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As the Central Band of the RAF prepares to premiere Wings of Freedom, a brand new work by British composer Thomas Hewitt Jones in a concert in Cambridge on Sunday 1 October, meet band member Air Specialist 1 Callum Rookes.

Air Specialist 1 Callum Rookes (32) grew up in the nearby village of Sawston. Attending Sawston Village College, Callum started to play the Tuba, age 13, and was soon performing with the school Concert Wind Band and the Cambridge Youth Wind Orchestra. In 2009 Callum moved to London to study the Tuba with Oren Marshall at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance before completing his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in Denmark.

In 2015 Callum joined the Royal Corps of Army Music and was posted to the Band of the Coldstream Guards. He has performed in state ceremonial engagements including changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace and Trooping the Colour. Callum made the move to the blue and gold of Royal Air Force Music in March 2021 and returns to his local town to perform with the Central Band of the Royal Air Force at West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge.

AS1 Callum Rookes

West Road Concert Hall is a special venue to Callum as he conducted his first concert with a school brass ensemble in 2006. On Sunday 1 October 2023, 17 years later, Callum will be performing with the Central Band of the Royal Air Force for an afternoon of contemporary music, featuring a new commission by award-winning composer Thomas Hewitt Jones. The new work, entitled ‘Wings of Freedom’ is inspired by and built around the core values of the Royal Air Force: respect, integrity, service, and excellence. Other works include those by composers such as Jan Van der Roost, John Williams and Steven Reineke.

Speaking about the Concert Callum said:

“My family are going to be there. It’s the first time they’ve seen me perform since secondary school so it’s a very special occasion – I’d like to think I’ve improved since then, but we’ll have to wait and see what the verdict is!”

 

Central Band of the Royal Air Force in Concert, Sunday 1 October, 5.30pm at West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge

More info / tickets  or call ADC Ticketing on 01223 300085.

The Central Band of the Royal Air Force was established in 1920 and since its formation has played an integral and unique role in military life and in the musical world. In 1922 they were the first military band to broadcast on the BBC. They play a vital part in State Ceremonial events, as well as performing across the United Kingdom in support of Service charities and Military Tattoos. Central Band have led several commemoration events including the RAF Centenary parade through London in July 2018 when 100 RAF musicians led the parade of over 1000 RAF servicemen and women down the Mall to Buckingham Palace.

For further information, contact Flight Sergeant Tom Ringrose, MCO RAF Music Services on 07896 330103. More information about RAF music can be found here

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The Central Band of the Royal Air Force will premiere WINGS OF FREEDOM, a brand-new commissioned piece by award-winning British composer Thomas Hewitt Jones, at concerts in London and Cambridge.

Wings of Freedom receives its premiere in London on 29th September and in Cambridge on 1st October 2023.

A four-movement work for symphonic wind band, Wings of Freedom is inspired by the core values of the Royal Air Force – the beliefs and principles that define and unify the Service. Each movement takes its title and theme from these core values: Respect, Integrity, Service and Excellence

Composer Thomas Hewitt Jones says, ‘I was so delighted when the opportunity arose to work alongside the Central Band of the Royal Air Force, creating a new large-scale new work to premiere in concert in London this September. I was invited to RAF Northolt to hear a rehearsal, and I was immediately struck by both the impeccable musicianship of the players and their infectious team spirit. Heard at a huge number of high-profile royal and national events each year, the RAF Music Services have quite an amazing pedigree.

The four movements of the piece are directly titled by each of the RAF’s core values. The first movement, ‘Respect’, begins with an epic fanfare which aims to evoke the sheer gravitas and responsibility of the RAF’s role as air defence of the United Kingdom. The second movement, ‘Integrity’, plays with the idea that in order to keep integrity, difficulties (depicted by atonal interjections) must be withstood, and the peaceful long melodic lines will overcome adversity (I was thinking here of the RAF’s Latin motto ‘Per ardua ad astra’ – “through adversity to the stars”. Movement 3, ‘Service’, conveys the idea of fortitude: serving the common good with steadfast determination, intense concentration and unwavering intention. The final movement, ‘Excellence’, celebrates the sheer brilliance and positive contribution of the RAF to the UK’s history. Also, the idea that joy, humanity and world peace can be sought as a key aim of the role of the force – and a small measure of pride in the UK, too!’

The Central Band of the RAF is delighted to have the opportunity to perform this new commission by Thomas Hewitt Jones and to programme it alongside other modern works, as a world premiere. The concerts in London and Cambridge will also raise funds for the Royal Air Force Music Services Association, with whom the Central Band of the RAF has close links, and which provides support to RAF Music Services.

The Central Band of the RAF will be performing at two venues that are new to them, with the aim of inspiring and garnering new audiences. Holy Trinity Sloane Square is a fantastic concert space and allows for a unique collaboration with the Choir of Holy Trinity Sloane Square. West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge, is an equally brilliant, but very different venue and the Band looks forward to performing their programmes in two such contrasting and iconic spaces.

Alongside the new commission from Thomas Hewitt Jones, the London concert opens with ‘In Our Service’, composed by Hewitt Jones in honour of HM Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee in 2022. Both concert programmes include ‘Shimmering Sunshine’ by Kevin Day, ‘Hymn to the Fallen’ by John Williams, ‘Puszta’ by Jan Van der Roost and ‘Tight Squeeze’ by Alex Shapiro. The Cambridge concert also features ‘Fate of the Gods’ by Steven Reineke.

Conductors:

Director of Music, Headquarters Music Services: Squadron Leader Chris I’Anson BMus Hons LRSM LTCL LLCM RAF (conducting Wings of Freedom)

Director of Music, Central Band of the Royal Air Force: Flight Lieutenant Michael Parsons BA Hons LRSM LLCM, RAF

BOOK TICKETS FOR LONDON CONCERT

BOOK TICKETS FOR CAMBRIDGE CONCERT

To see the band in performance, watch this video of ‘Lights on in Space’ by Andrew Pearce:

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Guest post by David Lake

(This article first appeared on Facebook as a comment in response to my article Let classical audiences be quiet.)

The truth is we do have a problem. But we’re not solving it in the right way (in my very humble opinion! ). So, let’s break it down….

The problem: Younger audiences are not going to ‘traditional’ classical concerts.

The reasoning from the concert management: They want to see something more akin to a non-classical gig where they can interact with musicians in ‘real-time.’

The answer from the concert management: turn the classical concert into a gig. We know how to do this because most pro musicians don’t see music as a segregated genres but as a continuum so for many, whether it is Femi Kuta, The Manchester Collective or the Berlin Phil doesn’t actually (musically) matter and in fact just like a good diet, one should have a bit of everything.

But where this all falls down is when you get to the Great Paying Public who are obsessed with labels, genres, types, etc. and a total mis-understanding of the process of ‘musicking’ and how it applies to the different genres.

And the fact that our classical concerts are just TOO expensive starting from the ticket prices and the devious tricks the venues play to increase the price (‘convenience fees’ on an emailed ticket which by definition only exists so they don’t have to spend money printing and posting it!), horrendously-priced food and drink (glass of very mediocre red at the RAH is now heading towards £15), virtually non-existent public transport (endless strikes, endless cancellations and very expensive) – this is pricing out the younger punters unless they live within easy striking-distance of a TfL station (and many of my 50-something compatriots seem to have just given up and retired to remote locations which may as well be on the Outer Hebrides).

Several things I’ve done these past few weeks have brought this in to sharp focus. First, I went to a fabulous concert at Bold Tendencies by Pavel Kolesnikov and Samson Tsoy – tickets around £15 each, food (excellent) at Peckham Levels about £25 for 2, drink cheap, views from the rooftop free and To Die For. Age-range 9-99 – all colours, shapes, types, dress, etc. and massively respectful to the music and artists. Brilliant. Second, Glyndebourne; Semele. Ticket (cheap seats) over £150. Food – brought our own but had to pay for the table. Venue, utterly gorgeous. Music, world-class. Audience; old, white, rich, entitled and actually a good number who just seemed to be there for the event rather than the music (including the people behind us who chatted ALL the way through). Would I go again? Yes. Does it need to change? Yes or else it will simply turn into another corporate junket.

Then late-night Prom – Iestyn Davies, English Concert, Bach… Utterly amazing, totally silent, respectful, engaged audience. And they had to be because the pianissimo at times was SO pppp that you just HAD to listen.

The takeaway for me is that at events where the audience is engaged and sufficiently educated and invested they will, by nature, be quiet, be respectful, be interested. I don’t think the problem is with the true audience per-se; it is that we’re not putting on the right things in the right way at the right price point to attract them much of the time and many promoters are lazily programming stuff that they know that the rich, older audience will just tip up to because that is the only way the venues can survive.

What I’d like to see, alongside the ‘big ticket’ items, is the kind of diversity that organisations like Through the Noise run and promote throughout the country, and then making it easy and cheap to get to the city-centre venues by cheap, available public transport, fair-priced tickets and good quality, inexpensive catering (RAH ‘sausage’ roll – I’m looking at you in shame).

David Lake is a research scientist, engineer, pianist, concert-goer and choral singer and sees the barriers between art and science as purely artificial and unhelpful.  He is currently studying for his Licentiate Diploma (piano) and recently achieved a first in his BA from the Open University, whilst carrying on with the science-stuff in 6G mobile networks for the “day-job.” He also writes for The Cross-Eyed Pianist’s sister site ArtMuseLondon.com

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… PLAY THE MUSIC !

Guest post by Alberto Ferro

Inspirational yet enigmatic, the recommendation to NOT PLAY THE NOTES is typically given in music classes of conservatories all around the world. It suggests that a musician should forget about technical things and focus on the poetic content of the music. Easy to say. And it doesn’t even remotely hint at how that shall be accomplished. How can one play the music without playing notes? Is it perhaps figurative speech?

What is the relationship between music and notes? Music is a way to communicate ideas, emotions, aesthetic content, and the notes are a notational device that helps reconstructing the complex series of actions necessary for music to be performed. While music is an undefinable, ephemeral phenomenon, a musical score is an inescapable, very tangible instruction manual that conveys in a rigorous way how to produce refined combinations of sounds on your instrument. The score (and every kind of musical notation) is a practical tool instructing on practical operations. What scores don’t show are the poetic intention, and they never will.

A note is possibly the smallest item we can identify in a score, a small brick in the architecture of a piece. The similarity with written language is striking: like notes, letters are meaningless by themselves but necessary to form words and phrases of content. In language, for a sentence to acquire meaning it must be organized properly at the level of letters, words and above; syntax, content, punctuation, vocabulary, etc.

Musical notes are grouped into motives, phrases, periods that are dynamic, contextualized by further levels such as harmony, organized in rhythms, sections, according to proportions, characterized by articulations, etc. The score presents all of it in visual form, through black dots on white paper: it takes some years of musical education to see all of that just by studying the score. Even more significantly, seeing doesn’t exactly translates in hearing, and even less easily transforms in performing.

Notes and music belong to two quite different dimensions: instrument and art, instruction and expression, gesture and intention. The ability to maintain the former at the service of the latter is possibly the highest way of conducting ourselves in music.

When you listen to music, do you hear notes or do you pay attention to the music? What is more rewarding, to connect with the poetic message or to detect intervals, tonalities, chords, and notes? Any listener knows that music is relevant when it goes beyond its means of production: every score looks the same, black dots on paper, how uninteresting, but every piece of music is unique. The most passionate listeners don’t hear pianos, cellos, oboes, but emotions, art, sublime ideas, pure creations, etc.

As instrumentalists, when do you stop playing notes and start playing the music? As you practice, there is a point where you have grown so much familiarity with the piece that the score stops showing notes and starts presenting an emotional roadmap, a poetic journey, an aesthetic design. What makes a piece of music exciting are the ideas, colours, gestures, the human characters we find in it, so we must practice it until these emerge, until sound projects ideas, colours, gestures or characters.

‘You must learn by memory, then forget’. The score ought to be forgotten so to express the human message that is in the sound and missing from the score. Or, only when we ‘play without thinking’ music acquires a deeper meaning, since thinking is the very process by which we inhibit more instinctive ways of expression, and the number one reason we get distracted while listening to music.

Start with one bar, one phrase, one chord, and when it works build up from there: the bar, the chord, the phrase, will at once become a vision, a gesture, an emotion, and that means you are not playing notes anymore. There is only one way for the magic to happen and requires that everything is ready in place, solid in your fingers, clear in your heart, and you, the performer, must be free of concerns.

No doubt it is hard, but there isn’t any more valuable route in music. As listeners, for music to reach out and move us, it must be really a special mixture of unique qualities. For musicians the process is backwards: we first try figure out what is it that we are trying to say, why this music matter for us, what is the composer telling us, and keep trying until the exact balance of ingredients (gestures, ideas, visions, intentions, etc.) emerges to align in a perfect, magical mixture.

Alberto Ferro is a composer and pianist. Current Creative Director at the London Contemporary School of Piano, Alberto holds a Piano Performance Degree from Milan Conservatory and a Master in Music from Washington State University, U.S.

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