Music Courses in Detail

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MUS 02: CHAMBER MUSIC GROUP
Leader: Lindsay Stemp
Day and time: Alternate Thursdays 2.00 - 4.00
Terms: Autumn: spring, summer.
Number of places: 8
A friendly group of reasonably experienced players with good sight-reading skills. The aim is exploration and enjoyment of chamber music. The repertoire is mainly baroque, but other styles are not excluded. Instruments are predominantly strings. A general standard of Grade 5 and above is recommended including Grade 5 Theory.
Note: Starts 8th October.

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MUS 03: DESERT ISLAND DISCS (SPRING TERM)
Co-ordinators: Kate Grillet & Beryl Riley
Day and time: Monday 11.30 - 1.00
Venue: Friends Meeting House, Hartington Grove
Terms: Spring.
Number of places: 8
Whether or not you are an avid listener to this BBC programme, you are almost certainly aware of its format - the selection of 8 pieces of music that tell a life story. This course will be an opportunity to explore your life through the music that has associations for you with key events, people, and experiences; music that triggers thoughts and feelings, or perhaps evokes an era or an historical event. Members of the group will take it in turns to present their 8 discs (and their chosen book and luxury, of course), with time for response and discussion from other participants. Introductory Session Saturday 17 October 2.00 - 4.00 pm at the Friends' Meeting House, Hartington Grove. This session will be a pre-requisite for joining the course and will be for a maximum of 12 people. The aim of the session will be to share ideas in discussion and in small groups about our significant music and what factors may determine our choice. We shall also discuss the technology required to gather music from a variety of sources. Please come with ideas.

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MUS 04: HANDEL AND MONTEVERDI
Co-ordinator: Bill Shephard
Day and time: Alternate Fridays 2.00 - 3.30
Venue: Friends Meeting House, Hartington Grove
Terms: Autumn.
Number of places: 20
For singers and players (mainly recorder and guitar) of all standards, and interested listeners.
Note: Starts 16th October.

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MUS 05: MADRIGAL GROUP
Leader: Jennifer Day
Day and time: Tuesday 11.00 - 12.30
Venue: Christ Church, Christchurch Street
Terms: Autumn, spring.
Number of places: 25
The Madrigal Group is a meeting of those who love to sing 'a cappella' (unaccompanied) music together. The leader is not a music teacher, just an enthusiastic choral singer, who welcomes the experience and suggestions of the group. This new venture started in Spring 2009 and we altogether tackled sixteen numbers from The Oxford Book of English Madrigals (ed. Philip Ledger). We will continue with this book and then branch out into other unaccompanied music, specifically madrigals from other countries. New singers are welcome, especially tenors and basses. However, you must have some ability to read music, but do not worry if you struggle at times. The purpose is to enjoy what we do and help each other to overcome any musical difficulties we encounter. Participants would need to buy music; initially The Oxford Book of English Madrigals.

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MUS 06: JAZZ ON A MONDAY AFTERNOON
Organiser: Alan Murphy
Day and time: Monday 2.00 - 3.30
Venue: The Centre at St Pauls, Hills Road
Terms: Autumn, spring.
Number of places: 50
Jazz was born in the early 20th century in and around New Orleans. It then spread North and West coming to Europe in the 1920s. In the autumn term we will illustrate this history through the music and accompanying commentary. In the spring term we will freewheel but will include at least one session of bring your own favourite recording. We aim to give programmes that are enjoyable and entertaining for the new and the experienced listener. Suggestions for reading include The Rough Guide to Jazz, The History of Jazz by Ted Gioia.

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MUS 07: AN INTRODUCTION TO 'CLASSICAL' JAZZ 1925 - 1962
Tutor: John Jarvis
Day and time: Tuesday 2.00 - 3.00
Venue: Friends Meeting House, Jesus Lane*
Terms: Autumn.
Number of places: 12
We shall listen to specimens of New Orleans, Chicago, New York, Kansas City, Big Band, Bebop, Cool and Mainstream Jazz, and discover their main features and exponents.
* Access to this room is 2 steps down and 5 steps up.

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MUS 08: MUSIC CLUB
Organiser: Beryl McKechnie
Secretary: Elizabeth Walser
Day and time: Tuesday 11.00 - 12.10
Venue: Friends Meeting House, Jesus Lane
Terms: Autumn, spring.
Number of places: 100
The club offers varied programmes of recorded music presented mainly by members, drawing largely on the standard repertoire of classical music from early days to modern times, but with some excursions further afield. Occasional live performances have recently included: Song recital, Piano Trio, Piano recital and Amici Clarinet Trio. Excellent acoustics and sound production. Relax and meet old friends or make new ones with coffee beforehand!

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MUS 09: MUSIC THEORY GRADE V - CONTINUATION
Tutor: Ursula Stubbings ARCM
Day and time: Thursday 9.15 - 10.15
Venue: Room 1, 33 Bridge Street
Terms: Autumn, spring.
Number of places: 6
This is a continuation of last year's course. A new course for beginners will start October 2010.

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MUS 10: MUSIC UNDER THE ROMANOVS 1700 – 1917
Tutor: James Day
Day and time: Tuesday 11.00 - 12.30
Venue: Christ Church, Christchurch Street
Terms: Autumn, spring.
Number of places: 20
Following our investigations into music under the Habsburgs, we shall try to look this time at the relationship between art music and the political and social history of the Romanov Empire from the accession of Peter the Great to the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. We shall try to understand the changes in musical taste of the court and its autocratic rulers on the one hand and those who provided music for the church, the theatre (especially ballet and opera) on the other. Some (but by no means all) of the composers considered in the earlier period will inevitably be non-Russian, as some of the Tsars (and their consorts) regarded the native music of their subjects with a certain disdain, but we shall also consider the relationship between literature in the Russian language, the development of Russian nationalism and the music both inspired from the time of Pushkin (early 19th century) onwards. Notable figures whose lives and output we shall investigate will of course include Glinka, Mussorgsky and the 'mighty handful', Tchaikovsky, Glazunov and the young Stravinsky, but we shall also consider prominent lesser-known composers, particularly of church music, and immigrant musicians, one example being the Irish composer John Field.

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MUS 11: OPERA (SPRING TERM)
Tutor: Derek Wood
Day and time: Monday 10.30 - 12.00
Venue: Friends Meeting House, Jesus Lane
Terms: Spring.
Number of places: 120
We shall listen to operas from the Baroque to late Romantic periods - Y. Onegin, Fidelio, Rigoletto, Ariodante and Idomeneo. There will be a short introduction covering the cultural background, characters, plot and music, followed by lots of extracts. 2 weeks per opera in the order as above. You are asked to donate 50p for the term to cover the cost of handouts.

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MUS 12: RECORDER ENSEMBLE
Co-ordinator: Christine Gibbons
Day and time: Alternate Fridays throughout the year 2.00 - 3.30
Venue: Friends Meeting House, Hartington Grove
Terms: Autumn, spring, summer.
Number of places: 16
This friendly and well-established group welcomes reasonably experienced players with good sight-reading and, preferably, both C and F instruments. The emphasis is on 'early' music, 15th to 18th centuries, but other styles are not excluded.
Note: Starts 25th September.

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MUS 13: RICHARD STRAUSS 1864 - 1949 - HIS LIFE AND MUSIC
Tutor: John Muir
Day and time: Tuesday 2.15 - 3.45
Venue: Friends Meeting House, Jesus Lane
Terms: Autumn.
Number of places: 50
Richard Strauss was extremely successful as a composer and great conductor of International repute. His operas were particularly directed at the female voice. He developed the genre of tone poems so well that his works are in the standard repertory of most first-class orchestras. Of the 15 operas that he composed between 1894 and 1942 some 9 are in regular performance somewhere in the world at any time. Extracts from some of his tone poems to be played will include Till Eulenspiegel, A Hero's Life, Don Juan and Thus Spoke Zarathustra used by Stanley Kubrick in the space film 2001. The operas will include Salome, based upon Oscar Wilde's 'shocking play' that created a stir in 1895. His greatest success Der Rosenkavalier, also Ariadne auf Naxos, Arabella and his last opera Capriccio with some abstracts from the mysterious The Woman Without a Shadow, we will finish with his Four Last Songs, masterpieces written when he was 82 years old. No previous knowledge is necessary and handouts of information will be available. Details of his career will be presented. During his long life he lived through 58 governments, from Bismarck as Imperial German Chancellor in 1864, through to the post war German government of 1949.

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MUS 14: TALKING ABOUT MUSIC
Tutor: David Waldman
Day and time: Monday 10.30 - 12.00
Venue: Friends Meeting House, Jesus Lane
Terms: Autumn.
Number of places: 120
This course is aimed at pleasure - the pleasure derived from listening to great music. In some cases you will be introduced to less familiar works. Most weeks we will listen to a piece of music, after an introduction and the playing of extracts, which should help with a greater appreciation of the music. Presentations will include works by, amongst others, Beethoven, Bruckner, Schubert, Gershwin, Elgar and Bartok. One week will be devoted to so-called 'Innocent Ear' where you will learn the title of the piece after hearing it. No detailed knowledge of music is necessary - merely the desire to hear great music.

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MUS 15: U3AC CHOIR
Leader: Dr Alan Morgan
Day and time: Thursday 10.15 - 11.30
Venue: St Paul's Church, Hills Road
Terms: Autumn, spring.
Number of places: 100
We will continue to study tuneful and enjoyable music, secular and sacred, and will hope to have a short Christmas recital again. The choir has developed into a 3-part choir, as all the men are basses - I am searching for more 3-part music and suggestions would be welcome! Ability to read music is obviously a help, but is not essential. You may need to buy some music, which I will provide.

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MUS 16: RING UP THE CURTAIN - MUSICALS FROM FLORADORA (1900) TO WEST SIDE STORY (1957)
Tutor: Cecil Gleaves
Day and time: Tuesday 2.00 - 4.00
Venue: All Saints Hall, Cottenham
Terms: Autumn.
Number of places: 20
A study of the evolution of the stage musical in London and on Broadway with particular attention to the songs and changing styles and influences.

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MUS 17: GREGORIAN CHANT
Leader: Rick Pugsley
Day and time: Wednesday 2.00 - 3.00
Venue: Room 1, 33 Bridge Street
Terms: Spring.
Number of places: 15

"What is Gregorian chant? What do Gregorian chant and the American musical culture have in common? What is the American musical culture - Jazz - American military culture – Hollywood - music of the Shakers, Moravians, Ephrata Cloister, the American Symphony, etc? Join us in an exploration of these musical/cultural phenomena."