Winner announced in first ever OCA music competition!
We are delighted to announce that Chris Lawry has been awarded the first prize in OCA’s first ever music competition.
The challenge was to produce an original arrangement of a traditional folk tune. Entrants could choose one of two melodies. In practice, most chose ‘We’ve been a-wandering’, as follows:
Chris Lawry’s arrangement can be heard on an audio file by clicking on the play button, below:
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Talking about his entry, Chris commented:
‘When I originally started thinking about arranging this wassailing song, I was very anxious to choose an orchestration that would do the tune justice, not only to be pleasing to the ear, but also to give some recognition of its rich historical background; I also wanted to integrate this into a more modern setting. Whilst wassailers were traditionally singers, they were on many occasions known to be accompanied by local traditional instrumentalists. As time passed by, it grew to include (amongst others) brass instruments – and what could possibly sound more like Yorkshire than a brass band?!
After much thought, I chose to score the piece for Brass Band and String Orchestra. Although seeming to belong to two separate musical worlds, between them I believe you can create a much more exciting “Hollywood” sound with the varied instrumentation. A sound that is not only ‘of today’ but also contains echoes right back through the ages of the sounds that influence us now.’
The judging panel comprised Gareth Dent (OCA’s Chief Executive), Patric Standford (a distinguished composer and OCA’s course leader for music) and Andrew Watson (OCA’s Director of Development). We were delighted by the number and standard of entries.
Among the entries which the panel particularly enjoyed were (in no particular order):
- a sensitive setting for strings and woodwind by Drew Adams which was right there in the final shortlist;
- an arrangement for solo voice and piano by Peter Ellwood, with an intentional nod in the direction of Benjamin Britten;
- a vocal setting of the other melody (Hidden away) by Anita Grimwood in the form of a round;
- a quartet arrangement of Hidden Away by Fiona Coulter, with particularly effective writing for strings;
- a wonderfully dark, jazzy arrangement by Patrick Billingham of We’ve been a-wandering, with some witty Yorkshire allusions;
- an innovative setting for recorder, viola and piano by Petra Vergunst, with neat interplay between the 2 melody instruments;
- a string quartet arrangement by Gary Cruden, with sparse textures effectively creating a bleak, wintry feel.
Apologies to those who did not get a mention this time. However, we definitely plan to launch another music competition later in the year. Do let Andrew Watson (andrewwatson[at]oca-uk.com) have your suggestions as to the theme.