Current Summer School News

The pictures are of Wortley Hall where the 2013 Summer School is to be held.. Information and a description of the school are given on other parts of this site. Activity rooms are handily close to accommodation, so partially disabled members can take part. The school structure has evolved over a 65 year period and is unusual in the way it allows students to follow a mix of interests Now click on The School to find out more. A full report was being prepared, and feedback from those attending was taken into account when we planned 2013. As a result of this a couple of new courses have been introduced. Jazz singing and Big Band. (Dates for the 2013 School will be from 17th to 23rd August). Costs for 2013 can be seen on the Costs page.

(The WMA Summer School has been supported by the Musicians' Union, The Communication Workers' Union. and Unison)

Our site will eventually have lists of publications we can make available. We will tell of leading figures in music who have been life Vice-Presidents, who occupied or occupy other leading positions in the WMA, and we will write something about their activities and achievements. There are also sister organisations about which we will tell you that have similar traditions to those of the WMA. You will see these in the contacts page.
ItFrom Pete Seeger, July 11, 2008, Beacon NY, USA Dear Fellow WMA members – I write to comment on the question "What is A "Folk" Song" in the summer Bulletin. My father, musicologist Charles Seeger, urged us to realize that the folk process has been going on through human history. Cooks rearrange old recipes, lawyers rearrange old laws, musicians rearrange old melodies, rhythms, harmonies, lyrics. In mid-19th Century "volkmusik" meant the music of the peasant class, ancient and anonymous. A century ago John Lomax in Texas collected cowboy songs, neither ancient nor anonymous. Today a college student strums a guitar and sings words into a mike, - words he just put together. But the tonic-dominant harmony perhaps was known in ancient times. Now let’s use it to get folks together. Pete Seeger

Our site will eventually have lists of publications we can make available. We will tell of leading figures in music who have been life Vice-Presidents, who occupied or occupy other leading positions in the WMA, and we will write something about their activities and achievements. There are also sister organisations about which we will tell you that have similar traditions to those of the WMA. You will see these in the contacts page.

ItFrom Pete Seeger, July 11, 2008, Beacon NY, USA

Dear Fellow WMA members – I write to comment on the question "What is A "Folk" Song" in the summer Bulletin. My father, musicologist Charles Seeger, urged us to realize that the folk process has been going on through human history. Cooks rearrange old recipes, lawyers rearrange old laws, musicians rearrange old melodies, rhythms, harmonies, lyrics. In mid-19th Century "volkmusik" meant the music of the peasant class, ancient and anonymous. A century ago John Lomax in Texas collected cowboy songs, neither ancient nor anonymous. Today a college student strums a guitar and sings words into a mike, - words he just put together. But the tonic-dominant harmony perhaps was known in ancient times. Now let’s use it to get folks together. Pete Seeger

NAVIGATION

Wortley Hall (Summer School Site)

The WMA received lottery Funding via "Awards for All"

Spring Music-Making Weekend

There was a music weekend beginning Friday evening 26th October 2012 until Sunday 28th. This was a very pleasant and relaxed couple of days.. There were two mainly two groups; one of singers and the other one of mixed instruments. This year it was held at Keele Management Centre, in Staffordshire. The food and accomodation was good. Anyone interested in knowing more about theese weekends should contact the WMA schools organiser, whose details are on this page.

On Mayday 2011 in Trafalgar Square there was a choir drawn from the London Radical choirs who sang several times as the marchers enter the square, a programme of songs celebrating this special day for working people.

Joining the WMA?

You do not have to be a practising musician; but someone supporting the WMA's aims.
We see music as a potential influence towards a more just society.
We are not affiliated to any political party.
However, we try to promote peace and the work of the labour movement.
Everyone is welcome regardless of musical skills and interests.
The WMA is particularly pleased to invite members from ethnic minority groups.
We wish to encourage the use of music as a campaigning activity.
Membership is open to everyone who supports the WMA aims. (click on Contacts)

Hiroshima Day

Singers from two of the London-based choirs, the WMA Singers, and Raised Voices, lead the singing at the annual Hiroshima ceremony held in Tavistock Gardens on the 6th August each year. The ceremony usually begins at 12 noon. The event is organised by London CND and normally compered by Jeremy Corbyn, MP. To read more click Hiroshima

WMA Summer School

The WMA Summer School must be one of the best value-for-money Music Schools currently in existence We do not spend money on extravagent brochures with great spaces of nothing,just to fit with some feckless modern ideas about layout. Ours costs over and above the costs we pay for accomodation are about a third of another school which has imitated a similar format to our courses. So all our spending is on essentials. As a result of a re-organisation our tutors are currently giving their services for just expenses. As a result of feedback from the previous year we have included two new courses, jazz singing and Big band.

The scale of charges can be seen by clicking here.

If you would like a brochure and application form (now available) please contact us via - School Organiser, 12 St. Andrews Square, London, W11 1RH. tel 0207 7243 0920 or maviscook99@gmail.com We will then send a 2013 brochure.

Or ask by e-mail or phone to be added to the mailing list from one of

Phone	E-mail
020 7243 0920	maviscook99@gmail.com
020 8699 1933	anne.schuman@btinternet.com
01442 865349	rabride@clara.co.uk

Franz Schubert's singspiel The Conspirators is not particularly well known but it has enjoyed a renewal of popularity in recent years. The music has all the melodic and harmonic beauty which the composer's name leads us to expect and the plot is based on the story of Aristophenes' Lysistrata, with the setting changed to a medieval castle at the time of the crusades. This is the work from which we shall be performing extracts. The Conspirators provides plenty of scope for soloists, actors and choral singers of all standards from thentotally experienced to the seasoned performer. As always we shall have plenty of fun during the weeks's rehearsals, culminating in an entertaining production in the final concert. All students are warmly invited to join the cast.

Franz Schubert's singspiel The Conspirators is not particularly well known but it has enjoyed a renewal of popularity in recent years. The music has all the melodic and harmonic beauty which the composer's name leads us to expect and the plot is based on the story of Aristophenes' Lysistrata, with the setting changed to a medieval castle at the time of the crusades. This is the work from which we shall be performing extracts. The Conspirators provides plenty of scope for soloists, actors and choral singers of all standards from thentotally experienced to the seasoned performer. As always we shall have plenty of fun during the weeks's rehearsals, culminating in an entertaining production in the final concert. All students are warmly invited to join the cast.