WREXHAM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Geoff has decided to use
his page to share some personal recollections – enjoy! (MAL)
“As the player with the
doubtful distinction of being the longest serving orchestral member, I have
recorded some details of the formation of the orchestra and to add some items
from my earlier musical efforts.
My first clarinet lessons
were started when I was a teenager, towards the end of World War Two; the venue
of the night-classes was the cellar of the local emporium, which doubled as a
furniture store. To make us more at home one wardrobe was marked “Glass! HANDEL
With Care”!
After some eighteen
months I was considered sufficiently competent to join the East Denbighshire
Orchestra fir their end of year concert, doubling second clarinet. The first
item was Pomp and Circumstance No 4, and though I have subsequently played this
work dozens of times, I still remember the struggle I had counting into the
woodwind solo before the Trio.
At that time woodwind
instruments were rare in school orchestras, in our case, one trumpet and
myself, all arrangements were in sharp keys to suit the dozen or so violinists,
with two extra sharps added for the transposing instruments we soon became
competent in playing the more advanced sharp keys.
National Service with the
RAF gave me experience in military band and dance music playing, but also made
service life more bearable since bandsmen were excused Guard Duty and other
less pleasant tasks, while the concert schedule took us out of camp to village
fetes in Summer and variety shows in Winter. One theatre had a performing seal
backstage, whenever we played above mf he joined in honking and flapping
his flippers, on ff passages he could be heard trying to leap out of his
tank.
Another memory was a
lesson in getting back at Authority – The Officer in charge consistently
complained to the Bandmaster that he was setting too high a pace for the
marches; one day the Bandsmaster took a stopwatch on Parade conducting at
exactly 120 beats per minute (the official RAF marching pace). After the parade
we were again told that we were playing too quickly, the Bandsmaster saluted
smartly, then turned to the band “Right boys GARB OF OLD GAUL” (a funeral
march), we ceremoniously slow marched off the parade ground! There were no
further complaints about tempo!
The period following my
National Service marked an all-time low in my musical activities, night
classes, marriage, the renovation of an old house, etc. all contributed to
moving music onto the back burner. At that time too TV sets were burgeoning in
many homes resulting in amateur orchestras, choirs, bands, and concert parties
finding that members preferred to sit in front of the expensive new box rather
than attend rehearsals.
All was not lost! A
colleague bought a saxophone, Could I spend some lunch hours testing it,
showing him how to play it, and then playing duets? Very soon we were joined by
a talented pianist/violinist and then defectors from the Lunch Time Bridge Club
swelled our ranks until we became a band with some ten or more members.
Mario (the talented
pianist/violinist) also organised chamber music evenings at his home and later
when he became Musical Director of Llangollen Operatic Society invited me to
join the Pit Orch. Among the orchestra’s members were Emlyn Evans and Mike
Daniels, they attempted to form a permanent orchestra in Llangollen but this
never took off. The old East Denbighshire Orchestra, meeting at the Technical
College had by then shrunk to about a dozen members.
Fortunately Bryn Williams
arrived on the scene, very shortly after taking up his appointment at Cartrefle
he set about organising an orchestra. Keith Dawber was Leader, Emlyn Evans
deputy, Bernard Jones Cello, no viola, no horns, no bassoon and no regular
flute player until Andy joined us some six
months later. For our first concert the guest players outnumbered the regulars!
When Bryn left the
district (after a memorable Farewell party) Keith took over the baton and Emlyn
became Leader, gradually the sections filled as more members joined enabling
more ambitious programmes to be attempted.”