Summer School 2019: Emma Collingham

Emma Collingham ESTA SS Report 2019

 

I am very privileged to have received a Nannie Jamieson Nutshell Bursary, in order to attend the ESTA summer school this year as part of the PGCert course. Many thanks to Stentor who acted as my sponsor.

 

During the course, we took part in various activities, discussions, and classes. The day started with a gentle yoga session to awaken the body and prepare for the day. In the morning sessions, we looked at the Rolland method, watching short clips on how he taught, then discussing how the violin methods can be transferred to lower strings, and experimenting with these methods. Joanne Erwin took us for these sessions in which we discussed teaching methods for complete beginners – how to hold the instrument, introduction of first notes, bow hold, even the importance of chair height (cellists) and seating position, to ensure all pupils are taught correctly from the start. Joanne demonstrated various activities which are great to get pupils sitting comfortably with their cellos, starting with a hug of the instrument, followed by swinging both arms with natural weight, completely relaxed and then circling the arms and strumming all the strings in both directions at the same time. This is great to loosen up the muscles and avoid unnecessary tension. It creates a nice big wild sound which kids love and respond to really well. Something else we looked at for complete beginners which I wouldn’t have thought to do previously, was alternating left and right hand pizz - it made it very fun and enjoyable! We also discussed and tried out playing various harmonics, and call and response with these for complete beginners, to show them that you can find notes easily all the way up the fingerboard, and that it’s easy to improvise.

One particularly simple but brilliant thing I took away from these classes was, in order to help a pupil learn which bow direction is an up and which is a down, point the tip of the bow up in the air, then when you go up, it’s a up bow, and when you go down it’s a down bow - so simple, but makes so much more sense than “push” and “pull”!

We also shared our own ways of teaching, so it was great to hear all the different ways in which people put information across to pupils.

Within the PGCert sessions, we looked at how we teach different techniques of various levels in difficulty, and how we could improve the delivery of information to pupils. We demonstrated our teaching to each other, and were given suggestions as to what may make it easier for the pupil to take in the information we were giving them, plus different ways for them to practise particular techniques.

Being the only cellist on the PGCert course this year, I was used as a guinea pig for the violin teachers to demonstrate how to teach vibrato to a pupil. I feel I could actually learn to do vibrato the ‘wrong way round’ now! I had the fun of teaching Richard Crozier how to do vibrato on the cello, which he managed to perform quite beautifully!

I particularly enjoyed taking part in a Dalcroze session with Sarah Crooks, which used movement of the body to illustrate sounds and create short improvisations, and will be introducing this into my lessons.

The evening concerts were a wonderful way to finish the day, to appreciate an eclectic assortment of musical styles, as well as socialising with teachers and mentors after the performances. There was a very friendly and inclusive atmosphere throughout the course, making it a very enjoyable, and educating experience.