Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

She was also friendly with Miss Taverner - also retired to the same part of the world. They came together to the Reunion in Hertford in 2000.
I was never a music student, but was it Miss Cordery who had a somewhat smelly dog who snuffled round people in their piano lessons?

I don't know whether it is any help, but Mrs Agulnik had a son, I thibk called Peter, who was an Old Blue. Could he possibly know anything useful?

she certainly had a Jack Russell or similar becasue we opnce bumped into her at Fairlight while I was still at school. she must have been visitng Mrs Ug at the time. Jean Taverner was an organist at Fairlight church 15 years ago but I never ever saw her

Jo wrote:Gosh, I suppose I had assumed that Miss Cordery had died some time ago - I thought she was already heading towards retirement when I was at CH. What age was she, I wonder?

I admit I thought the same. I thought she had stayed at Hertford longer than 1982 but it was a long time ago now & my memory is not as good as it once was!

englishangel wrote:she certainly had a Jack Russell or similar becasue we opnce bumped into her at Fairlight while I was still at school. she must have been visitng Mrs Ug at the time. Jean Taverner was an organist at Fairlight church 15 years ago but I never ever saw her

Of Hertford Grace fame? I thought the Jean Taverner in the Hymnbook had a link but it was never mentioned to us as far as I can recall...

Yes, Josh. Jean Taverner taught music - particularly (I am not sure solely....) the organ, at Hertford.

I am very sorry to hear that Nancy Cordery has died - I see today was the day of her funeral. She taught me at Hertford and I went on to study piano in London - she told me once that her teacher was a pupil of Cortot.
I can still see her room and the piano - at the time I learned with her she had a chow, and Miss Taverner had a cocker spaniel. I have mentioned on another thread that when I was ill in annexe she brought in the old box record player and the complete piano works of Debussy and Ravel, which led to a lasting passion for French music. She taught me not to be afraid to dash at very difficult works and learn to play them through patience and slow practice, and she came with me to the competitions in Enfield and Watford and other places that I was made to take part in. She was very proud if I won or did well and encouraged me if I didn't do so well. We had splendid chats about piano music and she introduced me to a wide range of composers. She was very good at teaching interpretation and quite converted me to playing Bach on the piano at a time when I stubbornly insisted that I only liked playing his music on the organ.
She was always good friends with Jean Taverner and they accompanied Carmina Burana in the version for two pianos one time in the school hall. I often turned pages for her and Miss Taverner when they played concerts.
Jean Taverner studied organ and composition at Cardiff University I believe, with Harold Darke, who composed "In the bleak mid-winter" as sung at King's and the version that we sang in the choir at Hertford. She was an excellent musician and wonderful organist - she also prepared Hilary Jones and me for music A level and taught us harmony and counterpoint way beyond what was required for A level. She also composed a set of responses for the choir - she was brilliant at improvisation too.
I think back to both of them very fondly - Nancy Cordery was such a cosy person and my piano lesson a time to look forward to, particularly on grey, cold and depressing days!

Miss Cordery ( as we knew her ) took our singing lessons and organised school concerts. In retrospect she worked extremely hard , coming up with novel ideas in singing to prevent boredom setting in.

I remember singing bits of The Marriage of Figaro with great gusto , as well as the Carmina Burana ( school concert ) extracts from Gilbert and Sullivan - Three Little Maids ( we were often "silly" when we sang that ...putting a little too much crescendo on the "Three Little Maaaaids from school" bit ) ...also Hiawatha's Wedding, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Oliver, My Fair Lady etc ....actually I absolutely loved it all. I sometimes think of Miss Cordery and Miss Taverner and the way they really did make an effort to expand our appreciation of music. I also remember Miss Cordery's shining blue eyes. We did play her up in lessons, singing in deep bass voices or exaggerrated sopranos...making up alternative words...over-obeying her ( too loud or too quiet)...that kind of thing but on the whole singing lessons and practices were rather joyous occasions and my memories of Miss Cordery are rather fond.

She taught us our crochets and our minims and staves and sometimes ,instead of singing we used to "chant"; not religious incantations but irrelevant drivel like:

"we always believe what the newspapers say and tuppence or thruppence is little to pay for a good read, a good read. A read on the bus or the train or the tram to keep us informed for the day" ( b-boom)

Loved it.

I hope she's conducting a few heavenly choirs up there.

p.s. I had piano lessons with Miss Barrett. She was humourless and uninspiring I'm afraid. Wish I'd had Miss Cordery....you never know ,it might have made a difference ?

Alexandra Thrift wrote: p.s. I had piano lessons with Miss Barrett. She was humourless and uninspiring I'm afraid. Wish I'd had Miss Cordery....you never know ,it might have made a difference ?

I had Miss Barrett too. My main memory of her is that she coached and conducted the school orchestra, and was desperate to load it with violinists virtually as soon as they could pick the thing up the right way. I remember coming across a new girl sobbing her heart out in the Music School basement (where the violins were kept), who managed to explain to me that she'd only been learning the violin since the beginning of term and Miss B already wanted her to be in the orchestra. The poor girl didn't feel confident enough and was really stressed out about it.

She persuaded me to switch from piano to violin for a term, really against my wishes (and certainly against my parents'). Fortunately I was even worse at the violin than at the piano so at the end of term both she and I were grateful to switch back again.

Does anyone else remember Miss Baines, who taught music theory? She had bouffant blonde hair swept into chignon, and a range of winged spectacles to match any colour outfit. I believe she was married but used her maiden name for professional purposes, which I thought terribly exotic at the time. I wasn't a good performer but I could do theory (there was some rudimentary understanding required but a lot of memorising - Italian terms and such - which I could do with very little trouble) and I got full marks in the Grade V exam. Miss Baines wrote to me in her trademark green biro to congratulate me.

My parents were a bit miffed when I decided to give up piano lessons - about halfway through the fifth form, I think, to concentrate on O levels - because I'd just struggled to Grade V and there was a new policy that music lessons would be free from Grade V onwards.

[quote="Jo"][quote="Alexandra Thrift"]

I had Miss Barrett too. My main memory of her is that she coached and conducted the school orchestra, and was desperate to load it with violinists virtually as soon as they could pick the thing up the right way.

Well, that's really depressed me. I had violin lessons with the humourless Miss Barrett too, but she never suggested I should go into the orchestra so I must have been REALLY bad! The thing I remember about her is that she was only about the same height as me, and had appalling halitosis - not good in a tiny and airless music cell. I only got to Grade II before chucking it in.

Can it be the same Miss Barrett? Did she curl her lips back in a sort of snarl, that passed for a smile? She didn't smile very often, and if it's the woman there at my time humourless just about sums her up.

Oh, how I dreaded my violin lessons with Miss Barratt.

I love the violin - always have - but begged DR to "let" me give it up as I began working for Grade V1.

The final straw was being backed up against the piano, whilst she snarled at me "Let's face it - you haven't got the spunk, have you?" Pause, where she brought her angry (halitosis) face up to mine. "You just haven't - got - the - SPUNK."

That was enough. I was working hard not to dissolve into tears, but managed to retain an impassive face. The truth was, I didn't have the spunk to cope with this bad-tempered woman.

I never played again. However could I produce the beautiful singing sound I loved when I was shut up in a hot pink room with Miss Barratt?