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.

 

Summer School 2019: Helen Hienkins-Lewis

Helen Hienkins-Lewis

ESTA Report 2019

I am very grateful for the Nannie Jamieson Nutshell Bursary sponsored by Pirastro, which enabled me to attend the ESTA Summer School 2019.

My attendance at the Summer School has left me feeling inspired, refreshed with new ideas and rejuvenated as a violin teacher. It was a wonderful week to learn during workshops as well as to talk and share ideas with other string teachers during social time.

The Rolland Basics Upper Strings sessions with Joanne May were particularly inspiring. Whilst I use some Rolland techniques already in my teaching, I now have many more practical tools to draw on, ranging from new ways to introduce bow hold, left hand position, shifting, vibrato and movement whilst playing. I have already started using strategies suggested with students learning to shift position and will try out many of the beginner strategies with my new starters in September. I am taking Joanne’s advice in using and looking out for cheap tools to aid learning, such as toilet rolls for shadow bowing, plastic straws to check for any bow hold tension and pencils grippers for marking the bow balance point. I feel I now have a wider resource bank of ideas I would like to use, including giving verbal instructions once!

The Mark O’Connor sessions have given me time to reflect on incorporating a different approach to leading my beginner string group. In September I will be using some pieces from Mark’s orchestra book to introduce playing folk music, playing the tune or harmony lines as well as improvising skills. It was great that Maggie O’Connor gave a demonstration on how to “chop”, which I will definitely have my students learn and use.

Yoga for Musicians with Jane Fenton linked very well to the concepts of movement in the Rolland sessions as well as the injury prevention workshop with Sarah Upjohn. I enjoyed the focus on the spine in these sessions and it has made me reflect on how to use warm up and warm down activities more within my teaching, as well as ensuring my students are tension free and sitting correctly.

Getting the Best out of Pupils by Paul Harris gave a good insight into how the type of questions we use and the type of praise we give is so important. The power of the word “might” within questioning, as well as praising effort rather talent are a few of the may points that will be useful to incorporate in my teaching.

There is so much more I could say about the Summer School that was inspiring, but I would like to finish by thanking all at ESTA for making the week so enjoyable and varied.

 

 

 

Summer School 2019: Sharon Griffiths

ESTA Summer School 2019 Report

Sharon Griffiths

I am very grateful to the ESTA Nannie Jamieson Nutshell Fund Bursary sponsored by Pirastro for enabling me to attend the ESTA summer school. This was the second time that I have attended the summer school and, just like last year, I came away inspired and full of new ideas. In fact, it is only when you return home and review your notes, that you realise how many ideas you have been exposed to and everything that you want to try out. I find myself super excited to incorporate my learning into my lessons.

For me, the stand out sessions were the absolutely wonderful Paul Rolland Basics sessions delivered by Joanne May and Joanne Erwin. I couldn’t get enough of them! I already use some of Paul Rolland’s ideas in my lessons but everything made so much more sense once Joanne explained and demonstrated them. I shall be tweaking how I use the familiar concepts and including many more. Everything focuses on teaching students to be relaxed whilst playing. I especially enjoyed the talk on teaching vibrato and I shall adapt my teaching to use this approach.

Using bi-lateral movement whilst playing was very interesting. In Joanne’s first session, it seemed incredibly complicated to move in the correct direction but by the end of the week we were all doing this, almost without thinking about it, and it felt completely natural.

Mark O’Connor is an incredible musician and it was a privilege to meet him. I look forward to trying out some of his suggestions on how to use a single piece of music in many different ways to promote creativity. These included varying rhythm, section order, adding chords or double stops and improvising around the basic melody. The possibilities are endless and I hope that they will encourage both me and my students to think and play imaginatively.

Continuing with the theme of improvisation, my eyes were opened to the world of electric violins, looping and effects. This was new and exciting to me. I have come away desperate to try this out with students. I hope that I will be the owner of an electric violin by the time this review is published!

There were many other useful sessions. Paul Harris gave us lots of practical advice for getting the best out of pupils and Sarah Upjohn gave an informative session on injury prevention – something we all need to be very aware of.

The evening concerts were a complete joy; each one being entirely different to the others.

Finally, a massive thank you to Sheila, Julia and Nataly to all their efforts beforehand and throughout the week. It is very much appreciated.

Thank you again and I look forward to attending future summer schools.

 

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)

ESTA Summer School 2018: Rose Kinley

Rose Kinley, Summer School 2018 report.

Thank you so much to the ESTA Nannie Jamieson Nutshell Fund Bursary sponsored by Pirastro for this wonderful experience. I shall never forget it and I know my pupils will benefit.

I was so privileged to be able to attend the ESTA Summer School 2018 and have come away with a wealth of information, inspiration and a recharged ambition to provide the best that I can for my pupils.
There was far too much to sufficiently capture everything I gained within the scope of this article, so I shall endeavour to list a few of the activities that had the most impact on me and that I will definitely take back to my teaching.
Group teaching basics (Helen Dromey) To emphasise with all my pupils aged 5 to 67) the importance of feeling the music, to walk the pulse and to experience the music in the body before transferring to the instrument.
To appreciate more fully the ‘cognitive biasʼ (Mike Cunningham) that my pupils may be experiencing, as do I. To gently and persistently nurture the qualities of a ‘goodʼ musician that the group brain-stormed; e.g. communication, technical ability and passionate involvement, and to move them away from the belief that ‘what others thinkʼ determines how good you are.
The pedagogy sessions (Louis Pantillon) delivered loads of useful ideas when working with beginners and above. I shall particularly use the right hand bow hold and balancing exercises with all my pupils and canʼt wait to try making Louisʼs pinky holder out of stiff tape!
To avoid injury in my pupils and myself I shall be using the hand exercises (Katherine Butler) and will always remember to tell my pupils to keep it gentle, never straining or forcing any muscle or joint.
I shall also be considering the Trinity Board for the first time for my pupils keen to take exams. It was really useful to ‘markʼ an example of a grade six violin candidate and I did rather well. The marking criteria is really helpful and I shall use it to support my teaching generally.
The daily Alexander Technique sessions (Rosamund Hoskins) were simply wonderful! I will remember to always find time to do nothing, and to encourage my pupils to do so too and to have much more awareness of their head, neck and shoulders.