CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY

The next committee meeting will be held on Tuesday 2 November at 12.30pm in the Thirkill Room at Clare. A modest lunch will be provided.

AGENDA

1 Apologies

2* Minutes of last meeting (attached)

3 Matters arising

4* Report on remuneration of Secretary & Conductor (TB)

5 Revision of Constitution (TB)

6 Music hire & library matters (paper attached - Appendix I) (GL)

7 Instrument hire (MH)

8 Advance planning sub-committee's Report

9 `Come and Sing' Verdi Requiem (TB)

10 Deferred to a future meeting: Music Syndicate / Orchestral re-auditions

11 Any Other Business

* paper attached

** paper to be circulated prior to meeting

Minutes of the Committee Meeting of Saturday 16 October, 2004, held at 10.30am. in the Latimer Room, Clare College.

1. Present:

Executive Officers: Aidan Brown (AB), Stephen Cleobury (SC), Simon Fairclough (SF), Liz Harvey (EH), Maggie Heywood (MH.), Craig Hudson (CH) Tagbo Ilozue (TI) Dora Kemp (DK) Gordon Lawrence (GL), Richard Neill (RN), Max Pappenheim (MP) Claire Pike (CP) Beth Thompson (ET), Chris Ward (CW)

Co-opted members: Tim Brown (TB), Jo Whitehead (JW),

2. Apologies:

John Barber (JB), Harry Blake (HB), Martin Ennis (ME) Caroline Goulder (CG), Sam Hudson (SH)

3. Co-options The following members were co-opted for a further year: John Barber,

Tim Brown, Caroline Goulder, Claire Pike, Jo Whitehead

  1. Election of Chairman.

Tim Brown was proposed by MH and seconded by CP, and was elected unanimously. Whilst expressing willingness to continue as chairman `pro tem', he suggested that it would be appropriate for the chairperson of CUMS to be a performing member, and added that he would be happy to stand aside in the event that such a person came forward from the membership.

5. Minutes

The minutes of the meeting of 10.06.04 were approved and signed.

6. Matters arising

7. CUMS II Tour to Budapest:

A good time was had by all, but the organisers had a huge amount of work. They felt that in future tours should be planned further in advance. It was agreed that the `loan' to the CUMS II should indeed be a loan in the hope that they will be able to improve their audiences this year and make enough profit to repay it. The full report will be posted on the web. Action SF

8. Composition Competition 2004:

The Chairman reported that there had been three entries. The winning entry, Cambridge Quarters, by Rowland Moseley, was commended by the two judges, Robin Holloway and Giles Swayne, who wrote of the piece in the following terms:

`Cambridge Quarters' is...most promising. This has a sound of its own...it has individuality and atmosphere. It is also relaxed, which is a relief. This is the work of a young composer who is thinking creatively about musical material and structure, rather than aping what he or she has heard.'

It will be performed at the CUMS I concert on 1st December in King's Chapel, and on 22nd January in Oxford. It was agreed that Stephen would talk to Rowland about the ownership of the parts and the cost involved in producing them.

Action SC

  1. Secretary's Report on recruitment & auditions

The Sec. was very grateful for the help over the summer of Simon Fairclough, Claire Pike and Rosie Burton. It was a pity that more students were not forthcoming to lend a hand and this is something that needs to be addressed before next October. She put forward the view that the process of recruiting and auditions was too massive a task to be done by students alone. She also remarked that new students helping each year would mean that they were always learning and never building on past experience. The encouraging result of this year's efforts is an increase in the number of good quality orchestral reserves and the 50 members appointed to the Zephyr Ensemble which to date only lacked a complete horn section. Chorus auditions were continuing at the time of the meeting, so it was not possible to assess how well the new arrangements for auditions in colleges had proved.

  1. Treasurer's Report:

DK presented the committee with the draft accounts for 2003/04 which showed that the income from instrument hire & from membership were both down on the previous year, but out-goings on programmes and posters were also down. She pointed out that the income from the hiring out of CUMS instruments enabled the society to stay afloat financially (see item 15). It was agreed that JW would meet with DK in order to plan a 5-year financial forecast. Action DK/JW

  1. Publicity Secretary's Report

ET thanked DK for her publishing expertise which has made such a difference to the design of our posters and programmes and also the cost. The new term card, which has taken the place of A5 & A6 flyers as well as the former Concert Calendar, was much admired. ET will aim to put more information into the free listings. Press releases were accepted by TCS and Varsity. She is building up an e-mail mailing-list and the main area for further improvement will now be amongst the membership itself, especially CUMS II. It was agreed that another questionnaire would be a good idea at this term's concerts. Action ET

N.B. SC reported that David Wilson Johnson had had to pull out of 1 Dec and that he had asked Richard Lloyd Morgan, currently acting Dean of King's, to sing in DWJ's place.

  1. Reports from the ensembles

CUMS I: TI reported a good turn-out at the first rehearsal. He will re-think the seating of the brass and discuss orchestral administration etc. with SC. CW reported a good number staying for drinks after the rehearsal, and moving on to the pub! He has plans in hand for an after-concert party. TB asked if the Faculty bar is ever open after rehearsals. He was told that it was not because of the cost of staff and the price of drinks. He offered to raise this matter with the Faculty Board. Action CW/TB

CUMS II also had a good first rehearsal, both conductors being pleasantly surprised at the quality of the orchestra! The few who had withdrawn before the first rehearsal had been replaced from the reserve list.

ZEPHYR ENSEMBLE had a very good first rehearsal and are looking forward to a very good year. There could be difficulty fitting into lecture 3 when the Recital Room is unavailable though. Rehearsal arrangements would be carefully monitored.

CUMS CHORUS had had a very good start to the season with an open rehearsal at which chairs had run out and there had hardly been room for everyone. Auditions were still going on. A stricter regime of rehearsal attendance was being implemented. Socially, not many members wish to go on to the pub after rehearsals. EH is arranging a meal at Churchill this term and a combined party with CUMS I following the concert on 1st December. Although there was an attempt to get more students involved in the committee they had not been not forthcoming at the second rehearsal, when it had been hoped to hold elections to the chorus committee. The committee was aware that the chorus is 50% non-student and they felt that this should be represented on the committee. At the moment three members out of five are non-student. TB noted these points, which will be part of a discussion on the constitution. CP said that she would like to follow up the recruitment drive with a questionnaire to find out which methods are the most successful.

Action: TB/CP

13. Library GL presented a report to the meeting. He asked members to read it carefully and to bring it to the next committee meeting, when it would be the basis for a full discussion (see Appendix I)

Action: All Committee

DK requested that all concert budgets should be presented to her before any expenditure is undertaken

  1. Instrument cupboard has been turned out and re-organised over the summer by David Ellis. The shelves are labelled and there is a clear plan stuck to the door. If CUMS intends to fine people for not returning the items to their correct position, the society will need the co-operation of the custodians. Hire charges will be discussed at the next meeting, following consultation with Barry Eaden and/or Peter Britton. The question of payment to David Ellis for his work on instrument maintenance and cupboard organisation was discussed. There was some hesitation about paying a student member when others work without being paid, including the treasurer, but it was recognised that to employ a professional custodian would involve even more expense, and it therefore made good sense to pay David. MH pointed out that if David did not do it there was no-one else to ask locally and it would mean taking or sending instruments to London, being without them possibly for weeks, and involving much organisational hassle which she was not willing to take on. A final decision was deferred until the next meeting.

  1. Remuneration of the Secretary & Conductor

TB presented a case on behalf of the sub-committeer that had met to consider the matter (JB/TB/DK/CP) and it was agreed that the society needed to discuss this within the constraints of the funds available. A sub-committee was set up with JB (chair) JW, DK, TI & CP who will report to the next meeting. Action JB

  1. Revision of the Constitution

TB proposed that discussions about revising the CUMS constitution should happen in time to make decisions at the forthcoming AGM. TB will send out a paper before the next meeting and anyone who has anything to contribute to it should contact him forthwith. Action TB

  1. Strategy sub-committee's Report & Recommendations.

JW reported that the SSC's recommendations had largely been addressed, at least in part, and the remaining recommendation concerning the organisation of the society is now underway. They would like to review the Chorus and CUMS I to see how the new initiatives are working out, and check on retention of new members into next term and beyond. TB reported that he had received a confidential report from Jon Stainsby that was the result of a questionnaire carried out during the 2003/04 season amongst (primarily) orchestral members. This contained useful points that he would feed into forthcoming discussions. Action JW/TB

  1. Deferred items.

It was agreed to defer the following items to the next meeting:

Orchestral re-auditions

Advance planning sub-committee's report

Music Syndicate Action TB/MH

  1. AGM When trying to decide on an appropriate day and date for this, which will not cut too far into rehearsal time, it was agreed that if it could be preceded by an open `Forum for discussion' on an evening when there are no rehearsals, the AGM itself could be limited to the usual interval 10 minutes, or be tacked onto the end of a rehearsal. MH was asked to send out a birdcage to determine dates for both of these, during November. Action MH

The next meting will be held on Tuesday 2 November at 12.30pm in either the Latimer Room or the Thirkill Room at Clare. A modest lunch will be provided - no need to bring sandwiches!