The Royal Albert Hall was like nothing any of us had ever been involved with. We all had completely different roles during the day, here’s a snapshot:
were responsible for taking them to and from rehearsals as well as the concert itself. After a quick break for lunch, with enviable views, Sarah and I had the chance to take a selection of children for a photo shoot which we could use as publicity. One of the photos was used by the Reading Chronicle in an article the following week. The rest of the day was then spent dedicated to my allocated school until it was time to board the coach and head back to base. The day was full of excitement but completely exhausting!
the members of BYSO were all taken to the Natural History Museum and I was a Pastoral leader – a very odd concept for me as I had people in my group who I am very close friends with. Where my real stress lay was with the big 1st Bassoon solo in one of the movements of Carmina Burana which BYSO played. Annoyingly it was movement 12 so I had quite a bit of time to worry, before I could relax for playing the rest of the piece. Truly epic and uplifting. What an opportunity, getting to play Principal Bassoon at the Royal Albert Hall! The challenge of the day for each person involved made the end result all the more exciting. Well done everyone!!
the seating of every secondary school and Berkshire Choir individual for the rehearsals. The seating for Carmina Burana was interesting with lots of running around and squeezing in among the orchestra to get to different places. Finally, everyone was seated and happy for the evening. I ran to join BYC with my score to find where I would be standing for the evening concert. After the mass morning rehearsal there was a quick swap with the secondary schools, BYV, BYC and BYSO leaving the building ready for the primary schools entering the auditorium and being ushered to the choir stalls ready for their rehearsal. The afternoon went very quickly as I was playing Mighty Mississippi with the band and every section had their own little solos throughout the piece whilst the children sang along behind us! By the time we had all come off stage and packed our instruments away we had an hour until the doors opened. After a much needed sugar intake and brief waves to Emma and Maddy when we crossed paths, it was concert time and I had my Clarinet and Carmina score at the ready.
But now the holidays are over and it’s back to work. We must make the most of our final term at Maestros – before we know it we’ll be moving on to pastures
new.