This is a very long established and popular large group of members who come together once a month on a Friday afternoon to relax, listen to and learn about different types of music.
We have finally been allowed to reconvene this group which will NOW meet in the large ground floor room of the HUB and our first meeting since February 2020 was on 16 October. (Remaining season dates below). Only those that have already agreed to attend and conform to all the regulations are invited at present. If you are interested in joining this monthly Music Appreciation group to listen to and learn about different types of music for the first time, please contact Margaret as no one is allowed just to just turn up due to the restrictions that are in place. The fee for the year (reduced rate) is £20 no matter when you join and a £20 note (no coins) must be presented in an ENVELOPE with YOUR FULL NAME on the outside and when you first attend, you will place it into a container yourself to be dealt with at a later date.
On the Monday, prior to each Friday meeting, I will send out an email inviting you to attend. If you intend coming to the Music Appreciation group on that Friday, you MUST let me know ASAP but by the Thursday. Anyone NOT on this list will not be admitted.
Please note as a prerequisite to be able to attend this group, members must have read both the Hub Regulations and the Indoor Risk Assessment and must have agreed to comply with them all.
As we are not allowed access to the kitchen at present, we encourage everyone to bring some refreshments. Alec our tutor will stop for a short break at 3.00pm and you will be able to partake of these refreshments at your own seat.
As we have many more restrictions in place to be able to keep everyone safe, members may be asked to take their turn in helping out with perhaps marshalling or showing members to their seats. As we are all aware, the ethos of the U3A is for everyone to take part no matter now small a part they have been asked to do, so I hope we will all be willing to help in this manner to make running this group easier and as safe as possible for all members.
20 NOVEMBER
11 DECEMBER
15 JANUARY
19 FEBRUARY
19 MARCH
16 APRIL
21 MAY.
We were off to a great start on 16 October when 35 members booked and 12 apologised as they had a prior engagement but were eager to come next time.
Alec enthralled us with a fabulous and varied selection from his enormous musical CD collection. He took us completely through the alphabet starting with A when we heard Malcolm Arnold’s Sinfonietta No 1. With each piece he gave us background information and why each piece was so important to him. To give you more of a flavour of some of his other favourites, we heard a quintet play Bach and learned that Alec had attended a live Bob Dylan concert in Ireland when he was much younger. Joyce Grenfell gave us one of her monologues entitled Free Activity Period which we found very amusing and that was followed by a rousting piece by Haydn. We learned that Alec favoured female composers and recently he discovered one whom he did not know. She was a French pianist, composer and scientist called Marie Jaell. We ended our first half with Mozart’s beautiful string Quintet featuring a lively French Horn.
After refreshments, we listened to Narcissus by an American young composer, Ethelbert Nevin who sadly died at the age of 39. Down by the Sally Gardens was a piece for male voices in an arrangement by Rutter. Interestingly, Alec after hearing a piece featuring the Northumberland pipes, bought himself a small set of pipes. However, after months of practice he finally had to retire them to his attic as they still sounded like a strangulated pig, and there they lie until this day! The final piece to bring us to the end of the alphabet and the close of a very successful meeting was a piano quintet by Juliusz Zarebski.