Leeds Silver Steel Sparows Open-Rehearse at City of Leeds School

Well, I am in the mood for gigging. There's enough pans still in my van to make this manageable. We unload under the trees at City of Leeds, as it turns out the heat and the sun have not yet abated. It's five in the evening, but still too hot for open country.

We are Natalie and me, Tim, Amy, Georgia E, Naomi, Claudia, Rameice, Bella, and Cameron [guest]. Not a bad turn out for the last practice of this school year.
 

East Steel Play an Open Rehearsal at City of Leeds School

The weather, as you know is nice. Steel pans are just made to played al fresco. Since the demise of the West Park Centre we practise at City of Leeds again. City of Leeds school has carpark area surrounded by woodland. It could be countryside. This is the place for a little gigette.

So, on Thursday we rehearse  outside. This counts as a gig [in my opinion]. Our audience is mothers and partners - WAGS for the steelband. But I like to think that, in this breathless weather the sound has sparkled its way round Woodhouse, and brought a little joy into the lives of the locals.

PS: This blog should have been in its chronological order, just before Huddersfield Carnival J'ouvert. My apologies if anyone is disorientated by this lack of attention to time.

Players were Karen, Alli, Wanda, Becky, me and Bex, Kirsty, Ruth, Katie,  Adele, Vicky.

Foxwood at Wykbeck, GUO workshop, and Four Go to the Brudenell

Holy Smoke Debs!



I've gone out of sequence.

How will you ever keep up? Before Sparrows and East Steel got to Holy Rosary, Foxwood got up at the crack of dawn [well, not anybody's else's crack of dawn, but mine and Tim's, and actually quite possibly Amy's] to play at Amy's school, Wykebeck Primary, Gipton, Leeds.

The local vicar was leaving for pastures new and we were a surprise steelband trio. And we were asked if we knew his favourite tune, Three Little Birds. Which, as you know, Debs, we know. We played it and then scrambled, Tim and I just in time for our next school, where we turned into teachers.

After that we played the Holy Rosary gig [see previous post], then some more Sparrows joined us for a Grand Union workshop at City of Leeds School  on rhythms. Sparrows were Claudia, Naomi, Georgia E, Rameice, Bella, Millie; Sparrows staff were ,e. Bex, Natalie and Tim; Grand Union staff were Tony, Youseff and  Daniel; and then we went for a beer, first at Akbar's in Woodhouse, while Tony and  co had a late dinner, and then me, Nat, Bex and Tim went to the Brudenell.

Which was pushing it really as all four of us are playing Otley tomorrow [Saturday] . . .

Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows play Breeze on Briggate,

Breeze on Briggate. What it says on the tin.



Rick and I delivered the pans to the backstage nearly-marquee at 9.30 [before half the band were awake, I'll wager!]. Stacked them neatly, and left the gazebo/marquee to be built around them.



Sunny. Crowded. Dancing gran. Found Theo and Jo busking pan and kit just down from the stage. So pans very much alive and well in Leeds.

Met the Sparrows backstage from 2.15 on. In the end we were Naomi, Georgia E, Danielle L, Danii, Peter, Claudia, George, Ciara, Danielle H. Because we were missing some holiday-makers we were joined by Varshika, Amy and Katie. [Katie tried to [point out that she had only come to watch!]. Leaders were myself, Natalie, Bex and Tim. Joining us mostly on percussion: Theo, Jo and Cameron [who, like Katie weren't quite expecting it!]. And not forgetting the Queen of all forms, all cameras, all stuff like that: Vicky.

Backstage crew knew their stuff, stage manager offered us a medal for our efficient settingupness. Well, it's not just about the 30 minutes of rubber on steel!







The "dancing gran" earlier mentioned features on an eponymous youtube clip of herself dancing to us playing Is Heat on Briggate three years ago. See also the Facebook Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows page for video clips and more pics.

Alan and Tony at Last

A few years ago I attended a conference in London for CASE [the Campaign for State Education], and I got on the lift from ground floor to Floor 3 with politician Tony Benn.  In awe, dumb-struck, goldfish mouth. We got into the conference, a man came up to Tony Benn. He said, "I've been a long-time admirer of yours. Please can I shake your hand." I emailed my friends, "I was in a lift with Tony Benn," My friends wrote back enthusiastically - You got a lift with Tony Benn, from Sheffield, with Tony Benn? What did you talk about? "

Many years later, I was on the train back from London, been to a confererence, called in to collect a collect of pans from Clapton, reading Alan Bennett's Untold Tales, amongst all the rest. Got onto the platform at Leeds, then the concourse,  dragging one steel pan, carrying another, handbag, rucksack - what a mess,  trying to put all the tickets back in their ticket cases, checking purse for busfare, disentangling the ipod's wires etc. And there's Alan Bennett. I'm holding his book and ten other things in my hands.

When Nelson Mandela came to Leeds in 2001, I was doing a steel pan workshop at Parklands High School. Just read Long Walk to Freedom, would have settled to see him in the flesh, but I thought that the school should have a woman workshop leader. Worse, the African dancers who had also come to International Day at Parklands upped sticks and headed for town after the first [and as it turned out only] set in order to dance in front of the great man. Leaving Parklands somewhat disappointed.

About four years after the CASE conference I attended the first big Anti-Academies Alliance conference at Congress House House, Great Russell Street, London. Tony Benn was one of the speakers. I waited till the end, then went over and asked and told him the lift story. He laughed and shook my hand. He said I should have spoken.

Tonight, Debs, this very evening, Alan Bennett did a An Evening with Alan Bennett at City of Leeds School.  I took my copy of Untold Tales. Alan, as I feel I can call him now, signed it. I told him the Leeds Train Story.  He said I should have spoken.

And Debs, I've learnt my lesson. I travel light, put all my stuff into the one bag, and limit myself to one steel pan on public transport. I am ready to shake anyone's hand, but I don't think that Nelson Mandela takes the train to Leeds much.

Goodbye again to City of Leeds School

Well, it's a over a decade since I first visited City of School, as Head of Steel Pans for the Music Service, and realised that the local rumours about it being a rubbish school were unfounded. In particular I was impressed with Ms Hardwick's Music Department. And a couple of years later, I put my money where my mouth was and sent my two youngest children there.

A couple of years later I realised that Music was not one of the school's strengths anymore [Ms H had moved on], and offered to help out. [In a sort of wistful I wish I had a proper home school again.] The Music Service finally agreed to release me, after a bit of pressure from my old headteacher, John Steel, who was being a superhead at the time. So I stood in as Head of Music, found a willing friend [saxophone player and would-be teacher, New Zealander, Paul] to be the other member of department, wrote all his lesson plans, and gave him all the "easier" classes. [Paul left the UK to go back to New Zealand the following year. Hmmm.]

This is some of the speech I would have made [and here's just two of the most incredible pieces of artwork from 2011:

"I wanted to make a speech this afternoon about how sad I was to leave City and look back at my moments, but actually . . .

It's hard to leave what I felt I never really joined. I kinda just slipped in. I came to be head of Music for half a year, including for when the Ofsted came. It was a couple of weeks before the Ofsted. I spent the weekend putting up displays and looking out my old Foxwood lesson plans.

The Ofsted inspector said I had low expectations of the kids. I looked earnest and kept my mouth shut. Low! There was one Year Nine class who I thought would all kill each other and was amazed that they even stayed in their seats. I had only met some of the classes once before and actually I thought, in the circumstances, I had been brilliant [I think it's safe to use that word again.].

After giving me the obligatory hard time, the kids were even more annoyed when I told them I wasn’t staying, so when Donna arrived we put it to school that it would be helpful for the transition if I stayed on . . . then when Bridget arrived . . and Carrie-ann. . . . In fact it’s taken a double dip recession [whatever that is!] to get rid of me!

When Margaret Hamlet asked me to stay on, I felt I couldn’t because my own kids were then there and in Years 8 and 9 and both heading towards Music GCSE. But I would have loved to. The palpable racial harmony, and the various musical talents and experience of both the immigrant and local children – so exciting.

Then there were extreme highs and extreme lows – highs included winning the UK World Music Award for the Sparrows which included 50% City and ex-City students, and overall included 19 different nationalities [hence the flags – see youtube: Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows play Royal Albert Hall]; lows were being banned from the LGHS/COLS version of Carnival Messiah and from Leeds Carnival last year [I felt that I had let the kids down]; highs again were winning through to the national Festival for Youth five years running and then being asked to bring both bands [Sparrows and Doves] to the Festival of Britain at the Southbank last July. Now that was massive. Two bands out of five from whole of UK included children from Little London, Holbeck, Hyde Park, Chapeltown and the rest! This is us, outside the Festival Hall and inside playing with the other bands.Another high was when I realised that PE, Science and EAL could tell what time of year it was by how good, or bad [!] the pans sounded.

My latest high is called Maryam, Rukhsar, Raheem, Samera and Rayshan, and somehow or other, I hope it’s not the last I have seen them."

Suitably it rained on the last day of term, and we took no pics so here's two of when we said goodbye to Strawberry Queen, Christine, admin assistant extraordinaire.

It's Wednesday. The Steel Siblings at Brudenell

In the morning I say goodbye to the glorious Quarry Mount Year Sixes. Then Al Roberto [it's seems like all one word] has this little concert at Brudenell, and we bring the Siblings down from City of Leeds to join them. Ace. They do djembes; we do pans; then we all play together. Even acer. Ashley joins us. Can't show the Brudenell players; here two Siblings pics.

It's Tuesday. It's City Vibe

Natalie's at Greenhill and I'm at Allerton Grange earlier on. Carrie-ann has to set up on her own, and we get there just in time for the show's start, at which point I realise that Maryam and Nyla are expecting to do pan de neck and that the harnesses at at my house. Thankfully, I live half a mile from the school so someone at home is able to get them there in time. Thanks, Rick.

Anyway between the Yr 10 BTEC class, Natalie's Friday classes and the gorgeous Siblings [renamed Steel Six for the purposes of the talent show] we have three excellent steelbands in the show.  here's a couple of pics of the Fridays and of the Siblings [note that Nyla and Maryam are doing pan de neck]; the BTEC same as for last week - no decent new pictures.

Thus my last City of Leeds School City Vibe as regular staff.

Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows BTEC Music Classes play for the Poetry Slam at City of Leeds School, and it's still my birthday

Well, it's still my birthday, and Jane's been giving me a hard time about celebrating it. She's waved a gift bag at me in a sort of cross between theatening and a promise. Okay, I have agreed to "do" the happy birthday thing at lunctime.

But worse, I am so hyper about how well we played, were received and danced to [no greater honour], at the Grand Opening at the Clarendon Wing that I decide to go home and bake buns for my colleagues. So now it's load the van, hand over all my strawberries to Maya, and go home to make 20 small buns. Obviously they are still hot when I jump into car and zoom [never above 30mph of

course] up to West Park, but I make it in time, ice them, and settle down to be serenaded by Diane, Jane, Aretha, Jo, Ray, Joanna, Helen, Rosie.
I just get to City of Leeds School in time to whip through Price Tag with Rukhea and co, which they had taught themselves it anyway without me, and collapse in small heap in Music Office.
. . . and onto the next gig, which luckily in just down the corridor in City's Drama studio. This time there's only five Sparrows: Ashley H, Georgia, Evie, Claudia and Antonio, and it's Antonio's first time being the drummer. After a rocky start we invite the BTEC Music class who seem to be most of the poets to join us, and agree on the tunes that they know in common.

As it happens this Year 11 class [from City of Leeds] presented their final BTEC performance, only two days before [and in the same studio]. I had been helping them with the steel pan tunes, but I hadn't expected all the rest! Such stage presence and confidence, and pieces thought through, and then they were there when we needed them. And, as in real life, loading up and packing away at the end of the gig.

And, bless us all. It translated into a real life gig! Yo. Organisers of the Slam at this venue were Liz and Cath, artists were Michelle, Stella and judges were Amanda, Becky and Rob.

The poetry was wonderful. And it was a wonderful vehicle for school students to tell us like it really is. As one of the comperes pointed out, how can our students learn with all this inside.

I have always believed that education should be about the individual student, about their needs their hopes and their fears. There's stuff that should be let out before any stuff is put in. In my opinion. Not just mine. And this poetry festival is perfect for that. Here's a pic of Stella and Michelle doing a turn themselves.

Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows at Leeds Town Hall CLYM Prom

There were four of us: City of Leeds Youth Orchestra, Leeds Youth Jazz and Rock Orchestra, Leeds Youth Percussion Ensemble and Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows.

The theme was film music. Sparrows played Your Song, Harry Potter, Diamonds are Forever, I Will Always Love You and We Nah Goin Home. Your Song made me cry - it was so beautiful. Half the band didn't hear the count in for Harry Potter so it made the beginning sound really aethereal, as those who did hear held their nerve and kept going and then the others crept in - as if it was all planned. Phew! We missed our lovely trumpet-playing Sanna on Diamonds Are Forever; so here is a picture of the Sparrows at City of Leeds School last summer with Sanna playing it - the trumpet, that is and the melody for Diamonds Are Forever.

I Will Always Love You by Dolly Parton, was our tribute to the late Whitney, whose life and great talent all fell away from her. So sad.

I wrote I Will Always Love You out Foxwood style 4weeks ago, putting in all the 3 beat bars and the 2 beat bars, and after 3 weeks of struggling, and crucially trying it out on the The Rest of the Best, I then ruthlessly excluded bar after stupid diminshed, major ninth suspended whatevers, changed its key back back to the original A Flat, then spent Sunday watching Dancing on Ice final and playing piano to the youtube Whitney and Dolly during the adverts. Thus I Will Aways Love calypso found its final form.

At the Town Hall rehearsal we spent ten minutes putting a unison ending on, polished it, then I completely forgot during the actual performance so it came to a sticky end! Hmmm.

Ashley put on the harness and did pan de neck for We Nah Goin Home. At Bradford St George's he had been a bit hesitant; now, as they say, walking down the aisles, he owned it. Great set. Me and Natalie very proud. Contributing schools were: City of Leeds, South Leeds, Abbey Grange, Allerton Grange, Leeds College, Woodhouse Grove and some ex-students. Players were Chloe, Millie S, Peter, Han, Antonio, Varshika, Amy, Maisie, Nina, Ciara, Claudia, Tim, Dominic, Isobel, Ashley H, Joe Mc. [Fehmina texted me as we sat down again asking if we were still doing that gig. Hmmm

City of Leeds Summer Fair and the Great Run-up to the Festival of Britain

It is the first Saturday in July and Sparrows, Doves and Foxwood are all in action at the summer fair. John has brought the inflatables and the Smalls are eying up the rides. We are now fund-raising in ridiculous earnest. Ashley's dad, Richard, is the bun-sale king, and now he and Vicky have made £20 selling cakes.

In a rash, and very typical Victoria-esque moment last week I told Spring Bank Primary School that I would call up with some Sparrows and do a spot with my Year Sixes and with Sparrows. Luckily, Millie's mother, Trish, has a big car and big heart, and we bundled two cars' worth of players along to do this. Most of Year 6 scattered, but a few brave souls did stand up to be counted. Back to City where I found I had left Amy, who had been the first to offer to do this little gigette.

I don't have permission to show the primary school students so here's a pic of some Sparrows playing after. We didn't make any money at Spring Bank because I forgot to tell them we were fund-rasining. I might sack myself as a money-maker, but I'd have to get in there before Bex does.

Tropical World, Beetroot and Brie

Dear Debs, I’m in trouble for breaking into the Christmas Brie! It went so nicely with the beetroot from the Organic Man that I had been boiling up all day [beetroot not man that is]. Nobody else in the house likes beetroot, organic or not, so the lingering smell of saucepan full of soil and in seemingly imminent danger of burning dry, plus the incident with the Christmas Brie, well it’s the doghouse for me.

I’ve been on tour in Tropical World, Roundhay Park, Leeds, hanging out with the meerkats and the crocodiles, as, of course, you were, Debs. It wasn’t Carriacou, but it was warmer on our little patch of sand inside the tropical house than it was out there on Street Lane.

We, Foxwood Steel Bandits, had a run of five evenings, from Saturday 18th December to Wednesday 22 December. As this was our third year running, and as each evening ran from 5 till 8pm, I was trying to vary things, if only only for the Tropical World staff! By way of a change I invited some other bands to do guest spots. Plus we tried to vary the non-Christmassy stuff, even arranging Telstar for one of the staff, who had asked me if it could be done on pans when we were here 8 or so years ago.

First off on Monday evening was South Steel, ex-pupils from Merlyn Rees and from South Leeds Schools, leader: Charlotte Emery. [Charlotte does all the illustrstions for my songbooks]. They were Charlotte [herself], Debs [yourself], Andy, Caroline, Neil, Sarah, Holly and Kerry.

On Tuesday, advanced music centre steel band, Steel Rising, trod the beach boards. These are four people who have been playing in main music centre band, East Steel, for a decade or so now. Three of them [Alli, Karen, Ruth] started off at East Leeds Music centre [hence the name] and one [Vicky] began at West Leeds Music Centre. These were hosted at Parklands High School and at Pudsey Grangefield Schools, respectively. Now West Leeds Music Centre operates as a satellite at City of Leeds School [Thursday evenings, beginners welcome if you're interested].

Alli, Karen and Ruth work in the health service, and in education; Vicky is a teacher, who is just adding steel pans to her list of subjects taught!

Wednesday, it was six of my newer Silver Sparrows.

This was Claudia, Jenner, Kurt, Millie, Maisie and Nina, coming from Allerton Grange School, City of Leeds School, Abbey Grange School and home schooling. They were taking on pans they'd not seen before and were sight-reading songs we, for obvious reasons, only play for two weeks in the year. This little group had previously done a couple of similar concerts in Little London, so they are getting used to being thrown in the deep end.

One visitor patted me on the arm and said well done for all the good work. Another was overheard asking his companion if some of us were beginners. Well there were indeed some dodgy notes as we tried to extend our repertoire beyond its normal boundaries.

Whatever. Seasonal Greetings to you all.