Our Sixteenth Year
by Course Director, Sarah Gleadell
We had 33 participants this year, the most ever. As is often the case, cellos outnumbered the violins and getting everyone organised into chamber groups was challenging - to say the least. However, everything worked out brilliantly in the end.
Alma Orr-Ewing once again led our team of tutors. As last year, Alma coached and conducted the senior orchestra, as well as the most advanced chamber group. Hilary Boxer, a cellist, again looked after the junior orchestra. Violinist Polly Orr-Ewing was fully occupied with the choir, along with the daily Dalcroze Eurhythmics sessions. Bonnie Schwarz, another talented cellist, coached her own chamber group, as well as helping with orchestra and choir. Our energetic and popular house mothers, Poppy Orr-Ewing (violin) and Serena Forwood (cello) were – as always - an invaluable help both in coaching the younger chamber groups and supporting choir.
Every musician was part of a chamber group, with a coached session each day. At Magdalen we feature as much English music as possible – though not exclusively - and we maintained this tradition in 2023. Very few of our participants normally get a chance to play in a chamber group, let alone an orchestra. It was a delight to see how the technique and self-confidence of each group improved as the week progressed, culminating in excellent performances at the end-of-course concert.
Our indefatigable Patron, Colin Matthews, once again composed a new arrangement for choir of a poem by Christopher Reid especially for us and here performed for the very first time. The choir was outstanding this year: all the children sang their hearts out, the teenage boys deserving a special mention. Everyone commented on the strength of our bass section.
This year, the weather was probably the worst we have ever known at Magdalen Farm. Violent storms on two afternoons meant that we had to postpone the much-anticipated ‘Survival in the Wild’, which includes den building and a particularly glutinous ‘mud slide’. However, it eventually took place, resulting in at least 30 highly excited, mud-bedecked children having to be hosed down from head to foot. Feeding the pigs and goats and collecting eggs was another popular afternoon, as were team games out on the camping field.
This year, as one of our evening sessions, Alma Orr-Ewing gave a Master Class for four of the more advanced players, who had signed up for this before the course started, each bringing a ‘performance-ready’ piece. Alma has played in master classes for such musicians as Nicol Benedetti, Tamsin Waley-Cohen and Timothy Ridout, so she was well placed to give feedback and advice specific to each player: also very helpful to the onlookers. Bonnie and her accordionist partner Pete led two highly popular folk evenings with song and dance. On another evening, the ‘Talent Show’ - as ever - included a mixture of excellent solo performances interspersed with humorous drama sketches, all received with rapturous applause.
The general consensus from parents, participants and tutors was that this was the best ever Magdalen Farm Strings and the end of course concert certainly reflected this. Each chamber group performed the piece that they had been working on all week, as did the three orchestras, The Dalcroze performance was inspiring and the choir performance wonderfully musical. Once again, the finale with tutti orchestra was based on each small group of participants’ improvisations on a simple tune (Frère Jacques). Alma had helped them put their pieces together, but the children performed the whole piece as a cohesive whole with no adult direction - a truly inspiring feat of musicianship.
Sarah Gleadell
May 2023