Classical Music Magazine interview 18th December 2004
This article is reproduced with the kind permission of CLASSICAL MUSIC Magazine.

They have bashed their way through a business course, cut their teeth on workshops, and are looking optimistically at the horizon. Abigail Walmsley meets all-female percussion group the Upbeats. Photos by Tony Gamble .

Proclaiming themselves the only all-female percussion ensemble in the UK, the Upbeats radiate a certain rhythmic drive, as well as being a team of young, contemporary, professionals. 'We're young, enthusiastic, energetic and not very conventional,' says Amelia Jacobs, one fifth of the team, 'we don't think there's anyone else who does exactly what we do.'

The members of the Upbeats - Lucy Athow, Deirdre Nic Sitric, Bex Burch, Karen Hutt and Jacobs - met at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where they were all studying. They were awarded the Deutsche Bank prize of £7k as part of the Pyramid Award Scheme in 2003, the scheme giving them one incentive to get together as a group. 'We thought it would be good to have an all-female percussion ensemble,' says Nic Sitric, 'and the Pyramid Award scheme gave us something to aim for.' Since leaving the Guildhall, the Upbeats have performed at various venues throughout the UK, including this year's Rhythm Sticks at the Royal Festival Hall, and given workshops in the UK and abroad.

The Deutsche Bank Pyramid Award Scheme is designed to ensure that young graduates in the creative and performing arts receive the resources they need to start new businesses. Winning the award meant a lot more to the group than just the cash. Having to put together a business plan forced them to consider their purpose, and to think about how they would function as an ensemble. And have they achieved what they set out to do? 'We've outdone ourselves actually,' says Nic Sitric. 'We've done loads of live gigs, we've travelled, we've done workshops and we've got a CD - we have certainly reached all of our aims and objectives.'

Jacobs adds that having the business plan they needed to put together for the Deutsche Bank competition helped their growth and development as they were able to use it as a point of reference. 'We initially had no idea whether what we were proposing was realistic or not,' she says. 'We hoped that it would work and that we would win, but if we hadn't won we would still have tried to make a go of it anyway. It really helped us to focus in on what we were doing.'

Additionally they were sent on a four-day business course on how to run a small business (which Jacobs explains provided valuable information on managing accounts, tax, becoming a charity, registering as a small business, as well as advertising and marketing advice) and they were assigned a Deutsche Bank business mentor who offered advice and support on a whole range of business issues. 'We manage to put a fifth of all money we earn back into our bank account,' says Jacobs. 'Although it would be nice to buy a brand new marimba we have to be practical.'

The Upbeats describe their music as being an eclectic mix of standard ensemble works, traditional African drumming, and contemporary pieces. As a percussion ensemble they try to generate new works at every opportunity. 'At our concerts we announce that if anybody would like to write a piece for us we would be willing to play it,' says Jacobs. 'We've just got a piece that is inspired by the West-End musical Stomp, where we play brooms, basketballs and there is a lot of body percussion and movement. We try to include a bit of everything so that we've got a wide range to suit all interests.'

They also find that arranging music helps to make up for the lack of percussion ensemble repertoire, and it also means that they can cater for their specific instruments. 'Arranging music makes it more original,' says Jacobs. 'We haven't got a huge resource of instruments as it's difficult to transport them, so we try to find pieces that are simple but effective.' Nic Sitric believes that simplicity is the key to accessibility: 'If you turn up at a concert for children or non-typical concert goers with four marimbas and a vibraphone it can look fantastic but it isn't something that people can necessarily relate to. Whereas if we walk onstage with a drum each it makes our music very accessible.'

The girls all have different musical perspectives and experiences, which they feel bring variety to their concert programmes. Between them they perform in the Britten-Pears Orchestra, Opera de Bauge, Southbank Sinfonia, Guildhall Percussion Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra, Guernsey Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. Some of the members teach percussion, Nic Sitric is working towards a postgraduate diploma in music therapy, and Burch is currently in Ghana researching African drumming. Even though there are five members, they usually operate as a quartet so that if one of the group has other commitments they are still able to perform.

They have a continuity among their musical interests which they attribute to key tutors at the Guildhall - Richard Benjafield, a founder member of Ensemble Bash, and David Corkhill, principal percussionist with the Philharmonia Orchestra. 'We were so lucky because Richard Benjafield and David Corkhill were very enthusiastic about the idea of an all-female percussion group,' says Jacobs. 'I suppose it's the girls v boys thing,' says Nic Sitric. 'Girls are more in touch with their feminine side, obviously, and we feel we bring that to our music and concerts.' Jacobs acknowledges that other percussion ensembles have been very inspirational to them, but they learn from them rather than try to be like them: 'Ensemble Bash is probably our inspiration really, and is the force behind what we do, but we're completely different.'

Education workshops form an important part of their remit, and they pride themselves in encouraging and involving everyone in making music. They travelled to Guernsey in July where, with some additional funding from Deutsche Bank, they were able to run a number of percussion workshops in primary and secondary schools. Jacobs and Nic Sitric feel that running workshops requires a great amount of flexibility, both in terms of performing and in facilitating:

'Sometimes you can plan something that you think will take two hours, but the children actually pick it up in 30 minutes, so you have to account for that,' says Jacobs. Nic Sitric agrees: 'As we're so flexible we can change things on the spot to suit the children we're doing the workshops with. Constructing workshops depends on who wants what.'

They have also visited Sweden and Ireland giving workshops for adults and musicians from other parts of Europe. 'In Ireland we did a workshop for teachers,' says Nic Sitric. 'It was a fantastic day - we did a whole body percussion session, which showed teachers (many of whom were non specialists) an activity that could be done in any place at any time. It was a very engaging experience.'

Marketing and PR is done by the members themselves. They rely a lot on word of mouth and networking, as well as approaching festivals, schools and concert venues directly. Their website also provides information about concerts and workshops. While they were at the Guildhall they made a CD, which they sell at their gigs, but they hope to secure a recording contract in the near future. 'We can definitely improve what is already on the CD as well as add more pieces,' explains Jacobs. 'It has been great to have the CD for promotional purposes, but I think we've come on a lot since then.'

Part of the group's aim is to raise awareness of percussion instruments: 'A lot of people take a simplistic view of percussion and don't take the instruments very seriously,' says Jacobs. 'We're trying to make people aware that percussion is extremely varied, and that there is an awful lot of stuff that you can do with it. Through our workshops we hope that people will learn a bit about what each instrument does and how the instruments can be used to make interesting sound, and through our concerts we will hopefully show that percussion is something to be taken seriously.'

Image is important to them - they want their performances to be fun to watch, and they hope that their energy and enthusiasm conveys itself. Jacobs feels that being an all-female ensemble adds a slight wow factor, simply because you don't see that many female percussionists on the performance circuit. 'We're not trying to be better than one another - there's no competition, which is a nice feeling,' she says. 'If we had a male in the line-up it would change the whole dynamic.' Nic Sitric adds that they don't take themselves too seriously, and are willing to take risks: 'We're very composed but we're not that serious,' she explains. 'We talk through our gigs, make jokes, make mistakes - we're able to laugh at ourselves - making a mistake isn't the end of the world. We like the fact that people come up to us after performances and say 'We really liked the way you did this'. I feel that everything we do is so bright - our clothes are bright, our instruments are bright, the lights we use are bright. I think it's quite attractive - it's one of those things that you can't not look at!'

They have plans to do more gigs in Ireland, possibly to play at Womad, Glastonbury - they feel the scope is there to expand. 'I'd absolutely love to go to Spain to play in the festivals, and to start to get our work known over there,' says Jacobs. 'We tend to avoid London in a way - there's so much already going on in London and people tend to always have so many concerts they can choose from. When we went to Guernsey and Sweden people seemed so excited that we were there.' They have various workshops booked in over the next year, and are hoping to fix up doing some work in prisons, similar to that done by the Irene Taylor Trust. 'When I look back through the last year I can't believe how much we've learned,' says Jacobs. 'We now have so many things that we can do.'

www.theupbeats.com

Abigail Walmsley

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