Concertina Band at Hawkwood

[bandstand]

The next dedicated Concertina Band Weekend is at Hawkwood College, Stroud, Gloucestershire, England 25 - 27th January 2013.

It will be led by Steve Ellis and Dave Townsend, and organised by myself, as usual.

 

Tickets are limited, and it's likely to fill up and grow a waiting list. But I'll hold open a couple of places for new-to-Hawkwood people until the beginning of January.

 

If you are interested in joining a big band of piccolo, treble, tenor, baritone and bass concertinas,and you're an experienced player used to working with a conductor, and comfortable working from single-line part music in a range keys, I'd like to hear from you.

 

Google "concertinaband hawkwood rhosymedre" and "concertinaband hawkwood death or glory" to hear clips of the January 2011 band. Please look at www.hawkwoodcollege.co.uk and ask then to forward your email address to me if you would like me to send you details of the January 2013 Hawkwood Concertina Band. For our "Marches and Tunes" CD, music from the 16th - 21st century see www.concertinaband.org.uk

 

best wishes to all concertina musicians reading this.

 

Bandstand

[bandstand]

Hawkwood Concertina Band Weekend, January 2012 extracts from review by Dave Ball of his first January HWD w’end

 

Hawkwood College sits before a curved backdrop of hills looking out over Stroud to the upper Severn estuary, much like a stage above a vast auditorium. That feeling of being on stage permeated the whole Hawkwood weekend and made it an entirely appropriate venue for a concertina band to rehearse and perform in.....

 

Organised, as ever, by Jenny Cox, and with conductors Steve Ellis, of Redland Wind Band and principal cornet of City of Bristol Brass Band, and Dave Townsend (crucial force in the Concertina Band Revival), this established weekend has an enviable pedigree.....

 

Steve Ellis is a wonderful conductor - severe when required, quietly humorous and hugely experienced. He brought a wealth of brass band experience to bear on our massed concertina sound and, while our lack of discipline was sometimes a trial, he put up with the more eccentric behaviour of the English Concertinist and licked us into shape with almost infinite patience. Our musical achievements of the weekend owed an enormous amount to his quick skill, empathy and experience.

 

The whirlwind that is Jenny Cox, fully supported by husband Peter, as ever masterminded the weekend. Last, but not least, I must mention the other band members. For their enthusiasm and skill, for all that individual practicing before the weekend, and for their ability as a band to respond successfully (most of the time!) to the demands of the baton. We couldn't have done it without ourselves, and that was one of the most satisfying elements of the whole weekend.....

 

Other highlights included: the full company of friendly concertina fanatics, the mouth-watering food, which with the Hall and its Staff deserves a full paragraph of eulogies, and the comfortable accommodation - for me in the stable block. The grounds early on a frosty January morning wreathed in tendrils of mist were breathtaking.

 

What else? Evenings of mixed session playing, impromptu solos, jigsaw manufacture and socialising with drinks in the Hall Library.

 

This is a review filled with superlatives, but honestly that's what it was, a superlative weekend.

 

Dave Ball February 2012

 

extracts compiled and posted by Bandstand

[d.elliott]

Looking forward to the weekend, as ever a highlight of my year

 

Dave