Summer School 2019: Sarah Allen

ESTA Summer school report 2019

Sarah Allen

 

I was delighted to receive a Nannie Jamieson Nutshell Bursary sponsored by Lark, to attend the 2019 ESTA Summer School. I was particularly attracted to the Rolland classes, which were taken by the 2 Joannes, both of whom had learned with Rolland himself.

What a pleasure it was to experience well-paced sessions, which started with a short extract from the famous 1969 films (now on DVD, which have been slightly speeded up, affecting vibrato and pitch), immediately followed by hands-on, detailed demonstrations of the principles, and the incremental steps to achieve efficient, curved movements. This was no dry lecture; we tried everything out for ourselves. I was in the violin group led by Joanne May, who was quirky and inventive – like any good teacher, she found solutions that worked for her, which weren’t necessarily identical to those on the films.

She had an ingenious selection of thrifty props, ranging from empty toilet rolls (to be placed on the left shoulder for shadow bowing, which encourages good parallel bowing, while not leaving rosin on clothes) to miniature clothes pegs placed just above the balance point on the bow for the early bow hold. She cuts up Velcro to help establish the “pinkie”(4^th finger) position on the bow, and covers the chin-rest with moleskin to make it softer. Some children complain that the violin hurts, where the violin meets the neck, so I will try this with my students with chamois leather, which is also non-slip.

Emphasis was placed on freedom of movement, for example with “marshmallow” knees and moving the head in “yes” and “no” movements to loosen the jaw. She encouraged circling the students to check for stiffness and incipient bad habits. A great phrase she used was “Practice makes permanent”.

It was good to see so many PGCE students, many from China and Hong Kong, experiencing Rolland principles for the first time. The consensus among fellow professionals was that we would have loved a whole morning of Rolland, rather than just 90 minutes a day, but I hope the new teachers will be inspired to continue building on what they learned in Chichester.

Another delight on the course was the morning yoga session, led by Jane Fenton. As a practising cellist, Jane is well aware of the stresses musicians put their bodies under, and had gentle exercises based on Scaravelli, which anyone can learn, to help counteract them. The role of breathing from the core, using the whole rib-cage, in facilitating stretches, was emphasized, and I left every session feeling lighter, looser and calmer. One inevitably spends an inordinate amount of time sitting during a course, and this was a wonderful corrector and counter-balance.

The two Joannes have been invited back to ESTA for the 2022 Summer School, and I would urge everyone to put it in their diaries!