West London Strings

A new group whose aim is to enjoy playing mainly classical music on Monday evenings

meeting at St Mary's Church Hall, West Kensington

Conductor : Robin Wedderburn

No auditions; Grade 3 upwards welcome. Age 18 to 80+. Music is chosen and arranged to suit the membership. Our main aim is to experience the enjoyment of working at worthwhile music; we are thinking of an informal concert performance in the Spring. The chief aim is for the enterprise to be serious, non-pressurizing and enjoyable.

Latest news

CHANGE OF DATE
We have decided that we shall have an informal concert on Monday 15 March at 7.30pm in our usual venue. Please invite your friends and family to come along. More details later. There will no charge to either performers or audience for this. Please note that this is a change from our previously announced date of 22 March. We will have the last session of the Spring Term on 22 March, which will enable Robin to introduce us to the music he would like us to practice over Easter in readiness for the Summer Term.

Those members who come across Hammersmith Bridge should note that it will be closed to traffic on Monday February 15, so please allow the necessary extra time to get here.

See below for proposed dates after Easter

The Spring Term has started and will continue without a break until March 22. At our second session of the term, we were introduced to a Telemann sonata which was a great joy to play, and a bit more of a challenge.

Robin has discovered some nice stuff - Harald Genzmer – 14 leichte Stücke for string orchestra. Genzmer was a pupil of Hindemith and wrote these pieces in 2002 when he was 93. We hope that Robin will also carry on writing music into his nineties.

It is interesting to note that 'leichte Stücke' is translated by music publishers as 'easy pieces'. The first meaning given in my dictionary for 'leicht' is 'light', not 'easy'. This is certainly a better description of the Hindemith Drei leichte Stücke for cello and piano which are stuffed with accidentals. What difficulties his pupil has in store for us remain to be seen.

Dates & Times

We meet on Monday evenings. Aim at arriving soon after 7pm for a prompt start at 7.15pm. We continue till 9.30pm with a 15 minute break. Coffee, tea, and biscuits are available for a small charge to cover costs. Please BRING A MUSIC STAND and, if possible, a 2B pencil and plastic rubber (the sort that does not smudge).

Future Dates

We are planning to start the Summer Term on April 19 and continue till June 21. There will be no half term and no breaks for the bank holidays on May 3 or May 31. We will give another informal concert on June 28.
The Autumn Term will start on September 6. These dates are subject to alteration if they do not suit our members.

Some pictures from last term

Robin Wedderburn

Robin Wedderburn began his violin studies at school with Maxwell Ward and continued them at the Royal Academy of Music under Manoug Parikian before taking a Music degree at King's College, Cambridge. He was, from 1981 to 2009, head of strings in the music department at St Paul's school in South-West London, having previously taught for eight years at Malvern College. For the past fifteen years he has worked as string tutor and conductor with the Scottish Schools Orchestra Trust and in 2005 conducted a string course for both adults and children in Albury, New South Wales. He is a violinist, violist and composer, with a particular interest in writing music which is suitable for less advanced players and yet in some way interesting and rewarding for more proficient musicians to work at. A number of his pieces for less experienced string orchestras are published by Goodmusic Publishing. He has written larger works also; a concert march for full military band has been performed and recorded by the Band of the Grenadier Guards and an orchestral Fantasy, commissioned by the Scottish Schools Orchestra Trust, was performed both by them and by the Ealing Youth Orchestra.

Information about some of our members

Violinist Christine Jenkins is a professional jazz singer and added some variety by singing at our end of term session.

More details at The CJ Duo or Soul Operators

We look forward to discovering the hidden talents of our other members.

St Mary's Church

We rehearse in the church hall, which is a well-heated modern building at the corner of Edith Road and Hammersmith Road. The exact address is 2 Edith Road, West Kensington, London W14 9BA It is 5 minutes walk from Barons Court tube station on the Piccadilly and District lines. It is 10 minutes walk from Hammersmith bus/tube station. Buses 9, 10, 27 and 391 stop near the church in the Hammersmith Road. Car parking is available in the evenings within the church grounds. A map may be found at http://www.smwk.org/contactus.htm

Charges

£80 per term of 10 sessions, payable at the first or second session at the latest. Cheques should be made payable to West London Strings and may be sent to Riq Willitts, 53 Nassau Road, Barnes, London SW13 9QG. Alternatively, transfer money directly to the West London Strings bank account (details from Riq).

Contacts

If you are interested, please contact

Riq Willitts 020 8748 8401 or

Robin Wedderburn 020 8878 9840 or

If we are oversubscribed, members will be accepted in order of receipt of payment, subject to maintaining a balance of instruments and abilities.