Summer School 2019: Fred Parry

Fred Parry Report ESTA SS 2019

 

From 11th to 16th August this year I attended an ESTA Summer School in Chichester. My main reason for attending was to remind me of the teachings of the great American teacher, Paul Rolland.

Attending this course was only made possible from the generous grant I received from The Nannie Jamieson Nutshell Fund and from Glasgow City Council’s Education department who made up the shortfall.

Myself and my colleague set off from Glasgow at 6.30am on Sunday 11th for the long drive to Chichester. Nine hours later we arrived and were greeted by members of the ESTA organising committee and shown to our accommodation. That evening was the first of 4 concerts scheduled for the week. This was the first of two concerts given by Steve Bingham.

I had first been introduced to the Paul Rolland method in the 1970s from Rolland himself at an ESTA course in Cambridge. The Rolland exponents on this occasion were the “Two Joannes”, Erwin (Cello) and May( violin). Both of them had studied with the eminent teacher in the 1970s and have since pursued very successful careers in teaching with the Rolland Method.

We would start off in the mornings with all the strings together watching 1970’s Rolland videos which are as relevant today as they were the first time I saw them! The cellos would then leave with Joanne Erwin to discuss the Rolland techniques most relevant to the cello. This re-affirmed my believe in this method and approach. The use of left hand pizzicato at an early stage to maintain the L.H. shape on the cello was something I had forgotten about! It is now back at the top of my list! Joanne brought her new book with her…“New Directions for Strings” and I made sure I got my free copy! It has many of the Rolland techniques in it, such as bi-lateral movement while bowing! This is so important to keep students free as they bow and will certainly be deployed with my “Beginner-Strings” class of Primary One’s. It emphasises the importance of good technique right from the start. I am responsible for String Teaching development with Glasgow Education and have already set up two in service days to impart all this valuable knowledge.

In contrast the violinist Mark O’Conner and his wife, Maggie, introduced us to the Mark O’Connor Method. The approach is somewhat different to Rolland and concentrates more on the materials being used rather a solid pedagogy of technique.

On the Thursday Sarah Upjohn delivered a very enlightening lecture on injuries to young musicians and it was a stark reminder of the responsibility that we have as string teachers to get it right for all our young musicians.

As well as the Steve Bingham concerts we also had ones from Mark & Maggie O’Conner and the Artesian String Quartet. All were very enjoyable.

The whole course was a very enjoyable week and certainly inspired me to continue my work at delivering top quality lessons to all my students.