The Amazing Zoe Martlew

Cellist, Zoe Martlew.
The Venue, NCN Clarendon.

I've been looking forward to today since I first found out about the possible happenings since February and had got even more excited once the date was confirmed. Today, Zoe Martlew came down to NCN Clarendon to give us a cello recital in the morning and to do some improvisation sessions in the afternoon with lunch in between provided by Reddest.

It was a small turnout in the end, but having a small group made it a nicer experience and easier to learn and listen over the hight of puns and occasional perfectly timed one-liners. The morning performance was incredible, though there were a few technical problems, but the amazing PQ sorted it. As a cellist myself, sort of, I was mostly trying to watch out for techniques I could out try for myself (I really need to practise my bowing, maybe even take a few lessons as recommended).


Lunch was an entertaining saga consisting of chasing around the pot of butter we had to share and avoiding anything contained in a jar; olives, small pickles, ect. I remember taking two slices of bread from one loaf and only managing to butter one slice as the butter had disappeared to the other end of this huge group dining table we had formed by pushing four desks together in the classroom upstairs.


After lunch we played a few games, it sounds childish but it was very fun. The first, throwing bean bags in sequence while adding in more and more continuing. The second, a clapping a game which I had played before. These were just to get us warmed up for our improvisation session which seemed to open a whole new world for me. Inspiring is how I would describe today. I now hope to set up an improvisation club at college to get more students involved and hopefully create within that group an ensemble confident enough to perform. The idea is that the club would follow similar rules to todays session (maybe even create our own) to bridge away from how most (especially guitarists, like myself) would view a solo as the only time they would improvise while the rest of the rehearsed band plays on and leads back into a chorus or verse, removing the narrow perspective.


As the first time playing something completely improvised with such a flexible structure, today has certainly opened my ears and mind to a new intricate style of play that I certainly want to explore again. As Zoe pointed out in our session, you really do start to listen to the intricate details of what is happening within the music, even the sound of the room, the overtones and its quite fascinating how it seems to guide itself, but of course it cannot. It is a combination of the phycological connection between the players while playing and their own personal musical intuitive formed by their backgrounds and teachings thus forming a unique array of sounds.