Young Grittleon: Adrianne aged 13

I am extremely grateful to Pirastro Strings for the bursary which made possible my summer
course at Young Grittleton.
I thought the system of letting us try out new pieces with many different people was hugely
enjoyable. I liked how we could play through a varied repertoire without worrying too much
about getting all the notes right, and finding out who we worked best with and which piece
we liked the most. I particularly enjoyed trying the Shostakovich No.8 and the Dvořák
American Quartet.
Although I liked how we were given lots of time on our own to work through our pieces, I
also found it helpful that the tutors coached each group, and offered us useful advice on
how to further improve. The tutors themselves were friendly and funny, and as well as
teaching us phrasing, dynamics or technique, they often would tell us interesting bits of
history on the composer or piece, or their own experience when performing quartet music.
My final concert piece was a Borodin quartet, which I enjoyed playing immensely. Before
Grittleton, my experience with leading a quartet was limited to starting and finishing a
piece. However, now I have played first violin in a quartet piece of a higher difficulty than I
am used to, I realise there were so many other things to take into consideration such as
communicating changes of speed, pauses, and passages with rubato.
I feel I am very lucky to have practised, played and performed in an environment with
fantastic tutors, as well as extremely talented, dedicated musicians. Everyone in my quartet
were friendly and committed in making our piece into the best it could be.
I had a lot of fun and made many great friends. Thank you for the bursary that has allowed
me to participate in this fantastic course.
Adrianne (13)