Summer School 2019: Ilse McFarlane

ESTA Summer School Report 2019

Ilse McFarlane

I was able to attend the ESTA Summer School 2019 due to a Nannie Jamieson Nutshell Bursary sponsored by Pirastro, and I came home buzzing with new ideas to try out on unsuspecting pupils, as well as a few sobering reminders of what I shouldn’t be doing! Here are a few highlights that particularly appealed to me in my teaching situation:

Our daily lower strings sessions were crammed with exercises, techniques and repertoire to encourage healthy use of the instrument. When I started teaching decades ago, I was guilty of paying more attention to bow hold and sitting position than how movements of bow and body created sound. Having not formally come across the idea of bilateral and unilateral movements before, I was surprised and rather concerned at how difficult I found it at first, but I am convinced that scales with long bows and bilateral swaying is an incredibly useful warm up to achieve a relaxed playing posture and beautiful singing tone, whatever the age or stage of the pupil.

These sessions also demonstrated that modelling is by far the most effective way of teaching, and I have resolved to talk much less in lessons. We sometimes forget how much information a new learner is having to absorb and how many tasks we are asking them to perform simultaneously. No wonder our pupils often look less than comfortable behind their instrument!

Joanne has such an encouraging and accepting demeanour that I also came away with a renewed commitment to exude the same qualities in my teaching (even when teaching in the school broom cupboard with assembly going on in the next room and a pupil sitting an exam the following week who has forgotten their instrument!).

The morning Yoga sessions led by Jane Fenton were for me an enlightening voyage into unfamiliar terrain. It was liberating to spend time exploring how to use the breath to set our movements free and it all tied in perfectly with much of what Joanne Erwin talked of in relation to the work of Paul Rolland. Whether or not we fully understand the biomechanics of string playing, there is no doubt that an awareness of the breath certainly has a positive effect on the way we use our bodies to convey our musicianship.

The importance of creativity in music using American folk melodies was the main focus of Mark O’Connor’s daily sessions. It has already provoked me to liberate the student from the music stand more frequently, relying instead on either memory, improvisation or a combination of the two. Mark was rightly insistent that pupils learn best through combining different musical genres, but also that we shouldn’t just be teaching melody: students need access to an environment where they can experiment with counterpoint, harmony and rhythm as well.

Our responsibilities to provide an efficient and healthy technical foundation for pupils were highlighted in a session by physiotherapist Sarah Upjohn from The Purcell School. During a discussion of the risk factors associated with playing-related injuries, she reminded us that as teachers we cannot ignore known risks to the health of our pupils as a result of playing their instrument (such as poor posture and technique) as it then becomes a safe-guarding issue. This really brought home to me the magnitude of our responsibilities to get it right for each of our pupils.

As is the way with ESTA events, the whole atmosphere of the week was one of collaborative learning, sharing experiences, ideas and suggestions. It was heartening to find that we all face similar challenges in our teaching and it is no exaggeration to say that the 6 days I spent at the ESTA Summer School will have an influence on the rest of my teaching career.