Summer School report: Helen Lewis

ESTA Bursary Report 2021

With thanks to sponsor Hidersine and the Nannie Jamieson Nutshell Fund for supporting my bursary to attend the ESTA Summer School.

The summer school was particularly special to attend this year, having not having been able to attend in-person training opportunities or do orchestral playing during the pandemic. Sharing ideas and teaching experiences with other string teachers, in person was particularly good, having the social contact that I think so many of us have missed. Ensemble playing as part of the sessions and informal playing opportunities with other delegates, was the first time since the start of the pandemic that I had played in any sort of group. This is something I have missed being able to do so much. It’s at the heart of why I play the violin, so it was great to just enjoy making music with others. This was something I had taken for granted as just my way of life pre COVID.

The course gave me time and opportunity to reflect on how I teach and review my curriculum, as well as providing some new ideas to add to my teaching toolkit. I particularly enjoyed Helen Dromey’s sessions on her PHD research and her ideas for promoting the pupil voice in lessons. Helen demonstrated how she had used certain pieces to promote creative learning and enabling students to make choices. The practical group work in the sessions allowed time to explore this further. I have started using some of her strategies in my teaching and can see how using some of her ideas will be really effective. Her sessions have helped me look at some alternative ways into teaching a piece of music and to think about which parts of a piece could enable me to do this effectively.

The daily upper strings sessions with Bojan Cvetreznik were fun and I enjoyed learning folk pieces at a very fast tempo. It certainly kept me on my toes! I learnt a lot from his sessions in how he approaches teaching repertoire from memory to a group of players. It was about playing the chunks you knew and stopping and listening to parts you didn’t and being confident in doing that. This was a very different experience from playing from reading the music and I gained a lot from this way of learning regarding how I learn. Bojan had us experimenting with contact point on each string for the type of playing you are doing before playing the piece, this was a good warm up activity and a good way to check in with your sound. This again will be helpful to encourage my students to do more of. I really enjoyed playing several of the pieces, such as Traktor Kolo and Lapp Lenas Vals. I can see myself using these for ensemble work or as concert repertoire with students, played from memory.

The morning Alexander Techniques were a lovely way to start the day. It set me up feeling relaxed and ready to learn. Henry gave us lots of very practical warm up movement activities that we could use with our students. Many were very similar to moves that I use my in practice of Tai Chi and Qi-Gong, so felt very natural and relatable and will be easy to add into the current warm ups I use for both string and piano students. The sessions also allowed for us to work on our own posture and I have been using his ‘active rest’ audio track since the summer school. I think over time, particularly when life gets stressful and busy during the school term, it will be a gift of non-doing.

Simon Cartledge’s upper strings sessions gave lots of ideas for teaching beginners. As I had attended his online ESTA workshops last year, a lot of the content was repeated, nevertheless it was good to revisit his concepts, many of which I have used in my teaching in the last year.

In my over twenty years of teaching I have really learnt that one size of teaching doesn’t fit all, so having a wide selection of resources and ideas of how to teach the same thing is really important. Also, keeping my ideas fresh and feeling rejuvenated as a teacher is important to me, and this is so aided by attending the ESTA summer school. It may just be hearing the same thing again and revisiting why or why I am not using that approach or idea, or having a completely new way of trying out teaching a certain technique.

Thank you to all the team at ESTA that enabled this year’s summer school to take place, I appreciate it was difficult to run with COVID­­ and a smaller cohort of delegates, but I found it incredibly beneficial to attend.

Helen Lewis, September 2021

Resilience 2020: Nicola Rich

Tuesday 7th July - Report on ESTA CPD online course.

 

I am so grateful for the Nannie Jamieson Nutshell Fund bursary I received for the latest ESTA CPD online course. It was so lovely to get together with other teachers at this difficult time of teaching online and share experiences and ideas for the future. The sessions on “Resilience for changing times” made us all re-think about how to change or alter what happens as we come out of lockdown and to re-evaluate our time, energy and focus and asked questions such as… should we continue teaching - should we reinvent ourselves in some way? Do we enjoy what we do and can we make that better? Can we explore different ways of teaching online or offline? What are our strengths and weaknesses and how can we develop or change those? They were positive sessions that I found very helpful. The Feldenkrais sessions were a wonderful way to start the morning and to relax and think about our bodies in a new way - some of the shoulder and hand exercises I have already implemented into my own teaching and found useful. The upper strings sessions by Simon Cartledge and question time with Simon Fischer gave some great insights into different ideas on how to help our pupils with their understanding and learning of playing the violin. Simon Cartledge  had some wonderful exercise ideas to appeal to pupils, such as the “Happy woodpecker” - positioning a 2nd or 3rd finger on the string and tapping the bent top to find where the best resonance is. I have since used this as a fun way for my pupils to see if their hand and fingers are in the correct position. It is most satisfying to find the correct sound! Both teachers gave some great challenges to traditional ways of teaching and made me start to think more outside of the box and that maybe what we have always thought of as “the right” way is not necessary always right - it’s a lot about understanding your pupils and how they work in finding the key to unlock their potential as players. I found them very encouraging. All in all it was a great few days of learning and sharing.

 

Nicola Rich

Resilience 2020: Marion Crombie

ESTA CPD course, June 10 - 12, 2020 Marion Crombie

 

I was not sure how it would feel spending three mornings in front of a screen, so it was helpful to start the day with a Feldenkrais session, for which one doesn’t have to

watch the screen but instead listen to the instructions. As an Alexander Technique teacher I’m always interested in other methods that invite awareness of how we move, and I find

Feldenkrais very helpful in this respect, and a technique that seems to lend itself well to online teaching.

 

The morning sessions with Simon Cartledge I found very helpful. I will certainly be using the “Royal Wave”, “patting the dog” and other movements relevant to finding the balance in both arms and the important freedom of the upper arm at the shoulder. The demonstrations and steps towards vibrato, playful wild bowing and wild shifts will also be useful in my teaching. For me, resonating with questions I have been asking myself about my own playing. I liked having the same tutor for 3 days in a row, feeling that it was more likely that the approach would sink in for me. I liked the emphasis on balanced movements inspired by the Rolland approach. I have always been interested in this approach but haven’t previously had direct experience of it. Apart from the movements, I will also incorporate the “circle of 5th’s scale” and the 2-octave modes practise into my teaching.

 

Online workshops are not the same as in-person ones; there are many things that we miss. Still I do think that this technology is enabling more opportunities, and more affordable opportunities for sharing teaching experience, which can only be good.

 

The sessions with Lucy Hare invited us to think about resilience in the face of the current situation. I realized that one of my weaknesses has been that I have little desire to explore some of the new technology that is available and that I dislike spending too much time in front of a screen. However, I came to realize that the technology offers a widened field of potential students and new ways of reaching out to people who might not otherwise have the opportunity of music tuition. During one of the breakout groups I learned from one of the other participants about the Northeast Fiddle School, which sounds like it is doing very well. I also heard about a website called Patreon, which I will look into.

 

The final evening, with Chris Haigh was a mixed experience for me. I really enjoy playing folk music from many traditions and was looking forward to it. Not being a quick learner by ear I found the most valuable experience for me was that uncomfortable reminder (that I believe all teachers need from time to time) of how unpleasant it is to feel pressured and completely out of one’s depth. Thank goodness for the mute button! No-one learns well in these conditions. The Bulgarian tune was more enjoyable, but even so I found that his tempi were fast or faster and again was left with an unsatisfactory feeling.

 

On balance I found the workshop to be both enjoyable and instructive and am very grateful for the financial assistance of the Nannie Jamieson Nutshell Fund bursary that allowed me to take part. I found it a very useful stimulus to my teaching and particularly valuable in these times that we are living in.

 

The tech support from Nicole was wonderful and I was impressed that there seemed to be so few glitches. Well done!

 

Resilience 2020: Helen Stanley

Report on ESTA CPD course, Resilience for a changing world, 10-12th June 2020.

 

Thanks to the ESTA Nannie Jamieson Nutshell Fund I received a generous award for this course, presented and ably tech-managed by Nicole Wilson, with excellent sessions by Simon Cartledge, Simon Fischer, Lucy Hare, Chris Haigh and Josephine Horder.

As someone who has been a moderate user of  technology so far, over the past three months I have embraced teaching online on three platforms. Together with sending practice notes, links to repertoire performances and other hints to pupils, I knew that this process could be invigorated. Proud to be a minor Luddite – I was born in Nottingham, where the movement started as a revolt against textile mechanisation  - I was keen to learn and, crucially, not to be scared of embracing new ways of teaching. I was not disappointed.

Both Jo’s and Lucy’s sessions helped assess where we are and where we want to be going. We began each morning with a Feldenkrais session with Jo, using the subtle movements and interior body awareness that are the basis of this method. Jo challenged how we sit (through pelvis and feet) and use our arms (to the breast bone) for playing - no right or wrong answers, just encouraging us to feel individually. Her insights as a cellist infused each session. Lucy Hare’s life coach and professional bass player integrated to make her talks and illustrations relevant to now. Gently challenging us to name our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, we put some interesting thoughts into the boxes! Resilience was definitely the keyword here.

Simon Cartledge’s measures of everything technical are freedom and enjoyment. Lots of jokes, images, stories, clowning – whatever it takes to help a pupil. Vibrato? – wobbly soprano. Left hand elevation? – pairs of fingers walking across the strings like a crab. A shopping-bag hold of the bow at the balance point, down by your side, gentle curve of the fingers, then bring it up and bow from that hold. Misbehave! Make a racket! Be a jester or warrior – particularly good for pupils who like karate and light sabres! Ask a pupil “what do you need to know?” If they find the answer themselves, they are far more likely to remember it. “Knowledge is only rumour until it’s in the muscle”. Violin in hand, Simon gave me many examples that I could take into my teaching.

Simon Fischer’s 20 Questions session became 3-and-a-bit questions, as Nicole led him skilfully through vibrato and shoulder rests – mainly! Answered in a considered way from his years of experience.

Our final evening was a superfast romp through several genres of Folk with Chris Haigh. A challenge to those of us wedded to printed music was learning a simple (!) 16-bar tune by ear, with only one playthrough by Chris of each 2-bar phrase. For me, life got easier after that, even in a Bulgarian 11/8 (symmetrical bars; what’s the problem?!) and Jewish Hassidic dance. Great fun!

The finale - Sheila Holdsworth’s Quiz. What a way to end a course! Laughter, silliness, expert cartoons and puppetry, Nicole’s graphics and sound bites….all that was missing was the bar afterwards. How wonderful that will be when we can truly socialise at the end of a course. Thank you, ESTA. Resilience will help us to adapt successfully.

 

Helen Stanley

Resilience 2020: Rachael Smart

ESTA June 2020 Report

I would like to start this report by thanking the ‘Nannie Jamieson Nutshell Fund’ for funding the bursary I received for my part time attendance at the June CPD Sessions “Resilience for a Changing World”. I have been working as a full time Upper Strings Instructor at Glasgow City Council for 5 years now. As I am still in the beginning stages of my teaching career I feel it is very important to be attending courses where I can learn from some of the best pedagogies and mix with many other Violin/ Viola teachers to gain more experience and ideas.

The highlight of these sessions for me was the very start of the first morning with Simon Cartledge where we discussed what we were doing to form rapport at the start of an online lesson and how it might differ from when a pupil comes to your house. We also discussed how some pupils are more comfortable with facing the teacher and others prefer to be facing side ways on. I found this discussion extremely useful with the current situation and it was reassuring to hear that everyone is having the same thoughts and concerns. I have come away with some new ideas to try and with more confidence for my online teaching.

I really enjoyed the fact that Simon Cartledge spoke about Paul Roland and balancing movements as it lead on so well from the Summer School I attended last year which was based on the Paul Roland Pedagogy. Simon made an excellent point about how actions should always come first and then labels will follow after. He also mentioned that he starts the balance movements right from the beginning as a foundation to vibrato, spiccato and sautille so that the movements are already in the muscle for later stages. This is something that I will be sure to always have in my mind at the beginning stages with my pupils.

I thought that Simon Cartledge had some brilliant analogies for the technique of both the left and right hands and I will definitely incorporate them into my teaching.

I particularly liked the ‘happy woodpecker’ to establish the basic left hand working from the second and third finger where you tap the third finger for a percussive effect looking for the optimum position. I am very excited to try this out with my pupils as I am sure they will really enjoy it.

Another topic that I particularly enjoyed from Simon Cartledge was vibrato. He showed us a really great exercise where you turn the bow up-side down and place the left hand fingers on the bow stick and use the right arm to teach the left arm the feeling of the movement. Another exercise we did was anchoring the thumb on the violin with no fingers and carrying out the vibrato action whilst bowing to help the right arm get used to the coordination. Vibrato is something that a lot of pupils struggle with in the beginning so it’s always useful to learn new exercises to help with this.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Q&A Session with Simon Fischer. I attended a few masterclasses with Simon whilst studying at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland however it was really interesting to hear him answering more direct questions. One question and discussion that stuck out for me was the use of a shoulder rest and what make to use. It is extremely difficult to find something that fits for everyone seeing as we are all built differently, therefore it’s always useful to hear what others are using and what options there are out there.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the 2020 ESTA June CPD Sessions and I am looking forward to attending many more courses in the future.

Rachael Smart