Tuscany Trip

by Siobhan Brady

The Choir trip to Tuscany was first mentioned to us in September 2008 and it was hard to believe, as we were waiting for the bus to the airport at 4.30 am on Friday 19th of June, that the day had finally arrived! Everyone was exhausted on the bus as we had just finished our exams the day before and here we were at the crack of dawn. Things improved in Dublin Airport when we had checked in our bags and had finally had something to eat. As the plane took off we really felt we were on our way.

Once we stepped off the plane the heat hit us straight away. It was a welcome change from Ireland. We collected our bags and a brand new coach was waiting for us in the Arrivals. We wasted no time and were on our way quickly to our hotel in Montecatini. We were sorted into our rooms first and each group was given a key. I was delighted to be sharing with Dearbhala Gernon and Nicola Dalrymple. Our room was quite big and it had bunk beds and two single beds. We also had a lovely en suite. We had to be downstairs for a meeting at 2 o’clock with Mrs. Malone-Brady and Chiara, our Club Europe rep. We were told some rules about the hotel, and then to our delight we were told that we had free time until 6pm when we had to be back for a rehearsal.

We were starving! The first thing we did was go to the pizzeria where we had a HUGE slice of pizza and a drink each. It was boiling hot outside so we immediately went across the road to an ice-cream parlour where we had the most amazing ice-cream ever. While I got strawberry and Dearbhala got mint, to Nicola’s surprise she ended up with Sherry flavoured ice-cream instead of Fruit of the Forest that she thought she was getting!

We headed quickly back to the hotel as it was so hot and we were dying for a swim. We were so glad the hotel had a pool, even if it was pretty small. The pool was outside and was already warm from the sun and was absolutely gorgeous. We had a lovely swim and had a shower and got changed. We headed downstairs with our Light Music Folders for our rehearsal. We learned Freedom Train, which soon became a favourite among the choir members. We then went through all the songs for the concert the next night. Although we were all tired, it still sounded pretty good.

We finished at 7 o’clock and then we had more free time until dinner at 8 o’clock. It was a three-course meal with a pasta dish first and then turkey and chips and even more ice-cream for desert. That night we sat outside the hotel in the green plastic chairs and chatted to the Americans who were staying across the road. We headed to bed around 10 o’clock and went straight to sleep. It was a great start to an amazing trip.

Kumidaiko

Here's a little information on Kumidaiko as seen in the Actiontrack production, Tinseltown Meltdown.

Kumidaiko is the name used for a percussion group using traditional japanese drums. The drums, Taiko, which are used in the group vary. There are several types of Taiko. Byou-uchi daiko taiko have skins which are attached directly to the body of the drum, while Tsukushime-daiko have skins which are first attached to rings which are then laced to the body of the drum.

Byou-uchi daiko taiko are usually made from a single, hollowed out piece of wood which dictates the size. The largest Byou-uchi daiko taiko is the ōdaiko. Some ōdaiko are made from trees which are hundreds of years old and so big that they cannot be moved. Byou-uchi daiko taiko cannot be tuned.

Tsukeshime-daiko are a tuneable taiko. The skin is attached to a ring which is then attached to body of the drum, also usually made from a single piece of hollowed out wood.

While there are a large number of taiko they all have some things in common. Firstly, they are all members of the percussion family. Most taiko are struck by bachi which are straight wooden sticks used to hit the taiko. Taiko are also famous for the huge tension put on the skins. This is probably because they originate in such humid regions that the tension was used to stop the skin from sagging.

Actiontrack

The all singing, all dancing Actiontrack performance took place in the college on Saturday evening, to a packed BSR. The show was simply excellent, the array of talent was enormous with pupils taking to the stage as if born for it.

The plot told the story of a superficial Tinseltown populated by celebrities. André Peters (Harry Bravery) is told to leave when he displays 'genuine emotion'. When he leaves Tinseltown André meets a variety of social 'misfits' one of which, Tara Cards (Miriam Poulton) predicts the annihilation of Tinseltown when a group of Hippos walk down mainstreet. He also encounters a group of Ice-cream miners, Ben, Jerry and Mr. Whippy (Dudley Browne, Michael McBurney and Jack Armstrong).

The climax of the play was a fantastic pyrotechnics show behind the BSR, accompanied by the stirring rhythms of the Kumidaiko drums performed by various members of the Transition Year.

Have a look at the slide show to the right for more pictures.

Chapel Performance

Many thanks to Ronan Swift and Matt Walker, two member of staff here in the college, for their performance of Mr. Swift's song 'Bad Cess to You Rich Boy' in chapel this morning.


Both Mr. Swift and Mr. Walker are accomplished musicians and performers and have a number of recordings under their respective belts, including 'Farewell Future Wives' from Mr. Swift and 'Star Turtle', 'Nightmares and Videogames' and 'Grin and Bear' from Mr. Walker's group Star Turtle.

What I'm hearing...

Today we asked a few random people what they have been listening to lately. Below are some of the replies. Enjoy.

Rich (of ActionTrack fame) has been listening to the group Eels, a famous rock group whose discography include Beautiful Freak, Electro-Shock Blues and Daisies of the Galaxy among others. Here is a sample:

Mr. Watts (of Art Room fame) has been listening to Ry Cooder, a guitarist, singer and composer born in the U.S.A in the forties. He has been making music since 1970 and recorded several new songs last year. He is especially know for his slide style of playing. Cooder is also responsible for the formation of the Buena Vista Social Club. Here is a sample of Cooder.

Today in Music History

Today is the birthday of Alexandre Tansman, a famous composer.

Tansman was born in Poland to a wealthy family, and, like a number of other famous composers, studied law in the University of Warsaw. He did, however, also study music at the Łódź Conservatory and when he moved to Paris he continued working on his compositions. While in Paris he studied under Igor Stravinsky and Maurice Ravel and associated himself with a group of foreign composers working in France who called themselves École de Paris.

During WW2 Tansman fled to Los Angeles, with the help of his friend Charlie Chaplin, and on his return to Paris after the war Tansman found his music outmoded. He then turned to his Jewish and Polish heritage and used this as inspiration.

In his hometown of Łódź there is a competition, entitled the Alexandre Tansman Competition for promising musicians every year to promote his music.

Form Primary Presentation

After studying Irish music with Primary form, the pupils prepared a project on their own cultural music. Attached is a presentation on Indian Music by Rishi Manuel.

Click on the on the full screen button to enlarge the slideshow.

St. Columba's on tour!

Preparations are well underway for the college choir trip to Tuscany. There are 39 pupils, staff, past pupils and parents leaving Dublin at 6:30 am on Friday the 19th of June.

The choir will sing at a number of concerts and choral festivals while in Italy including the final event of 'La settimana delle terme' an annual festival celebrating the local thermal baths. This performance takes place in Bagni di Lucca on the 20th of June at 9:00.

Our second engagement will be Mass at the Cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore on the 21st. The last concert will be at the Chiesa di s. Agostino on the 22nd.

The itinernary is well laid out and boasts a number of cultural visits to local monuments and tours of the surrounding regions.

Check back for pictures soon!

Lunchtime Recital

Here's a clip of Benjamin Russell's performance of 'Go Lovely Rose' by Quilter which he sang at the recital, and also at the opening of the Opening of the Cadogan building.

Lunchtime review

Below is a review of the lunchtime recital from the last post written by Mark Russell, brother, but unbiased!, of Ben.

Review

On Thursday the 29th of January, we went to St Anne’s church on Dawson street to hear Benjamin Russell, a baritone, and Anna Brady, a soprano, give their recital. Lasting about an hour, the performances were very well accompanied by the pianist Mairead Hurley. Ben started off the concert brilliantly with ‘Deh vieni alla finestra’ from Don Giovanni. After that Anna beautifully sang ‘In uomini in soldati’ from ‘Cosi fan tutte’ also by Mozart. This was followed by the duet ‘la ci darem’ which also features in Don Giovanni.
Next Ben sang two songs, first ‘Mondnacht’ by Schumann and secondly ‘Der Musensohn’ by Schubert. Followed by Anna’s performances of : ‘Ich atmet einen linden Duft’ by Mahlen and 'Ich hab’im penna' by Wolf. Ben then entertained us with ‘I hold your hand in mine’ by Tom Lehrer, an amusing song about an insane husband missing his dead wife! Anna created a lingering atmosphere with the next song ‘Sure on this shining night’ by Baber. As everyone agreed, the following three songs, really showed off Anna and Ben’s musical talent, especially the duet ‘Bess, you is my woman now’.
I can’t decide which was my favourite: the final songs ‘Last night was one of those nights’ performed by Anna and the’ Hippopotamus song’ performed by Ben, both of which were very entertaining and got a lot of laughs. Or, the unexpected encore of the Popagena duet, which must have been very difficult to learn because of its incredible speed!
Everybody really enjoyed the concert and we look forward to future performances by Ben and Anna!