Workshops, adjudication, performance and session work
Colin has just returned from Singapore where he has been adjudicating ensemble competitions. Here are some photos from this trip.
Foot stools.....there were more than 1500 of them!
Adjudicators at work: Helmut Oesterreich takes things very seriously, whilst Patricia Pollard and John Hooper share a joke
Colin relaxes with organisers of the Singapore Youth Festival
Preparations for an ensemble to compete
An ensemble takes to the stage in Singapore
The panel, Patricia Pollard, Helmut Oesterreich, Colin Tommis and John Hooper
after the day's work the adjudicators can dress down and relax
The last workshop there, entitled "how to arrange for guitar ensemble" was well attended and enthusiastically received. Colin took the students through one of his own compositions and looked at various ways to place voices. Small changes of dynamic, register and articulation can produce clearly audible differences. Colin believes that in transcription and arrangement, the mould has already been broken - we are no longer going to sound as the composer ever intended. Brandenburg Concertos with plucked strings will never sound the same as a performance with bowed strings. The art is now to make them live again through a new instrument, and the process of reinvention can be an exciting and liberating journey. The assembled students, a mixture of ensemble leaders and their conductors concluded that confidence was a key ingredient to success.
Colin is an adjudicator and examiner, a soloist, a studio session player, a composer and an arranger. He travels widely to adjudicate at music festivals and competitions. He is happy to discuss any ideas for a commission or a performance and he would like to hear from you if you think he can be of service.
