Editorial
I am pleased to say that we have an unusually long list of forthcoming events on the cover. Alison Crum’s course for voices and viols has now been confirmed for the 9th July and a form for it is enclosed.

Linda Hill has just told me that the link I have been giving for back-numbers of Tamesis (http://www.tvemf.org/tamesis/index.htm) is a direct link for back numbers from 2001 to 2003. Our usual web site www.tvemf.org has back issues for 2004 to 2005 as well as a link to the old ones. Linda does a fantastic job keeping the site up to date, with concerts, events, index to the most recent issue and some interesting photographs, as well as links to other forums, forms and maps, so do have a look at it.

No time to write more, except the usual plea – more contributions please!
Victoria Helby

Chairman’s Chat
The Baroque Day in Oxford, organised by Peter Collier, attracted some 70 participants, but the massive job of organising compatible groups did not seem to daunt him and it seemed to go very well.

On Sunday afternoon I dropped in on Chris Thorn's Crumhorn Day and, as last time, found a small but enthusiastic group who managed to keep going until about 4.30 pm. Well done Chris and Janet - most enjoyable. Perhaps other members might like to host a similar "at home" event.

The Schütz day with Peter Syrus promises to be interesting. I met Peter when he tutored the Easter course at Springfield Court a several years ago and was impressed with his breadth of knowledge. Though he has done many workshops for the more northerly Fora is the first time he has done a workshop for TVEMF so I'm very much looking forward to it.

It has long been known that music can be beneficial to the brain so it was not very surprising to discover from a Web search that TVEMF can stimulate the growth of human neural cells. However, closer inspection reveals that 'Genetic expression data has revealed the ability to "turn on" those genes that are responsible for growth and "turn off" those genes that are regulatory in nature. The Time Varying Electromagnetic Field (TVEMF) makes use of this valuable insight to stimulate normal human neural cells with an electrical waveform (electrical potentials), thus facilitating and directing neural cell growth.' see http://ston.jsc.nasa.gov/collections/TRS/_techrep/TP-2003- 212054.pdf for details (this is not an April 1st joke!).
David Fletcher

The Catholic Mass in Macao
This workshop directed by the charismatic Philip Allinmore began with what proved to be a somewhat over-enthusiastic warm up involving grasping the midriff of the person in front whilst they breathed in and out. Fortunately all the charges of indecent assault have now been dropped.

The music was based around some interesting manuscripts recently discovered in the archives of St Dominic’s, the 17th-century cathedral church in Macao. As well as works by Portuguese composers such as Melgas and Rebelo, we were able to enjoy some of the output of musicians such as Go Hang, a local convert to catholicism. His work was particularly unusual, with its mixture of Portuguese and Chinese influences sometimes producing curious effects to the Western ear.

The pronunciation of the Latin proved to be very contentious and no consensus was reached even after protracted arguments involving more than a little Anglo-Saxon. Certainly the opening of the Gloria in Chinese Latin lost some of its impact and the word miserere proved particularly problematic. Sadly the late Harold Copeman's Singing in Latin seems to give little guidance on the matter.

Philip Allinmore did not seem entirely at ease with the music and appeared somewhat dissatisfied with our achievements though I believe I did hear him say something at the end about having bettered Go Hang himself.

It was gratifying to see so many willing helpers serving the coffee, though perhaps another time, given the size of the kitchen, we shall limit the volunteers to 15 or so. Apologies to those who did not get a drink but the treatment for the scalding did make things a little difficult.
DF 1/4/2005