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Caryl Roberts - Caryl Roese, ARAM., LRAM, BAed, M.Ed..

Caryl Roese, nee Roberts, was born in 1937 to parents who were deeply associated with the music that dominated their time and world. The family were chapel-going (Sardis Annibynwyr/Independent) and the great oratorios played a major part in their cultural lives. Her father was a lifelong member of the Ystradgynlais Malevoice Choir and her mother an ardent member of the local grand operatic society. Their daughter's career was therefore bound to follow a path thus culturally predetermined. See "The History of a South Wales Family through Public Records", published by Brycheiniog, Vol.XIX, pp.69-73, 1980-81. Caryl attended the local grammar-school and then went on to study singing, piano & organ at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Her tutors there were Olive Groves, Bruce Boyce and Norman Demuth. Concerts given by final-year students of the Academy were much appreciated in her hometown.

[photo by T.J.Davies, 1957, Maesydderwen Jubilee Celebration, Haydn's "Creation", publ. in "Faces & Places of the Parish of Ystradgynlais", pl.159]

Caryl completed her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in 1960,  finishing with a  Licentiate in singing (LRAM), which also   qualified her as a teacher in this branch. Her apprenticeship in operatic singing was served at the RAM in the role of Amor in Gluck's opera Orfeo (click for list of Operas). In 1988 Caryl re-visited the Academy in an official capacity, as a lifelong member of the Curren Society. Her former Principal, 90year-old Sir Thomas Armstrong received a Fellowship from the Society. In view of her activities and contribution to music during the following three-and-a-half decades,   the RAM honoured her in 1997 by appointing her an Associate for excellence in  her profession. In the words of the certificate: "Caryl Roese was appointed an ASSOCIATE of this Royal and National Institution this 23rd of January 1997". Here are some of her memories from her RAM days. [photo by RAM, 1988, Sir Thomas Armstrong and Caryl Roese ]

After the RAM, Middlesex County Council appointed her to two of their Junior Schools in Willesden and Harlesden in London. However, as so often was the case in those days, once a woman married she became subject to her husband's professional priorities. Therefore, before she could carve out a career of her own, Caryl and her husband ( see H.E.Roese biogr. ) left for South Africa. Her husband had been posted to the Cape by his London Company. Once in Cape Town, however, Caryl's musical skills were much sought after. There followed a prolonged period of touring as a soloist for the Cape Performing Arts Board, and giving regular recital broadcasts on radio for the South African Broadcasting Corporation (seven on tapes&disc between 1963-65, see Nat.Screen&Sound Archive of Wales Aberystwyth, Location Nr:CD 12609). Furthermore, she taught at two Girls' High Schools, as well as lectured in the music department at the University of Cape Town. On one occasion she also sang on Kenyan radio and television while visiting East Africa. Whilst in Cape Town (as published by 'The Cape Argus' 1965), she was the president of the Cape Cambrian Society. Of course, she and her husband also explored as much of their new country as time allowed. Of particular interest were two stupendous geological features in Namibia unique to Southern Africa.

Not long before Caryl left South Africa again for another of her husband's postings, the Cape Perfoming Arts Board established an Opera Company for which an Opera House, at that time, was being built. Caryl's participation in this new development, was to sing the part of Esmeralda in the opera The Bartered Bride. It was the inauguration performance of the opera company.

"CAPAB Opera had made its debut in 1965 with The Bartered Bride,       performing in the city's old and now demolished Alhambra Theatre." This is a comment from Cape Town Opera's program for their performance of "Porgy&Bess" in Cardiff/UK in 2009 and mentioned by Wikipedia under 'Tours'. The 1960ties were a good time for  Operas (see list).

1) 1966, Sacred Music Concert Tour to 25 Towns (photo "Die Burger", 28.Maart, editorial)           3) "Esmeralda" in the opera The Bartered Bride by Smetana.

Thereafter, her husband's occupation took them to brief stays in Stuttgart in Germany and Chicago in the USA. From there they returned to London in 1968. At this point in time Caryl decided to give up her singing career and become a full-time school teacher. She returned to the school she had last taught at in London. While there she constantly was on the lookout for new and interesting teaching approaches and methods. This is how she was introduced to Orff Schulwerk. A course at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, qualified her to teach the subject with great success. It also introduced her to the emerging interest in World Music.

In 1970, a post for a music lecturer, specialising in Orff-Schulwerk, was offered at the Institute of Higher Education in Cardiff, later to become the University of Wales Institute Cardiff. Caryl was offered the appointment and accepted it. In order to upgrade her qualifications for the job in hand, she persued a BEd. Degree course on a part-time basis (Thesis held @ the Nat.Libr.of Wales Aberystwyth: "Are there advantages in Orff-Schulwerk for tone deaf children?"), followed by a Master's Degree in Education at the University of Wales (Thesis @ the N.L.W.: "An investigation of the musical experience by listening of 1st-year music students in a South Wales College of Education"). In her post as senior lecturer, she concentrated on Orff-Schulwerk but gradually expanded into World Music per se, and wrote a number of papers and publications on the teaching of the subject. There were also opportunities to promote World Music in several national broadcast appearances for the Welsh language television channel S4C.

As one pupil saw "Miss" and her music lessons (in " A Pocket Full of Rounds", 1989). Eventually, she became Head of Music at UWIC and a school inspector for ESTYN (OFFSTED) in primary and secondary education. In the course of lecturer exchanges with other European universities, she was invited as a guest lecturer to the Universities of Vaxjo/Sweden and Braunschweig/Germany. There, she lectured and gave demonstrations on her wide experience in world music.

In order to broaden students' knowledge of World Music, Caryl took a group of 16 music students on an educational visit to Northern India in 1989. Musically they had been prepared and initiated to Indian music by Indian musicians, who came as invited guest performers/demonstrators to give workshops at UWIC. The tour included visits to Primary Schools, and to private recitals given by local musicians. The students self-financed the tour by giving concerts in Cardiff, sponsored musical events, as well as the usual raffle-ticket and car-boot sales. The tour was a great success, as many of the students have since made several repeat visits to India. Two students even returned there to teach in primary schools for a while.

In 1995 Caryl visited Ghana in West Africa in order to have drumming lessons and to improve her knowledge of the art of African drumming. As mentioned above, Caryl had specialised in Orff-Schulwerk, an approach to music making that involved using percussive instruments, e.g xylophones and especially drums, amongst others. Therefore, to visit the country whose drummers were renowned throughout the whole of the musical world for their skills and prowess, was essential. Carl Orff himself was inspired by the rhythms of African drumming and it was only natural to want to know more about the sources that served him as a guide. Caryl received tuition from talented young musicians in Kumasi. They represented different styles of drumming from various areas of the country. One of the drummers, of Ashante origin from Southern Ghana, worked as a drummer for the National Museum in Kumasi. The others were from the Dagombe region in Northern Ghana. They belonged to a family of dondo and djembe drum makers who ran their own business in Kumasi (see EXAMPLES). Her Ghanaian experience significantly enhanced Caryl's knowledge and skills, and she was able to pass on this new information to her students during practical sessions. Many a workshop to teachers and school pupils throughout South Wales helped to spread a more liberal attitude and approach to World Music further afield.

1. Ashante drumming      2. Dagombe drumming 3. made specially for 'Madam'

While in Ghana, Caryl also familiarized herself with the country's textiles. She studied their weaving, printing and dying techniques, and was taught how to weave the long, strips of textiles that are sewn together to make the men's 'toga'.

Besides her professional obligations, Caryl was also involved in extra-mural activities. Having grown up participating regularly in eisteddfodau (her mother tongue being Welsh she competed in well over 100 local as well as area and national ones), therefore, as an adult and professional musician, she was well qualified to act as an adjudicator at such events. The Miner's Eisteddfodau in Porthcawl, the Urdd regionals, School Eisteddfodau, etc., they were all grist to her mill.

Consequently, she also became involved in conducting. Over the years she conducted school and university choirs and eventually took on the Llantrisant Male Voice Choir. Under her guidance they performed not only in England and Wales, but also travelled abroad to Hannover in Germany. The choir also made a recording during her time with them. Whilst in South Africa, Caryl became involved as an advisor to many of the Cape Coloured Choirs and she organised massed singing concerts for them. During this time she took on the Music Directorship of the German Society's Chamber Choir. They were greatly involved in charity work and this meant giving many concerts, in order to gather funds for hospitals that took care of abandoned black and coloured children.

As a Senior Lecturer and Head of the Music Department at University of Wales Institute Cardiff (UWIC), she also ran the Institute's Choir. The choir gave regular concerts for charitable events, special occasions as well as taking part in the Christmas Services at Llandaff Cathedral, Cardiff. Both music staff and students were members of the choir, which also gave concerts in Sweden between 1992 and 1999 in partnership with the University of Vaxjo. In fact, once she took the choir on its own and twice together with the jazz band.

The college Jazz Band in Sweden. Caryl in white cap.

A fourth visit was an educational one to study Eurythmics at the University of Vaxjo, Sweden. On the last occasion she went to Malmo to give a paper at an educational conference on the teaching of world music in schools. In 1996 she travelled to Braunschweig in Germany to arrange for exchange visits by Cardiff students to several of the school there.

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The South Wales Echo, Dec.21, 2001, p.31.

(see Internet link)

Since her retirement in 2002, Caryl has taken up her interest in the visual arts and has become a student again. For this new chapter of her activities go to "Art & Design" under LINKs (top of page).

Her interest in art was again the result of her upbringing. In 1944, one of Britain's best known artists came to live in Ystradgynlais. His name was Josef Herman. He captured on canvas the life and work of the hard-pressed, coal-mining community in Wales. Caryl's parents became very friendly with both artist. and his wife Catriona MacLeod. Herman and his wife stayed for 10 years and had an indelible influence on Caryl at her most impressionable age - she spent many hours in their company, as well as in their respective studios (see relevant comments on page 83 in "The Art & Life of Josef Herman", 2009, by M.Bohm-Duchen). Also, three interview contributions to three documentaries about Josef Herman for BBC Wales in 1996 (A Brush with Fate) & 2000 (Painting the Dragon: 3 Welsh Artists) and 2011 four artists in Wales. And although on this occasion she herself did not feature, several of her paintings by Herman and archival photographs of him were shown

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b074c1w2 --- Television & Radio Broadcasts (above in 2016)

From 2009 to 2015 she has been a trustee of the Josef Herman Art Foundation Cymru Trust Ltd., an organisation that has been set up to promote interest in the life and work of the artist Josef Herman and in his name, as well as promote participation in the arts. Since then she has given regular lectures on the artist and his associates (go to link, published by 'The David Jones Journal, 2007': Caryl Roese - Joseph Herman's influence). All this activity and interest encouraged her to collect contemporary paintings by Welsh artists and those living and working in Wales. A considerable collection of 40 works was the result, which has since been donated to the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth, to promote Welsh art and its artists (see top of page).

In 2003 Caryl attended an initial part-time COAS course for painting and printing. It led to a two year part-time Foundation Course (completed with distinction), in order to engage in 2005 in a degree course in Fine Art, majoring in sculpture. In 2007 she followed this up with a two-year, part-time, evening course on Fabrication, Welding & Sheet Metal Work at Coleg Glan Hafren in Cardiff. Her aim being to acquire enough metal working skills, to create steel sculptures. A further one-year course on Vehicle Body and Paint Operations Refinishing provided her with the skills on how to preserve her metal work (see Activity Link "Art&Design", top of page). Her training was completed in 2010.

Since then her art and design training has resulted in a number of attractive mild-steel sculptures, more of which can be viewed at her 'art&design' web site.

2009                                                                    2010                                                             2011

References & Links:

Singing in Concert https://soundcloud.com/carylroese / Comments google for https://soundcloud.com/carylroese/favorites, click on it. Royal Academy of Music https://www.ram.ac.uk/museum/item/36375 and ...36374

Lecturer http://www.huwweston.com/index.php/22-mosaic-articles/58-teaching-news-now

Final Concert  https://............ click title Tôn Grou - Wicipedia  https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tôn_Gron Caryl Roese | a book about death ,waleshttps://abookaboutdeathwales.wordpress.com/2014/09/24/caryl-roese/ Josef Herman Influences http://sites.google.com/site/jhermaninfluence

J.Herman Memories https://sites.google.com/sites/jhermanmemories Oral History with Caryl Roese, People's Coll. https://www.peoplescollection.wales/items/833841:/ Caryl Roese, Retired, Cardiff Metropolitan University | LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/caryl- roese- 569020156 CarylRoese yn son am Lwyau Serch http://merchedywawr.cymru/newyddion/15129/

Joint Exhibition - Heads 'n Tales- Angela Bowen / Caryl Roese -opening view Sunday BBC Cymru Interview -  https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b074c1w2 World Music - why bother https://sites.google.com/site/whyworldmusic Howell Gwynfryn on Caryl Roese's metal sculptures (Nat.Scr.&Snd.Arch. of Wales                                              Aberystwyth, Location Number: DVD

Oral Interviews

[1] Caryl Roese yn cofio'r arlunydd Josef Herman, (9th May 2013) [2] Stiwdio gyda Nia Roberts — Josef Herman [3] Bet a'i phobol: Caryl Roese - O gan i gerflunon  (Nat. Scr.&Snd. Arch. of Wales Aberystwyth, Location                  Number: CD 12610). Television & Radio Broadcasts /

[ 1 - 13] see disc "Caryl Roese - Only a miner's daughter, Part III"

broadcast & concert performances, 1963-1966 on South African Broadcasting Corp. (Nat.Screen&Sound Archive of Wales Aberystwyth, Location Numbers: RM 18285 - RM 18302)

[14] Interview in Nairobi on Radio Kenya (Nat.Scr.&Snd. Arch. of Wales Aberystwyth, Location Number: RM 18303)

Concert performances in Cape Town in 1966:

* Aberfan Charity Concert: Welsh Folk Song/ Quilter/Gershwin

* Sacred Music Concert for CAPAB: Mendelssohn's Elijah/With Verdure Clad from J.Haydn's The Creation

* University of CT Concerts: Welsh Folk Songs/Italian Songs/Spanish Songs.

At the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth : Publications about CR. Publications by CR [1] [2]  [3]  [4]  [5] Photo Gallery Donations

contact: c.b.m.roese@gmail.com

(all images & text are © Caryl Roese unless acknowledged otherwise)

2016