HOMEPAGE 27th MAY

Places still available at Canford - see www.canfordsummerschool.co.uk

CELEBRATING TWENTY YEARS OF THE BASBWE/CANFORD CONDUCTING COURSE 1991 – 2010

8 – 15 AUGUST 2010 AT SHERBORNE SCHOOL

It was during the BASBWE Executive meeting at the Glasgow Conference of 1990, that it was decided to co-operate with the Canford Summer School in an annual conducting course in wind band and wind ensemble, The first BASBWE/CANFORD course in 1991 was given by Tim Reynish and Clark Rundell with following works, a bellwether for repertoire for the next twenty years.

Gallimaufry  -  Woolfenden
First Suite  -  Holst
Trauersinfoinie  -  Wagner
Chorale & Shaker Dance  -  ZdechLik
Metamorphoses  -  Gregson
Ronde for Isolde  -  Bedford
Prelude in a Dorian Mode  -  Grainger
Symphony of Wind Instruments  -  Stravinsky

One of the unique aspects of Canford is the variety of courses on offer. For three weeks musicians of all ages; professional, amateur and student, participate in conducting, singing, choral singing, chamber orchestra, symphony orchestra, wind orchestra, string orchestra chamber music of all types, music technology, jazz and much more.

Alongside this heady mix, the Wind Orchestra and the Wind Orchestra Conducting Course have both forged their own identity. Over the years, the wind conducting course has evolved to become extremely international attracting high quality students from all over the world, many of whom are studying conducting at Masters or Doctoral level. Despite this, accessibility remains an important part of the philosophy and the class always contains a number of students whose main work is with community bands or who are coming to conducting for the first time through their work in music education. Another long-standing tradition is the involvement of the Royal Marines Band Service who send their current crop of Bandmasters Course students to Canford every year.

This blend of professionals, educators, students and amateurs gives the course it's own unique atmosphere and the opportunity for students to learn about the challenges faced by their colleagues in other fields.           

2007 Class 
A typical class of the last twenty years is that of 2007,  comprised of 20 students from England, Scotland, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Israel, Hong Kong and the United States. Around a quarter were studying for Doctorates in wind conducting,

3 were on Masters conducting courses in orchestral conducting, 5 were professional military musicians, 3 were experienced music graduates working in education and the other 9 were involved with community bands, orchestras or choirs. In 2008 we welcomed 23 students from an even wider range of backgrounds.  

Faculty
Over the years, Tim Reynish (pictured with wife Hilary) has been an ever-present figure on the faculty and the success of the course is due in a large part to his dedication and hard work not to mention legendary comments to his students –

    "What on earth are you doing with your left hand - it looks like you are scratching your navel. Thank goodness you have such short arms."

Other faculty over the years have included Phillip Scott, Baldur Bronnimann, Clark Rundell, Felix Hauswirth, James Croft, Rafi Primo, Guy Woolfenden, Robert Ponto, Brad Cohen and Mick Dowrick.

Since 2007 Mark Heron (above,  with the Canford Symphonic Wind Orchestra) was the other main teacher for the conducting course, and from 2009 has been joined by fellow Scot and Canford alumnus, Russell Cowieson.

Course Content and Repertoire

The class forms its own ensemble, sometimes with additional players brought in for balance reasons, and so the majority of the sessions are practical. In addition there are regular sessions on technique, score study, rehearsal technique and repertoire. Unlike many conducting courses where podium time is extremely limited, at Canford most students will conduct at least once on each of the 7 days the course runs. All conducting sessions are videoed with all students taking away DVDs of their conducting during the week. One to one lessons and review sessions using the student's DVDs are also an integral part of the course.

An extensive library of CDs, textbooks, scores and DVDs of famous conductors are also available as a resource throughout the week. The repertoire is extensive and deliberately varied in style and difficulty. In addition to major works of the wind orchestra repertoire, a number of less challenging works are included - particularly aimed at those working with young and amateur musicians.

Mark Heron wrote on the BASBWE website in August:

“Just back from the 2009 Canford course. 22 conductors from all over the world, a great wind orchestra of students and very fine non-professional players, 4 performances, 91 gigabytes of video, umpteen pieces of repertoire and goodness only knows how many beers. One of the unique things about this course is the mixture of students: orchestral and wind band conductors, some already very experienced, others less so, with a wide variety of backgrounds and ages from many parts of the world.”

As with all good master classes, the social aspect is important and Canford scores highly on this front as well. With over 300 musicians present for each week of the summer school, the conducting and wind orchestra courses manage both to retain their own identity and become part of the larger atmosphere.

CANFORD/BASBWE CONDUCTING COURSE 2010 REPERTOIRE

Basford - Songs and Refrains
Binney  -  Nancy’s Lament
Carroll  -  Pipers of Bretherton
Davey  -  Wee Cooper of Fife
Grainger  -  Lincolnshire Posy
Hesketh  -  Vranjanka
McNeff  -  Ghosts
Milhaud  -  Suite Francaise
Mozart  -  Serenade in Eb
Orr  -  John Gay Suite
Woolfenden  -  French Suite

 
Wind Orchestra Course
The conducting course is closely linked to the symphonic wind orchestra course, an opportunity for music students and experienced amateur players to work intensively for a week on high level original wind orchestra repertoire. The two courses share faculty and some players, and some of the more advanced conducting students usually have the opportunity to conduct the wind orchestra.  

WIND ORCHESTRA 2010 REPERTOIRE
Ball  -  Resurgam                                             
Ball  -  Saxophone Concerto
Bourgeois  -  Symphony of Winds
Coleman  -  Jazz Funeral                                              
Fletcher  -  Vanity Fair                                     
Grainger  -  Lincolnshire Posy
Hesketh  -  Vranjanka             
McCabe  -  Canyons                           
Milhaud  -  Suite Francaise
Taylor  -  Blasket Dances
Woolfenden  - Illyrian Dances

SOME STUDENT COMMENTS

From Israel:

I want to use this opportunity and thank you all for the wonderful time I had, which you all had a contributing part. I thank you for your friendship and for the sense of mutual aid; I thank you for the kind and supportive words and your actions too. I think only now I am beginning to have an idea about the course and I am sure as I will see the DVD's I'll get even more and more.

From UK

Just wanted to echo comments already made & to say thanks to everyone  for a terrific week at Sherborne, especially Tim, Mark & Phillip for their amazing patience with me!!

From USA

Just a note to thank all of you for allowing me to share a truly wonderful week with you.  The musical experiences were superior, but I think that they will prove to be even more significant because of the non-musical ones that enhanced them.  It's always great to be able to participate in making music.  I'm still one of those "band geeks" (American term?) who is struck by our ability to translate dots from a page and communicate with others.  After this week, I find myself touched even more deeply by the universality of what we're able to do. 

From Singapore

Going to the UK, from the other side of the world (Singapore) requires 13 hours on a plane. Transiting to Canford requires a vigilant mind and carries certain risk to life and limb as London has just been hit by twice (bomb attacks) by terrorist and bracing for another attack.  But it was all well worth it.!

There was much to learn, the discussions were lively and engaging. By the end of the week, under the supervision of the course instructors, my conducting was transformed.

I now have renewed vigor in music and imbued in me a higher level of confidence. But most of all, I gained memories. Wonderful memories and friends from all over the world. Its the people in Canford that makes the place so special.

By the end of the course, everyone wished that TIME would not have been so cruel and let us linger on for a while more and everyone wished that we could come back to Canford again every year, to make new friends and renew old ones for as long as canford still exist

 From UK

Having finally got back to my desk I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the course this year and to thank you for all your kind words of encouragement and advice throughout the week.  Having already performed some of this year's repertoire I shall definitely try and programme Marshall's Auefor this coming year. Finding British repertoire that stands up to the critical opinions of students and audiences alike remains a challenge. 

From USA

I wanted to take some time to thank you all for giving me such a FANTASTIC opportunity.  My trip to England for the International Conducting Symposium turned out to be even more than I could have imagined. The most interesting thing to me was interacting with all of the participants.  There were people from not only the U.S. and U.K., but Holland, Germany, Israel, and China as well.  It was very enlightening to "talk shop" with everyone about how things are in their country, and likewise they were just as interested to hear about life and music in the U.S.  The great thing about Tim, Mark and Phillip was that they all had different, but not opposing views on conducting.  They were able to give constructive criticism to the whole gamut, from the seasoned conductor to the obvious beginner.  But no matter who they were working with, the MUSIC was always the most important thing. 

Captain Johnson of the Singapore Armed Forces Band conducting the Canford Symphonic Wind Orchestra  in 2005