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 meet each month on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays at 10am.

21st October

We had a successful meeting this morning, with 5 of us, including our two newest recruits, who both found us via the Ashby u3a website. We now have 7 on the books. It's amazing, having so many members! Mind you, we haven't had all of us together yet: one member is off on a walking holiday, and another is due for a hip operation, so is presumably self-isolating.

We can now play a greater variety of music, sometimes with two (or more!) to a part. We started off with some simpler pieces in two parts, which we played on 4 different sizes of recorders. We also played trios and quartets. The music was varied, from renaissance, baroque, folk songs, and more modern music, including "Basse Danse" from Peter Warlock's Capriol Suite, and a new acquisition, "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin. Some of the music has uninspiring lower parts, but that written by ensemble players can be more imaginative. A case in point is a Chaconne by Purcell arranged by Helen Hooker, a well-known player/teacher/arranger/etc, who was busy on the internet during lockdown.

And the sun shone!