On 3 Jun 2013, at 10:31, Caroline Turner wrote:
Well Ive had the most fantastic weekend up in Gargrave with the UKAH. Arrived early Saturday for the day of workshops, and promptly walked into Sue and Bob. What a lovely warm welcome from everyone. I didn't feel a stranger at all and indeed everyone I met was so warm and welcoming, I was immediately surrounded by friends. Fabulous.
.......... Huge thanks to everyone for making these days happen. Im sure there must be so much work, getting you guys together, plus the venues, the catering, the sound and to then be so generous with your knowledge and experience.....well Ive never known a musical community like it. Thank you thank you thank you.
........................Caroline YOU are why we do it! What a lovely lady, smiling and cheering us up all day! And her evaluation sheet set a new record in synonyms for "wonderful"!
It was a bit good though. We definitely had our doubts about this one It was more than 100 miles from any of our tutors, so it cost us a lot to put it on in travel and accommodation expenses. And there were not many autoharpers in the area - which was why we wanted to go there, to do the John the Baptist bit and spread the word. But would the locals come?
The answer is "Build it and they will come" of course. We were disappointed in the number of local musicians dropping in (0), but I take the blame for that - I was meant to do a tour of the local folk clubs but was unable to do so. But we did meet six totally new-to-us autoharpers, and we made a big impression on the 60 odd locals who came to our evening concert. We were asked back, and we introduced a whole area of the country to an instrument they ad never heard of before.
So many great highlights of the day. Which started the previous evening with a half hour from the fabulous Kilcawleys - I think we shall rename them thus - in the local pub, followed by a singaround, to give some of the locals a taste of what would be in the concert. Noisy, but great fun. On a personal level, I found having to stretch my voice to dominate the pub really hurt, but actually next day it was better, so I think the more I use it, within reason, the better. At the end of the concert on Saturday I hit my top G - can't be bad!
Then the workshops on Saturday. Mike had about 10 in his taster session, with some locals taking advantage of the free session and loan of the Autoharp. Then Nadine and Ian took on playing in sessions, Guy the beginners, and I taught some dance tunes on diatonics. Really enjoyable. The village hall staff laid on chili or corned beef hash and loads of CAKE for a lovely lunch, and then on to the afternoon workshops - again great fun and really useful. I got to practice two MLAG tunes in front of a discerning and helpful audience of three, so really useful for me. Then Mike taught us about drag notes and blues, lovely workshop. Then the delights of the open stage - some real quality performances - so good to hear Paulette who we haven't seen in a while singing and playing "Never on a Sunday", but one of the highlights was Polly, a new autoharper but a very experienced singer with a lovely voice. She was not willing to regale us with that voice on its own - so Ted on whistle, myself on Autoharp and harmony, and Paulette on accordion formed an instant band while she sang Fields of Athenry. Brilliant.
We set up for the concert. How many tables? Who would come? The village hall staff said put out seats for 60 - there were benches round the side as well if needed, but we set out tables in a bistro style and waited. And they came. We had over 80 people in the hall, plus performers plus catering staff, plus bar staff - had to be a bar, its compulsory in Yorkshire! And they experienced the best concert I have ever been at, let alone taken part in. Nadine and Ian opened for us, with Hello Stranger from Nadine as the first song. Then the Kilcawleys with their inimitable voice and musicianship. Then I gave them Autoharp Blues - which had one member of the audience almost wetting himself as he fell of his chair laughing! - and took the opportunity again to practice an MLAG tune. Then Patrick OSullivan introduced his work on Robert Story.
Patrick has been the driving force behind this project from the start. He is the local host and has been fed up with travelling so far to UKAA days, so he pushed us, kicking and screaming at times, to put one on in his area. To facilitate this, he undertook to get some Arts Council funding! Marvellous! He got the funds to allow us to pay our tutors. As part of his bid he promised to do some academic research on a local 19thC poet, called Robert Story, who lived many years in the village where we were. So he did the research, found a huge body of work, and persuaded the lovely Stephanie Hladowski, a local singer, to set some to music and perform them to the village in a World Premiere in the concert. Stephanie sang the first solo, about the death of one of Story's sons, the Patrick joined the second, and Mike played Autoharp and I harmonised the third. Would have liked more rehearsal. Would have liked SOME rehearsal, but went fine.
Second half opened with all of us singing Grandfathers Clock, lead by Mike, then Guy Padfield came on and really nailed it! How he plays ragtime bare fingered like he does, I don't know. His personality was really coming through as well. He introduced, in his London accent, one of his songs (Good Ol Mountain Dew) by saying he needed to put on a Southern accent. A broad Yorkshire voice boomed out "Yerve already got un!" Stephanie gave us three more unaccompanied songs, beautifully sang. Then it was Mike Fenton's turn. There are autoharpers - then there is Mike. He was on fire. We were already running about 15 minutes over schedule. We finished an hour over. There was no way we could get Mike off the stage, even had we wanted to, we would have been lynched by the audience. From "Listen to the mocking bird" to "Goodnight Irene" he had them in the palm of his hand, with jokes, Jews harp, dulcimer and peerless autoharping. The following day Nadine, Paulette and I played before and after the Communion service at the local church, and a little old lady came up to me and said how much she had enjoyed the concert - "especially the comic!" Well, he is much more than a comic, he gave all of us a lesson in stage craft that night.
We finished en masse again, with me leading "Will the Circle be Unbroken" in G. Difficult for me to sing about my mother dying, but it had to be done, and I was pleased with how my voice held out. Great way to finish a great concert, and so full of adrenalin after. A reminder, after nearly eight months of NOT performing, of how much I do actually enjoy it. Now I am REALLY looking forward to MLAG.
Bob Ebdon
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