Steve has received a copy of the SMO Bulletin for this term and replies from Dubai.... All is well out here and the intense summer heat is now more tolerable, particularly in the mornings and evenings now. I've just walked back from a superb concert at the local theatre. It's 10 pm at night and only 32C! (Yes believe me that is a big improvement). We've had a few foggy mornings as it's suddenly become more humid too. I'm settling in well at school. I've got a great Y13 class - all of the students are fluent in French and speak it around the school. My other classes are a bit of a mix. All very nice kids with some very lazy but bright ones too. My school is very disorganised - I think that is just how it is out here. There is also a big turnover of staff out here. I have lots of free time and am only teaching 60 students in the school and so am now able to prepare much better lessons than I ever did in the UK. My dept are all native French speakers and so I'm using my French a lot. I'm more fluent than when I arrived. I've had a couple of Arabic lessons but it is so difficult and is unlike any other language I've heard. I'm trying to get to grips with the alphabet and calligraphy but I'm not sure I'm making much progress yet. It was a great experience being here during Ramadan although quite testing too as we couldn't eat or drink at work. (It was like Christmas in the shopping Mall, with chocolate camels on sale in the shops!) The Arabic teachers at school are very friendly. It’s amazing being in an international school where the students all speak 3 or more languages. I'm now over-seeing Japanese, Chinese and Russian in the school as we have a number of students studying these too. It can be very frustrating here as it’s taken until this week for me to get internet, my driving licence and my medical card. I'm still waiting for TV installation and a phone line and that will be a while yet. Last weekend I went up the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower. It was a fun experience and the view was pretty good too! I've spent a lot of time and money furnishing my apartment. I had basic items in it when I arrived but not enough to manage with. I'm now very happy with it and it really is very spacious. I've got an audition on Thursday to join an orchestra in Dubai and am really looking forward to it. Would you believe they will pay me to attend rehearsals and perform if I get through the audition. I'm expecting it to be tough so fingers crossed! (They will be playing Dvorak New World and Brittens Young Person's Guide to the orchestra this term). And a subsequent addition... I got though my audition at orchestra last week. They are not as friendly as SMO (but how could they be?) but I was blown away by the standard of play. I'll be joining the second violins and am pretty much the weakest player. All the best, Steve |
|
|
Recently Don announced that he would not be returning to Saturday Morning Orchestra rehearsals after many years of stirring work. We wish him well in his retirement and offer an image of him receiving a birthday cake on his 92 birthday last year and an extract he wrote for the orchestra some years ago.... A Short History of an Old Fiddler: Don Browne, 1917- 'In 1917 when I was born television and radio had not arrived, so, apart from very distorted sounds from a wind-up gramophone, all music was live. Up to the age of eight years I lived a rather secluded life in the Dock Estate at Liverpool as my father was a Dock Master. Apart from hearing music in our home where my mother and eldest sister played the piano very well, the main source of music was the trio in the tearoom we visited when shopping in Liverpool. This gave me my interest in the violin. An uncle gave me a small one which I taught myself to play after a fashion, and my sister taught me to read music. This was fine, except that I played with my left wrist pushed up to the neck of the instrument and my right elbow pointing skywards. During the war I played with the Reading University Orchestra for a while, but I was only in Reading from March 1940 to July 1942. There was very little music then until I returned from India in 1946 when Barbara, our son Roger and I returned to Wallasey, and I was able to play music with my sisters. Back in Reading, some 12 years ago someone came to the door and asked whether I would be interested in playing violin and piano music with him. As he lived about 250yds away this was fine. I got my fiddle out of the cupboard and decided it needed some work done, and that the bow was rather short of hair. I looked in Yellow Pages and came up with the name of Raymond Jones. He did the necessary work and suggested that I might like to join the SMO, which I did....' |
 |
After 26 years of playing and conducting with the Saturday Morning Orchestra, Steve Wellman is leaving for a fresh challenge in Dubai. Below are some of Steve's thoughts about his time with SMO... I started as a 2nd violin in September 1984 after Ray Jones's wife Leonora had tried persuading me for a year to join. Reflecting on music over the years is a little like being on Desert Island discs. It's difficult picking out highlights as each year has been memorable in one way or another, but I have always been drawn to anything Russian or Scandinavian. In my humble attempts at conducting I particularly enjoyed the work we did on the Mendelssohn and Weber overtures. If I had to pick out one piece that was particularly memorable to play it would have to be Beethoven's 5th in 2008 under Tom's leadership! As for my own musical tastes my favourite works are Rachmaninov's 2nd symphony, Verdi's Requiem and Russian songs by a variety of composers. Steve |
 |
Dear SMO Members, We are very sorry to have to tell you of the death of our young cellist Sian Wood late on Tuesday 24th August. David |
