Posted on Sunday July 25th, 2021
πWe're back!π
Yesterday saw WCB's first whole-band performance in 16 months at the lovely Alexandra Gardens in Windsor. Miraculously, the rain held off and it was fantastic to finally be able to play to a live audience again!
We asked some of the band for their thoughts on this first performance back and there was clearly quite a range of feelings. Some focused on the practical...
"...is my bow tie still in my jacket pocket?..."
"...will my lip hold out?..."
"...please donβt rain, please donβt rain, please donβt rain..." and
"...ooh, these trousers are tighter than I remember..."
But ultimately, we were all delighted to be able to return to what we love doing - "It was really special to be playing to an audience again and to such an appreciative one too." "You could feel the excitement within the band and everyone played so well."
Thanks so much to everyone that came along to hear us (and to all those band members and their friends and families who contributed their thoughts and photos!). We're looking forward to more performances over the coming months - we'll see you soon!
And "is my sax in the boot?"......to which the answer turned out to be no! π±π
Woodley Concert Band well done to all involved
Looks like a really nice bunch - but where are you?
Looks like you had a nice afternoon for it.
![π¨DONT FORGET! Our first gig since March 2020 is this Saturday (24th) at 2:00pm in the delightful Alexandra Gardens in Windsor and is absolutely FREE! Weve got loads of our favourite pieces lined up and we hope you can join us for an afternoon of toe-tapping tunes, chilled relaxation and glorious weather [sadly only the first two of these are guaranteed - the third looks a little dicey but were determined to have a good time anyway!].π΅ Well see you there!π](https://www.woodleyconcertband.org.uk/wp-content/plugins/custom-facebook-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
Posted on Friday July 23rd, 2021
π¨DONT' FORGET! Our first gig since March 2020 is this Saturday (24th) at 2:00pm in the delightful Alexandra Gardens in Windsor and is absolutely FREE! We've got loads of our favourite pieces lined up and we hope you can join us for an afternoon of toe-tapping tunes, chilled relaxation and glorious weather [sadly only the first two of these are guaranteed - the third looks a little dicey but we're determined to have a good time anyway!].π΅ We'll see you there!π
Good Luck ππΆπΌ
Posted on Sunday July 18th, 2021
As Covid-19 restrictions start to come to an end in the UK, we thought we'd make a little video to show how we've been keeping all of our members safe since we restarted in-person rehearsals back in May. Here's clarinettist Gemma to show you the steps that we've been taking!π·
Don't forget that next Saturday (24th) is our first live full-band gig in almost a year and a half!π We'll be playing loads of fabulous tunes including ABBA, Les Miserables, Frank Sinatra and the Great Escape in Alexandra Gardens, Windsor from 2:00 - 4:00pm - why not come along and enjoy some live music!πΊπ΅π·
Posted on Sunday July 4th, 2021
π£Exciting news! We're thrilled to announce (fingers crossed) that our first public performance as a full band in over 16 months will take place on Saturday 24th July at 2:00pm in the lovely Alexandra Gardens in Windsor!πΊ All being well (and Covid restrictions permitting), we'll be performing on the bandstand in this beautiful Thames-side park with views of the magnificent Windsor Castle in the background. With plenty of space in the gardens for social distancing (or dancing!), we'll be unleashing a brilliant programme of great tunes and popular music with everything from marches to musicals and folk songs to film - the perfect opportunity to come and listen to some live music on a (hopefully sunny!) summer's afternoon, and if that wasn't enough, it's absolutely free!π΅
Put the date in the diary and we'll see you there - we're thrilled to be back!
Love it Tilly - good choice! So sorry your human has been pinged. Please give her lots of love and wet kisses xxπΆ
Our probationary member Tilly is very sad to say that she won’t be able to go to this event as her human’s been ‘pinged’. However, she hopes lots of people go and watch as it’ll be a great event!!! She thought you’d like to see her version of the uniform though π
I used to love playing there.π
Margaret Nuth, Brian J Nuth, Morgan Douglas Nuth (think u may be working) BUT let’s make it a date and all go for sausage rolls n ginger beer ππππ
Confused π€ 24th July is Saturday ?
I think they're confused! Somebody was looking at a 2022 Calendar π€π€£
Posted on Sunday June 20th, 2021
This week, we were delighted to be featured by Making Music UK as part of their 'Up in Lights' series.πΌ Making Music represents amateur music groups across the UK and their Up in Lights project aims to showcase the brilliant variety of music that their 3,500 member groups have continued making across the UK, even in the face of a global pandemic. This week, Making Music's selected performance was our recording of Abba's Thank You for the Music which we made last summer - a piece which reflects the joy which we all find in creating music together, even if it's been pretty challenging recently.
Thanks to Making Music for sharing our performance - take a look!π΅
Well done to all involved
Posted on Sunday June 13th, 2021
It's been fantastic to finally be able to play together again in the last few weeks! Here's a little clip from this week's rehearsal of something we've been working on to hopefully perform out and about over the summer, featuring principal cornet Gregor on flugelhorn...πΊπ΅
Posted on Sunday June 6th, 2021
Time for a quick look into the archives! Here's a newly released video from our Spring 2017 concert, A Night in the West End.π Philip Sparke's piece Theatre Music is made up of 3 movements - a brisk and lively Overture, a tender Entr'acte and a bold and exciting Finale! As a band, we're big fans of Sparke's music, which always has great tunes and interesting challenges to keep us on our toes, and when we were considering programme ideas for this concert, this piece was a bit of a no-brainer! We hope that you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed playing it!π΅
Posted on Sunday May 30th, 2021
It's been great to get back to real-life rehearsals in the last two weeks and we've really been enjoying being able to make live music together again. Despite this, we're still really conscious of the risks of Covid-19 so we wanted to talk a little bit about the precautions that we're taking to help keep ourselves and our communities safe.π·
We've been working with St Dominic Savio School, where we rehearse, to ensure that we're able to rehearse in a Covid-Safe way. For example, we've moved from our usual rehearsal location to a bigger hall where it's easier to accommodate more people at socially-distanced spacing and where there's a better external airflow and we're also, of course, rehearsing with the doors and windows open (fortunately not too much of a problem in May!). We ask band members to consider taking rapid flow Covid tests and all members must have their temperature taken on arrival. Whilst it's not possible to play wind instruments with masks on, everyone needs to remain masked whenever they're not sat down and playing, and we also ask instruments that vent condensation (those pesky brass ones) to ensure that they have a towel on the floor to catch any drips!
The music for the rehearsal is put out on people's chairs before they arrive to minimise the need to move around the room and at the end of the rehearsal, everyone puts their music back in a box which we can leave to quarantine before anyone touches it. Players bring their own music stands and the chairs which the school provide are only used by the band. We also take regular breaks (approximately every 20 minutes) with the whole band leaving the room in order for the rehearsal hall to be ventilated.
Hopefully these methods will help to keep everyone safe - we're immensely grateful to the school for working with us to make it possible to get back to rehearsals and you'll be pleased to know that we're also already working on some possible performances for later on in the summer - we'll keep you posted!πΆ
It was so fab being back. Thanks everyone working so hard behind the scenes β€οΈβ€οΈ
Lovely to be back! Big thank you to everyone who has put so much time and effort into making rehearsals possibleπβ€οΈπ
It’s so good to be back. Thank you everyone.
well done to all involved
Is that someone joining in virtually as well? That's a lovely option to have.
Posted on Sunday May 23rd, 2021
This week, after 62 weeks without meeting face-to-face (that's 434 days or 10,414 hours!), we were absolutely thrilled to finally be able to hold our first physical rehearsal since last March! Whilst not everyone was able to be there just yet, it was absolutely fantastic to be able to come together to make music as an ensemble again and we thoroughly enjoyed playing as an actual real-life band - in fact, we were so 'happy', that we made this video to celebrate! Make sure you watch to the end to see the magical transition from virtual to real-life!π΅β¨
PS...as you might imagine, we're taking a huge amount of care to follow current government guidance and have gone to great lengths to make our rehearsals Covid-safe - we'll talk a bit more about the measures we're taking and how we're doing this in a future post.
Professionals at the video editing now! Fantastic video. Well done.
Fabulous, well done team!! πΌβ€οΈ
Love it! Great video and fab ending!! Hopefully there will be no more of this recording at home malarkey and we can keep playing together in person for the foreseeable future. πΆπΆ
Sounds great, and glad you get to rehearse in the flesh! One more week to wait for me in NL, then I will be happy to rehearse again too!
Brilliant job Owen and Gregor, love the ending(s)!
Great job everyone. Fab video, great edit. So wonderful to be back IRL, it’ll be amazing when we can assemble the whole band. Also excellent clapping faces and dad dancing. ππ»π
Nice to see Rebecca again. It's been a long time since Thames Wind.
Just fantastic! Owen and Gregor you are brilliant. Love it!
Another fabulous edit guys πππ So pleased to be playing together again.
Fantastic edit as always Gregor and Owen! And so good to be back in person this week π
Great work folks and thanks again for making it all happen π
Great to see you all back together again. I liked the dancing!
Fantastic. Great start to a Sunday morning. Thank you !
Love the video Woodley Concert Band π
Posted on Thursday May 20th, 2021
Put it in your diary! We've got a new video coming this Sunday and we're very excited about it because...well...you'll see why!β¨πβ¨
See you then - don't miss it!
Posted on Sunday May 16th, 2021
All being well, the coming week will see WCB starting to return to physical rehearsals for the first time in 14 months!πΊ
In the meantime, there's just time for one more virtual recording, amazingly our 24th virtual collaboration since the start of the first lockdown! This version of Tom Jones classic Delilah features WCB players John (on trombone, tenor horn and euphonium) and Gregor (on trumpet...3 times!) and is a solo feature - the fiddly solo part was originally written for euphonium but our virtuosic euph player John decided to switch it round to trombone making it even more challenging for himself and spectacular to watch as the arrangement gets more complicated!π΅
Look out for the, um, very special (?!) key change!
So brilliant!!! Great work John Deane, Gregor Spowart and tech team. Loved it!!
Love this. Absolutely brilliant! Well done John and Gregor ππ
Nicely done guys.
Another fabulous piece of work guys...whicih I will show my class tomorrow πI love the way you dressed differently in order to masquerade as triplets.
Brilliant!
Love this
Posted on Sunday May 9th, 2021
As a community-spirited bunch, WCB were pleased to support Twyford based charity Understanding Dementia during the charity's recent online quiz. During the quiz, musical interludes were provided between rounds courtesy of some of the band's lockdown recordings on YouTube and the cry of "encore" was granted with a reprise of Another Day of Sun. It was a pleasure to support the charity as they promoted their work and was a good networking opportunity for the band - we hope to welcome some of their supporters to hear the band live in future. Understanding Dementia's work includes promoting a clear understanding of dementia, how it affects the person and how we can lessen its impact on those who live with it. The charity provides training for care workers, health professionals and family carers in a new and very simple approach that anyone can use.
You can find out more about the charity and it's activities here:
Understanding Dementia and lessening its impact
and find all of our lockdown recordings in a handy playlist here:
bit.ly/3h35Csu
Thank you so much for your support for our Quiz - with your help we raised £1250 for our work. Our next free course for family carers starts tomorrow - 10th May. Do see our website understandingdementia.co.uk/ for more information and to join our mailing list, or email [email protected] for details of our course for health and care professionals.
Posted on Sunday May 2nd, 2021
A couple of weeks ago, we added yet another new type of event to our busy online social calendar! An Evening With Rob Wiffin gave us a chance to get to know friend of the band Rob a bit more and find out about his fascinating career as a trombonist, Principal Director of Music for the Royal Air Force and Professor of Conducting at the Royal Military School of Music (did you know - he taught our MD Claire everything she knows about conducting...or at least a lot of it!).πΌ
The band have been working with Rob for a number of years (he's pictured here conducting our workshop back in 2013) and we have enjoyed playing a wide range of his compositions and arrangements, so it was great to get to know him better, as well as to hear some very entertaining anecdotes about some of the hairier moments from his past, guided by Claire as our excellent compère! Huge thanks to Rob for taking the time to talk to us - we had a great time and there may well be more events like this in the future!
Posted on Sunday April 25th, 2021
One of the things that we love most about our brilliant Director of Music, Claire, is the passion and enthusiasm that she brings to the role - whether it's a complex piece of carefully crafted wind band music for the National Concert Band Festival or a big cheesey pop medley, she always makes our rehearsals interesting, engaging and fun and gets the best out the music and us! π΅
Usually, this isn't something that it's very easy to capture and share with you but one of the fringe benefits of having to move our rehearsals online is the ability to take screenshots of what's going on...so here, from just one of our rehearsals, and with Claire's (slightly reluctant!) permission, is a little collage of some of the many faces that make our rehearsals so entertaining and enjoyable! πΌπΊπ₯
PS...Huge congratulations to Claire from all of us on her recent commission in the rank of Captain as Director of Music in her 'other' job with the British Army! We're delighted for her and pleased that the Army have decided to upgrade her to the role that we offered her 2Β½ years ago!π
Posted on Sunday April 18th, 2021
One of the (few!) positives about a year without real-life music-making has been the opportunities that it's offered us to do things that we'd never have done pre-Covid.π΅ So here, by way of an example, is a fantastic jazzy little version of African-American spiritual Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen (wait 'til the tempo gets going after the 19 second intro!), transcribed for brass quintet...from a funky big band arrangement...and performed by two trumpets, a trombone and two saxophones! We hope you like it!ππΊπ·
Fabulous guys! Alison won the prize for playing the most bars.
Wonderful start to the day! Hats off to the tech wizz on the video.
Great job guys ππ»π
Absolutely fantastic
Awesome guys, as always. Well done all ππ
Sounds fantastic. Well done π
Fantastic!
I love it!