Speaker Ken Senior - The Clarinet

Ken with his tongue in cheek said he had spent 6 months preparing an hour long speech but he now found his time restricted to 20 minutes. He also felt that after last week’s tour de force by Shaunna Burke he felt like the man with the bucket following the Lord Mayor’s parade.

In the 1980s his two daughters wanted to learn violin. He said it was the worst instrument to be around when somebody else was learning because of the cacophony. He took them to Ilkley Music Centre for lessons. This organisation used peripatetic teachers who taught 200 pupils of all sorts instruments. The lessons took a full Saturday morning where, the first half was individual tuition then after a break it was a group rendition with various groups based upon ability level by friends of Ilkley music school.

The first half for violins was held in the gym but before the lessons could begin a floor covering had to be rolled out but this took up half the lesson. Ken decided to take his daughters early and between them they put the mat and chairs out before the lesson was due to start. This got him invited onto the committee of the Friends of Ilkley Music Centre on which he remained for 30 years.

He said that whilst he was at school there had been no musical instrument lessons only choral ones. He decided that he whilst taking his daughters to the Music Centre he would like to try to  learn the clarinet. He chose this instrument because it is small and folds up into a small case.

He showed us his clarinet and explained that the mouthpiece with wooden bamboo is the part that makes the original noise. It has inside it a bamboo reed from a special type of bamboo grown in the south of France. When blown before being connected to the body of the clarinet the mouthpiece makes a very shrill noise. The other component parts of the body are then put on. These have cork seals which are lubricated with bees wax to stop air escaping from the joints. This then turns that shrill sound into a much more melodic sound. If a player of the instrument plays too much the muscles around the mouth get weak and it eventually becomes impossible to play.

He took lessons until he eventually progressed to grade 8. During his training he started in the junior band (which is based on ability not age) then moved to the intermediate band and eventually into the top Concert Band. With this top band he played some prestigious venues including the Sage in Newcastle and in Manchester. At these annual competitions the Ilkley contingent usually achieved gold medal status other than one time in Manchester when they made a mess of the opening and only got bronze medal. He said that he had not played now for 25 years.

The Music Centre was originally funded by Bradford Metropolitan Council but in early 2000 the funding was suddenly dropped. The Friends tried to keep it going and the organisation moved to Ilkley Grammar school. But, because the Concert band was comprised of 50% of youngsters who changed every year, Bradford Council said they couldn’t have youngsters mixing with adults and the whole thing foundered.

A couple of memorable events that Ken mentioned was one where they were playing at the Burley in Wharfedale fete under a large gazebo. The weather was very bad with heavy rain and high winds and the gazebo collapsed on top of the band.

Another event related to his daughters who were educated at to Skipton Girls Grammar. They went on a 10 day trip to Florence & Germany. Before they even got out of Skipton the bus hit a roundabout and damaged its hydraulics. Then door flew open and a lot of instruments fell out and a lot of instruments were broken. Then whilst in Florence 49 of 60 people on the trip caught very bad colds.