Ailsa's Blog: Meet Our Members: Gill Eves

The Music in my Life

One of my earliest musical memories is creeping out of bed (having been made to go far too early) and sitting halfway down the stairs to listen to Friday Night is Music Night, which my parents were listening to on the ‘Light Programme'. A lovely variety of musical genres. Mum and Dad loved music of all kinds. On Sundays it would be listening to their collection of LP's which was a mix of classical, - Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, a bit of Handel – and musicals, My Fair Lady, Lilac Time, and super modern West Side Story.

They encouraged my musical interests, and I learned to play the piano and the violin at school. Poor Mr Hardman, like his name he was not an easy tutor. And I hated taking the exams, I was a bundle of nerves. But I persevered and played in the school orchestra as a teenager, and in the Trianon Music Group, a local Ipswich band set up by three professional musicians, which is still going today. I loved the latter, especially, as it introduced me to a wide variety of pieces and composers. We even travelled to Detmold in NW Germany to perform at the local spa towns. One evening we were halfway through our programme, and without any indication, half the audience rose from their seats, and exited the music hall. The reason – no it wasn't our appalling rendition of Mendelssohn, -but their spa regime which meant that 9.00 pm was their bedtime! On a separate occasion, as we rehearsed, we were joined by Imogen Holst, who took us through a piece of her father's music – Festival te Deum I think. She was such a lovely person, very warm and encouraging. She even made a joke at her father's expense claiming that his use of” fff” was a bit too much and blamed youthful exuberance.

It's a tradition of the Aldeburgh Festival that local Suffolk school children are selected to join the ENO soloists and musicians to perform Britten's Noye's Fludde. So I joined other children in the orchestra, rehearsing alongside professional leads. The experience of playing with professional musicians, talking to them and seeing how a production was put together was wonderful. We were conducted by Steuart Bedford, tall, good looking, very handsome......he got all my attention! Owen Brannigan sang the part of God, a fantastic voice and just a little bit scary. And lovely James Blades led the percussion section and showed them how to construct an instrument by taking some teacups out of the cupboard and suspending them on string. I wonder if the school ever got the cups back. At one rehearsal in Snape Maltings we had a visit from Benjamin Britten and he came over to talk to the orchestra. I don't remember him saying much, he seemed very shy.

At Uni music was getting to hear visiting rock bands (I just missed The Who by a year) or folk singers in the Student Union bar. I sang with the opera soc and sang in a production of Verdi's Il Lombardi which was as I recall a mostly inebriated event.

Moving to London it was easy to get to some good gigs - Elton and Queen at Earls Court, Roy Harper at the Rainbow Theatre, and Sandy Denny at folk club. And, when I could afford it, The Prom concerts at the Albert Hall. Watching and hearing Marin Alsop conduct Brahms German Requiem without a score – amazing!

Moving later to Kingston I joined the adult singers at my children's school choirs. I hadn't done much choral singing for a long time, in fact I didn't used to enjoy choral music (ouch!), and preferred orchestral music, but now I can't get enough of it. It's a privilege to sing in our lovely choir, led by the inestimable Veronica. Long may we continue to thrive.