Prepping for Ensemble Concerts

It is now under a month till I am done my first semester in Limerick.  As we race down the back-stretch to Christmas, I will find myself rather busy with assignments due, recordings to be made, concerts to perform, and holidays to plan.

I am most excited for our class ensemble performance in the last week of November.  All through the semester we have had three hour rehearsals every Wednesday to compose and arrange a 30-45 minute performance which depicts how our class perceives community music.  With two weeks left before the concert we are in crunch time to fit all our ideas together.

Our class has incorporated music genres from all over the world to emphasize the cultural diversity of community music.  We are performing everything from American bluegrass to Samba, and African drumming to traditional Chinese and Irish singing.  We dip into modern music with some jazz and rock, plus sing in multiple languages and play a variety of instruments.  This ensemble performance will be my debut performance on the electric bass!  I'll be rocking out to some Blitzkrieg Bop by the Ramones.

Our ensemble performance will also have many opportunities for the audience to participate.  Participation is really the key element in community music.  In one of my course texts Joining In, author Anthony Everitt claims "Music is too important to be left to the musicians: it belongs to all of us."  Our class agrees with Everitt and therefore will have people singing, clapping, performing body percussion and dancing in our performance.  There is still much organization to be done, but as long as it comes together it will be a blast!

Tonight I must brave the rain to attend my weekly University of Limerick Community Orchestra rehearsal.  Every Tuesday over the semester I have enjoyed these rehearsals because it keeps me playing classical music and motivates me to practice more repertoire.  We have a concert on December 8th which will feature various Christmas carols, March Slave by Tchaikovsky, Trombone Concerto by Rimsky-Korsakov, Farandole by Bizet, Finnegan's Wake by Potter, a Cole Porter Suite and much more.  I've had quite a positive experience with this group thanks to the friendliness of orchestra members and energetic style of the conductor.

As my semester wraps up I will do my best to continue posting regularly.  Unfortunately I do not have any travelling adventures planned in the next month, but I'll keep my ears posted on interesting Irish tidbits to share with you.

All the Best,
Shannon