The Recorder Group

Leader:  Joan Gibson - recorder@ashbyu3a.co.uk -

The recorder group, meet twice a month, to make music in a relaxed, fun way. I would hope that we would be able to cater for a wide range of experience and skill. We usually meet each month on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays at 10am, but occasionally it varies. Check here for up to date information.

November

On 6th November we had a good turnout with 13 of our members present. We played our usual varied selection of music, not much different from the previous meeting. We agreed that there was one piece of music which we wouldn’t want to play again, but we liked the pieces from the same book by Praetorius and Susato. We returned to some Handel movements and the Cantique de Jean Racine, both requested by members.

After playing for a couple of hours, we moved to the Lakeside Bistro (not far away) for a group lunch (not Christmas). We enjoyed a good meal in good company, a chance to chat to the other members of the group. There isn’t much time for this during our meetings. We plan to repeat this occasionally in the future.

On 20th November, we had a smaller number of players, only 6, including a new member, who has just joined Ashby u3a. The low numbers meant that often there was only one member per part, which is difficult unless you are reasonably confident. The trios were OK, as there were 2 to a part, but the playing was sometimes a bit challenging. The newer players coped well, however, so I hope they will be back for more in December, when we’ll play some Christmas music, as well as other music.

Along with some other u3a recorder groups, we have been invited to play at the u3a Festival at York in July next year. The Festival runs from 1st to 3rd July, and the “recorder day” will be on the Thursday, 2nd. We are hoping to be able to organise enough of us to represent our u3a group. The afternoon will be a short “playing day” for members of all the u3a groups represented, led by Michael Piraner, a professional musician.