Richard & Colin

"This project was an absolute joy from start to finish.  Richard Benjafield and Colin Currie had assembled a top team of London's finest young percussionists, and what a team!  It was such a treat to work not only with such talented players, but in such a happy atmosphere of enthusiasm, hard-work and team spirit.  There were no egos flying around.  Everyone just wanted to get the best out of the music - and they did!

We rehearsed in The Warehouse (Waterloo), and Drumming was literally deafening.  Someone did take a decibel count during Drumming Part 4 when everyone was playing, and the volume was equivalent to being in a room with an aeroplane!  Fortunately, there was a steady supply of earplugs, without which you could feel your eardrums screaming for mercy!

Drumming Part 4

Heather had to miss one day of rehearsal as she had an appointment at her best friend's wedding.  She flew off to Manchester and was due to arrive back in London very early on the morning of the Prom - in plenty of time for the morning rehearsal.  I got up that morning at about 7am and put the news on, only to learn that we were on critical terror alert, following the discovery of a plot to take liquid explosives on to planes.  As a result, more and more flights were being cancelled, and UK airports were starting to shut down completely.  It had to be today - when Heather was flying back to London and we had a concert that very night!  I didn't know which flight she was on, or even which airport she was flying from.  I had it in mind that it was Bristol - wrong!  I couldn't get through to her on her mobile, so could only hope that this was a good sign - that she must be on a plane with her phone checked in to the hold.  Off I went to the Albert Hall, and there was still no news.   Radio 3 were there wanting a balance check and there was this redundant microphone on one side of the stage - so I had to run back and forth across the stage singing some of Heather's and some of my part.

Drumming Part 1 (left to right: Colin, Joby, Sam & Richard

We thought that the Albert Hall might soak up some of the Drumming decibels, but no!  Health & Safety decreed that everyone should wear earplugs on or near the stage.  They even put signs up outside the auditorium, warning the audience that this was going to be LOUD!  So, the rehearsal came and went and I'd still heard nothing from Heather.  Finally, I went up to the stage door to ask whether anyone had received a message from Heather Cairncross.  "Oh yes", came the reply.  "She won't make the rehearsal this morning but she'll be at the concert".  (Funny how no-one thought to relay that message to someone who was in the rehearsal!).  It turns out that Heather did make it on to a plane but was then told they might have to wait for a further 5 hours on the tarmac.  "But my orchestra is waiting for me at the Albert Hall" was enough to persuade the air steward to borrow the pilot's mobile phone so that she could make a call to the RAH.  Only Heather...!

Anyway, she made it and the concert was a real triumph.  Both the audience and the reviewers loved the concert (see our reviews page).  After all the work these young players put in to mastering these fiendishly difficult pieces, I really hope they get a chance to repeat the programme - with Synergy Vocals, of course."

Micaela