Emily reflects on Barbuda
Emily reflects on Barbuda
Our aim for the trip had been to teach recorder to a few students- preparing a short piece for the ABYSO’s concert there on Sunday- while also teaching violin to Karen and Zoe (who were going to take on the role of tutoring students on the island).
Upon arrival we made our way to Holy Trinity primary school where Daniel taught a recorder session. We had a group of pupils, all with very little recorder playing experience, learning the basics of the recorder. As a non-recorder player myself, I found the session very interesting – learning where the notes were and learning breathing technique alongside the students.
One of the things that struck me during this time – and our time on Barbuda as a whole – was the work ethic of the kids we were working with. It is not easy learning a new instrument in such a short time, let alone putting a piece together, but they definitely rose to the challenge! A few of the students even kept trying to learn more notes and techniques – excited to learn the range of the recorder. Their enthusiasm was infectious and I look forward to seeing how they progress in the next few years.
The violin session was run by Peter and I at the Fisheries near the famous Barbuda lagoon and where the ABYSO will be playing on Sunday. The aim of the session was to run over the basics of the violin and its maintenance long term with a few of the tutors who would be teaching string instruments to children on the island. They had all been learning about various bits of the instrument in sessions prior to our arrival but we had brought over the instruments they would be using. It is an incredible feat to learn an instrument so quickly – with some of them taking their grade one in just six weeks.
When we weren’t tutoring in Barbuda, we were having the most amazing tour of the island by our host – Karen Thomas. In the evening of our first day we were treated to lobster pasta at Uncle Ronnie’s – a renowned restaurant on the island. The restaurant also kept a few tortoises outside which they let us feed (a bucket list moment for me!!) On the morning of the second day we were taken to Princess Diana beach where we could see the sand’s famous pink hue. Paddling along, we were able to spot a stunning, small sting ray in the water before heading off to the final recorder session.
To top off the whole trip we were taken to the Frigate Bird Sanctuary by a lovely man named George. He took us on a speed boat round the lagoon to see the island’s famous birds and explained their history.
My experience on Barbuda has been one of the most musically rewarding experiences of my life. Seeing the kids get so stuck into the music and how much they achieved in just two days is incredible. I am excited to see how much the classical musical life on Barbuda flourishes in the coming years!
Today, on day seven of our Commonwealth Resounds trip to Antigua, the scent of anticipation was in the air as the sounds of rehearsals echoed from the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium. This iconic cricket ground, named after one of the Caribbean’s if not the world’s greatest batsmen, was abuzz with rhythm, music and energy. Today’s agenda? Final sectional rehearsals and composition workshops, led by our dedicated team of composers.
The composition workshops provided an exciting opportunity for our musicians to explore their composition skills, delving deeper into the world of melodies, motifs, and movements through film and jazz composition.
Over day 5 & 6, our team pushed the boundaries of our projects. Branching off into three separate groups, they covered a huge array of music and incredibly wide area of the islands.
Starting with something completely new, the third group – Daniel Swanni, Emily Abbott, and Peter Banks – embarked on a different path, braving a very early wake-up call to board a boat – renowned for being rather rough – bound for the island of Barbuda. Their mission? To mentor a group of budding recorder players and to cultivate a new crop of violin and cello teachers.
Daniel was delighted to work with the recorder group, which had just embarked on their journey into playing the recorder together. Developing skills through games he carefully built their confidence and created new music for them to perform together. Over just one and a half days, he prepared them for their upcoming Sunday concert.
Emily and Peter, meanwhile, met with aspiring violin and cello teachers. They brough the first ever violins and a cello to the island. Their task was to lay the groundwork for a new string teaching programme on the island. It was a real pleasure to hand over the instruments to the new teachers and the energy in the room was extraordinary.
Staying overnight on Barbuda, we were treated to exquisite local cuisine and breathtaking views of the beaches. The highlight was a visit to the frigate bird colony.
Day 10 was filled to bursting with composition, composition, and… composition. Throughout the previous 9 days, several members of the ABYSO had sent their compositions to Alison, Ka Youn, and myself, to be played in Monday’s composer’s concert. As a result, the proposed concert programme gradually expanded throughout the week, inflating from a 40-minute concert to an hour, then an hour twenty, and so on. By the time Monday rolled around, we had a program of 14 pieces, highlighting the fantastic diversity of musical creativity on the island.
In addition to the individual compositions, the composer’s concert also featured the collaborative compositions developed throughout the trip by the composition team and the various instrumental sections of the ABYSO. There was the violinist’s piece, a string quintet, which I was frantically sewing together as late as Monday morning (a timeline I’m sure every composer is familiar with). The quintet featured melodies and accompaniments from ABYSO violinists Asafa, Alfranique, Asha, and Calynia, all massively varied in character. Tying all these fragments together resulted in a wonderfully diverse musical collage, continually moving between driving grooves and floating lullabies. While I was wrestling with this, Ka Youn was doing something similar for the lower strings, tying together their beautiful melodies into a virtuosic duet for viola and double bass. What struck us both more than anything else was the incredible creativity of the ABYSO student’s musical fragments: They would often embrace quirkiness, would never shy away from subverting harmonic and melodic expectations, making each note on the page very much their own.
What followed was one of the best concerts of my life. Education officer Caryl Edwards-Lewis compered, cultivating a wonderfully Antiguan atmosphere of audience participation and engagement, sprinkling the perfect combination of humour, encouragement, and storytelling across the evening. Sitting front row was His Excellency Sir Rodney Williams and Her Excellency Karen-Mae Hill, two people who have provided invaluable help in facilitating the development of orchestral music on Antigua and Barbuda. Many of the members of the ABYSO presented their own pieces, preparing speeches that detailed the hard work and creativity of the previous week’s workshops, with each speech being met by a mandatory stretch of thundering applause and deafening whoops from parents and peers. Witnessing students, teachers, and parents lift each other up and recognise each other’s deep dedication to music-making was a truly special experience. The student’s pieces were awe-inspiring, testaments to their musical curiosity and willingness to collaborate creatively with one another. We heard film music, string music, wind music, quartets, quintets, duets, large ensembles, jazz ensembles and more, a musical kaleidoscope that represented the individual compositional talent of every single member of the ABYSO. Really special stuff.
