Chapter 16
The rest of the orchestra sat quietly as Willow played the Saint-Saens piece, with fingers over strings and hands on the percussion, to dampen any resonances. When she had finished, a couple of the percussion players pushed the organ to one side as she went back to her seat. Alec smiled and made a kissy face as she sat down.
The baton was tapped, and they made ready for the ‘Bolero’. Willow thought that it was getting better with every time they performed it, with today being a real performance to the Head of the school. When that had ended in the great blast, the percussion players were back to push the piano into place and Gina made her way to the front to sit at it. The sheet music was in front of her, but she now knew that it was in her head and not needed.
The atmosphere was electric as they worked through the movements. Mister Bamborough knew that this was a pivotal moment for this orchestra. Today was the first time that they had an organ soloist, as well as Gina being the first real piano soloist that he had conducted. He was almost afraid to glance at the Head to see what she was thinking about it.
As the last notes of the Grieg faded, there was an audible sigh from the orchestra, followed by the sound of clapping from the two visitors. The Head went and shook the conductors hand, then went to give Gina a hug. Over in the woodwind section, Willow and Alec were enjoying their own hug, having to be careful with their desire to kiss. When things settled down, Mister Bamborough called for quiet, and the Head spoke.
“Thank you for inviting me to this concert. I have been hearing things about the Music School and this orchestra over the term. I really didn’t expect to hear such a polished performance from students. You have all done very well, and there will be a date set for this at the end of the year. We can advertise it on the website and charge admission. With how you have performed today, I can’t see any problems with the Saint-Saens concert for next year. For the rest of the year, you’ll be working on that along with others. I’ll organise the Cathedral board to come in early in the second term to hear you, with the concert likely in May. With what you have played today, you will have almost enough for a Proms Night, if we get listed. You’ve made me proud to be associated with you, and you’ll make the school proud in the new year.”
They all packed up their instruments and made their ways out of the school. Alec and Willow walked with Gina, both girls getting other orchestra members coming to them to give them hugs, including most of the boys, who saw an opportunity not to be missed. In the car, on the way home, Gina turned to Willow in the back seat.
“Did you know that you were going to play the organ today?”
“No, it was a complete surprise. I had played it in the chapel to Miss Russell, so I suppose that she had suggested it to round out the concert. You do know that you’re the first piano soloist in the school. Zara told me that she had never heard of one before.”
Maisie laughed.
“So, I’m chauffeur to a couple of classical music stars, am I?”
Gina and Willow giggled.
“Not just a couple of stars, Mum. We’re Summer Rose, the next big thing.”
They were all smiling when Willow was dropped off at home. She went in and Wendy saw the look on her face.
“So, my girl, something big today?”
“We had the orchestra, and they had me out front on the organ to play the ‘Seven Improvisations’ to kick off, followed by the ‘Bolero’ and then Gina solo with the Grieg. It was very good, and the Head sat in. She told us that we were certainly going to have a concert, this term.”
“That’s good. Let us know and we’ll get the tickets. Your father may get in touch with Rupert to see if the family would like to come and hear you all. That would be a good time for your grandparents to visit, if it’s just before Christmas.”
Willow went to get changed, then helped her mother with dinner preparation. After dinner, she sat at her desk with her computer and looked for the trio music, surprised at how many there were that included cello, but the smaller number that included flute.
Wednesday was almost anticlimactic. It was only the extra chatter among the orchestra members at lunch that livened it up. Their table was visited by one of the percussion players and a couple of other boys.
“Willow. I’m Brent, from the percussion section. I’ve been talking to my friends about what we’ll be doing for the Summer Project, next year. They’re in Mister Bamborough’s guitar group, and he has suggested that they talk to you about forming a band, seeing that the G-Force will be concentrating on the academic side and won’t be taking part. What do you think?”
“We will be in the school next week, Brent, working with Jim and the Gees to get him up to speed on how to play the organ with more freedom. Gina and I will be there, so you can join us to see how it works. The Gees will have the amps set up, so we’ll have to get Mister Bamborough to organise a second rehearsal room with more. I’m sure that he’ll be more than happy to help.”
“Thanks, Willow. We’ll talk to him and see what happens. We’ll let you know by Friday.”
When they left, Gina leaned over to Willow.
“Looks like we may have the bones of Summer Rose, next year.”
Most of the week was revision of what they had done so far, and Willow took time out to talk to Mister Bamborough.
“Excuse me, Sir.”
“Yes, Miss Rose.”
“Next week, when Geoff and the others have one of the rehearsal rooms, I was wondering if we could reserve another for the week with a piano in it. There are a few boys from the guitar group who want to see if they can fit into a band with us, so we would like a set of amps and drums there as well.”
“That would be Brent and his friends?”
“Yes, Sir. Brent spoke as if they want to be the next version of G-Force when Geoff and the others move into fifth year. Gina and I were also thinking of working on a couple of trios for piano, violin, and flute.”
“I’ll let you into a little secret, Willow. I have ordered two of those Yamaha keyboards. If you’re happy to use one as a piano, I’ll put them both in the room. You’ll be able to use the amps with them as well. I’ll need to talk to Brent to see what drum kit he wants.”
“Thank you, Sir. That will be great.”
On the Friday, Geoff and Brent collected the keys to the two rooms. Brent gave Willow three CDs.
“This has some music that Herb, the main guitarist, wants us to try. I’ve listened to it and I’m not sure if it’s possible. There’s a complete CD, plus a couple of live versions of songs to show how the band performed them. It is a lot simpler when they play it live. There’s a copy there for Alec; none of the guitarists sing, so he might consider being up front. He sang very well last week.”
Willow passed the extras on to Gina and Alec, saying that they should listen to them over the weekend, and talk about it on Monday. They had questions, but she had to say that she had no answers.
Friday evening, Gina sat next to Willow as they looked for the particular trio they wanted. They found free sheet music for two modern pieces, and there was one video on YouTube of a Nino Rota piece that was thirteen minutes. They sat and watched it and then Willow emailed Alec with the link. After that, there was a Cesar Cui piece that was very bright, and they emailed that link as well. When they looked, there were a number from that composer that they could use, but starting with a couple was the first step.
They put Brent’s CD in the player and sat on the bed to listen to it. There was a sheet of paper in the CD case with all the details. The band was called Kansas, which neither of them had heard of. The first track nearly blew their minds, but, when they listened closely, they could hear the usual rock group plus an organ and a brass section, with the organ double tracked. It was a concept album, called ‘The Point of Know Return’, about the end of the world as the one person who knows how to run the place disappears. In the middle of a mass of big-stadium rock, was a slow number that the girls immediately loved, called ‘Dust in the Wind’. When they got to the two live versions, they could see how the songs had been pared back for a stage group.
“Well! That’s something else, Willow. Do you think we could do that? When you take it apart, it’s not that much harder than the Moody Blues.”
“If we did, it would have to be the whole show. Some of the tracks are seven or eight minutes, and you would need to tell the whole story with the ten tracks. It would certainly stretch us, and we could use two organs to get the complicated bits sound good. Those boys must be sure of themselves if they think that they can nail this stuff.”
“It might be a good project for us. We could call the show ‘This ain’t Kansas’, with a picture of you on the front, dressed as Dorothy with red shoes.”
They both listened to the CD over Saturday, trying out the different organ sounds. On Sunday, Gina played the church organ, and Willow found herself sitting in the pew with her parents for the first time. After church, Willow went to Gina’s house to discuss the things that may happen on Monday.
Wendy took them to the school on Monday. It was strange to walk into the quiet building after half a term with well over a thousand other students. In the music area, they found the Gees and Jim setting up. Jim said that he had listened to the CD that Willow had given Geoff, and wanted to work on the blues numbers, rather than try to recreate the Purple.
Gina stayed with them while Willow went to the other rehearsal room, where the other boys were working out what they wanted to do. She was introduced to Herb, the lead guitarist, Victor, the bass guitarist, and Ron, the rhythm. There were both the new Yamahas, so Willow set to plugging them in and trying them both out. Alec joined them.
“Good morning. I’m blown away by that music. I’ve transcribed all the words and have been trying to get them all into my head. It’s quite a story. How much of it have you guys worked on?”
“We’ve been able to remember most of it, so we can get working on it from track one. How about you, Willow?”
“I’m with you, lads. Let’s get working.”
They took their places and started with the first track. After a number of false starts, they finally made it through to the end. They decided to take a bit of a rest with a simpler tune and worked on ‘Dust in the Wind’. They had just started what they thought may be the final run-through when the door opened and Mister Bamborough came in, nodded to them and sat down. They carried on and went through to the end.
“That was really good. Have you mastered any others?”
They played him the first track that they had mastered. He grinned when they finished.
“That sounds even harder than the Moody Blues. Well done, you. Now, if you can take a break, let’s go and get the others. We need to have a talk.”
They opened the door of the other room, where Gina was sitting by the wall as the boys were working through ‘Smokestack Lightning’. When they finished, they were all asked to follow Mister Bamborough. They were led into the main school, to the teacher’s common room, where the Head and Miss Russell were at the hot water urn, making a cup of tea. The Head saw them come in and smiled.
“There you are! Welcome to a safe place to talk about something very important and very urgent. Get yourselves a drink and we can discuss a problem that we have.”
They all got the drinks and took a biscuit from the jar next to the urn. They sat in a group and the Head cleared her throat.
“The week before last, some of you played a rehearsal which was recorded, both on good audio and on video. Mister Bamborough asked the lads doing the recordings to let him have fourteen copies of each, so that you can listen to them, and we can see about putting together a performance date.”
They stayed silent as she picked up a copy of each of the discs.
“Here is a sample of each disc, and I have to say that they are excellent quality. The problem is that instead of another thirteen, we have received thirteen hundred and ninety-nine. That gives us a cashflow problem. We cannot afford to keep these in stock for another six months. Can you play a concert at the end of November? These will go on sale three weeks before, in the school and through the website, at the same time we advertise the live performance.”
Miss Russell came into the silence after she finished.
“I’ve had a look at the DVD, and it doesn’t look like something performed in a rehearsal room. I think that we’ll price the CD at five, and the DVD at ten pounds each. The performance will be five pounds a ticket. The music might make a good Christmas present. We’ll be putting the orchestra concert on in the second week of December, with the choir starting their outside performances around then.”
They sat and thought about what had been asked, then Geoff spoke up.
“If we do it, we can have Jim playing the blues half and the girls with Alec in the second. I’m sure that we can do what you want. If we concentrate on getting Jim up to speed in the next day or so, Gina can go with the others, then we can all get together after we’re happy, and do the second half of the concert. Will it be a Friday evening, after school? If so, we can be set up in the theatre and do a sound check before anyone comes in.”
Willow spoke.
“We could do the show with the two Yamahas. Are we getting the voice multipliers?”
“They should be with us on Wednesday, so you’ll have them in plenty of time.”
The boys all nodded, with the new members looking surprised at being part of such a important occasion. Willow turned to Herb.
“With your taste in music, you must have listened to the Moody Blues?”
“You’re right.”
“Well, if the Gees and Jim work on the blues half, we can work on the second, now that Gina can join us. Can we have a copy of the CD, Miss?”
“I’ll give each of you a copy of both discs. If we sell the bulk of the rest, it will be a great result. We can’t be too hard on the boys that placed the order. It may all end up as a good moneymaker.”
The bands were given their discs and went back to the rehearsal rooms in relative silence. Geoff said that they would start working on the set, knowing the sequence of songs already. The others went into the other rehearsal room. Willow took charge.
“Look, lads. We’ll leave the other stuff until tomorrow, after you’ve seen the DVD. The three of us are good with it if we continue what we were doing before we were interrupted.”
So, they took their places and resumed working with the Kansas. They started with the first track, with Gina adding her input, then did ‘Dust in the Wind’, before working on the second track together. They stopped for their lunch, taking the wrapped sandwiches to the lunchroom and bought drinks from the vending machine. They got the best part of another two tracks right before turning everything off.
The boys needed to be somewhere else but were very happy with what had been achieved. Gina opened the door of the other room slightly and could hear the others still working. The three friends went back to their room and talked about the trios that they had sent Alec. He was excited that he could be part of a classical project.
“I’ll bring my flute tomorrow, if you bring your violin. Gina can play one of these organs as a piano. If each of us download your sheet music for the three pieces, we may be able to work on them if the others leave early.”
Alec went to the other room to wait for Grant to be ready to leave, while Willow and Gina went to the front of the school to wait to be picked up.
“What did you think of the mess with the discs?”
“When we finished, I saw Mister Bamborough speaking to them. I think that they hadn’t settled back enough to understand what he meant. We were all a bit worn out. It could be good, as it gets the concert over and done with, letting us think about other projects. Here comes your mother.”
On the way home, Wendy put the CD into the car player, and they went back to Stoneleigh listening to blues. That evening, the Rose family watched the DVD, after which, Willow was hugged and then went to prepare for bed. In her nightie, she sat at her computer and printed off the trio music, then hugged her two bed buddies before drifting into sleep.
On Tuesday, the two girls helped Brent and his friends master the Moody Blues numbers, being able to recreate the entire show by the time they needed to leave. The Gees came in as they were working through the last couple of numbers, having got Jim playing with a lot more soul. When they had finished, Geoff spoke for the other Gees.
“That was tremendous. You guys are good enough to do that half yourselves. We should have some voice multipliers tomorrow. When you hear yourselves using those, you’ll be blown away. If we get the teachers in to hear us, as separate groups, we should be able to do other things in the rest of the week. Zara will be coming in and we plan to work on a Fleetwood Mac concert for the second or third term.”
When the Gees left, Willow turned to the others.
“It looks like we’ll be Blue Two on the night. You guys wanted to have a project, and it seems that your wish has been granted, depending on permission. Bring your main game when you come in, and I’m sure that you’ll be rock stars.”
The others left, and the three friends set up to play a trio, with the music on stands. They did one piece, which they thought sounded good, and left the flute and violin with the rest of the equipment when they left. With Grant already gone, Wendy was asked to take Alec home. After a cup of tea with Beth, they carried on to Stoneleigh.
The CD was still in the player, so they listened to the end of the blues and the beginning of the Moods on the way. After dinner, Wendy packaged the DVD in a post pack and addressed it to her mother for posting on the next day, telling Willow that they’ll buy another one of their own when they’re on sale.
Wednesday was a success on every front. The teachers joined Blue Two, and Zara, when Blue One played the blues half of the show. Then, everyone trooped to the other room as Blue Two recreated the second half, now with the vocal multipliers. The permission was given to work on whatever else they were doing, as Zara joined the Gees to go and see what they could do with Fleetwood Mac.
Willow and the rest of the band worked on the Kansas concert, nearly completing the set when it was time to pack up. The others were still working, so Alec went in to wait for Grant as the girls went out to the school entrance to wait for Wendy.
On Thursday, they finished the ten tracks, and played the set all the way through, with Herb recording it on his phone. The boys had a birthday party to go to, so took their instruments with them and told the others that they would see them Monday. It left the girls and Alec almost two hours to work on the two trios, enough to be an act in one of the concerts.
With just the three of them, so they started to explore other things. Alec was told about Summer Rose, and asked if there were any current pop songs that he liked to sing along to. He had some on his phone, so they listened to one, then tried recreating it with the two keyboards and Alec singing. The songs ended up sounding totally different to what they had been working on in the first part of the week. They were almost jazzy. As they had each one how they liked it, they all had their phones on record to have their own set to listen to.
When it was time to go, Willow took her violin with her, and Alec had his flute when he went to wait for Grant, locking up and taking the key for Geoff to hand in. Gina needed to go to the toilet, so Willow and Alec took the opportunity to have a kiss while waiting for her. Before they parted, he told her that his parents wanted to see the Stoneleigh Abbey and would be coming to the church first on Sunday morning. He asked her if she could join them after the service. She said that she would love to show them around. On the way home, she told Wendy about the plan.
On Friday, she went over to the church to check the hymns and run through them. It was a pleasant rest from the full-on week. She tidied her room, did her laundry and transferred the recorded songs to her computer, then burnt a CD of them. At a loose end, she got the vacuum out and worked through the house, then started preparations for dinner. Once she had things ready to start, she went up to her room and looked through her wardrobe for something she could wear on Sunday, that would give her legroom at the organ, but still be good for a trip with Alec and his parents.
After dinner, she played the CD of their songs to her parents. Wendy gave her a hug, and her father said that she should start thinking about writing her own material. That was so far from left field, she sat, stunned. Her brain was full of tunes, both classical and pop. Why not try what he had said. She gave him a hug and thanked him for the suggestion.
That evening, while her parents watched the television, Willow was at the keyboard, headphones on, and trying out various tunes. She already had the words in her mind. They dealt with teenage love and a girl’s first kiss.
Marianne Gregory © 2025