CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY

A Committee Meeting was held on Saturday 15 October, 2005 at 9.30am. in Lecture 4 at the Music School, West Road.

At 9.30am there were not enough people present to form a quorum. As soon as the tenth person arrived the meeting began.

Present:

Executive Officers: Mark Austin (MA) Stephen Cleobury (SC), George Corbett (GC) Shona Fenion (ShF) Mary Flook (MF) Daniel Grace (DG) Maggie Heywood (MH) Fiona Jacques (FJ) Dora Kemp (DK), Gordon Lawrence (GL), Max Pappenheim (MP)

Co-opted members: Richard Andrewes (RA) Simon Fairclough (SF) Jo Whitehead (JW)

1. Apologies:

John Barber (JB), Caroline Goulder (CG), Sam Hudson (SH),Courtney Lewis (CL), Claire Pike (CP) Alex Selby (AS) Beth Thompson (ET),

2. Co-options The co-opted members stood down, left the room and the following were co-opted for this year: Richard Andrewes, John Barber, Simon Fairclough, Claire Pike, Christine Schmalz & Jo Whitehead,

3. Election of Chair. The secretary took the chair and thanked Simon Fairclough and Jo Whitehead for the work they had done over the summer. She proposed that they be invited to serve as Chair and Vice-Chair for this year, but working as a team with their complementary skills. They were elected unopposed, and unanimously.

4. Minutes

The minutes of the meeting of 16.06.05 were approved and signed, with two minor corrections.

5. Matters arising:

It has recently been discovered that there is a clash between CUMS II and CUSO on Sat 11 March. If it's possible to move the CUMS II concert it will be moved and our conductors will be asked to smooth the path for rehearsal schedules to fit in with each other. There's a particular problem with two bassoons and one clarinet. Action: MH to see if venue can be moved or CUMS II supplemented with other players

6. The new Chairman, SF, expressed his own and JW's excitement at the prospect of co-chairing CUMS and outlined their joint plan for the year ahead. They want to focus on where we want to be in a year's time. There are a number of issues to address quite soon, eg: discipline/motivation/attendance in CUMS I and the Chorus. SF and JW intend working with the sub-committees to achieve this. (GC has already made a good start with CUMS I.) JW wants to improve the effectiveness of the sub-committees. Last year each group went their own way and didn't see any need to be connected with the rest of the Society. JW's main focus for the year will be communication and responsibility. The main committee needs to be fully staffed and if people are moving on they need to be replaced in good time.

Funding: we need to push on the with the Alumni development plan.

The future: there needs to be a re-think of plans for the future. At present the Society is very reliant on SC & MH giving much time and effort for not much reward. Where are we going, and how are we going to get there? (SC mentioned that this also ties in with the democratic wishes of the Society).

This committee should be the forum for main issues, not minutiae. Action: SF will chair a smaller sub-committee with SC and others to deal with musical ideas, and they will bring ideas and proposals to the main committee. JW will chair a sub-committee of administration and will feed back. SF will propose a small group to be set up to take a long-term view, think about the process and report back.

SC thanked SF & JW for their clear analysis of where we are now and said how grateful the Society should be that we have such people willing to take a lead.

JW suggested that he and SF would also pursue the following Other Actions:

  1. Meeting with ensemble convenors & sub-committees to check the jobs allocated and fill gaps.

  2. Sit down with MH and the people in administrative posts to check work-load and areas needing support.

  3. Send an e-mail to the whole Society from this committee.

  4. Proceed with the Newsletter to CUMS alumni.

  5. Create an admin sub-committee: JW, DK, MH, publicity, librarian, webmaster

  6. Draft guidelines on how we make the main committee as effective as possible.

SC pointed out that in practical terms a committee is a group of people willing and able to do the jobs. GL pointed out that continuity is essential.

7. Report on meeting with Yale Alumni Chorus representative: The YAC is coming to England next February and has invited CUMS alumni to join them as performers or audience in two concerts, one in Ely Cathedral and one in the Barbican. There will also be a dinner in Cambridge the night before the Ely concert, to which we are invited. They want to give us the proceeds of the Ely concert to enable us to form a CUMS Alumni organisation. We've been invited to take a slot in the Ely concert and Faure's Requiem has been suggested as a piece which we might do - with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra. SC proposed that we don't say `No', but that we find out very soon how many of the chorus are prepared to commit themselves to the date. Action: SC and Chorus to determine whether we perform the Faure.

  1. Proposed Charity Concert: GC outlined the background to a proposed performance of Britten's War Requiem to raise money for Cancer Research/Macmillan. The plan is to involve the best musicians in both the chorus and orchestras. GC, Jonny Sells and Alex Miller will fix the choirs and Rosie Burton will fix the orchestras. Their own project committee will take care of all of the admin and publicity. Could CUMS be involved as the umbrella organisation promoting it? SF: If we're to consider it properly we need to know when it's going to happen. Other relevant issues surrounding such a project were aired. Action: GC would produce a firm proposal as soon as possible and this will be considered by a sub-committee before the next meeting.

9. CUMS II Tour to Prague: GC said that the tour committee had learnt that they needed to start planning much sooner than they did last year, not to have last-minute panics about funds etc. and that they also need to communicate with the main committee from the start, and with each other, so that everyone knows their area of responsibility. There's a very detailed report of the tour on the web. SF said that any tours organised in the name of CUMS must be done professionally. We need a standing tour sub-committee within the main committee to set a five-year plan. It might be worth exploring a shorter tour earlier in the year so that the social and musical benefits are felt in the orchestra for the rest of the year. GC thanked Shona, Daniel, Laura and Grace who pulled it all together. ShF & DG are willing to organise next year's tour, and they know the pitfalls! Action: JW to meet with ShF and DG to discuss tour guidelines and the planning for the proposed tour

10. Recruitment: a report was tabled by Claire Pike, in her absence. MH mentioned the huge work-load involved in setting up and running the orchestral auditions and wanted it to be known that she will not have the stamina to do it again single-handed. SC said that we must make it a specific priority to find one or two people to share this task next year. Action: None

11. Reports from convenors: MF, CUMS II, was `staggered' at the number of people who came to the first rehearsal. She reported that several people have agreed to be on the committee, but the jobs are not all covered yet. FJ, Zephyrs, said that the first rehearsal had been fantastic, but there were now so many players that they could not possibly fit into lecture 3, when the RR is unavailable. DG, CUMS I, reported on the good standard and good atmosphere at the first rehearsal and that people seemed to be committed to it. SF, chorus, also reported an excellent start to the year in both numbers and the standard. Action: None

12. The next meeting will be on Wed 2 November in the Latimer Room, Clare College, at 1.05pm. (Action: GL offered to help MH buy & carry the lunch!)

13. AOB

a) DK (Treas) reported that the instruments are not insured at present, but that she is looking into the options. It would be very expensive to have them all comprehensively insured so she's looking into fire risk only for the most expensive items. SF indicated that there may be some insurance available under the university. Action: DK to pursue

b) FJ pointed out that the CUSU Handbook fails to mention the Zephyrs in the CUMS section. Action: MH to ask CP to up-date the info and also on the CUSU web-site asap.

c) DG reported that the custodians were unhappy about the mess left by CI & CII after the first rehearsal. The secretary reminded everyone that if there are complaints we shall be looking for another venue for the rest of the term. Action: None at present