The Oxford Concert Party will be playing the following dates:
No concerts listed.
10th Festive Family Concert
Friday 21st December 7.30 at Holywell Music Room, Holywell Street, Oxford
Please contact us for more information.
The following report was written by Monica Hazell, Quaker Minister at HMP Dartmoor, who was responsible for organising the Music Project by the Oxford Concert Party, which took place in January 2000. The project was funded jointly by Ockham Holdings and the West Devon Quakers.
We were privileged to welcome the Oxford Concert Party to the prison from 10th - 13th January. They are a prestigious group of national and international renown and selected as 'Pick of the Fringe' in the Edinburgh Festival in 1998. They are known as 'Europe's only Baroque and Tango Orchestra!' which reflects the wide range of their musical interest. The group consists of two violins, viola, cello, double-bass and harpsichord/accordion. The Artistic Director, Arne Richards, is a consultant music therapist, and his unique compositions and arrangements for the Oxford Concert Party show his love of world music and inspirational style.
The group have given concerts and workshops in many prisons throughout Great Britain and Ireland including Grendon and Whitemoor, where they have taken several very successful music workshops.
Last year the group entertained us with a concert; this year three days of music workshops, men from the Vulnerable Prisoners Unit in the mornings, the Main in the afternoons, culminating in two concerts on the fourth day. This was a unique and very valuable experience for the men involved.
Arne's quiet manner and delightful sense of humour soon had the men relaxed and listening intently. They were introduced to the instruments played by the group, were able to handle them and experiment with a wide range of percussion. They were treated to a wonderful range of music played to them by the group who played with exciting vitality and sensitivity. The music included Arne's composition 'An Armenian in Krakow', which was his way of expressing the experience of visiting Auschwitz concentration camp - a composition of haunting beauty and pathos. The men were gradually drawn in to interpret a variety of moods using the instruments available. Every man's contribution was valued, and they gradually gained confidence to express healthy emotions that could rarely be expressed on the 'Wing'. There were exercises in rhythm and sound interpretation, and the men were encouraged to be sensitive to the variations of tone and colour in the instruments they played. As could be expected the morning and afternoon workshops contrasted strongly. The V.P.U. were soon producing very imaginative work. Some of them brought their own poetry which was read with an appropriate background of music. It was good to see the men working so well together in groups, listening to each other, accepting and working with the precision needed in starting and ending a piece, and 'fading out' on occasions to create further atmosphere. All this required self-discipline.
The men greatly respected the professionalism of the group, and came to value the opportunity to create music alongside such a quiet, sincere and brilliant group of musicians.
The afternoon group were enabled within the first session to express themselves freely with the percussion. There was a lot of noisy expressive drum playing, some of it very good, but possibly resolving a lot of frustration and working out of aggression. Each evening the Oxford Concert Party discussed the day's work and planned the day ahead around the evolving creativity of the men they were working with.
The 'Mains' exuberance was gradually tempered and these men, as the V.P.U., were expressing other moods and greater sensitivity in their playing. Again the men were soon working together co-operatively, listening, and treating other members of the group with respect.
The culminating concerts were much enjoyed and the Oxford Concert Party very satisfied with the week's involvement. The officers who were detailed to oversee the workshops and concerts were very impressed, and couldn't believe their luck in being able to experience such musical brilliance.
The men were loathe to say goodbye to their friends who proved to be such unassuming people. I hope the memory and influence of their presence will linger in the prison for a long time to come.
We are all very grateful to Governor Lawrence for allowing the event to take place, to Governor Brown and all the prison officers who were so helpful and encouraging.
Monica Hazell
Quaker Minister
The following poems were written by two of the prisoners taking part in the Oxford Concert Party's music project at HMP Dartmoor in January 2000.
Thanks for four days of setting us free
You opened my mind personally.
You raised my heart did beautiful things
With keys, and air and bows and strings.
You lifted me up, gave me food for thought
Though my mind is usually wrought
With sadness, anguish, tears and pain,
And worries that I might go insane
But for awhile you took me away,
It's been hard to wait for the next day
Scratching my skin chewing my nail
My time with you has seemed to sail
Thank you Oxford music workshop
I hope what you do you don't stop.
Harpsichord, viola and double bass
Hard and soft like rock and lace
Accordion, violin, and of course cello
Hyperactive and also mellow,
I'll thank you once I'll thank you twice
It's been twelve months since I've been
With people so nice.
Danny Neil
This land so green
It's waters so blue
The land of our fathers
Was broken in two
Like the hearts of the mothers
Who wept for their sons
While the men in their masks
Still reached for their guns
But we only saw what was shown on TV
"Our report in Belfast is..."
(pause)
Fiddle-de-dum - Fiddle-de-dee,
"A bomb has gone off in County Derry"
(pause)
Fiddle-de-dee - Fiddle-de-dum,
"A man has been shot at the point of a gun
while attending the funeral of..."
(pause)
Fiddle-de-dee - Fiddle-de-dum.
The shooting...has stopped
The bombing's on hold.
There's going to be peace
Or so we are told...
And the loyalist[s] still march
To the beat of the drum
And the man in the mask...
Still carries his gun
Fiddle-de-dee - Fiddle-de-dum.
Phil Savage
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