There was a hum of excitement around the Music Department this week, as we welcomed our esteemed Strings Fellow, Gareth Lubbe, for an intensive two days of masterclasses, workshops and recitals. The Bedford School Music Fellowship Programme gives pupils the chance to meet, listen to and be coached by top level professional musicians in their field. However, Mr Lubbe, Professor at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen and former Principal Violist with the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, did not only provide his obvious expertise in the strings department; he is also an acclaimed overtone singer, and the boys were also able to benefit from a workshop all about this and the techniques that he uses in his performances.
On Tuesday, Mr Lubbe gave workshops throughout the school day, in final preparation for the chamber concert that evening, with our various chamber groups including the string quartet, the string quintet and the piano trio. At lunchtime, he gave a recital to a packed hall. During the performance, he took us from the very present moment, beginning with, as he called it, “this work’s very first performance”, an improvisation on viola with overtone singing, which segued seamlessly into Benjamin Britten’s Lachrymae, accompanied by Mrs Hanja Bantock, Head of Piano. The recital concluded with Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro, originally written for the horn, but later adopted by cellists, violinists and violists. It was a diverse and moving programme, and quiet gasps could be heard around the room as Mr Lubbe began overtone singing. You can find an excerpt from the recital here.
On Wednesday, it was the turn of our individual strings players, who took part in masterclasses throughout the day. Masterclasses are a wonderful learning platform, as they allow the boys to perform to a small group of their peers as well as Mr Lubbe, and then receive individual coaching from him. Boys were advised to remember, “When we are playing, we need to get as much result from as little energy as possible” as “…it is not you playing the instrument but the instrument playing you”. He reminded boys to not press too hard with the bow, but to let the instrument vibrate naturally, and to pay attention to the right hand (the bowing hand) as much as to the left, to not tense up, as “Intonation is very much in the right hand as much as in the left hand”. The results of his coaching were immediate, and our musicians were able to immediately raise their already great performances to the next level.
During lunchtime on Wednesday, boys flocked to the Chapel to be treated to an overtone singing workshop. Mr Lubbe remarked on the amazing acoustics of the Chapel, joking that in South Africa, it would be considered a large church! The workshop was open to everyone and attracted singers and instrumentalists alike. Mr Lubbe began by explaining that sound works on a spectrum very much like white light through a prism, and in fact overtones are already present everywhere, so the art of overtone singing is all about listening for and recognising your own overtones and drawing them out.
Mr Lubbe’s own interest in the subject began in 1996, when he discovered a recording of overtone singing from Tuva in Thailand. From that moment, he practised and taught himself, to become the renowned expert in his field that he is today.
After listening to Mr Lubbe demonstrate various techniques of overtone and throat singing, it was the boys’ turn to have a go, and there were some really good results! They were taught to begin by finding their fundamental note, which should be quite low in the register of their voice, to allow the overtones to appear above it. Please, therefore, do accept our apologies if your son spends the weekend wandering around the house singing a very slow drawn out “Wow” sound on a low note. It may be rather annoying but, rest assured, they are practising a new and very exciting musical skill!
