Bass Recorder Quintet 
The Quest for Inclusive Orchestration

During my research with Ty Cerdd & Disability Wales into the kind of instruments that are compatible with my hearing access needs, we found that the bass recorders were not just pain free for my tinnitus & hyperacusis, but actually soothing. What's more, the amazing thing is, because the lower end of my hearing is still intact, I could actually hear them! Can you imagine being able to hear music clearly after 6 years of muffle? Music that I have composed in collaboration with the biorhythms of the Rainforests of Wales - which means I can actually hear the trees that I have been working with. 

I was so overwhelmed by this experience that I spoke with Delyth Holland from Swansea about it & she very kindly offered to form a bass recorder quintet, so that I could take the research one step further. I approached People Speak Up at Ffwrnes Fach, a chapel attached the Y Ffrwnes theatre.  The Chapel has been converted beautifully into a community arts resource, managed by People Speak Up, who promote wellbeing through creativity in innovative ways. The Director & Founder, Eleanor Shaw, very kindly donated the space for us to rehearse, and one of her senior team, Carys, joined us on the evening to make sure all was well.

What a wonderful experience to hear all 5 recorders together - I made a video of it on my mobile phone for you to experience it too, but my phone doesn’t capture the absolutely mesmerising & cell soothing beauty of all recorders playing at once. Something happens that is far greater than the sum of the parts. What I love is that all the recorder players are of different generations from 11 to 68 years of age - just like the trees I worked with at Coed Felenrhyd to compose the piece, from sapling to wise old oak. They are not playing Cân y Coed Rainforest Symphony in the video as it hasn't been orchestrated yet, rather, a practice piece by Michael Praetorius, seen in the photograph above.
 
So, now I know that a bass recorder quintet is compatible with my hearing, I move into the next phase, which is to secure funding to work with Lloyd Coleman, the Associate Musical Director of the Paraorchesra, & create an inclusive arrangement for recorder Quintet. My end goal is to orchestrate & record the quintet as an Anthem for the new National Forest for Wales, where the Gov.t has committed to planting in the Now for the future. It is so important to grow new trees, but in a throw away culture such as ours, I believe it is equally as important to promote caring for our older forest ecologies & what better way than with a symphony played on instruments of wood & breath, with music notated from the conductive biorhythms of the Rainforest of Wales, the home of our country’s oldest ecologies.

Bill & Llywelyn Gannon

Many thanks to People Speak Up, Delyth Holland'/Tenor, Klara HiKary/ Bass, Llywelyn Gannon/Contrbass,
​Bill Gannon/Bass in C & Linda Healy/ Bass.

Cymraeg

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Pumawd Recorders Bas - Ar Drywydd Trefnu Cerddorfaol Cynhwysol

​​Yn ystod fy ymchwil gyda Thŷ Cerdd ac Anabledd Cymru i'r math o offerynnau sy'n gydwedd â'm hanghenion clyw, cawsom fod y recorders bas nid yn unig yn ddi-boen o ran y tinitws a’r hyperacusis, ond roedden nhw'n lliniarol hyd yn oed. Ac ar ben hynny, y peth anhygoel yw – am fod amrediad isaf fy nghlyw yn gyflawn o hyd, roedden yn gallu eu clywed yn iawn! Allwch chi ddychmygu gallu clywed cerddoriaeth yn glir ar ôl 6 blynedd o seiniau aneglur? Cerddoriaeth rydw i wedi'i chyfansoddi ar y cyd â biorhythmau coed y Coedwigoedd Glaw – mae'n golygu fy mod i'n gallu clywed y coed rydw i wedi gweithio gyda nhw yn berffaith.

Gan fy mod ar ben fy nigon gyda'r profiad hwn, siaradais â Delyth Holland o Abertawe amdano, a buodd hi mor garedig â chynnig ffurfio pumawd recorders bas fel y gallwn fynd â'r ymchwil gam ymhellach. Cysylltais â People Speak Up yn Ffwrnes Fach, sef capel drws nesa i theatr Y Ffwrnes sydd wedi cael ei ailwmapio'n hyfryd yn adnodd celfyddydau cymunedol. Caiff ei redeg gan People Speak Up sy'n hybu lles trwy greadigrwydd mewn ffyrdd arloesol. Bu'r Cyfarwyddwr a'r Sylfaenydd, Eleanor Shaw, mor garedig â darparu lle i ni ymarfer, ac ymunodd aelod o'i huwch dîm, Carys, â ni yn ystod y noson i sicrhau bod popeth yn mynd yn hwylus.
 
Am brofiad rhyfeddol – cael clywed y 5 recorder gyda'i gilydd! Gwnes fideo bach ohono ar fy ffôn symudol a'i olygu fel y gallwch chi ei brofi hefyd, ond nid yw fy ffôn yn cipio harddwch swynol a llonyddol yr holl recorders yn chwarae ar unwaith. Mae rhywbeth yn digwydd sy'n llawer mwy na swm y rhannau. Rwy'n dwli ar y ffaith fod y
 chwaraewyr recorders yn perthyn i wahanol genedlaethau, o 11 i 68 oed – yn union fel y coed y cydweithiais â nhw yng Nghoed Felenrhyd i gyfansoddi'r darn, o'r glasbren i'r hen dderwen ddoeth. Nid ydynt yn chwarae Symffoni'r Coedwigoedd Glaw Cân y Coed yn y fideo gan nad yw wedi cael ei threfnu eto, yn hytrach chwaraeir darn ymarfer gan Michael Praetorius, a welir yn y llun uchod.
 
Gan fy mod yn gwybod nawr bod recorder Bas yn gydwedd â'm clyw, gallaf symud at y cam nesaf, sef sicrhau cyllid i weithio gyda Lloyd Coleman, Cyfarwyddwr Cerddoriaeth Cysylltiol y Paraorchestra, i greu trefniant cynhwysol ar gyfer Pumawd recorders.
 
Fy nod terfynol yw trefnu a recordio'r pumawd fel Anthem i Goedwig Genedlaethol Cymru, lle mae'r Llywodraeth wedi ymrwymo i blannu Nawr ar gyfer y dyfodol. Mae tyfu coed newydd mor bwysig, ond yn ein diwylliant gwastraffus, rwy'n credu ei bod yr un mor bwysig hybu gofalu am ein ecolegau coedwig hŷn. Ac nid oes gwell ffordd i wneud hyn na chwarae symffoni ar offerynnau pren ac anadl, gyda cherddoriaeth sydd wedi'i nodiannu o fiorhythmau Coedwig Law Cymru, sy’n gartref i ecolegau hynaf ein gwlad.