OCTOBER 2014

BENSLOW MUSIC NEEDS YOU

We are always looking to extend a
welcome to other amateur musicians who
are not aware of the great courses and
concerts we have on offer.
Are you able to support Benslow Music by
distributing posters or course brochures
in your local area?
Please contact Vicky on 01462 459446
or email vicky@benslowmusic.org as she
would be delighted to speak to you.
www.benslowmusic.org
UZZ
THE
Inevitably its been an
eventful frst month
for me. Foremost
has been the
opportunity to get
to know our capable
and supportive staff,
others associated
with us too in a
myriad of roles,
and becoming
accustomed to
Benslows ways.
Fane mentions the
frst rate courses elsewhere - feedback from
those is greatly appreciated, has been duly
considered and passed on to tutors. Issues
raised have been dealt with immediately (where
they could be). Particularly gratifying has been
the relationship with our local community,
notably through Margaret Archibalds Everyone
Matters Outreach course performing in local
Care Homes, through the terrifc concerts
and not least with the involvement of young
musicians form North Herts Music School
sharing the Magginis expertise we hope to
build on all of that.
Most of you will be aware of the wonderful
new(ish) patio outside the Dining Room which
blends so skillfully that it fts as if it has always
been there. We were delighted to celebrate
its installation with a splendid tea party on 9
September with Nona Blay, Bernard too, as
the star attractions. Both have given so much
to Benslow over the years and Nona was the
prime mover in ensuring this asset to the estate
- thank you hugely!
It was great to welcome current and former
Trustees and staff, Members, Friends and other
friends on 25 September for another lovely
Benslow occasion, this time to mark Stephen
Pettitts time here as Director of Music. Widely
liked and admired, Stephen invested much time
and energy to expand the course and concert
programme during his tenure, to Benslows
lasting beneft and for which we are all most
grateful. He was presented with a pair of
engraved Dartington Crystal goblets a fne
bottle of wine with which to baptize them too
and was warmly appreciative of the opportunity
to be here again.
The AGM on 14 September gave us the
opportunity to hear the remarkable 17 year
old violinist Andrew Samarasekara, currently
borrowing the fne Vuillaume from the ILS,
playing Ravel Tzigane (with Nigel Hutchison) and
HW Ernsts fendishly diffcult solo variations
on The Last Rose of Summer note Andrews
name for he will go far; he is deeply appreciative
of the support of Benslow/ILS too and thus a
great ambassador for us.
We are all saddened to learn that Hannah James
is to leave us after all-too-short a time here as
Music Administrator. She has contributed greatly
to the Registry team and will be much missed
as we thank her profoundly and wish her well
in her chosen feld of work with those requiring
additional learning support. She promises to be
back for folk music courses were pleased!
As we move forward we are focusing on
Marketing and Fundraising strategies: if there
are experts in these felds amongst the
Membership do please let me know as soon as
possible. In any case I am looking forward to
greeting you here on courses and at concerts.
A bientt.
Peter Hewitt CEO
COURSE PLACES AVAILABLE
We still have places available on the following
October courses.
Celtic Folksong
(Code 14/273, 3 - 5 October)
Chi Kung for All
(Code 14/274, 3 - 5 October)
Graham Trews Vocal Workshop
(Code 14/346, 6 - 9 October)
Jazz Ensembles
(Code 14/278, 10 - 12 October)
Preparing for Grade 6 Theory and Beyond
(Code 14/279, 10 - 12 October)
Fantastic Flutes
(Code 14/348, 20 - 23 October)
Singing from Scratch
(Code 14/282, 24 - 26 October)
Orchestral Clarinets
(Code 14/284, 27 - 29 October)
Orchestral Oboes
(Code 14/285, 27 - 29 October)
Symphonic Wind Band
(Code 14/286, 31October - 2 November)
On most courses we can usually squeeze in a few more
so even if the course youre attracted to isnt on this list
why not ask in any case?
INFO@BENSLOWMUSIC.ORG OR T: 01462 459446 TO
BOOK YOUR PLACE
NOTES FROM
FANE
September has been
a very busy month
for courses. The
month began with
the annual clarinet
weekend with David
Campbell, Margaret
Archibald, Ian Scott
and John Flinders.
We were delighted
with the positive take up for the course as it
is one of the highlights of the year. The public
concert given by the tutors was also very well
attended and we look forward to seeing the
team back again next September.
We have also had the opportunity to share
what we do at Benslow Music with the local
community. During September the Everyone
Matters course, co-ordinated by Margaret
Archibald, gave the opportunity for course
members to take chamber music prepared at
Benslow into local nursing homes throughout
the three-day course. We have received
numerous letters of thanks from the nursing
homes involved and we are really pleased we
are able to run this course for the second year
running and hope it will return in one form or
another in 2015.
We were also able to strengthen our
connection with the North Hertfordshire
Music Service. During the string quartets
course with the Maggini we were able to offer
the opportunity for three groups of school age
string players to gain some valuable coaching
from this world-renowned quartet. We hope
to strengthen this connection with the local
music service over the coming few months, and
have already arranged our involvement with a
county-wide composing workshop for young
people in October called Go Compose.
We are currently in the process of planning
the course programme for the Jul-Dec 2015
period. Alongside the usual favourites we have
already devised several new courses which we
hope will be of interest. However, there are
still a few gaps. So I once again urge you to get
GOODBYE TO
HANNAH
We are very sad
to say a farewell to
Hannah James who
will be leaving us in
October. Although
she has only been
with us for fve
months, she has
made a noticeable
impact and will be missed by us all. Hannah
is leaving us to join the West Hertfordshire
College working in student support, and we
wish her the best of luck for the future.
in touch if there is a particular course you
want to see in our programme or a particular
tutor you would like to work with. All
suggestions will be investigated and if we can
ft them into the programme, we will. If you do
want to get in touch please drop me an email
fane@benslowmusic.org or give me a call
on 01462 459446. I look forward to hearing
from you and we hope to see you at Benslow
Music soon.
Fane Henderson Head of Music
Q & A WITH NIC FALLOWFIELD
How long have you been involved with
Benslow Music?
For over forty years! Hitchin is my home town and
while I was at Hitchin Boys Grammar School I was
occasionally asked, at the suggestion of my teacher
Anne Macnaghten, to make up the numbers on
chamber music courses, some run by a lady called
Joan Jelliffe and others run by Phyllis Ebsworth who
many years before had been the viola-player in the
Macnaghten Quartet. It was very good experience
for me, learning new repertoire, and of course the
older players made a great fuss of this young boy in
their midst. Those were the days, long before Waldeck,
when we played in bedrooms and did the washing-
up ourselves after each meal. Years later, in the late
1990s when Anne found coaching increasingly diffcult
I was asked to come and help out: when she died, in
2000, I took her place on the Macnaghten Quartet
courses. That was wonderful; I had been coached as a
youngster by Bernard and Janet (and Anne of course:
not Jen actually, who came after) and they were very
much family. To be working alongside them was very
special for me. I had started studying with Anne soon
after going to the Grammar School - when Id only
been playing for two or three years - and the walk up
Windmill Hill after school to her house for lessons soon
became the highlight of the week. She, along with her
husband, the cellist Arnold Ashby, was not only a huge
infuence on my early musical thought but also on how
I wanted to live my life, if that makes sense. She was a
remarkable woman, a great inspiration, so to be able
to step into her shoes as it were, at Benslow, was a big
thing for me.
How have things been going with the
Tedesca Quartet since you started in 2011?
The quartet is a complete joy! Its a pleasure and a
privilege to rehearse and play with my colleagues,
Clare, Richard and Jenny. Coming together to play
at...how shall I put it?..a certain stage in our musical
lives has been a completely different experience
to how it might have been when we were all in the
earlier stages of our respective careers. Its not easy
to explain exactly why but for me I think it has a
great deal to do with simply enjoying and cherishing
everything that everyone else brings to the music,
not having to fght ones corner, as can be a danger
for young musicians. Its important of course still to
be convinced of things oneself, but experience (and
maturity one hopes) brings more fexibility. We work
hard together in rehearsal and they can be very tiring
days, but somehow its also more relaxed generally. The
lunches become very important! Coaching at Benslow
together as a quartet has been immensely rewarding
and enjoyable. We enjoy each others company and I
think this aspect, that we are a social group as well as
four individual players, feeds into the experience of the
participants on the courses.
What advice would you give to anyone
considering taking up an instrument in
later life?
Do it! People should know that even a very modest
ability on an instrument can give such pleasure when
you come together with others. Thats the key of course;
the excitement and enjoyment of making music with
others, whether it be the simplest violin or recorder
duet, or sitting down to play a Haydn string quartet,
or sitting at the back of a huge string section with
sixty or seventy others while the sounds of a Mahler
symphony swirl around ones ears. Or to sing in a
choir of course. Everyone can do it; if one instrument
doesnt seem to suit after a while, then try another. Try
another anyway! Teachers can always be found. My
wife teaches a variety of instruments to quite a few
late starters and they are often the most rewarding of
pupils, well-motivated and greatly appreciative.
Other than music, what occupies your
time?
Well, music is pretty much all-consuming. Wearing
several different hats as it were - player, teacher,
conductor - and working for so many different
organisations there are always, always preparations of
some sort or another needing to be seen to. Practice
of course, scores to be learnt, soloists to arrange and
rehearse with, timetables to work out, students to think
about and discuss things with, travel arrangements
etc etc. However, I do have interests away from the
world of music. Im a reasonably strong chess-player.
I play matches usually every week or two in the local
(Birmingham) leagues and occasionally, maybe fve or
six times a year, play in a weekend tournament. My
son is also a strong player and is professionally involved
in junior chess, coaching in schools and privately and
helping to run junior tournaments. Its been a very
strong bond between the two of us for many years.
When I play chess its about the only time I dont have
music running through my head; its hard work but
also a sort of relaxation. Its good to drive home from
a weekend tournament and realise that Ive hardly
thought about work the whole time Ive been there.
My colleagues in the quartet wouldnt let me forget
it if I didnt mention one other thing; the allotment! In
April last year Linda and I were fortunate enough to
be offered a really idyllic plot only six or seven minutes
from where we live. There was a huge clearance job to
do but we fnally put in a shed and a 20ft polytunnel
and its now producing a daily harvest of fruit and
vegetables. On days when I dont feel like doing much
work I can sit on the bench by the pond under the fruit
trees listening to cricket on the radio.
Nics next courses are Speed Dating for
Strings and Piano, Mon 17 - Thu 20 Nov and
Group Quartets Mon 8 - Thu 11 December.
Benslow Music, Benslow Lane, Hitchin, Herts SG4 9RB
T: +44 (0)1462 459446 I E: info@benslowmusic.org I W: www.benslowmusic.org
INTERNATIONAL RECITAL SERIES
An enticing series of concerts of music given
by world class artists. Programme details are
available on our web site.
FRIDAY 10 OCTOBER, 8PM
DIGBY FAIRWEATHER AND CRAIG MILVERTON ARE JOINED BY
COLLEAGUES FROM THE BRITISH JAZZ AWARD WINNING DIGBY
FAIRWEATHERS HALF DOZEN, AL SWAINGER (BASS) AND
NICK MILLWARD (DRUMS), FOR A NIGHT OF JAZZ PERFORMED IN
AN INFORMAL JAZZ CLUB ATMOSPHERE - PRE CONCERT DINING
AVAILABLE
FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER, 8PM
PROGRAMME INCLUDES WORKS BY MOZART, HAYDN AND
BEETHOVEN - PRE CONCERT DINING AVAILABLE
FRIDAY 7 NOVEMBER, 8PM
PROGRAMME INCLUDES WORKS BY MOZART, TIPPETT AND
SMETANA
TICKETS 12 I BOX OFFICE: 01462 459446
FREE ENTRY TO MOST CONCERTS FOR UNDER 25S
AND CARERS ACCOMPANYING A DISABLED VISITOR.
CONCERTS TAKE PLACE IN PETER MORRISON HALL,
BENSLOW MUSIC, BENSLOW LANE, HITCHIN HERTS
SG4 9RB
FITZWILLIAM QUARTET
DIGBY FAIRWEATHER - CRAIG
MILVERTON QUARTET
RECENT COURSE COMMENTS
WI ND PLUS SUMMER SCHOOL
I had a fantastic time. Inspiring music and
making fabulous friendships.
A very enjoyable week. The tutors were
very good indeed, helpful and inspirational
with a large variety of music. The food was
particularly good.
BAROQUE ON MODERN
I NSTRUMENTS
Lucy Russell was outstanding.
The tutors worked very hard indeed to make
this a most enjoyable and successful course.
A well organised course with informative,
approachable tutors who were most generous
with their expertise and advice.
Perfect! Beautifully organised, friendly
atmosphere, exceptional tutors and I learnt a
lot. Exceptional concert.
The tutors were a fabulous team! They
worked conscientiously to organise a tailor-
made course for us. I have learned a great deal
and had a wonderful time. Inspirational!.
T AI CHI WI TH GLYN WI LLI AMS
A wonderful stay as always. An enormously
helpful course in a beautiful friendly setting.
Tutor, staff, place - what a team!.
BENSLOW SUMMER STRING ORCHESTRA
The food is wonderful and the room was
brilliant - I feel regenerated.
Jonathan Trout runs an outstanding course
in all respects. Our cello tutor, Claire Morgan
was also frst class.
STRING QUARTETS WITH THE MAGGINI
Just a note to thank everyone at Benslow
for a super weekend. Everything about the
venue is really frst-class, from the smart
accommodation, through the great food and
the lovely, friendly staff. It was also a delight of
course to have tuition from the inspirational
Magginis.
PURCELLS VERSE ANTHEMS
A small and friendly course and as ever I
learned a great deal from the two tutors who
worked brilliantly together.
Apprehensive at my frst time to Benslow, but
I need not have been, the welcome was warm,
the tutoring patient and structured and the
food, grounds and accommodation fabulous.
I made many new friends and cant wait to
return.
COULL QUARTET