Pictures from 'Sports Day'!

Pictures from Sports day, which involved no cheating whatsoever! Hmm...

Meet our Soloist for 2009 - Sarah Ayoub - Piano

Our soloist this year was the very talented Sarah Ayoub from Douglas Academy. She played the Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2 with the greatest poise and finesse! - If you missed her at last Friday's concert, please come and support her and the orchestra in August, further details can be found here, on the WSSSO official website. We guarantee a performance not to be missed!

Messiaen in the Meadows - Roisin O'Neill

In an attempt to make the strings of the orchestra understand the way Messiaen composed and to re-create the feelings he wanted to evoke in his listeners, Jim took some of the string section out into the meadows to find the inner calm and control required to play this haunting work of art....and it would seem by the way it was played at the concert last Friday night, we would all agree it worked!

Here Roisin O'Neill from the 1st Violins recounts the day..........

As we followed Jim through the meadow, instruments in hand, a general feeling of confusion sets in; what could being attacked by the wildlife in a forest teach us about playing a difficult, dissonant section of Messiaen?

We stopped in a thicket of grass and wildflowers up to our knees, and set up our music. Blackbirds sang, definitely not in time with the Messiaen who, Jim reminded us, used to go and spend each spring notating birdsong and incorporating it into his compositions. We stand still and listen, suddenly the cluster harmonies and complex melody make more musical sense. We play, and without a resonant acoustic our instruments sound different like a song carried on the wind. There are a few false starts where falling music and the insects interfere with our playing. Jim stops conducting and we struggle to navigate the complex time signatures without a guide. We try again.

No one speaks. The stillness gives us a sense of calm concentration and this time we play together. Messiaen wanted to write music that would stop time; as the last harmonies fade, it seems he has succeeded.

On the way back to the rehearsal hall, we talk in hushed voices. The chatter and noise of the rest of the orchestra is suddenly irritating, as it interrupts our total focus on the music. Jim silences the orchestra and we try to re-create the quiet and focus.

Our rehearsal goes well and then: from stillness, the best music is played.

Tales of a Newcomer by Marisa Manuel

Nervous about coming to WSSSO for the first time? Worried you won’t fit in? From my very first day here I have been welcomed and made part of the WSSSO family as if I had been there for years, I have made some amazing friends that I can kee in touch with after the course and have found others with the same enthusiasm for music.

You will never be bored at WSSSO! The staff are so kind and adventurous and always find ways to keep us entertained after long rehearsals. This year we had karaoke, sports day, a talent show and a ceilidh!

James Lowe, the conductor, always finds imaginative ways to keep the orchestra motivated and interested in rehearsals, For one of our rehearsals he took us out into a meadow to rehearse so we could understand what the composer was influenced by,

I have had a great time at WSSSO and I wish I could come back next year!

Conducting by Christopher Duffy (Percussionist)

I had a chance to conduct the WSSSO which was slightly different to conducting my i-pod in front of a mirror. Apart from being absolutely terrified it was an amazing experience! To conduct 90 musicians whom I had only really met 6 days ago was pretty intimidating but as the piece progressed I felt like I was home again. The Caprice Bohemien is one of my favorite pieces in this years program but standing at the front conducting is totally different to standing at the back hitting a cymbal. In the percussion section I am used to creating an effect and adding to the ensemble. When I was conducting I felt I was guiding the music and it was an experience I would love to repeat.

Informal Concert 2009!

Hey Guys it's Amanda here from the house staff. Thought I'd tell you all about the informal concert which took place here last night at West. We had some amazing acts and all of our musicians are very talented. Brendan, our very own Tuba player introduced all the items in his own special way! Thanks Brendan!

We kicked off proceedings with our entire percussion section, giving us a great rendition of the William Tell Overture, by Rossini using every type of percussive instrument they could get their hands on! Next up was our Viola section who played us a Concerto for four Violas by Teleman, who represented the strings of the orchestra. Then we were treated to a spectacular display of skill on the bass guitar by Michael Stokes, we nearly didn't have a hall left to practice in as the roof was nearly lifted off the building by the applause! Our string trio followed, with a piece called Plink, Plank, Plonk by Leroy Anderson, this was a great piece using the violins in the banjo position. Up next - Ross Leighton singing a self-penned song, a solo version of a performance he would normally do with his band - Energy. Last to finish was our entire brass section under the baton of their tutor Dave Hutcheson, giving us amazing brass versions of Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen and then the Rocky theme tune - Eye of the Tiger. (Click to Listen!) Joining our brass section were honorary percussionists - John Leitch on the coconuts(?!) and tambourine and Jane Ferguson on the tam tam, triangle and bass drum - we're still awaiting the decision of the orchestra as to whether their auditions were successful or not!!

All in all an absolutely fantastic show and proved the amazing talent we have here at West of Scotland Schools Symphony Orchestra!!! Well done guys!

Behind the scenes at West Of Scotland by Brendan and Lauren :)

Hey folklings,

So, you want to know about West Of Scotland?

Well, this week, we have been staying at Carberry Tower (which is gorgeous, by the way, even the queen stayed here!), where you get two puddings a day *mmm*; fire alarms at the crack of dawn and toast as black as a burnt penguin (if you have ever had the pleasure of seeing one)! 

The music on the course is both challenging and interesting and the sense of achievement on performing the music to a high standard is overpowering! :) and it sounds quite nice too! 

We don't want to say Mr James Lowe (conductor) has a temper, but he has a habit of stomping around, pouting and charging into the orchestra during the pieces, but we wouldn't have him any other way, because he is lovely. 

The instructors... well that's a completely different story, all that we are going to say is that DJ Johnny Gee is a bit of a character! 

The house staff are a bunch of interesting "individuals", to say the least...

In between periods of playing music the members of the orchestra take part in different activities, such as; sing-a-longs; four people chapel raves; WSSSO has talent and the most unaggressive, non-contact, friendly, non-competitive games of rounders...!

Finally, all that is left to say is that we love West Of Scotland orchestra and...

BIG JIMMY LOWE!!!

THAT'S ALL FOLKS 

FROM BRENDAN (TUBA) AND LAUREN (CELLO)

Hi and welcome to our new blog for WSSSO. If you don't know about us then you may be interested to learn that we provide professional training and performance opportunities for talented school musicians across the 12 local authorities of the former Strathclyde Regional Council. That's over 160 schools and we've been doing it since 1996 - that means thousands of musicians have benefitted from what we do and we're very proud of that. If you know all that then you may be more interested to learn that we are currently at Carberry in Musselburgh, rehearsing for our concert in Greenock Town Hall on Friday evening. The orchestra is sounding fantastic and we have some of the best professional musicians here helping us put it all together. If you know all that, then you're obviously a member of the orchestra so you should really be practising and not skiving, reading this. Get back to work!