Oxford Chamber Music Course: Clara (12)

I am so grateful to Hidersine and the Joan Dickson Chamber Music Fund for the opportunity to play on the Oxford Chamber Course. It has really helped my cello playing and chamber music skills. ‘L’estro Armonico Concerto X’ particularly helped me to play in a larger group of people. With a lot of the chamber music pieces it has helped watching other people. In ‘La Battaille’ by Susato it was important to make sure that we were playing at the exact same time. We had to come in at the same time, and for much of the piece we had to play the same rhythm. Often, when practising this piece, we would find it difficult to all be playing together, which did not sound very good and was quite obvious. This piece taught me to use techniques I was not doing previously, like double-stops or bow retakes. ‘Tiger Rag’ by The Original Dixieland Jazz Band arranged by T. Kenny really improved my pizzicato because a large section of the piece uses this style, and I had to keep the bass-line going. The course was really good and improved a lot of my cello skills and challenged me.

Clara (age 12)