Haringey Music Service

The Nelson Way – a Training Session for Strings Teachers in Haringey

On Friday 9th January 2025 fifteen strings teachers assembled in Alexandra Palace, for the inaugural ‘Nelson Way’ teachers’ event. As Head of Strings for Haringey Music Service, this event was one I had keenly anticipated. I know how invaluable Sheila Nelson’s teaching philosophy is having learnt with her myself from an early age into my late teens. I was delighted then when the Sheila Nelson Stringwise Fund offered the support to make this event happen.

The event was led by Deborah Young and Cathy Elliott. As well as being renowned strings teachers themselves, Cathy and Deborah were close colleagues of Sheila over several decades.  In recent years they have painstakingly archived Sheila’s teaching materials so that they can be used for future generations.  

We began with a video of Sheila teaching at the pioneering Tower Hamlets String Project of the 1980s.  Then followed a host of entertaining activities ideal for large group or individual teaching.  Areas covered included innovative rhythm games, teaching bow holds, sol fa, whole class repertoire, circular bowing, the difference between passive and active arms and the need for relaxed technique.  

The activities were very ‘hands on’ with teachers taking the role of students for much of the time.  The morning was fun, challenging and creative, with a lot of laughter and discussion.  Diverse repertoire was covered including some from the Essential String Method, written by Sheila with Cathy and others.  

For me, the morning brought back happy memories of learning with Sheila.  But as Cathy and Deborah emphasised, despite her strong philosophy of teaching, Sheila was opposed to keeping ideas preserved in aspic.  Instead, she continually refined and developed her ideas in response to students’ needs.  

Our HMS strings team rose to this theme of continual creativity with their excellent contributions and observations.  Their feedback was warm and enthusiastic with comments such as ‘inspirational’ and ‘brilliant’.  In a few weeks teachers will be invited to give further feedback about how the ideas they encountered have worked on the ground.  This valuable research is also kindly supported by the ESTA Bursary Committee and Sheila Nelson Stringwise Fund.

In a year in which Sheila would have turned ninety I like to think she would have been pleased and proud to witness this excellent event.  At HMS we hope it is the first of many to come so that teachers can continue to benefit from Sheila’s ideas and creativity.

Buskaid

To the Sheila Nelson Stringwise Fund

On behalf of Sonja Bass, Keabetswe Goodman and myself, I am writing to express our
very great appreciation to the Sheila Nelson Stringwise Fund for generously agreeing
to fund our visit to present three workshops at the ESTA Summer School 2026.
These workshops, involving children from the local community, will demonstrate how
we work in Soweto during our weekly group lessons. These groups always have an
element of surprise and fun, which we hope will be the case at the ESTA course!
They will include a lot of singing, solfa, movement, and right- and left-hand techniques,
all based on the Essential String Method and other Nelson repertoire. And, depending
on the age/standard of our young ‘guinea pigs’, we’d like to introduce them to some
simple township music, to be played by ear.

From Buskaid’s early beginnings, I have acknowledged Sheila, a very close friend and
colleague since 1972, as the mentor and advisor whose support and wisdom informed
my teaching in Soweto. In the 90s, this often took the form of my phoning her from
South Africa in some panic, for advice on how to lead a workshop of more than 40
young string players from Diepkloof Soweto! This was for me a new and very daunting
prospect!

To be acknowledged as a successful example of how Sheila Nelson’s approach,
together with that of her Stringwise colleagues, has been the driving force behind all
our teaching at the Buskaid Music School in Soweto, is an amazing validation of what
we do. Thank you so much!

We shall also present a concert involving an additional six young Buskaid teachers
who will accompany us to this event. This concert will reflect the extraordinary capacity
of our young African musicians to understand and interpret various performance styles from historically-informed baroque and classical, to romantic and township Afro-Jazz.

Deborah Young – research write-up

The presenters of the Haringey Music Service INSET, which took place on 9th January, are grateful to the SNSF for supporting the research into development of the Nelson Way which followed and which will inform the planning of sessions to be given at ESTA’s Summer School in August.

The INSET was attended by fourteen HMS teachers who, between them, have a wide range of experience, from two former SMN pupils to those at the beginning of their teaching careers, including those who trained in other countries. Most have some experience of whole class or small group teaching, but a few only teach individuals.

The workshop was based on the ideas and strategies developed by Sheila Nelson, starting with a group of songs, both historic to her sessions and some more currently used. It continued with some heavy vs light arm exercises with the teachers working in pairs, and explored active vs passive movements. The following activity took simple songs from the Essential String Method bk.1, including sol fa and hand signs. Katherine Chibah’s backing tracks for Tall Red Bus were much admired! Next came a wide variety of games using rhythm cards; ranging from the very simple to the extremely challenging. The teaching of pulse and movement was discussed. Bow hold teaching and the importance of big arm movements ended the session; Stir the Magic Pot from ESM bk 1 was demonstrated.

The teachers were asked to try some or all of these activities in their spring term teaching and evaluate their effectiveness.

Almost all tried the sol fa and rhythm card activities, which many had not used before, finding the rhythm
cards generally easy to use and incorporate, but some found pupils shy about singing and sol fa and found hand signs tricky. Many tried the bow holding exercises and big freeing movements to improve string crossing and general physicality. There was mention of some behaviour problems when children worked in pairs to find light vs heavy arms. Many tried different songs and repertoire and were enthusiastic about getting backing tracks for ESM. The opening up of a more playful way of teaching and more relaxed pupils was mentioned.

Of the 11 teachers who responded, all were very positive and said they would continue to use the activities and welcomed further training. In summary this was an extremely useful preparation and basis for planning what to include in the summer.

Project Bursary report – JDCMF

.........We are utterly delighted with our young string quartets' development over the last term .

Having the generous grant from JDCMF has meant we have been able to provide a professional string playing coach for each ensemble at every session . Every group has been supported and encouraged by professionals who are passionate to share their own love of chamber music and it is exciting to see our young people gain a knowledge of this magical and rich repertoire .

We have a string quartet playing Borodin No 2 and have thrived with guidance from Thelma , leader of RLPO , and Sarah , viola player in the same . The viola player in this quartet has just accepted a place at the RCM to study from September and the other players will probably follow him when they are of age !

We have two quartets playing Haydn and they are loving it . Four of these players have been with us since our early endeavours ( rehearsing at a friend 's farm in their outbuildings !) and to see their development as chamber musicians is immensely inspiring and encourages us to do more !!!

Our youngest group are coached by the excellent Sally Anderson who has been a massive part of the In Harmony Everton project . She builds their musicianship skills and makes it fun and effective . They stand to play and always perform with rhythmic excellence ageing from 8-11 .

We have a group playing some Mozart and when their viola player has not been able to attend due to ill health they have been coached from the viola chair by Nadia Debono who is had just joined the Liverpool Phil as No 2 vla . She is Maltese and superb with the youngsters ! I think it has also been wonderful for her to get to know the children and for them to meet someone who has just relocated and is new to the orchestra.

Our newest ensemble , which would not have been possible without your help is made up of 2 eleven year olds , one 14 year old and an 18 year old and I am moved sometimes to witness the cooperation between them all . They are not a combination that would naturally flock together were it not for chamber music and they are wonderful together ! They are respectful and helpful to each other and there is much laughter and hard work too .

We return to rehearsals this coming Saturday after our Christmas break and I look forward to seeing more development , enriching and fun this term !

We are truly grateful to you for causing this to happen for these young people and thank you so much for your generosity.

Celia Goodwin

National Strings: Xiachu (7)

My name is Xiachu. I am 7 years old. I want to let you know that I had a great time at National Strings in Norfolk. The best thing about the course was to play my violin together as a group. My favourite music piece was "Tops and Tails". And it was my first time away from home. I really enjoyed this course. Thank you!

Xiachu's mother writes:

Many thanks to the Joan Dickson Chamber Music Fund for supporting Xiachu to attend the National Strings Junior Chamber music course, held in Norfolk for two days at Easter.

On this course, Xiachu was taught to play various chamber music, working in a variety of mixed instrumental small ensembles. She learnt how to practise efficiently in order to achieve a good performance.

During this course, Xiachu has developed her listening skills, helping her to follow every detail of the music so that she knows how her part fits into the overall musical idea. She has also learnt that collaboration (teamwork) is so very important in chamber music. For example, when she played one of her pieces, she became able to respond straight away by listening, fitting her part in, and taking into account the other musicians involved. She has learnt awareness of the other musicians' parts, and that she needs to interact more sensitively with other players in a chamber music ensemble.

Xiachu could identify the characteristics of the different instruments on this course. For example, she knows that because a cello is larger in size than a violin, the notes produced by a cello are lower in pitch when compared to a violin.

Due to this course, Xiachu can now play and perform with an improved sense of rhythm. For example, her ability to keep accurately to a regular beat and synchronise with an ensemble has improved. She also learnt how to adapt to the rhythm and timing in different compositions and to keep these elements in the front of her mind.

In general, Xiachu has benefitted a lot from this Chamber Music Course. Thanks again to the Joan Dickson Chamber Music Fund. We really appreciate it !