We’ve had an amazing time on the Isle of Coll and have really enjoyed performing in the concerts. We have learnt so much from our tutors Dickie, Charles and Jonathan and it’s been great to have the time to rehearse together everyday!
At the start of the week, we felt like we had a huge mountain to climb as we had decided to work on three substantial string quartets. We chose to play Fanny Hensel’s Quartet in E flat major, Haydn’s Sunrise quartet and Beethoven Quartet op. 59 No. 3 in C major. We had previously worked on the Beethoven earlier in the year, but the other two quartets were completely new to us!
After having coaching with some of the tutors, we decided to mix up our rehearsal technique. Instead of always talking about possible musical ideas, we nominated someone in the quartet to lead the group and demonstrate their musical intentions whilst playing the music. We felt that this cut down our rehearsal time and any unnecessary chatting! It also really made us think about what we wanted to do with the music and take individual responsibility for the musical shapes.
Another interesting thing about this week was learning about each other’s learning styles and how we rehearse under pressure. Working intensively on a course is very different to isolated rehearsals at music college and we felt we had to pace ourselves and also look after each other! We realised that we had to work as one unit to achieve a corporate goal. This meant we had to be open to compromises and listen to everyone’s thoughts and ideas.
After a week of intensive rehearsals and three concerts in a row, we feel like we have really bonded and improved as a quartet. We can’t wait to continue playing together and get started on some new repertoire!
On Thursday we had a welcome afternoon off. After playing 6-8 hours per day all week, the physical and mental challenges of working with such vigour had taken a bit of a toll on the quartet…
We were driven to the top of a hill, which we descended with great expectations, but nobody really prepared us for the beauty of the scene that would meet us below. Hidden from view until the last few steps was a gorgeous, secluded beach. The water was stunningly clear and ranged in all shades of blue, from deep indigo to bright turquoise.
We were greeted by a friendly labrador and immediately all the stress of the week was kissed away by the fluffy friend. Ellie and Maris ran fast for the water, wanting to immerse themselves before they could feel the shock of the cold. It was so biting it was hard to breathe at first! But once we got used to it, the water was the perfect temperature for a brisk swim. We made our way to some rocks, climbed up and jumped off, back into the chill that was soothing our sore muscles. Ellie swam a couple of laps between the rocks while Maris coaxed Rosie into the sea and mocked Susie for not wanting to subject herself to the invigorating water. As we were leaving the sea, Rosie spied an extraordinary find: a whole sea urchin! A great souvenir from our time on Coll.
The quartet reunited on the sand where we built a sandcastle village and Rosie drew some sand portraits.
The beach trip was exactly what we needed to rejuvenate and inspire us. With newfound energy, we turned back to our pieces, excited to add more depth to our music. Our following rehearsals were creative and productive. This day was a good reminder that musicians are whole people, and we must care for ourselves as such. New experiences add to the bank of colors, emotions, and energies that we draw from to create profound expression in our art.
In our normal lives, we have moments where we realise that we have developed into one more level of human being. In our quartet life (we are only 9 months old), we also have moments like this. Today, we will tell you two stories.
THE BEACH TRIP
On Thursday, Iona, Eriol, Inis Oírr and Jonathan were forced to go to the beach with the other groups despite begging Jonathan T to rehearse all day. As soon as they arrived at the beach, the brave Sylva Winds ran into the cold water immediately; the quiet and sensible Asakas wandered the edge of the sea, silently wishing that they were playing scales in thirds and fifths together. But after 5 minutes, the sharp fresh wind that held the frisbee hostage, slapped poor Inis Oírr in the face and forced a wild motive into her mind. Inis Oírr, the usually very sensible violist, dashed into the water until she was fully submerged despite not being able to swim. She suddenly felt this sense of freedom that only came with good phrasing and intonation, and never wanted to leave the sea again.
2 hours and a lot of being-chased-by-Jonathan-in-the-sea later, Inis Oírr was finally caught and dragged out of the water by a fuming Jonathan. Jonathan grabbed his violist, screaming and refusing to cooperate, by the armpits, and began to drag her out of the sea.
Meanwhile, Eriol, with her keen eyes and quick instincts, from the other side of the beach, saw this image of her cellist struggling to save the poor drowning violist. She handed the expensive camera to Drake, exclaiming ‘DRAKE, HOLD THIS. Inis Oírr needs my help!’. Eriol ran as fast as she could towards her troubled colleagues..
As she approached her, she discovered that Iona was standing a few metres from this scene, watching disapprovingly with her arms crossed and eyebrows crossed. ‘Iona, what’s going on!’ Exclaimed Eriol – and then she noticed, this was the actual scene:
Jonathan: ‘Inis Oírr, it’s time to go home, YOU’VE BEEN IN THE SEA FOR 2 HOURS.’
Inis Oírr: ‘NONONONONONO FIVE MORE MINUTES.’
Eriol’s jaw dropped in disbelief and disappointment: her hero moment was taken away from her as she realised that Inis Oírr was not actually drowning, unfortunately. The two violinists watched sceptically as their ridiculous lower strings thrashed about in the sea screaming at each other.
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THE BANANA STORY
So this story was before our second concert on Coll (of some Mendelssohn that you would never want to miss) We did some photo shooting by our talented Inis Oírr near the sea, after that everyone just got exhausted, sleepy and hungry. Iona and Jonathan went back to their beds to take a nap. Me and Inis Oírr, as usual, were talking rubbish. Oh actually we did a bit string crossing practice, you know Mendelssohn and middle parts, haha.
It happened at the time when I got starving. A banana appeared in my vision, it was the last one in the room! I ran towards it, then caught it, oh, it belonged to me forever now…I peeled this golden fruit, sent it (almost) into my mouth. However I was interrupted by Inis Oírr, she was nearly shouting at me: Hey, Iona can’t function without a banana (fun fact x1) before concerts!
I was shocked a bit, but I did remember that. Yes, I’m a strong second violin that is able to live my life without bananas. Therefore, I tried to make the banana look like what it used to be like and got some pizza instead. Wait, to be honest what I want to say is I will do anything to keep Iona running (and of course, for Jonathan and Inis Oírr) Bananas are such small deal, but nothing’s more important than making music!
The story is not finished yet: Iona woke up and told us she bought a bunch of bananas and we can all share them because she knew this would happen. I want to shout out to every colleagues (including sleeping Jonathan): It’s good to be with you.
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So, we wanted to tell these two stories because every rehearsal, we are noticing more and more moments of trust and some minutes where we discover each other, but sometimes you can’t beat the milestones that beaches and bananas will teach you.
As if sharing a room with two WIND players isn’t stressful enough, we decided to challenge the Winds last night to an intense match of pool; some luck, many tears and a lot of cat fighting later, the unexpected result was out…
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Asakas were having a good start at the beginning of the game— Thanks to Jonathan’s unique sensibility and instinct of hitting the ball at the right point. Which made the thing even better was his (brief) luck, it brought the scene that we were only able to see in some legendary pool game videos: he planned to hit the white ball to the wall and expected it coming back to hit one of the yellow balls (we’re team yellow), but after the yellow ball going into the hole successfully, the white ball kept reflecting and hit another yellow ball, then it rushed into another hole as well so smoothly! I was amazed heavily that even forgot to keep an eye on my dear colleague Iona’s Scottish folk music show case. Unfortunately the situation took a turn for the worse after me and Inis Oírr’s participation — seemed we were better at driving our quartet (Haha it is said the inner voices are the bosses of quartet). Jonathan tried his best to turn the tide, however we had to admit as a team, Sylva Winds were more damn stronger (in pool game!). Well, It was still such enjoyable time! Thank you, Sylva Winds!
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Meanwhile, here’s Iona having the time of her life learning how to play the violin (she’s only just done her Grade 1 so well done Iona), and if anyone looks a bit red in the photos, please blame the shockingly affordable and flavourful alcohol that we Londoners can’t get enough of.
We performed the 1st and 2nd Movements of Butler’s Down Hollow Winds (DHW) to the other ensembles in an informal concert and were treated to some classical string repertoire which we were totally inspired by in return.
We have had fantastic coachings from Tim Brown (and a surprise coaching from Jonathan Tunnell) and we are really looking forward to performing all our repertoire in the 3 concerts during the week.
(Photos taken by the talented Inis Oírr Asano)
We’ve had some turbulent rehearsals due to the atmospheric pressure and occasion rain affecting our tuning (especially the reed players), but we are always up for a challenge!
A very unofficial Grade 1-athon is well underway with intensive private lessons from every member crammed into the schedule each day. The new and improved Sylva Winds lineup is as follows:
Flute – Rowan
Oboe – Zoë
Clarinet – Guylaine
Horn – Drake
Bassoon – Yi-Hsuan
You can find a riveting performance of bars 1-4 of the 1st Mvt of Butler’s Down Hollow Winds on our instagram – @sylvawinds – and we look forward to having the chance to present this alternative ensemble to the staff and our colleagues here on Coll at the end of the week…
Three of us so far have purchased Tunnell Trust merchandise (photographed here) and plan on wearing it for the rest of the week, so you will spot it more often from now on!
Thanks also to Yi-Hsuan, who over the last few days has been another guiding influence teaching Mandarin inflections and pronunciation alongside Alexander Technique to her willing students (us).
In other news Jonathan Fong from (Asaka Quartet) had a masterclass with Drake in stone skimming yesterday evening, which they both enjoyed very much – another crucial skill to pick up while on the island.
Tomorrow will be the last day of rehearsals before the concerts begin, and we can’t wait!
Tomorrow will be the last day of rehearsals before the concerts begin, and we can’t wait!