It’s often said that everyday is a school day. Life often throws up unexpected experiences which can challenge our way of thinking. This week, for me, the phrase has never been more appropriate because I’ve been back to school a number of times and it’s really given me pause for thought.
This all started with last years’ ‘Everyone Deserves A Christmas’ charity record. I reached out to Paul Bewen-Chappell who manages Cerdd NPT, the music service for schools in Neath Port Talbot. I knew they had a good orchestra so I asked if they might be willing to join in with the project. Fair play, Paul together with his team gathered an orchestra made up of pupils and the peripatetic teachers who mentor them every week.
It was only a few weeks later in early January that Paul turned the tables on me. The email started like this…
Arguably the most important day in the Cerdd NPT Music service diary is our annual concert. This is the shop window for us to present our fabulous young musicians to parents, council directors, councillors, and head teachers.
Soundchecking the orchestra St David’s Neath
Paul went on to invite me to host the concert at St David’s Church in Neath. I checked the diary and said yes. To be honest in the middle of a dark, wet January Friday 24th April sounded like a long way away but the sands of time keep falling and this week it all became very real.
I had imagined that I would simply host the event, stand there in a smart suit, welcome the honoured guests and introduce the various performances. Paul had other ideas. The first invitation was to sing with the Cerdd NPT Brass Band and the second invitation was to sing 2 songs with the Choir.
Rehearsing with the choir in Dwr Y Felin.
I have to be honest with you. I have been a professional musician for over 50 years and I still can’t actually read music written on a stave. Whilst I was grateful for the sheet music being sent to me it wasn’t going to be much help. That was when Paul invited me to some rehearsals, a much better idea.
I thought I would do some homework by listening to recordings of the various songs. I knew, or I thought I knew, Elton John’s ‘I’m Still Standing’. I’d heard ‘Waving Through a Window’ from the musical Dear Evan Hansen but with so many parts it was a bit of a mystery how it actually worked. That’s where I thought I should concentrate during my own rehearsal.
By the time I’d arrived at ‘Dwr Y Felin Comprehensive School’ on Monday Evening I felt I was in a good place. I really did read the email from Alison who runs the choir, but it’s been a really busy week so…well, I soon found out I hadn’t read it properly.
Luke far right with Mike Ruddock, Wal Coughlan and Tony Kiley.
I had a wonderfully warm welcome from the choir and the house band. The great thing about the people Cerdd NPT employ is that when they are not teaching they are out there doing it. I had played with Luke the bass player at a very memorable gig at the House of Commons where we had also been supporting Mike Ruddock, the Grand Slam winning Welsh Rugby Coach.
A beach in Australia with Max Boyce and the leak 1987
My connection to Ray the drummer goes back a lot longer. It was the summer of 1987 and I was licking my wounds after coming last in the Terry Wogan ‘Song For Europe’ Contest.
Out of the blue came a call from Max Boyce inviting me to join his band on a tour of South East Asia. The tour had been planned to coincide with the first Rugby World Cup in Australia.
The first stop on the tour was Hong King. We were staying in the Holiday Inn, Harbour View and after a good ‘Max’ gig at the China Fleet Club we retired to the bar for a night cap. In the bar was a wonderful Filipino band playing all the latest hits perfectly. After they finished their set the band joined us, and we got chatting. We told them we were also a band.
Luke and Ray Dizon the drummer I met in Hong Kong in 1987
It was the drummer who asked where we were from. We answered the UK. Where in the UK? Wales. North or South Wales? South. This was getting a little strange. Where in South Wales? Swansea. ‘My wife comes from Trewyddfa Road!’. And that was how I met Ray Dizon. It was many years later I bumped into him again at the Beaufort in Kittle where he was playing in a Jazz band. These days he’s a regular on the circuit and also part of the Cerdd NPT Team.
As I stood ready to sing my parts Alison brought me a music score. I said it wouldn’t be much help, but I thought I knew my part. We had a quick run through and strangely for me the bits I thought I was singing were being performed by the whole choir. Oh, I thought, I expect I’ll join in singing with them. Then Alison stopped and pointed to the part I was supposed to perform solo….
When she had emailed asking could I sing the opening lines of the song she was quite clearly referring to the Elton song. I of course had learnt the opening to the other song. I was blissfully unaware of my mistake. After a few goes I think I got it. Then we moved on to ‘I’m still standing’. It was only then I realised that there were far more words to fit in every line than I had imagined. As I left I knew I had some work to do.
Rehearsing with the Brass Band in Pontardawe.
On Wednesday I headed to Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Pontardawe. Every week the Brass band heads there for rehearsal. When I say the Brass band what I mean is 3 brass bands. The Juniors, Intermediate and the Seniors all making a beautiful noise in various parts of the school. The good news about the John Miles classic ‘Music’ is that it repeats the same verse 3 times. The bad news was that I had no microphone.
Have you ever stood in the middle of a 50 strong Brass Band? Forget heavy metal volume these guys are incredibly loud. I suppose the good news was that no one could hear if I was doing it wrong…including me.
Presenting prizes with Mayor Wayne Carpenter
Last night we were joined at the concert by the Orchestra. The great and the good of Neath and Port Talbot turned out to support Cerdd NPT. This facility is not a luxury item that could be destroyed by deleting a line on a spreadsheet to save money. Cerdd NPT gives these kids the chance to learn an instrument and play in front of an audience. Some will go on to professional careers. Others will look back on their time with fondness and knowing that the opportunities they had really were life changing.