Confluence
The Cutwater Band
Colber Bridge
Common Ground was invited to provide activities for Architectural Heritage Week, in September 1999, as part of the national annual programme of events arranged by local authority architectural conservation departments. Coinciding as it did with the first Sturminster Newton Cheese Festival it seemed appropriate to link the two by bridge, and so a project was devised to celebrate Sturminster's bridges, and in particular the Colber footbridge across which local dairy producers once brought their goods for sale. This involved the formation of The Cutwater Band, a 'scratch' ensemble who would compose and perform new works at and for this bridge and pass the idea on downstream.
A cutwater, as the name of course suggests, is the pointed stone buttress at the base of a bridge's piers which directs the water smoothly past and slows the rate of erosion.
Due to holiday absences, an original plan to involve local school children proved impractical, but Helen Porter was able to assemble a band composed of musicians from the Stour villages, some of whom we had worked with in the New Folk Ballads project (see Talkative River). The final line-up was Helen (accordion and clarinet), Richard Gallop (guitar), Tim Laycock (concertina / melodeon), John Holman (violin), Heather Ridgeway (guitar), and we were particularly lucky to acquire the services of local musician Nick Crump with his medieval wind instrument, the Serpent!
The musicians came together on the bridge from 12.00, with a group of six young people in their early teens, to compose and rehearse music to be performed at 2.30pm on the Bridge itself. Each member of the group brought along an idea to try out, and work on with the musicians, as well as traditional melodies from which the group improvised new arrangements.
More than sixty five people attended the outdoor concert, which lasted for approximately forty minutes.
The first piece, a new composition entitled On Colber Bridge Too involved a percussion section. The young people played the bridge itself with wooden sticks and metal pipes, as well as traditional percussion instruments. It began by the whole group processing over the bridge towards the audience, playing a unison E, and suddenly bursting into music once we had reached our positions on the opposite side of the bridge. This piece was repeated at the end of the concert, and the whole audience were encouraged to jump up on their feet and learn a folk dance.
Other pieces included an arrangement of Ralph Vaughan-Williams' setting of Linden Lea, William Barnes' poem which some people say was written on Colber Bridge; a new piece by Richard Gallop; an arrangement of Roger Trevor's All Used Up from the Folk Ballads project, and The Stour Stomp Swomp.
The atmosphere was magical, helped by the beautiful weather. The sound carried very well from the bridge to the audience, so that words were audible and clear. It was a great success, and many people commented on how lovely it was to listen to music played outdoors by the river. The children and an adult or two went into the water afterwards swimming and diving which added a further enjoyable dimension to the afternoon and reminded us that the river should be safe enough and pure enough to be our swimming place.
Confluence's attendance at the Cheese Festival and Colber Bridge was successful; it generated some exciting new music and performances, gained very favourable commentary in the press, and more interested people were drawn towards us.
White Mill Bridge
A year later, Helen drew together a new line-up of the band for White Mill Bridge, Sturminster Marshall, near Wimborne, again as part of Architectural Heritage Week. The band increased threefold in size. Instruments include recorders, saxophones, guitars, lute, mandolin, clarinet, accordion and 'cello, and a number of singers.
Many of the original Cutwater Band came to the first rehearsal on Sunday 30th July. Three more gatherings followed. There were also a number of instrumentalists and singers who have take part in previous Confluence music projects, as well as entirely new people who have not yet worked with us.
The rehearsal started with a tour around White Mill (a National Trust property) and the grounds by Colin Cope the curator. We worked on specific ideas based on the location, and during the afternoon produced a range of new music from madrigals to jazz.
John Lowe, Architectural Conservation Officer from Dorset County Council, who was delighted with the novelty and enjoyment of last years performance, came along to listen to the first rehearsal. BBC TV also filmed a rehearsal for broadcast throughout the South Western region.
The performance was on a delightful late summer day (Sept 17th) in front of a picnicking and relaxing audience of over 80, augmented by the many walkers, drivers and cyclists passing over the bridge who stopped to take an interest. The music ranged from the descriptive and haunting to songs derived from local legends, such as that of the Knowlton Church Bells, supposedly lost in the river by White Mill.
The custodians of White Mill are The National Trust, who kindly gave permission for the concert and gathering, and Colin Cope the custodian enthusiastically enabled rehearsals in and around the mill.
