Yamaha Charity Concert
By

Richard Bower
In Aid Of Cancer Research

Sponsored by Musicland

The Basildon Keyboard Club had set itself a target of £1000 when it embarked on raising money for Cancer Research. Little did we know that that amount would nearly double!!

The Musical Marathon on September 25/26th 2004 raised just over £1000 alone, the sale of the Directories of Essex Organ & Keyboard Clubs, draw tickets for a keyboard, guitar and music vouchers, donated moneys for refreshments on Saturday and the sale of raffle tickets raised the rest.

Two months after the Musical Marathon, the night of our Charity Concert had finally arrived. On stage two Yamaha keyboards, the Tyros and the new PSR 3000, plus the latest Clavinova CVP309PM. It was this instrument on which Richard began the concert showing off the fine piano & string voices with 'As If We'd Never Said Goodbye'.

On the Tyros we heard 'Satin Doll' & Lil Darlin', using Hammond~ & Big Band sounds respectively. We are all guilty at times by not keeping in touch with friends as often as we should; hence Richard dedicated 'If I Only Had Time' to yours truly. Richard, the Yorkshireman, now residing in Somerset, then played a Welshman's (Tom Jones) tune for us: 'It's Not Unusual'. Taking us back to the days of Torvill & Dean, we had a beautiful rendition of 'History Of Love', using the superb guitars & strings on the Tyros. Played ad lib, proof that you don't need to use the rhythm box on a keyboard!

Back to the Clavinova with 'Summerwind' played in rhumba style, followed by more memories of our favourite ice skaters: 'Let's Face The Music & Dance', set to a Slow Bossa Nova.

Back to the Tyros once more with a couple of Easy Listening tunes in the shape of 'Two Lonely People' & 'Teach Me Tonight'. Moving over to the PSR3000, we heard a fine rendition of 'Opus One' before Richard continued with a seasonal 'Oh Come All Ye Faithful', which featured the beautiful Sweet Sax on the instrument. The latter was one of Richard's contributions to the Yamaha Club's CD entitled "Home for Christmas". Richard's neighbours were not impressed with his 'untimely#39; recordings during the summer, with the windows open in his soundproof studio and the recording deadline set at July 1st!

And so, to take us up to the break, we had a selection of tunes

from what is known as 'Hooked on Classics'.

The tea break, for which people donated their small change, was followed by the raffle plus the draw for the keyboard, guitar and £25 worth of vouchers from Messrs. Musicland. Congratulations to all the winners and thanks to the many people who bought draw tickets.

The second half opened with a shortened version of 'Lord Of The Dance' before continuing with the 'Wonder Of You' in Klaus Wunderlich style. The new Clavinova is a fabulous instrument, thus it was a delight to hear 'Vienna Life' played, before changing the mood completely with 'Misty', showing off the Saxophone and strings.

Back to the mighty Tyros with 'Long Live Love' and 'Somewhere My Love' from the film Dr. Zhivago. David Foster is known the world over for his fine compositions & arrangements of film music. Many people are probably not aware of the fact that he is also Barbara Streisand's Musical Director. So from "Sleepless in Seattle" we had 'When I Fall In Love'.

Time to move back to the PSR3000 with 'Sweet Georgia Brown' in Dixieland Style, before Richard played us a selection of seasonal tunes, such as: 'Jingle Bells' - 'Silent Night' - 'Rocking Round The Christmas Tree' & 'Dreaming Of A White Christmas', a tune that is still as popular as ever. Bing Crosby lives on in our hearts.

Richard concluded the evening with Ravel's 'Bolero'. Needless to say the audience would not let him go without an encore, he duly obliged with 'Rocking Around The Clock'.

Thank you Richard for an evening of fabulous music. Time to say thank you to Keith for his superb lighting effects on and above the stage, many of the interesting and enhancing shapes being sound & rhythm activated.

Also to all the welcome players who gave up their time so freely for the Musical Marathon, namely Joyce, Alan Gwynell & Alan Scanes, Reg, Arthur, John & myself. Not to mention Ann & Stephen, who both helped during the two days of the marathon. To the many clubs in Essex who sold the Organ Directories to help with our campaign.

It gave me great pleasure to present a cheque for the grand total of £1900.22 to the Chair of Basildon Council, Mrs. Sandra Hillier, who accepted same on behalf of A.I.C.R. And finally thanks to the many people who donated funds to this worthy cause.

Last but not least to Messrs. Yamaha and Messrs. Musicland, both sponsoring the event, with the latter supplying £25 worth of vouchers for our draw and also the instruments for our very special concert.