In C, live at the George Tavern

On December 5th, 2010, A Little Orchestra brought some friends together to perform Terry Riley's 'In C' for a second time, this time at the historic George Tavern in east London. The line-up on this occasion was: Alex Billig (bassoon); Dan Cameron (tabla); Catherine Carr (flute); Chris Cook (sitar); Nat Davies (violin); Jill Faure (viola); Rosie French (violin); Claire Hadidjenar (violin); Jon Ludvig Hansen (mandolin); Robbie Knight (synth); Chun-Ming Celia Lu (Vocals); Richard Sanderson (accordion); Nicola Burnett Smith (bass clarinet); Gabriel Stebbing (cello); Terry T-Toe (trombone); Matthew Walker (violin); Jerry Wigens (guitar); and Monster Bobby (the pulse, played on glockenspiel). The full recording can be downloaded here.

In c live at the george, 5 12 2010

A Little Orchestra Christmas Shows

A Little Orchestra are very excited to be playing two Christmas shows next month - do come along and helps us get in the festive mood!

Saturday December 4 - The School's Christmas party at The Luminaire, Kilburn
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=136484899736182

Sunday December 5 - The Moose Factory, The George Tavern, Commerical Road

http://events.myspace.com/Event/6089318/Moose-Factory

For the latter, we will be reprising our all-hands-on-deck rendition of Terry Riley's 'In C', so if you would like to join us for that, please email me via the link above and to the right.

'In C' at The Lexington, Sunday July 11th.

Sunday last at The Lexington, A Little Orchestra and friends performed Terry Riley's minimalist classic 'In C' for John Jervis's delightful Hangover Lounge afternoon. The result was so entrancing that Mr. Sean "Fortuna Pop" Price assures me he was not once tempted to return to his newspaper. The full roll call on the day was (from left to right, see above), Robbie Knight on the synthesizer, Catherine Carr on the flute, Alex Billig on the bassoon, Paul Mosley on the euphonium, Kit Mason on percussion, Nicola Burnett Smith on the bass clarinet, Daniel Trilling on the Casio ToneBank, Dan Spanner also on the bass clarinet, Chris Guy on clarinet, Melanie Powell on viola, Dominic Simpson on another Casio keyboard, Chris Cook aka Same Actor on sitar, Greg Taylor aka Foxtrot Echo on a Casio Pt-30, and (regrettably, beyond the frame) Anne-Marie Kirby on melodica. Oh, and that's me in the middle relentlessly striking quavers on a C-note hanging from a wire coathanger and gaffa-taped to a bin. A complete recording can be heard below (I should point out that the "by" below is intended merely to express who uploaded the piece and by no means its author):

'In C' (live at the lexington: 11/7/2010) by monster bobby

Upcoming

In about one hour, that's 16:30 BST, I will be appearing on Jonny Trunk's Resonance FM show to talk about film soundtracks and things.

Tomorrow afternoon at approximately three o'clock, A Little Orchestra and friends will be performing 'In C' by Terry Riley at the Lexington, Pentonville Road, London. It's free to get in and Bob Stanley will be DJing (and, yes, they will be showing the football later). In fact, don't just come along, download the score, bring an instrument and join in! We'll be having a quick run though at about one o'clock before anyone gets in so if you want to join in, do try and make it to that - in fact, ideally, email me first.

Next Tuesday, I will be DJing at the Lock Tavern, Chalk Farm, from about eight til about midnight. This is my Weird Music Night so you can expect bits of library music, avant-garde stuff, modern composition, horror and science fiction records and so on. This also free - and upstairs.

The following Monday, that's the 19th, The Pipettes release our new single, 'Call Me', on Fortuna Pop! To celebrate, we will be playing at The Lexington with support The School and A Little Orchestra - probably playing something other than 'In C' this time. Do come down and say hello, it would be lovely to see you.

Join a Little Orchestra

Little Other presents a Little Orchestra ... at the moment, it's actually a very little orchestra, but it's growing - and hopefully, growing in such a way as to include you. Ever learnt astring/brass/woodwind instrument and now don't know what to do with it? Well, come along and join us for a rehearsal, every other tuesday in London (starting the 12th of January). Our little orchestra will begin by playing Terry Riley's minimalist classic 'In C' and then ... who knows? The sky is the limit. Though for the time being, we will probably concentrate on those contemporary classical pieces written 'for any arrangement of instruments', ultimately the plan is that members of the ensemble will start composing pieces for the ensemble to play, that external composers will do the same, and that the ensemble will be available for performed or recorded arrangements of pop songs and so forth. If you would like to join, please email in via the address on the top right of this page (or through our Facebook group) - at the moment we are particularly looking for lower register string instruments (cello, double bass) and higher register brass (trumpet, cornet, french horn), but really any standard orchestral, big band, or brass band instruments are welcome.