A response from Matthew to the concerns that have been raised regarding the

Proms finale.

Piece is too difficult grade boundaries/suggestions are unrealistic

Grade suggestions I provided are as follows (I know that there were formerly names
attached but those were just to help me write the piece):

Bari Sax
Lead Clarinet
Lead Flute
Lead Oboe (New one there are a couple of passages that are covered by the lead flute
and clarinet and have been copied in to provide a nicer blended tone. They are hard, but can
be removed if needs be.)
Lead Trombone
Lead Tenor Sax (There is one really rather tricky fingering bit at the end of the Main Title)
Lead Alto
Lead Trumpet
Lead Soprano
Lead Bass
Percussion

The above players should be of approximately grade 8 standard to play the piece as it
stands currently. The following instruments should be of approximately a grade 7 and grade
6 standard respectively:

Sub-Lead Trumpet
French Horn (more because of the tone required)

I can confirm that ULMS does have people of the standard required for all instruments
except for flute and oboe, for which I do not know enough about the players within ULMS to
be able to suggest people. However, I would happily search out those people.

I should point out that not everybody was meant to play everything written. This is why I
have said the Lead players for each part. My hope is that they would volunteer themselves
for the bigger roles and potentially try to put in more work to achieve the harder parts. I know
people of the standard who I could convince to take on the tougher parts, but obviously the
ideal would be to audition people if we get multiple volunteers for the lead parts.
 Not everybody has seen Star Wars could alienate some people

I would argue that it is almost impossible to find someone who couldnt sing you the Main
Title or the Imperial March, whether they have seen the film or not. Similarly, I would argue
that it is impossible to find someone that doesnt know a photo of Darth Vader or Luke
Skywalker (or The High Ground) when its put in front of them.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/mar/18/features.musicmonthly14

Star Wars (Episode IV) achieved the 3rd spot on the list - Sunday 18th March 2007

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/3671089/100-best-movie-soundtracks.html

Empire Strikes Back (Episode V), presumably due to the Imperial March, achieved the 2nd
place spot on the list Thursday 27th April 2017

This is music that has survived an explosion of films and, 40 years on, is still ranked as one
of the greatest movie soundtracks of all time, and is one of the most regularly used temp
music in the film industry today. This is a franchise that has hooked the world, receiving
commercial and critical acclaim (excluding Hayden Christiensen).

11 movies (I-IX, Rogue 1, Han Solo)

5 TV series (The Clone Wars (2003), The Clone Wars (2008), Star Wars Rebels, Ewoks
and Droids), 3 TV movies (2 Ewok Movies, and The Holiday Special)

Video game franchise that is one of the most popular in the world (with games like LEGO
Star Wars, the Star Wars: Battlefront series (1 and 2, and 1 and 2 (in production)), The
Force Unleashed (1 and 2), Star Wars: The Old Republic (which has seen a decline in users
to only 50 million), Star Wars: Pod Racer, and Knights of the Old Republic which is held up
as the video game all games should aspire to be due to the narrative and the character
development.

Comic Book Franchise that beat both DC and Marvel, until Marvel bought the rights from
Dark Horse Comics.

Expanded Universe (now known as Legends in the comics, the radio drama Rebel
Mission to Ord Mantell written by Brian Daley, novels, and games), which goes way beyond
anything created in the films, or any other written or visualised work by man, stretching
across a period of 37,138 years.

Believe it or not. A religion has been founded on the basis of Star Wars. I apologise for using
the Daily Mail as a source but no-one else thought this was important enough to talk about.
Jediism is the seventh largest religion in the UK, with 175,000 members, almost as many as
there are Jewish and Sikh people here.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2465445/Jediism-THOUSANDS-believe-religion-
based-Star-Wars-franchise.html
 Too long/boring

This is a valid concern. I wasnt aware there was a time limit when I wrote it. However, I have
been told that I should try to get this down to as close as possible to 10 minutes as I can. I
propose making the following cuts (This has been done using the youtube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDgn5pIn8os)

Cut 3 bars at 1:34 to 1:38

If needs be cut 4 bars at 1:38 to 1:43
Cut 2 bars at 2:49 to 2:54
Cut 4 bars at 2:59 to 3:08
Cut 12 bars 3:58 to 4:25 (flows better with this section in but if we have to lose a head then
this is the preferable one to lose, particularly given the power of the variant head following it)
Cut 4 bars at 4:56 to 5:05
Cut 9 bars at 6:04 to 6:33 (final head of binary sunset)
*Cut 8 bars at 7:04 to 7:11
*Cut 16 bars at 7:18 to 7:32 (final head of Cantina Band without the playout)
Cut 21 bars at 8:28 to 9:18
Cut all bars at 12:30 to 14:08 (this loses all of the recognisably Bronze Age Star Wars music
but keeps it down to time, with the piece played straight after being the variation on the
Binary Sunset)

Final time for piece proposed = 10 minutes and 27 seconds.

* = I think the piece suffers too much by these cuts for what is gained.

Final time without the cantina band cuts = 10 minutes 48 seconds.

As for boring. Seriously?

I must admit that I thought the string players and the trombonists might be insulted by the
relatively junior level of some of the piece, particularly in comparison to some of the things
they normally play in the big band. I dont know about the orchestra, but I do apologise if that
is the case and as always, changes can be made to improve the difficulty of sections to
make it more interesting for people. But I did think there were enough challenging sections
for people to sink their teeth into, i.e. a simple A section would be made up for by a harder B
section.

If you mean it is boring to listen to then I completely disagree. The juxtapositioned rise and
fall in this piece with the bass line hammering out the anger of the war under the hope
captured by the tune and the high voiced parts is incredible! Listen to The Throne Room in
this piece please and tell me that is not fun to listen to (starts at 11:16, really punches at
11:32). Feel that bass offbeat hit.

If you mean it is boring to watch, then I think most bands have a problem normally. But that
is why I suggested the visual aids.
 Concerns about your rehearsal techniques and behaviour towards band
members

Thoughts that your reputation might precede you and discourage people from
getting involved

Some people felt it would be difficult to work with you, especially given your
previous interactions with them

If possible, I think these points are better tied together.

I agree that I have had problems in ULMS and my conduct with the Big Band has not always
been as pleasant as it should have been.

However, we recently polled the big band to gain their feelings on conductors and
enjoyment.

On a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate each conductor?:

I should point out that the 1 score was given to me by Suds, by both his own admission
and by the fact that it was accompanied by the written feedback of Not being shit unlike
Suds.

I do not know who the 2 and the 3 scores were and this does need work to be improved.
However >80% of the people that answered the poll considered me to be closer to
satisfactory than bad.

I am using this as a contrasting point for someone who, at least I am unaware of any bad
things said about him other than he cant read music, has no bad reputation and does not
get annoyed or raise his voice over anything ever.
I should point out that I didnt return the favour and rank suds as a 1. However, he has 58%
of voters saying he is closer to satisfactory than bad, with the modal vote being in the
midpoint between okay and terrible (those were the categories we used).

Another thing I would like to add:

The majority of the band feel like they have improved with me as a conductor this year.
Considering that I have been at more rehearsals, done more music, and run sectional
rehearsals in my own time, I feel this could well be due to my input more so than Suds.

Whilst this number is too low for my liking, I do feel it is certainly a step along the right path.
(12 votes versus 7 votes by the way).

I am the first one to say that I am hard on the Big Band players. I push them really quite far
and for a decent number of players they have gone beyond what would be a reasonable
expectation of progress within 1 year. However, everyone in that band (bar one or two) is of
a grade 8 standard and the vast majority have the enthusiasm to try to push themselves to
do better. Its why we have been able to do TWO 90 minute setlists this year with no overlap,
plus the 4 pieces (another 21 minutes) for the Charity Showcase concert. If the band wasnt
auditioned, obviously I would not push them anything like as hard as I do.

However, I am aware that certain events are unforgivable. This year, in my opinion, has
been a better year. To my knowledge, whilst I do enjoy the use of four-letter words, there
has only been one major incident where I did lose my temper. This was a due to the drums
being correct but being dragged back by the keys and bass whilst I was conducting. This led
to me dislocating my shoulder and having to push it back in very quickly and continue
conducting although I had to use my left (my weaker arm unfortunately) until the break
after that. There I did lose it in front of the band. Afterwards, I apologised profusely to the
rhythm section as that was awful. I also organised sectionals so that events like that would
not happen in future rehearsals. I think any of the big banders in the room can attest to the
fact that since that moment I have been much calmer in rehearsals.

With regard to my reputation in ULMS, whilst it is not at an all-time low, I appreciate it is not
the best. I have absolutely no idea how to improve that reputation other than getting involved
in something like this where I work with everyone and work calmly and keep myself
controlled and collected throughout something I am keen to do.

I dont know who the people are that feel it would be difficult to work with me. I am assuming
it is one of the following people:

Rob Richardson
Beth Vuckovic
Javier Moral Agraso
Harry Messenger
Holly Cantley
William Evans
Chris Holloway
Gabi Griffiths
Matthew Atkinson
Edwin Reynolds
Vanessa Woffindin
Eloise Rowles
Bekah Watkiss
Matthew Dobie

I am assuming this on the basis that I have worked with these people on non-ULMS projects,
either paid or unpaid.

Given Rob is in the Big Band, and has been happy to help me on other things like Atomic
Brass and other shows, I am assuming he didnt have a problem working with me on Les
Mis. Similarly, Will was great, as were Sinead Connelly and Claire Dickinson (although I
believe they have left the university now). Javier and Harry were fired due to a lack of time-
keeping and time-keeping & tuning respectively. Whilst unfortunate in itself, this also meant
that Beth and Holly were no longer required. This was incredibly unfortunate but this was a
paid production, which had sold a decent percentage of tickets, and the company was
counting on the production to gain a minimum of 6 NODA nominations. Have them in the
band at that time in such pivotal roles on minimal rehearsal time would have jeopardised that
for more people than it was worth according to my producer. Whilst unfortunate, that was
what I had to do to ensure the rest of the band still got paid for the work they had put in.

I worked with Chris on A Christmas Carol, which I am sure Chris would happily tell you was
a disaster. However, I am sure Chris would also tell you that there were more problems with
the directing of the show (something I was allowed to input into with 3 days to open very
pleased about that wonderful timeframe there), than with the band.

I worked with the last 9 people whilst doing some recording work with Stephen Robinson and
Harry Smith for LUFP. Christian also helped with the organisation there and we recorded 3
3-5 minute compositions of mine to be donated to LUFP for use in the short film Proxy.
This involved 1 keyboard (myself), 1 piano (Edwin recorded at an earlier date and blended
with the keyboard sound), string quartet (Vanessa Woffindin, Eloise Rowles, Bekah Watkiss,
and Matthew Dobie), and the Barbershop folk (Gabi Griffiths, William Evans, Matthew
Atkinson, and Chris Holloway). I think any of them would say that, whilst I was rushed and
had a lot to get done, I was polite, kind, and accommodating throughout the rehearsal
process and recording process for that project.

Concerns about your lack of involvement with anything other than big band

I have only worked as the conductor for ULMSs Big Band, true. I fully admit that my main
concern with ULMS is the Big Band. My strengths as a horn player are very much in the
umbrella of the jazz world, particularly as a funk and soul player not that you asked but it
might be of interest, particularly for those of you trying to spot the Donna Summer musical
quote in the Star Wars piece.

I have played with Blackpool Brass Band and the University of Warwick Brass Band under
Simon Hogg. I have also been a conductor of the University of Warwick Wind Orchestra and
the University of Warwick Big Band. Similarly, I was the conductor and composer for the
University of Warwick Symphonic Wind Orchestra and a cornet and trumpet player for the
University of Warwick Symphonic Brass Ensemble. I also played trumpet occasionally for the
University of Warwick Symphony Orchestra under Paul McGrath. This was all between 2010
and 2012 when I was doing my first degree at Warwick. I failed that degree in my second
year. Miserably. That is why I have actively limited myself to doing one ensemble at
Lancaster. I put in as much time and energy as I can into that ensemble and do everything
possible to help every single member of that ensemble. But I only do the one currently, for
that reason. I am not prepared to do more than that and risk my exams. I am taking my finals
at the moment. Should I have been as young and energetic as some of the people in ULMS,
and I not known what I know from failing at my first attempt to be a semi-passable person, I
would have joined much more. However, I want to not end up being the same person that I
was when I came out of Warwick. So I am focussing on my degree. To the detriment of other
things. Its why I rarely go to the socials. I only started going this year because I was seeing
someone who wanted to go and my average score was 84% so I felt like I had some leeway.
However, there is nothing I want more than this degree, and I was scared of getting into the
same habits and mistakes that I did at Warwick. Thats why I havent joined any of the other
orchestras in ULMS and I apologise if that is a concern. Given the time of year of the event
and the fact my exams will be done way before this, I really do feel it is a great way for me to
get involved with the rest of ULMS, especially given I will be much freer post exams.

Also, anytime someone in ULMS has asked me for help, I have been willing to move the
earth to help them. I give Harry free trombone lessons, I provide comfort and support to
anyone who needs it. Barbershop have a concert next week so can you write an entire setlist
of music for them and help them learn it? Yes of course I would and have. I would do
anything asked of me by anyone in this society, regardless of how well I knew that person
when I met them. I just wasnt prepared to let my degree suffer through a regular
commitment to something I knew caused me problems in the past.

If that is a problem, I apologise and withdraw my application. But I hope now you can see
why I have done the things I have done, regarding commitment to ULMS.

However, I have worked with singers, choirs, orchestras, big bands, small bands, wind
orchestras, brass bands, world music groups, pit bands, funk groups, folk groups, and pretty
much every musical genre there is with bands and orchestras across the country. I have an
extensive CV and my arranging skills and my skills as a conductor are of a pretty high level.

Final note from Matthew, rather than in response to any point raised by the
committee.

Whilst this is an upsetting thing to have to say and obviously not ideal, I would completely
understand if you took the piece off me and gave it to another conductor. Whilst I do not
think Leo or Katie, given their lack of experience as conductors could get this right, I am sure
Rob could. I dont know about Emma, but given crosborn had to have serious input into her
conducting style and pretty much take over during the final rehearsal for the charity
showcase mini-musical, I would feel Rob is a stronger conductor for this level of piece and
this size of orchestra. As I say not the ideal, but if you feel it is for the good of the society,
then I will respect that decision.