Author: Barbara Dunn

Barbara trained as a teacher and worked for most of her career in Primary Education, eventually serving as a headteacher in Reading and then in Worcester, before taking early retirement. She has been involved with Worcestershire Early Music from its beginning, delivering workshops and organising concerts and the Pride and Prejudice Ball. Barbara is an enthusiastic amateur musician, playing regularly in many different formal and informal gatherings. She performs with the Gloucester Waits on flutes and recorders

Festive Season 2020

If you are missing making festive music with friends, here’s a couple of suggestions.

Pam Smith invites you to Virtual Recorders at Christmas.

19th-25th December 10-10.30am

Join her for half an hour every morning on the run up to Christmas for recorder duets. She’ll mostly play from Mediaeval Christmas Carols ed Greg Lewin and published by Hawthorn Music EE6. (available from alyson@hawthornsmusic.co.uk)

You will need a treble and a tenor recorder and access to Zoom.

Pam is raising money for the Cheltenham branch of the Samaritans; you can donate via hhtps://uk.virginmoney.giving.com/PamelaSmith37

Please email; jan.epps57@gmail.com if you would like to join in.

Border Marches Early Music Forum has run two successful online workshops and is now inviting singers and instrumentalists to enrol for an online workshop on December 22nd from 7.30pm -9.00pm when David Hatcher will compare and contrast two settings of Praeter rerum serium through the wonders of Zoom.

See www.bmemf.org.uk for details and how to book

enquiries contact johnjjwren@gmail.com

Autumn News

The Swan Theatre has been offered to Worcester Concert as a Covid secure venue for their opening concert on Sunday October 11th. To this end the Musical and Amicables will perform a selection of Baroque pieces.

Kate (violin/viola), Claire (viol), Andy (Bassoon/recorder) and Martin (keyboard) have played for us and for Worcester Concert Club in the past so they will need no introduction, and you can see Andy and Claire’s contributions to our online Baroquathon below.

However what you may not know is that three of them are tutors at the Elgar School of Music, which has taken quite a financial hit during this Covid ridden summer. So this concert is to be given in aid of the Elgar School.

Worcestershire Early Music has collaborated in previous years with the school for the annual Baroquathon. The school offers tuition to the young and not so young, rising stars and keen amateurs, as well as therapy for those with varying need. While individual lessons continue mostly online and some small groups are able to meet, the larger ensembles and choirs are unable to get together as yet.

Tickets for Sunday 11th October at 3pm will be available at the door at £17 (£5 for students) and we hope you will feel safe to venture out and support this joint effort. Please let me know ( barbara.wem@gmail) if you intend to come as the theatre has a limited number of places and we wouldn’t want to be turning people away.

Lion Ballroom Tea Dance

Our first event of 2020 was the Pride and Prejudice Tea Dance in the Lion Ballroom, Leominster. Dancers arrived from Oxford and Cardiff and all places in between, to dance a selection of carefully chosen dances led by Dancing Master, Brian Stanton. Music was provided by Peter and Moira of Dampiers Round.

We found out that a Buskin is not only the name of an 18th century dance but it refers to the laces of a type of footwear worn at the time…..even by Robinson Crusoe, as described by Daniel Defoe. It’s amazing what you learn with Worcestershire Early Music!

Hear my voice 2019

Interactive workshops in day care centres and residential care homes are continuing in the Worcester area. Rosie, Brian and Barbara play and sing shanties, folk songs and dance tunes offering opportunities to join in singing the songs or on instruments.

We are grateful to Worcester County Councillors for their support from the Division Fund to enable these workshops to take place.