog entry.
End of term
No sooner has this blog started than the term comes to a close for the festive period. We finished off in grand style with another well-attended concert. The students played their socks off, staff too, and yet again everyone was amazed at the high quality of the performances. Eventually though, this high standard will become the norm, and audiences will grow to expect it always to be this way. Maybe it will, but sometimes the high standard can be off-putting for beginners. Of course, the concert is but the end result of ten weeks' work, and there are always ways of integrating beginners in with more experienced players. Who would have guessed, for instance, that the bass player with the QM Blue had only been playing for one single month!? Three members of the Guitar Ensemble had also just started learning. It just takes a little bravery to step forward, but once you make that step, I'm sure you will not regret it.
...Which is a long way round of saying: Beginners are always welcome.
Here is the schedule for next term:
QMusic Groups January to March, 2007
Beginners welcome
music@qmuc.ac.uk
Traditional Music Group – massed fiddles, whistles, guitars, singers, etc, etc Ceilidh songs and dances
Mondays Conference Centre A – 5.15 to 6.30
January 22
February 5/19/26
March 5/12/19/26
Acoustic Music Group – guitars, fiddle, harmonica, bass, keyboard, accordion, flute, vocals, etc – Blues, Steve Earl, ‘Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?’ etc
Tuesdays Conference Centre A – 5.15 to 6.30
January 23/30
February 6/13/20/27
March 6/13/20/27
QMBigBluesSoulJazzMegaJamBand – guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, horn section, vocals etc – from Blues to Motown: R.E.S.P.E.C.T!
Wednesdays Studio 2– 5.15 to 6.30
January 24/31
February 7/14/21/28
March 7/14/21
Guitar Class – beginners and post beginners
Thursdays Studio 1 – 12.15 to 12.45
January 25
February 1/8/15/22
March 1/8/15/22
There will be an end of term concert of the above groups:
Wednesday 28th March, 6pm to 8pm
Plus, if anyone wants to sing or perform solo with an accompanist (or without), please get in touch. A cellist has been in touch, looking to work with other string players. I have a Vivaldi lute concerto we could perform: viola and violin needed. Please get in touch: music@qmuc.ac.uk
Any singer/songwriters wishing to contribute?
Rob MacKillop
Musician In Residence
Queen Margaret University College
317 3741
music@qmuc.ac.uk
...Which is a long way round of saying: Beginners are always welcome.
Here is the schedule for next term:
QMusic Groups January to March, 2007
Beginners welcome
music@qmuc.ac.uk
Traditional Music Group – massed fiddles, whistles, guitars, singers, etc, etc Ceilidh songs and dances
Mondays Conference Centre A – 5.15 to 6.30
January 22
February 5/19/26
March 5/12/19/26
Acoustic Music Group – guitars, fiddle, harmonica, bass, keyboard, accordion, flute, vocals, etc – Blues, Steve Earl, ‘Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?’ etc
Tuesdays Conference Centre A – 5.15 to 6.30
January 23/30
February 6/13/20/27
March 6/13/20/27
QMBigBluesSoulJazzMegaJamBand – guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, horn section, vocals etc – from Blues to Motown: R.E.S.P.E.C.T!
Wednesdays Studio 2– 5.15 to 6.30
January 24/31
February 7/14/21/28
March 7/14/21
Guitar Class – beginners and post beginners
Thursdays Studio 1 – 12.15 to 12.45
January 25
February 1/8/15/22
March 1/8/15/22
There will be an end of term concert of the above groups:
Wednesday 28th March, 6pm to 8pm
Plus, if anyone wants to sing or perform solo with an accompanist (or without), please get in touch. A cellist has been in touch, looking to work with other string players. I have a Vivaldi lute concerto we could perform: viola and violin needed. Please get in touch: music@qmuc.ac.uk
Any singer/songwriters wishing to contribute?
Rob MacKillop
Musician In Residence
Queen Margaret University College
317 3741
music@qmuc.ac.uk
Sunday, 10 December 2006
QMusic Blog begins
Well, here we are - one full year since taking up the post of Musician In Residence at Queen Margaret University College in Edinburgh we finally have a blogspot. I'll be posting comments as often as I can regarding the activities of the student and staff musicians, and you are welcome to add comments. Any questions? Something you want to comment on? This is the place to do it.
My future posts will hopefully be more entertaining! This is just to get the ball rolling.
Rob MacKillop
My future posts will hopefully be more entertaining! This is just to get the ball rolling.
Rob MacKillop
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