Chamber music is playing music in small ensembles with each
player playing their own part. These ensembles range from
three players to nine players. This year my chamber music
group, The Bridge Trio, made it to the district final. This
means that we had made it to the best eight groups of Hawke’s
Bay. In my group there was Jamie Cornes on cello, Niu Niu
Dou from Lindisfarne College on piano and myself, Nesta
Lade on violin.
For the chamber music contest this year,
we played Three Miniatures by
Frank Bridge. The first miniature we
played was a Minuet, a dance that
originated in France for two people.
The second miniature was a slightly faster
miniature, a Gavotte. A Gavotte is also a
dance that originated from France. The
last miniature and fastest one was
Allegretto. Allegretto is a passage marked
to be played at a tempo of Allegretto.
Even though my chamber music group was
quite late in getting together and we had
little time to do in depth practice, we still
made it to the district final in Hawke’s Bay.
When we first started practicing together
in the holidays, we practiced nearly everyday for at least an hour but during the school term we were only able to
practice once a week together. We were determined to get to the district final and pushed ourselves to polish our
piece to a very high standard. We had coaching from Gregory Squire, a member of the NZSO (New Zealand Symphony Orchestra), Marian Stronach and Karen Briggs. Without their help, we wouldn’t have been able to get so far
and we are so grateful for their help.
Before the chamber music heats, we had a few performances to help us get ready. We performed at Marian Stronach’s concert where all her chamber music groups performed. In addition, Lindisfarne College invited us to
perform at a special concert for people with disabilities. It was a great experience playing for a different audience.
After those two performances we played at the cham ber music heats and then at the district final. Havelock High
School also invited us to play at our school assembly and this was our final performance together.
This is so because Niu Niu, our pianist, is moving to
Palmerston North next year to go to university. Jamie and
I are currently still contemplating whether to go with
another pianist next year or to just have a string ensemble.
The experience with playing in a chamber music ensemble
made me realize that in the future I would be able to play
in semi professional ensemble groups part time and earn
money at small concerts.
Nesta Lade