Thursday 20 December 2012

DWFO #6: "A Christmas Carol (Suite)"



The Doctor Who Fan Orchestra are proud to present their sixth collaboration: "A Christmas Carol (Suite)".

The suite contains the following themes: "Come Alond Pond", "You Didn't Hit The Boy", "Fish", "Babysitter", "The Other Half's Inside The Shark", "He Comes Every Christmas", "New Memories" and "Abigail's Song" -- all composed by Murray Gold.

MP3 file download: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/8058374/DWFO%20%236%20-%20A%20Christmas%20Carol%20%28Suite%29.mp3
(right-click the link if you want to save it!)

http://thedwfo.org

http://www.youtube.com/socksofbalhoon

https://www.facebook.com/DoctorWhoFanOrchestra

http://doctorwhofanorchestra.blogspot.com/

Twitter hashtag: #DWFO

The Doctor Who Fan Orchestra invites musical fans of Doctor Who to take part in an online collaborative celebration of Murray Gold's music. Participants submitted recordings for this work from November to December 2012.

This final mix includes over 350 submissions from 241 individual participants, ranging in age from 12 to 80, and who are located in at least 25 different countries across the world.

PLEASE NOTE: Before anyone asks, no, I'm afraid I can't give you sheet music so your school orchestra or similar can play the music. This is for copyright reasons.
I will ignore any such requests. Thank you for understanding!

Arranged and co-ordinated by Stephen Willis

Assistant Co-ordinator: Robin LaPasha

Web Support: Kostya LaPasha

Member Advisers: Heather Ackroyd & Camila de Camargo Pereira

The next piece will be "Amy's Suite" - featuring some classic Amy themes as well as one or two surprises. To take part, look out for instructions in the upcoming promotional video.

Full list of participants:

PICCOLOS:
Emily Black
Kyle Brown
Benton Gordon
Katie Laski
Rachel Reyes
Stacey Severn
Mandy Tinder

FLUTES:
Emily Black
Jessica Brinkley
Kyle Brown
Camilla
Erin Coldan
Tara Ghormley
Jenna Giere
Melissa Gillman
Benton Gordon
Reid Herrera
Audrey Horn
Skyler Hungerford
Nikki Imberger
Fiona James
Kellina James
Tim Jaw
Erica de Jonge
Katie Laski
Marianna
Emily Morrison
Stacey Severn
Delphine Steiner
Courtney Thiel
Andrew Trautmann
Zuzana Vaneková
Rebecca Walker

OBOES:
Ashlee Bond-Richardson
Makea Luzader
Nicole Maneth
Kari Myers-Busch
Rebecca Rodgers
Andrew Trautmann

COR ANGLAIS:
Rebecca Rodgers

CLARINETS (Bb):
Heather Ackroyd
Elisabeth Altmann
Ashli
Jessica Barner
Zoe Beaney
Cassie Cudworth
Claire Dubedat
Allison Eriksen
Shaun H Y
Elisabeth Hartmark
Megan Hungerford
Ambrose Kranitis
Makea Luzader
Nicolas Mansart
Kari Myers-Busch
Tamara L Nehls
Mitchell Pawsey
Russell Pinzino
Paulette ReCord
Danielle Sammy
Ellie Scorah
Ella Shurr
Andrew Trautmann
Linus Wan
Stephen Willis

BASS CLARINETS:
Heather Ackroyd
Audrey Walker

CONTRABASS CLARINETS:
Richard Brockmeier
MrTheJUPP

ALTO SAXOPHONES:
Ryan Halyburton
James Hyett
Edward Luca
Andrew McLaurin
Miziek
Katarina Ohlsson
Charlotte Proctor
Jason Whitcomb

TENOR SAXOPHONES:
Veronica Grande
Erica de Jonge
Scott R Lambrecht

BARITONE SAXOPHONES:
Samantha Bittle
Jason Whitcomb

BASSOONS:
Janine Golob
Nicole Herman
Lena Faye Sachs

FRENCH HORNS:
Dominic Asuque
Julian R Green
Brenna Hines
Sarah Hopkins
Molly Hunt
Adrienne Killey
Steve Luzader
Jeremy Rodgers
David Scarborough
Jill A Sipe
Laura Testa Allured

WAGNER TUBA:
Steve Luzader

TRUMPETS:
Dominic Asuque
David Baldridge
William Baldridge
Nick Bredhauer
Kyle Cooley
Stephanie Kimball
Erin Palchak
Rob Sandow
Brendan Wayne
Geoffrey Willis

TROMBONES:
Eric Andersen
Jen Brown
Dylan Cargill
Marcus T Carroll
Kathy Chase
Natalie Cool
Chris Gadd
Mike Thorn

BASS TROMBONES:
Dylan Cargill
Marcus T Carroll

EUPHONIUM:
Dylan Cargill

TUBAS:
Dylan Cargill
Tom Jozefowicz
Anton Smit
Uscdrew

TIMPANI:
Nathan Olff

UNTUNED ORCHESTRAL PERCUSSION:
Todd Bestreski
Lore Burns
Brandon Lambert
Robin LaPasha
Gillion Machota
Nathan Olff

MALLET/TUNED ORCHESTRAL PERCUSSION:
Elise Bestreski
Nathan Olff

HANDBELLS:
Heather Ackroyd
C David Dent

TUBULAR BELLS:
Nathan Olff

PIANO:
Michael Barker
Monika Berberich
Ksenia Bulyzhnik
Robert Drane
Shannon Graham
Amaury Mansart
Natalie Odien
Jien Ogawa
Katarina Ohlsson
Sam
Daisy J Selzer
Teresa Slonaker
Paul Tognarelli
Uma Vaidya

CONCERT HARP:
Sarah Hall
Sharon Macauley
Margaret Mackenzie

KANUN:
Robin LaPasha

MANDOLIN:
Jentrie Matheson

ELECTRIC BASSES:
Hazel Fyfe
Colin Pochie

VIOLINS:
Eva Amsen
Laena Batchelder
Evan Blackney
Casey Coddaire
Nina Crisp
Allyn Custer
Brittany Festin
Ze Goon
Daniella Greene
Jenni Hickey
Becca Horn
Kerry Kittleson
Alison Liang
Rachel Martin
Jentrie Matheson
Chiara Mezzavilla
Esther Mildenhall
Mitchell Nelson
Natalie Odien
Silja Ojanen
Christina Reid
Duncan Swan
Jennifer Thompson
Rachel Thompson
Sue Thorn
ViolinistBAKA
Elizabeth Wallace
Brittney Washam
Yukinflake

VIOLAS:
Ida Andersson
Jenna Giere
Ze Goon
Lynette Kleisner Gilbert
Jordan Liberman
Ivy Loos-Austin
Yukinflake

CELLOS:
Monika Bauer
Lore Burns
Kayley Clark
Christine Howe
Julia M
Nicolas Mansart
Jackie Rogers
Teresa Slonaker
Tanja Zett

VIOLA DA GAMBA:
Phillip W Serna

DOUBLE BASSES:
Michael Barker
Phillip W Serna
Vicki Swan
Randall White

VOCAL SOLOISTS:
Caryn Fulda (Soprano 1)
Emily McKie (Alto 1)
Wendy Novicenskie (Soprano 2)
Jessica Brinkley (Alto 2)

CHOIR:
E K Abele
Heather Ackroyd
Kathryn Wallace Adams
Rachael Allman
Elisabeth Altmann
Denis Andreev
Audrey Ashburn
Colin Ashburn
Dominic Asuque
Galia Bahat
Monika Bauer
Zoe Beaney
Hannah Beaton
Monika Berberich
Elise Bestreski
Jessica Brinkley
Jen Brown
Ksenia Bulyzhnik
Juliane Bunk
Lore Burns
Emily Byers
Jennie C
Amancay Candal Tribe
Miranda Chu
Darlene Crumly
C David Dent
Matt Di Carlo
Joanna Sherlyn Dunlap
James East
Ivan Esteve
Angela Evrard
Jennifer Finch
Elisabeth Flaum
Brennen French
Cameron Friend
Glory Friend
Karin Fujii
Caryn Fulda
María Celeste Fux
Melissa Gillman
Shannon Graham
Victoria Gray
Janna Guy
Shawna Hafen
Brenda Han
Rachael Hapeman
Klara Hellgren
Susan Henry
John Hicks
Sarah Hopkins
Becca Horn
Audrey Horn
Katie Hughes
Anne C. Hunter
Uma Hunter
Paula Herrington Ishee
Elizabeth Karrmann
Nicole-Anne Keyton
Tiffany Knoell
Joy Kohlsaat
Robin LaPasha
Kostya LaPasha
Josephine Lenski
Alison Liang
Bebe Liang
Gitta Luites
Gillion Machota
Nicole Maneth
Marianna
Rachel Martin
Alyssa McDermott
Emily McKie
Graeme Mealey
Chiara Mezzavilla
Vanessa Aisha Mostafa
Kristen Murphy
Kari Myers-Busch
Elizabeth Nelson
Wendy Novicenskie
Natalie Odien
Vincent Odien
Katarina Ohlsson
Silja Ojanen
Simi Panesar
Camila de Camargo Pereira
Russell Pinzino
Anastassia Rakitianskaia
Paulette ReCord
Rhabarberqueen
Jackie Rogers
Kathie Rogers
Tamsyn Sanders
Sam Saucier
Scriptor Paulina
Ellen Shih
Małgorzata Słabosz
Tiadeets
Zuzana Vaneková
Audrey Walker
Rebecca Walker
Brittney Washam
Lucy Webb
Hilary Weston
Brad Williams
Stephen Willis
Rachel Wood
Yukinflake

Thursday 13 December 2012

The Joy of Meetups – by Heather Ackroyd (Clarinet, Soprano)



It all started on March 31st 2012. In a welcome thread in the private DWFO Facebook group, several members mentioned they lived in or near Maryland, USA. Robin LaPasha (Assistant Co-Ordinator) indicated a couple of other members who were in nearby states and said, “Hmm… anybody else in that zone?” To which I responded, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Thus started a series of communications planning our first ever DWFO meetup. At the time the group was in the middle of learning and recording parts for the Dalek Suite, and we decided that the Memorial Day weekend (May 26th – 28th) would be a good time for a local get-together. Aside from being a long weekend in the US, the Dalek Suite submissions would be over and we would have just started looking at the music for our next piece (which we hadn’t settled on at the time, but it was to be a suite from The Impossible Astronaut).

None of us were quite sure what to expect, and as the hosts for the event my husband and I were a bit nervous about how it would go. It turned out our fears were unfounded. We had a total of eight participants at that first meetup, and we spent a good portion of the weekend playing music. Mostly we started learning our brand-new piece but we also revisited old DWFO projects, including regaling our neighbours with an outdoors rendition of the entire Dalek Suite.

Having taken part in several projects at that point, I’d already developed quite a strong feeling of community simply through active participation in the Facebook group. But actually being in the same room as we played the music was so much better. When we weren’t playing our DWFO music we were watching Doctor Who, or going for a swim in the nearby river, sightseeing a bit, or going out to dinner. I think we all came out of that weekend feeling much more connected, and frankly the music workshops really helped us get our heads around some of the trickier bits of The Impossible Astronaut.

Thus, when TIA was over and we were looking at the new piece – a suite from A Christmas Carol – our thoughts naturally turned to having another meetup. After some discussion about location, it was decided that we would be hosting again at our house in central Maryland in early November. A couple of the people who had come to the first one were unable to make the second, but we gained a new member for a total of seven for the November meetup.  

There aren’t words to express how wonderful it is to get together in person to play this amazing music. Even though we only have a handful of instruments, it lets us hear the piece more fully than with the guide track we receive to keep us in time for our audio submissions. And simply being able to discuss the piece and hum or play the bits we’re talking about is so much more effective than trying to describe something in text as a Facebook post. The feedback is immediate and we all improved over the course of the weekend, one to the point where he made his recordings on the Sunday.

This time around we also decided to get into a proper festive mood by creating a short dramatic video. It was a fun little project that took maybe an hour to film, and it might just shed some light on exactly how Santa manages to get around to everyone on Christmas Eve.

Here’s to many more meetups to come!