Rally Reviews
One of the first mandolins of one of the other orchestras, I forget which, was following her conductor with truly wonderful
fidelity, and must have perfectly memorised her part. She knows who she is. I shall think of her as the Conductor’s Dream.
Midlands Fretted Orchestra provided a welcome change from the other orchestras, whose sound is dominated by the
mandolin family. MFO has a banjo section which plays with simplicity and thoughtfulness, and this gives their music a different
texture from everybody else’s. The fact that they were playing a beautiful original composition by one of their members made
their performance even more special. I have the impression that the banjo is becoming marginal in the BMG Federation and
hope this trend is reversed. The banjo is capable of a great deal more subtlety and feeling than people think, as I realised
upon first hearing The Furies playing ‘When You Were Sweet Sixteen’ many years ago
I had been feeling a little miffed about having to come so far (from Norfolk) but could not possibly complain when it became
clear that a contingent of about sixty had flown down from Scotland. What would be without those jovial Scots and their
German Svengali? There should be a special prize for Barbara every year, just for being Barbara. Her achievement is
immense.
It was a real pleasure to see so many old friends, and make a couple of new ones. It was also a pleasure to go home
feeling re-energised and determined to play even more. Damn the dusting, that’s what I say. Louis de Bernières, Norfolk
Abridged version from Simon Mayor of his blog about the Rally weekend – read full blog at
www.mandolin.co.uk/bmg-rally-2014
A
n exhausting but rewarding weekend started for me in
the school’s hall where, with The Mandolinquents, I took
part in the opening concert. It was an audience that needed no
warming up and after all the serious and semi-serious material
we decided we could encore with Duellin’ Banjos and The
Parrot Song. Very silly!
Saturday was packed with workshops. I’d suggested I
could cover playing by ear and basic improvisation. I realised
beforehand that really these are two distinct topics. While
someone can be taught to apply knowledge of music theory to