CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
A Committee Meeting was held on Tuesday 5 March 2005 at 1pm. in the Thirkill Room, Clare College.
1. The Chairman welcomed the visiting member, Alice King, representing the Chorus.
Present: Executive Officers: Stephen Cleobury (SC), Simon Fairclough (SF),
Caroline Goulder (CG), Maggie Heywood (MH.), Sam Hudson (SH), Dora Kemp
(DK), Gordon Lawrence (GL), Fiona Jacques (FJ)
Co-opted members: Richard Andrewes (RA), John Barber (JB), Tim Brown (TB), Simon Fairclough (SF), Claire Pike (CP)
Observer: Alice King (AK)
Apologies: Harry Blake (HB), Martin Ennis (ME), Liz Harvey (EH), Tagbo Ilozue
(TI), Max Pappenheim (MP), Alex Selby (AS), Beth Thompson (ET), Jo Whitehead
(JW)
2. Minutes
The minutes of the meeting of 18.02.05 were approved and, with one minor correction, signed.
3. Matters arising
Future planning: TB has met with SC and the following points emerged:
a) we are not as far forward with plans for next year as we would normally be by now,
partly because the Tsunami concert took up a lot of time and also because the greater consultation in the running of the Society slows the process down a good deal.
b) There will be a meeting with the new conductors as soon as possible, when it will be agreed who will conduct which concerts next year. The dates and venues are already booked. The conductors will send proposed programmes to orchestral committees and the Treasurer for approval before the next full committee when the proposed year's programe will be approved. The treasurer will be working on the annual budget for next year and also a concert-by-concert budget, during the next few weeks, so that costs can be taken into account alongside artistic considerations.
c) Other points to consider for the future include another CUMS joint concert, like the Tsunami Appeal Concert; whether or not CUMS 2 might occasionally accompany the chorus; the whole ethos of CUMS 2 and its aspirations; a choral concert with invited players from CUMS 2 & the Zephyr Ensemble (the CUMS symphonic wind band!) in the Concert Hall next Lent Term; invite a recent Cambridge graduate as a guest conductor next year; invite a distinguished alumnus such as Roger Norrington to bring his ideas on new performing styles to CUMS I (?2007); set up masterclasses for both choral and orchestral conductors, and discuss with ME how this might fit in with a possible new MPhil course currently being considered.
Chorus Summer Tour: There are now 59 people on the list, 25 sops, 12 altos, 7 tenors & 15 basses. CS is in contact with Pembroke Chapel choir and is hopeful that some or all of them will come with us. She will also contact the Cambridge Chorale for extras, emphasising the need for tenors, altos & basses. She has found an economical 76-seater double-decker coach that will enable her to keep the budget at £250 per person and have some money in hand for emergencies.
MH proposed that the tour goes ahead, CP seconded and it was agreed unanimously to approve the tour.
The Charity Concert in Sidney Sussex Chapel was a success despite the very cold evening. The Alzheimer Society was grateful for the effort that had gone into it, and we agreed that it would be worth repeating another such concert in a future season.
4. Convenor's reports
CUMS I (GL) still has not held he elections for the new committee. GL will be standing for the new committee when they happen. SC commented that this state of affairs was quite serious since only last year the students were very keen to take over the reins and run the society themselves, and now we have hardly anyone willing to take on the tasks that have to be done, and secretaries afraid to list the jobs on offer for fear of putting people off standing for them. It was agreed that TB, SC, JW & MH would meet to discuss this before the next meeting.
CUMS 2, we believe, are hoping to go on tour in the summer, but there was no rep to put their case to the committee.
AK, the Chorus registrar, brought her concerns to the committee about the small but persistent group of people who attend few rehearsals, do not commit themselves to concerts and do not communicate their intentions. She was worried that negative vibes might spread and create a bad atmosphere in the chorus. TB commented that there would always be some vocal people and we just have to live with that. He also observed that there would also always be people who cannot come to compulsory final rehearsals because of their academic work. In this respect life for students is very different now from how it was twenty years ago. JB said that it was always a good idea to put the message across by emphasising the positive, not by highlighting the negative. SC reported his discussion with some CUMS 2 players, who felt that they could not chivvy their peers about rehearsal attendance and that that should come from a senior member. TB suggested that there should be voice reps to encourage better esprit de corps (and to follow up absentees). He agreed to have further discussions with AK to plan how best to communicate the importance of regular attendance to chorus members.
The Zephyr Ensemble would like to change their name back to something which tells people what they are eg. The CUMS Symphonic Wind Band. The committee felt this required further consideration but approved SC's suggestion that next term we should put that description on the poster, underneath the words `Zephyr Ensemble'.
String re-auditions: the secretary raised this question because, if any changes to the current practice of allowing string players to keep their place for three years are to be made, the membership needs to know about it next term. TB thought we should guarantee them a place in CUMS but not specify which orchestra. RA reminded us that we started to do it to ensure continuity in the orchestra and to keep a good standard in the string sections. If we are now spoilt for choice for good players perhaps we should think again. We have a reserve list of 12-15 string players, but the main thing is that new players are placed in CUMS 2, who are good enough for CUMS I, but where there is no room. This year we only took in five new cellists to CUMS I, in a section of 16 players. MH was asked to contact the secretaries of CUMS I & II and ask them to consult their membership and to report to the next committee meeting.
5. Tsunami Appeal Concert was a great success and raised more than £8,000. A small committee met with Jenny Etty-Leal from Save the Children and agreed to distribute the funds as follows, if the committee approves:
Save the Children, in Somalia, towards rebuilding livelihoods: £1,500
Colombo International School in Kandy, Sri Lanka, for their relief work: £1,500
(This is being co-ordinate by the headmaster, an ex-CUMS member)
*Moratuwa Disaster Relief Fund (through Ruvan Mendis, Caius), a coastal town in Sri Lanka, home of a CUMS member: £1,500
The Bishop of Ely's Appeal for the Tamil Nadu disrict in south India: £2,000
*Darwin graduate couple who lost close family members and property and had to borrow money to fly home after the disaster: £750
*TB informed the committee that he would seek the approval from the Senior Tutor at Caius and the Graduate Tutor at Darwin. Subject to their approval, the committee agreed the distribution of funds..
6. An EGM was fixed for the interval of the second chorus rehearsal of term on Thursday 5 May. MH will liaise with TB concerning the information that needs to be sent to members at least seven days before that meeting.
7. Alumni / Friends of CUMS was deferred until the next meeting, by which time the small committee set up to look into this will have met again.
8. The proposal concerning the setting up of a CUMS Baroque Ensemble was also deferred until the next meeting.
9. Annual Dinner: CP will look into the options for this during the first half of next term.
9. AOB: TB thanked the students for giving up their time for CUMS on a regular basis, when their lives are very full. He and the other non-student members are very grateful to them.
The Next Meeting will be on Saturday 30 April at 10.30am in the Thirkill Room in Clare.