Music

What do we do?

Group members take turns to host meetings and select topics.
We have recently opened this group up to include all centuries.

We are currently full but happy to start a waiting list, please contact the Group Leader who can add you to the waiting list.
Also please contact secretary@u3aburystedmunds.co.uk to add your name to other people also interested; once there are sufficient people, u3a will help you all establish a second group.

What do we do?

Our group takes a light hearted look at music appreciation. We have started to look at basic musical structures with the intent of seeing how music has developed and diverged over the centuries.
Individuals take a lead, if they wish, on presenting a composer or musical topic.
Examples are played of either the ‘form’ or of the composer on a Bluetooth enabled CD player.
Enjoying music and each other’s company is a priority!

New members welcome.

What do we do?

Usually a recorder consort features playing pieces in four parts – descant/soprano; treble/alto; tenor; bass – but more or fewer instruments are often used and the most fun is to be gained by being able to play all of the instruments. Learning to handle recorders is not usually a problem for adults and it is a matter of learning where the notes are from fingering charts and practising how to co-ordinate breathing, tongueing and fingering. In this group a few members play more than one instrument.

Music can be supplied and can be taken away for practise between sessions. Your own recorder and music stand would be needed. Plastic instruments can be purchased inexpensively.

Recorder consort playing demands fairly good sight reading skills so a familiarity with music notation is necessary before you consider joining this group but you don’t need to be an expert to join in!

The Recorder Group has almost reached maximum capacity for the time being but we are happy to hear from anyone who would like to be put on the waiting list. Please also email secretary@u3aburystedmunds.co.uk where you can be added to a list for a second group.

What do we do?

The u3a Choir is a friendly, informal group with about 30 members that sings a wide variety of music, usually in four parts (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) and while it is helpful to be able to read music, some of our members cannot and they enjoy themselves just as much.
An audition is definitely not required!

As an example of the range of music we sing, this term’s repertoire includes:
Cantique de Jean Racine, Faure
Ave Verum, Elgar
Linden Lea, Vaughan Williams
Deep River, African-American Spiritual
A medley of songs by George Gershwin
It was a lover and his lass, Morley

We rehearse on Wednesday afternoons and give a concert at All Saints Church twice a year, plus one or two performances in care homes and sometimes a recital of carols at the u3a Christmas social gathering.

We each pay £10 per term to cover the cost of hiring the rehearsal room, although new members can ‘try us out’ for free for their first session.

New members are very welcome and should contact John Catlow.

1^st JULY 2022, REVIEW OF u3a CHOIR CONCERT by Pam Nicholson

It was a great pleasure to see, and hear, the u3a Choir back in action at their concert on Friday, 1^st July, at All Saints Church, under the direction of John Catlow, Director of Music, with Brenda Cerhan playing the piano.

They sang a selection of songs, old and new, including

• Now is the month of Maying, written by Thomas Morley
• As Torrents in Summer, written by Edward Elgar and some perhaps more familiar songs such as,
• Wild Mountain Thyme and Deep River

After the interval there was a medley of songs by George Gershwin and the concert ended with Linden Lea, by Vaughan Williams.

Following the concert, I chatted with one of the members of the choir and she said

“As a choir member for many years, it was a delight to sing at Friday’s concert. After an absence of more than two years, because of the pandemic, it was wonderful to sing in front of an appreciative audience again.  We were all a little apprehensive, but with John, our conductor’s encouragement, we felt the concert was a success”.

All in all it was a most enjoyable evening, with refreshments at the interval provided by both the church and by members of the Choir.