Music club

IT TAKES courage to open a concert programme with just the sound of four hands clapping, but when the hands are those of skilled percussionists such as Sam Wilson and George Barton, the trick works. Steve Reich’s Clapping Music was the first item in their recital at Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor on Friday, 26 February; a neat piece in which a 12-beat pattern is clapped on a loop, but with one pair of hands moving out of sync one beat more on each turn until unison is re-established at the close. In the simple yet subtle way, listeners were taken back to the very beginnings of human music and attuned to its infinite rhythmic potential.

To create the rest of their programme rather more apparatus was required.A good two hours was needed to unload and set up the full battery of marimbas, vibraphone, wood-blocks, drums and cymbals. The labour was worth it, however, enabling the duo to take their audience on a multi-faceted journey across centuries and continents, via (amongst others) Africa, Japan and North and South America. Voice was included too, most memorably in an autobiographical piece co-created by Sam.In this he used dialogue be-tween his own live and recorded voices, punctuated by occasional woodblock utterances, to explore the history of his struggle with a stammer; fluent introductions confirmed this as something by now well overcome. An excellent contrast was thus afforded, in a programme altogether well planned for variety and surprise.Three Bach arrangements gave a welcome point of familiarity, with George showing especial poise and dexterity on the marimba with the ornamentation he added to Gavotte en Rondeau. The programme’s ending too seemed like a homecoming, in the form of two symphonic dances from Bernstein’s West Side Story; the duo’s final cry of “Mambo!” conveying perfectly the brio and commitment they had shown all evening. Thanks were given to the Countess of Munster Musical Trust for promoting and supporting such talent.The next concert will be given by Galliarda, an early music ensemble, in Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor at 7.30pm on Friday, 18 March, in a programme entitled The Mediterranean Temperament.

Gymnastics

A YOUNG Meirionnydd gymnast has won numerous gold medals at a gymnastics championship for disabled athletes in north Wales.Cadi-Haf Williams, 7, has trained with Cader Idris Gymnastics Club, near Dolgellau, for the last two and a half years and placed first in several disciplines including floor, bench and vault in the sensory impairment category at The Rotary Welsh School Disability Gymnastics Championships held in Ruthin Leisure Centre on 23 February.Impressively, the youngster also finished first overall at the champi-onships.Cadi-Haf, who has a hearing impairment that affects her balance and co-ordination, is now through to the North Wales Finals to be held in Bala on 15 March where she will once again represent her school, Ysgol Gynradd Talsarnau.The club has offered Cadi-Haf their unrivalled support.Cader Idris Gymnastics Club was chosen to partake in the recently launched Welsh Gym for All project.The programme invited applications from gymnastics clubs across Wales to nominate themselves for a share of essential funding to help deliver quality inclusive gymnas-tics to develop the discipline of disability gymnastics across Wales.Fifteen clubs from across Wales, including Cader Idris Gymnastics Club, were selected to share in recently-awarded funding to help upskill board and committee members resulting in a strong workforce able to deliver high-standard disability specific gymnastics sessions.A spokesperson for Cader Idris Gymnastics Club said the team was “very excited” to be a part of the Gym for All project.

For more information on the club, visit the Cader Idris Gymnastics Facebook page.