{"id":5970,"date":"2021-02-25T16:11:08","date_gmt":"2021-02-25T16:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/?p=5970"},"modified":"2024-04-11T08:05:29","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T08:05:29","slug":"celebrating-wales-and-supporting-musicians-in-the-face-of-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/2021\/02\/25\/celebrating-wales-and-supporting-musicians-in-the-face-of-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Wales and supporting musicians in the face of COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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\"\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Iestyn Griffiths (BA 2016,\u00a0MA 2018) describes his journey from being a music-mad child to co-directing\u00a0a large-scale, digital concert for St David\u2019s Day,\u00a0celebrating\u00a0and supporting\u00a0Welsh musicians.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We had a piano in the house when I was growing up and I was\u00a0a\u00a0very fidgety little kid.<\/strong>\u00a0I used to hit the piano in the house so much\u00a0that\u00a0my mum and dad\u00a0eventually\u00a0caved and got me piano lessons. I think I was maybe six or seven.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

When I joined secondary school, two things happened.\u00a0One\u00a0was\u00a0that\u00a0I wanted to focus on rugby\u00a0(music\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0really cool), and the other was that\u00a0my brother passed away. So, at that time,\u00a0I\u00a0let go\u00a0of\u00a0the music.\u00a0I still played but\u00a0it\u00a0became more of an emotional outlet or something I did for fun.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I got\u00a0really lucky\u00a0during my A\u00a0levels and\u00a0met this\u00a0inspiring teacher,\u00a0Lisa\u00a0Shelmerdine\u00a0Richards,\u00a0who\u00a0sat me down and made me realise what I could do\u00a0with the\u00a0talent I had\u00a0and\u00a0said I could pursue\u00a0it\u00a0further into university.\u00a0She\u00a0was a graduate of\u00a0Cardiff\u00a0University\u00a0and\u00a0I wanted to follow\u00a0in her\u00a0steps.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Big-city appeal<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I applied to Cardiff\u00a0University\u00a0because it was a massive deal to go\u00a0there<\/strong>.\u00a0I’m\u00a0from Pembrokeshire, and there’s this big-city appeal. Lots of my friends were applying and my previous teachers had gone to Cardiff. My piano teacher, Lisa,\u00a0told me that\u00a0her piano teacher,\u00a0Emyr Roberts<\/a>,\u00a0was teaching at Cardiff and she learned a lot from him. I\u00a0ended up having\u00a0him as\u00a0my\u00a0teacher for the whole four years I was at Cardiff!\u00a0He taught me so much and had a huge impact on my development as a musician.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

After I did my undergraduate\u00a0degree\u00a0in Cardiff,\u00a0I went to America\u00a0and\u00a0had a job\u00a0as a\u00a0musical director, working on a musical theatre summer camp. I was teaching these kids how to sing parts\u00a0in\u00a0musicals, and it\u00a0was at that point\u00a0that\u00a0I\u00a0decided to seriously pursue a career in music.\u00a0That’s\u00a0when I applied for my masters.\u00a0

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Unfinished business<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

One of the reasons I\u00a0did a\u00a0postgraduate\u00a0course was\u00a0because of\u00a0a sense of unfinished business.<\/strong>\u00a0I felt like I had more to give, like\u00a0I could be pushed to the next level.\u00a0I wanted to work in musical\u00a0theatre,\u00a0and\u00a0I wanted to\u00a0put on a big showcase concert and set up my own orchestra.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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My\u00a0master\u2019s year was amazing.\u00a0The course\u00a0was\u00a0so good because\u00a0if\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0creative, like\u00a0me,\u00a0you\u00a0could come up with\u00a0ideas and run with\u00a0them.\u00a0I felt like I basically did my hobbies\u00a0and\u00a0got\u00a0credits for them.\u00a0It was the perfect bridge for me to jump from student to professional.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The highlight of my\u00a0master\u2019s was the\u00a0concert I put on\u00a0called\u00a0City of Stars.<\/em>\u00a0It was\u00a0one of the best nights of my life.\u00a0For me to be able to present something completely different, and for it to be\u00a0really popular,\u00a0was amazing.\u00a0It was a magical\u00a0evening.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Career since\u00a0<\/strong>Cardiff<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The musician\u2019s career is the most random and exciting thing I could have imagined.<\/strong>\u00a0I do one good job, and then,\u00a0through recommendations from people,\u00a0that snowballs\u00a0to\u00a0another job and\u00a0so on.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I’ve\u00a0worked a lot in kid\u2019s theatre. I\u00a0worked for a Rock School that was basically like the\u00a0real-life\u00a0School of Rock.\u00a0Picture me\u00a0in\u00a0a small car,\u00a0full of instruments, driving\u00a0around schools\u00a0just\u00a0like\u00a0Jack\u00a0Black.\u00a0I\u00a0would\u00a0teach these kids how to play in\u00a0rock\u00a0bands\u00a0and it was brilliant. I love working with children,\u00a0and\u00a0the job allowed me\u00a0time\u00a0in the\u00a0evenings\u00a0to\u00a0do shows\u00a0and\u00a0rehearsals\u00a0and\u00a0then\u00a0gig on the weekends.\u00a0Before COVID-19,\u00a0it was\u00a0non-stop, but\u00a0when\u00a0you’re\u00a0doing something you love, you don’t mind doing it all the time.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

COVID<\/strong>-19 and the music community<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

W<\/strong>hen the pandemic happened,<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>everything got cancelled<\/strong>.\u00a0All gigs\u00a0got pulled and rearranged, and\u00a0all the money was gone.\u00a0It was\u00a0rubbish.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Luckily, I was stable because I had lots of different sources of income. The Rock School managed to put me on furlough, but\u00a0it\u00a0was\u00a0still\u00a0really quiet.\u00a0This time gave me an\u00a0excuse\u00a0to\u00a0get\u00a0creative.\u00a0I thought what can I do in this situation?\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

At the time,\u00a0I was\u00a0also\u00a0a musical director for a company called\u00a0iCAN\u00a0productions,\u00a0a children’s company\u00a0that\u00a0had been\u00a0set to do a production of Rock of Ages. As it looked\u00a0like that was going to be cancelled, I decided to\u00a0put together a virtual video of the\u00a0performances. I\u00a0didn’t\u00a0have many skills in that\u00a0area, but I knew roughly what I\u00a0wanted to do.\u00a0From that day\u00a0on,\u00a0I’ve\u00a0been so busy. Putting out one video completely changed my skill set and\u00a0people\u00a0wanted\u00a0to work with me because they saw\u00a0what\u00a0I was doing,\u00a0and they wanted\u00a0to tap into it.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0what led to\u00a0the West End of Wales.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

My friend\u00a0and co-director, Laura\u00a0Llewellyn-Jones,\u00a0saw\u00a0my\u00a0video\u00a0and\u00a0told me she\u00a0was\u00a0thinking about putting together\u00a0an\u00a0orchestra\u00a0of\u00a0successful musicians from West Wales.\u00a0She asked if I would be a part of it and I said yes!\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We were\u00a0raising money for charity\u00a0but\u00a0soon realised\u00a0that it was\u00a0the people in our orchestra\u00a0that needed\u00a0help.<\/strong>They’re\u00a0all\u00a0out of\u00a0work, they’re not on furlough,\u00a0and they’re not eligible for grants.\u00a0Their livelihoods have been completely decimated due to the pandemic. So,\u00a0we set up as a community interest company\u00a0and what\u00a0we’re\u00a0trying to do now is offer our orchestra members paid work.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We’re\u00a0also trying to recognise the impact of COVID-19\u00a0not only on professional musicians, but on\u00a0amateur musicians or people in school.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

This pandemic\u00a0is going to\u00a0have a huge effect for years to come on\u00a0future generations of musicians.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Creating something positive\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We’ve\u00a0had\u00a0a\u00a0massive following on social media\u00a0and\u00a0people seem\u00a0to\u00a0be\u00a0enjoying what we’re putting together, and we just thought,\u00a0what else can we do?\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0when we thought about St David\u2019s Day\u00a0and\u00a0how\u00a0we\u00a0would\u00a0normally\u00a0be involved in\u00a0a\u00a0performance or concert.\u00a0So,\u00a0we took it upon ourselves to put together a\u00a0huge celebration of\u00a0Wales<\/a>\u00a0for\u00a0St David\u2019s\u00a0Day.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

All the ticket sales will go back into the people that put it together.\u00a0We’ve\u00a0got an amazing line-up of musicians and performers including John Owen-Jones, Lucie Jones,\u00a0Rhod\u00a0Gilbert\u00a0and\u00a0Only Men Aloud, as well as some Welsh celebrities such as Rob Brydon, Sam Warburton and Carol\u00a0Vorderman\u00a0to host.\u00a0We’re\u00a0also so excited that HRH The Prince of Wales is going to give the foreword.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We’re\u00a0just trying to help out people who need it the most and spread a little bit cheer and a bit of positivity.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A couple of weeks ago,\u00a0I\u00a0gave\u00a0a talk<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0Cardiff University\u00a0MA\u00a0music\u00a0students.\u00a0I told them that\u00a0there is still stuff that can be done and\u00a0there’s\u00a0still strides that can be made\u00a0even in these times.\u00a0You\u2019ve\u00a0just got to adapt your thinking a little bit in our industry.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It’s\u00a0kind of\u00a0funny because\u00a0what I’m doing now,\u00a0with the West End of Wales,\u00a0is\u00a0just a follow on from that concert that I did\u00a0as a student.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It’s\u00a0been a bit of a roller coaster\u00a0since then,\u00a0but\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0also been\u00a0amazing.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=eapHg_1dMUQ&ab_channel=TheWestEndofWales<\/div>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

GWLAD! – an online celebration of Wales<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0takes place at 7.30pm on Monday 1 March 2021. Tickets are \u00a310 per household.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iestyn Griffiths (BA 2016, MA 2018) describes his journey from being a music-mad child to co-directing a large-scale, digital concert for St David\u2019s Day, celebrating and supporting Welsh musicians. ","protected":false},"author":1811,"featured_media":6123,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[199,39,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-stories","category-cardiff-connect","category-news"],"meta_box":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1811"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5970"}],"version-history":[{"count":114,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9690,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5970\/revisions\/9690"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}