This week we talk to staff and players from Pulse8, including director, Kevin Withell, and assistant, Amber Waterman.
What is the role of Pulse8 in Southampton Music Hub's wind band pyramid?
KW: Pulse8 is the middle wind band, taking students from the beginner groups at about Grade 3 standard, giving them their first experience in a wind band. We play a range of music: all sorts of styles and level of difficulty, ultimately making sure that they're prepared, experienced and confident for the step up into Southampton Wind Band.
What do you enjoy most about the music in you play in Pulse8?
Player A: I enjoy that we play all sorts of different styles of music, including film music. Our conductor Kevin makes the rehearsals really fun and knows how to help us make the best sound we can together.
What has impressed you most about Pulse8 players whilst rehearsals have been online?
AW: We've been most impressed by the level of commitment and enthusiasm shown throughout our online sessions. We've also had the privilege of working with some young musicians from the Isle of Wight, who have been joining us online while their ensembles have been unable to operate. They've become part of the band, and our students have made them feel very welcome.
What have you missed most about not being able to meet in person for Pulse8 rehearsals?
Player B: Everything! My friends, the music, performing!
Have there been any particular challenges to running the group online?
KW: It was difficult to begin with, as none of us really knew what to expect or how to make it work. Over the course of these few months, thanks to a lot of patience and honest feedback from the students, we've settled on a system which allows the students to learn and understand the music, to practise their parts, to understand and follow a conductor, to understand other musical lines in the piece and, most importantly, to enjoy themselves and maintain the friendly social atmosphere of the band.
What has been challenging about taking part in online rehearsals?
Player A: It is challenging not being able to hear the other musicians playing their parts and I don't know other people yet because rehearsals have been online since I joined Pulse8.
Have you been able to include any activities that you wouldn't normally be able to do in a face to face rehearsal?
KW and AW: As the students haven't been able to have real social contact, we've been breaking up the rehearsals with short, fun quizzes. This has developed a friendly competition in the band, and has given the students the opportunity to work together and have interesting conversations that wouldn't normally come up in day-to-day rehearsal. We've also managed to make several of the quizzes music-related, so have been able to subtly and stealthily develop aural and theory skills.
What new skills have you learnt whilst Pulse8 rehearsals being online?
Player B: How to play along to a backing track, even when it’s lagging because of our bad wifi signal!
Player A: I have learnt how to record individual music parts for virtual concerts. We also have fun kahoot quizzes at the beginning and in the break of each rehearsal about composers, instruments and music theory. I won a Disney quiz but I find the musical ones hard!
