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PARCEVALL HALL
15-17 March A BEVY OF BISHOPS (fully-booked)
6-8 September WAXING LYRICAL!
Description of course:
It is almost 50 years since the last 78 r.p.m. record was produced. Now, a teenager can hold 1,000 songs in an oblong pice of plastic that nestles in the fist. Why would anyone want to crank a handle for half a minute to get a two-minute song overlaid with crackle?
Strangely enough, a few eccentric people are eager to answer what might seem a dismissive rhetorical question. I invite you to come back with me to a world you might or might not remember - either way, the trip will be poignant, amusing and surprising. But you will need to keep an open mind and ear. You will hear everything from chamber music to rock'n'roll; there will be jazz, brass bands, traditional songs, blues, opera, skiffle, recitation, dance bands ... You couldn't like everything equally, but age applies a kindly nostalgic patina to these minor technological miracles of their time, as they seemed.
On a variety of machines, dating from the turn of the 20th century to 1950 or thereabouts, you will hear the music of - maybe - your youth, your parents' youth, your grandparents' youth. Dare I suggest that these discs and cylinders, and the elegant appliances which played them, had more soul than the gadgetry of 2010? Switch off the CD player, take a break from dowloading, and see if these proud old-time survivors can still entertain you.
PROGRAMME
* Introduction: Over 50 years of the recorded music industry; Meet the Machines
* A Round the World Tour in Music
* Virtuosi of the Keyboard: from Cortot to Tatum
* I Love My Love at 78 r.p.m.: from soppy to cynical and back
* Theme Tunes: take an invigorating ride on some trains, then go sentimental under the moon
* Chanteuses in the Groove: all styles and decibel counts
* Quiz: if you can't answer any, just enjoy the music (and, perhaps, enjoy being too young to remember any of it)
There are people who know everything about every record label that ever existed; there are people who can hold forth about mainsprings and diaphragms and feedscrews; there are people who possess records which are the sonic equivalent of a Shakespeare First Folio. I am none of these - just an enthusiast who doesn't like to see a world ignored and forgotten which is not, after all, prehistoric. It was only yesterday - wasn't it?
8-10 September JONATHAN SWIFT
Yes, I expect you know about Lilliput and Brobdingnag. Not so fresh, perhaps, is the ferocious satire of the encounter with the Houyhnhnms, or the Voyage to Laputa, which is a guided tour of the weirder outreaches of 18th century science and philosphy. Anyway, this is not a course on 'Gulliver's Travels'. There is Swift's engagement with politics, history, linguistics, 'The Irish Question', ... ; tracts, sermons, poems, letters; and a life for which 'colourful' would be a pallid euphemism. Omission will be the hardest part of my task.
PARCEVALL HALL is the retreat centre of the Diocese of Bradford: an old, characterful and welcoming house in a wonderful setting in Wharfedale. For further details, or to make a booking, contact:
The Warden,
Parcevall Hall,
Appletreewick,
Skipton,
North Yorkshire BD23 6DG
Tel: 01756 720213
Or visit their website: www.parcevall.bradford.anglican.org
HIGHAM HALL
30 July – 1 August THE TEMPEST
[This course ties in with an open-air production of The Tempest in Higham’s grounds by the Festival Players. A ticket to the performance is included in the course fee.]
Course description:
The pholosophical, religious and political implications of voyages of discovery and colonisation converge on Prospero's island. The moral issues were not simple: for example, was the 'savage' a model of human nature uncontaminated by corrupt sophistication or a brute unamenable to anything but coercion by the enlightened? Tying in with the Festival Players' production at Higham on Saturday 31 July, this coursewill look at some of these questions, without losing sight of the colourful and atmospheric show-piece which the play was primarily intended to be.
PROGRAMME
* Introduction and stage history
* Practical staging requirements
* Colonising the island
(Performance by the Festival Players)
* Meet the directors and cast
* Love and hate, revenge and forgiveness
* A scene under the microscope
HIGHAM HALL is a comfortable house set in spectacular Lake District scenery. It runs a wide variety of residential courses. For details, contact:
Higham Hall College,
Bassenthwaite Lake,
Cockermouth,
Cumbria CA13 9SH
Tel: 017687 76276
or visit:
www.highamhall.com
DAY COURSE
Saturday, 5 June 'THE SINGING LESSON'
Venue: The Unitarian Centre, Russell Street, Bradford, West Yorkshire
Time: 10.00 – 16.00
Course description:
'The Singing Lesson' is the title of a poem by Roger Frith, a selection of whose work can be found in one of my publications: 'In Memoriam Roger Frith'. His father was at one time a professional singer, his godfather was the composer, Roger Quilter', and many of his poems have a musical theme which will be illustrated, where possible, by CDs and 78s. We will look at some of his work for radio, and then sample some of the writers whom he most admired, including Houseman, Edward Thomas and Ivor Gurney.
The cost of the course is £8, which includes tea, coffee and light refreshments.
To book a place, please send a cheque to:
D.H. Parry
Bryniau
Uwchmynydd
Pwllheli
Gwynedd LL53 8BY
More details of future courses will be posted later on this page, but you can also be kept in touch by subscribing to the 2010 mail-outs, which will include newsletters about all forthcoming courses. View the homepage for more information.
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COURSES 2010
