Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows at West Yorkshire Playhouse

setting up the day before

We were very pleased to be invited to take part in Dave Evans' big bash at the Playhouse on June 22. Last time Dave and I worked together was 2004 ish when he brought Garforth Big Band and I brought Sparrows to Leeds Town Hall for a similar bash organised by the music college.

This time we were, besides Sparrows, the Music College Saturday Morning School, Green Lane Primary School, and Garforth Jazz Rock Band,
DJ School and Roundhay School. Other leaders, besides me and Bex, were Dave Mitchell [last worked with at Flare at Woodhouse Community Centre, and before that Carnival Messiah, also at the Playhouse], Rachel Tustain, Dan de Lissandri. [If you are reading this and know others please let me know].

We also had guest semi-pros: Natalie and GeorgiaW. 

Sparrows were, regularly rehearsing, Ella, Annie, Owen, Kirsten, Isha, Alice, Karam, and, almost sight-reading on the day MillieC, MillieS and Claudia. Bella rehearsed but had A levels the same day and the day after.

MillieS is doing Technical Theatre at Uni and was actually pleased to be asked to help set up, load etc on the day, and the day before. Can't tell you how pleased I was she was pleased!

And while Millie and I took the pans down to the Playhouse on Wednesday evening, it was over to Vicky to pick up John's van again on Thursday after school, bring it downtown,  help load up at Playhouse, unload at Myhouse, and then return it to Johnhouse.

now that's what I call a trolley

workshop

The deal was we all learnt Mercy Mercy Mercy by Josef Zawinul, then all did our compositions based on this tune. We did a mash up of this and Mercy by Duffy, calling it Mercy Mercy Mercy Mercy.

Also on the day Millie and I did workshops for three or four other groups [I forget how many noe. It was a bit of a blur!]

waiting for technology

rehearsal

Also, all of us played a couple of our own tunes. We played Wings of a Dove by Prince Buster, and Symphony 40 by Mozart [not all of it!].

Don't ask!

The whole event was tremendous. And tiring. We were there all day from 9am till 9pm [and me, Vicky, Millie and Millie, 10pm], and the players were mysteriously and consistently well-behaved. [After the era of Mig and Jamillah this is a refreshing change!].

We had lots of lovely proud parents. All good.

Sparrows and Junior Steel at Headingley Festival June 2017

A quick rehearsal first with North Steel at Allerton CE. They have a concert next week without me, so must run through their tunes.





Loading the car, see the car seat, go back for Maya. Lol.


Then over to Shire Oak School. It is busy!





Having threatened, the heavens never opened. Jane opined that people didn't go to the seaside for the day because of the forecast, then came to the Festival because it turned out nice. Nice!

Shire Oak djembe players balancing on a hill!

 Sparrows players were Ella, Bella, Isha, Karam, Maya, Niall with support from North Steel: Satinder, Julia, Luke.




Junior Steel was Arthur, Rosie, Elijah, Lily, Thomas, Noah, Isabel, Phoebe. Possibly [please correct me if anyone knows different!]

I thought I saw members of the audience sighing with relief that I didn't try to drag them on stage to play! Alun agreed to be cameraman with something that almost bordered on pleasure.

Maya and Niall bonded over the tambourines

Sparrows at Meanwood Festival 29 June 2017

Gordon, from the Meanwood Festival found us somehow. I was so pleased as our new YAMSEN:SpeciallyMusic office is located at the Meanwood Community Centre and we generally would like to be more involved in Meanwood.






 It rained; we have gazebos; it was half term; we have a great turn-out.

Sparrows were Alice, Annie, Bella, Chloe, Claudia, Georgia E, GeorgiaW,  Isha, MillieC, Owen, Older Sparrows [aka Doves] were Sophie and Sheeks, support was Vicky. Leaders: me and Bex. Drummer: Bex

As the van was temporarily dead Vicky and I resorted to extreme car transport. Se  pic below of overloaded Fabia doing one of the trips.

Bassa Bassa were on the adjacent stage. See pictures below.

Bassa Bassa

Overloaded work-horse of a car!

Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows, Stanningley and Oulton Steelbands play the Wharfedale Festival

It's Thursday 18th May, and three sets of steelbands are converging on Ilkley Kings Hall. Wanda is bringing Oulton Year Five, Oulton Year Six, and Oulton Fledglings. Bex and I are bringing Sparrows, and Carole and I are bringing Stanningley year Five Steel.

We played all the usual tunes, and Sparrows featured songs this year were Symphony Number 40 [Mozart arranged VJ], Wings of a Dove [Prince Buster arranged DG] and Rockabye [Sean Paul and Clean Bandit arranged BA]

Stanningley played Come and Sing Together and Russian Folk Song Sledging, both originally arranged by myself and then arranged further by Year Five themselves.

Oulton Year Five played Merrily, Skip to my Lou, Liza Jane and Frere Jacques

Oulton Year Six played Scale Song, Jamaica Farewell and Egyptian Reggae,

Oulton Fledglings played Mad World, Next to Me , Lazy Coconut and one Wanda can't remember [!]

Before we started I discussed the question of smiling with the Wharfedale Committee members. This is a thorny point for us [from the Foxwood Panyard].

At the beginning of their gigging careers our children are getting used to concentrating, performing on stage, not being nervous, being confident - all the things that go with public performance.

They are also expressing themselves through their own playing and interacting with others in a deepest ensemble. If they want to move, tap their feet or smile we think it should be natural and spontaneous and grow out of their feelings for the performance.

I know that other steelbands train their players to do [sort of] synchronised jumps and dance moves, but personally I find these unnatural and somewhat disconcerting. Our players will move when they are ready. I did discuss this with the committee The wonderful adjudicator took all my comments on board, and picked out how the players were involved in their music-making in all the other subtle ways. We were all really pleased.

On Y Va! Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows teach Lille play Steel

We have our tickets. On y va! [There may be more add or correct, but this is blog for now]

Meeting in the sunshine outside Leeds Station on Monday morning. Time to to go to France. It's me, Bex, Wanda, Millie, Chloe and YiBai - three teachers and three students, all Leeds Silver Steel Sparrows. Culturally delegating to Lille to teach and play steelpans. Arrive Monday evening, travelling forward one hour in time. [The underwiring cause two of our number to bleep through the metal detectors, and Wanda gets body-searched. Tres amusant!]

Meet Vivianne at Lille Gare

Because of unknowingness of exam dates we had to book Chloe's ticket later. She is further down the train. Millie decides to join her. As we near Lille, Millie returns, exhausted. It took fifteen minutes to get to Chloe's compartment, and then twelve back.

A woman accosts Chloe on the Lille platform- You are from Leeds?  Chloe thinks Noemi is making a random guess. Lol.

Sparrows meeting Lille pans pour la premiere fois

Millie Chloe Bex

Wanda loses the power!

We are wearing our new turquoise Sparrows t-shirts, and when Viviane arrives , she is wearing one too. Too exciting! It is a sign!

The Auberge de Jeunesse, Gastama, is new and quite obviously won an architecture prize. Chloe and Millie solve the overlit light system by using the person who fell through the ceiling [ta Wanda for phrase].

In the evening we take the metro to town; Wanda tries to leave after one stop. We haul her back on board. Eat at Il Ristorante, with Sidonie, Jerome, Viviane and Noemi.

Il Ristorante

Tuesday. Day One at Maison Folies Moulins. First of all the Sparrows represented by teachers: me [Victoria], Bex and Wanda plus YiBai, Chloe and Millie, meet the Lille steel pans. Impressed for a start off that they are so beautifully set up. We try them out joined by Timothe, Vivianne et X. The teachers clock quite quickly that YiBai is a batteur [could be the stick a poche!] That's him in business for the week.   Listen to, play to, teach Au Clair de La Lune to Timothe's and Claire's class from Descartes-Montesquieu. Ace. Small debate on dotted notes; I designate Bex as "Skippy Crochet". Chloe's new word is "exstonding" We think this a held or rolled note.













Have dinner  round the corner, in cafe bar with huge artificial fly hanging over doorway. At 1pm, the predicted storm started, drenching anyone who stepped outside.

In the afternoon, listen to, play to, teach  Anne's class. This time it is London Bridge. Ace. At 3pm the tenor basses arrived to a round of applause from the "Les Anglais" (in fact three Anglais, une galloise/ anglaise/ecossaise, une anglaise/un ecossaise et un chinois, as I point out repeatedly on chaque occasion that we are introduced!)

These tenor-basses transform and expand our potential repertoire by 400%, and over a very short space of time, transform Lille's steel ambitions. [If you don't understand 400% , Chloe has a diagram and some pieces of cake!]

Then we help Vivianne teach a group of debutantes (beginners, not young ladies to be presented at court). I go eat at Vivianne's, say hi to Jurgens, Marthe, Sebs again. It is a great thunderstorm, lightning. Gridlock. takes us one and half hours to get to Roubaix. Not ace.

Gridlock sur autoroute

Viviane teaches Debutantes

Wednesday. It's the music teachers. Millie is so excited, over-excited to be playing the flute that she keeps forgetting it! We give them Under the Boardwalk and Rolling in the Deep; they give us unconditional musicality. Chloe passes out sous le steelpans.

Rolling in the Deep with the Music teachers

Chloe dort

Dinner at the Old Gare, with Sidonie again. We walk to the Conservatoire. See orchestra, under Fives workshop and Cuban drumming. Walk back to Gastama, buying stuff at length at C and A (C and A! Only still in France).

Dinner at the Hostel is amazing, apparently for the second time. Millie plaited her hair then Bex's; Wanda redid my purple and dark blue;  I gave Bex's new plaits blue tips. Nobody did YiBai or Chloe's hair.

Blue Bex

But did YiBai actually drink it!

Thursday. Idris and Clementine's class play us tunes; we play some for them. Then we do a mixed percussion xylophones, djembes, pans. Volga Boatman. Next up is Cecile's class. Listen to their numbers for the concert. Ace.

Idris et sa classe

A large tea is two cups of boiling water and one sac de thé in the lovely cafe round the corner. Here waitress has green hair and tattoo. We form mutual appreciation society.

Lunch is packed lunch from the hostel. Which we forgot to pick up so Chloe and Millie scooted back to the Auberge to collect. Sadly for Millie (not!) she was unable to access her room to get the forgotten (not ) flute.

Eat lunch in the courtyard watching marching band rehearse. Teach Idris (who is fasting for Ramadan and who hasn't had lunch), Clementine and Cecile's classes Volga Boatman for the concert. We have djembes, xylophones and as usual twenty six pans.

Another double cuppa round the corner. Then it is the grand moving of the pans from rehearsal space to auditorium. Then the rehearsal. I'm already welling up as we perfect Rolling the Deep. the tenor basses have arrived with stands that don't swing the pans the Leeds way. On doit improviser with pieces of wood. But now we have pallets, and the technical runners have splinters.

The concert was 1. Ace and 2. Involved a lot of compliments from the podium in French. Highlights 1. The kids had dressed up for the event with some of the boys in jackets and trilbies, and all the kids melting with pleasure 2. Rolling in the Deep 3. One of the conservatoire musicians described us as
"the light of the evening" 4. The Lille musicians playing Carnivale.  5. Marie and Christine jigging backstage in the wings when they thought no one could see.

Marie dancing in the wings

We walk back from a day's work for, see the beautiful auberge for the last time. Millie is the Queen of Selfies. On anyone's phone. I have more pics of Millie on my phone on Friday than I have over the last seven years that I have known her.

In the evening Bex, YiBai, Cloe and Millie went out with the music teachers for a dance and a drink in the bar; I had a bop  with the receptionist at the auberge to David Gueta at Euro 2016, et apres Charles  received a consignment from a cyclist of two lettuces. Super!

Danser dans l'Auberge

lettuces at midnight

Friday morning: It's the Last lap. Our last visit to Maison Folies Moulins, and now Christine's and Cecile's classes. Christine's class plays us a tune that her class wrote four years ago and has been passed down from one class to the next. We play some tunes. Then we teach two classes together. Without xylophones or djembes we use chairs and claves/shakers.




First we did Go Tell Aunt Rhody [two chords, eight bars and only crotchets or minims, no upbeats, offbeats or ties, if you want a bit of pedagogy]. Then the pans swop over with untuned percussion, and we do Camptown Races [Doo-dah, doo-dah]. One highlight is kids leaving the rehearsal room , singing Doo-dah. Yay.

Friday Lunchtime is Lebanese in Rue d'Arras .
Friday Afternoon is a two set concert in a brand new school, just down the street. Viviane takes a city bike to get car, Bex poses in a doorway [essential], we unload and set up [amazing soft soprano [tenor] pan cases.

soprano pan cases

last setlish

We load Viviane's car and she takes pans to Lakanal School, where Cecile will be meeting her to help. These music teachers never stop!

Now we walk back to the Gastama to collect the suitcases.
 One last time past the sign for the Universe [l'Univers], last time past gthe shattered windows of the insjurance company.

the shattered windows

Last lap to the Auberge

Having lost the pans Viviane reappears to take four plus case to the Gare. Noemi takes Chloe and Millie back on metro [obviously Wanda not allowed anywhere near a train [or a white van]]. Then it's goodbye to a wonder-is-too-small-a-word-ful week, and hullo to six hours of manic giddiness on the trains. I have an eclectic collection of outofdatefoodstuffs; Wanda takes the biscuits off my hands. The rest probably unsuitable for publication. A last selfie in St Pancras and one last one in Leeds.

Millie the Queen of Selfies

our last selfie. back chez nous