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The Peak District Suzuki Piano Workshop, Summer 2004 'Brilliant!' 'Fantastic!' These were the responses of my two children when asked if they'd enjoyed the second Peak District Suzuki piano workshop. 'Can we come again next year?' was the plea as we left at the end of four days of music-making and fun. It had been our second time at the workshop and it has become a short holiday that we all look forward to every summer. The workshop took place at the Nightingale Centre, in Great Hucklow in the beautiful Peak District. It's 20 minutes drive from there to Castleton, where there are caverns to explore and where the famous Blue-john stone is mined. Twenty minutes in the other direction will take you to the pretty spa town of Buxton, the highest town in England. At the Nightingale Centre, I stayed in a single room, and Joe and Harry in the boys' dormitory, along with two of their friends from last year, and Cornelius, a teenage friend of one of the teachers. The five of them hit it off instantly, and getting them into the dormitory was never a problem, although that was usually to plan their strategy against the girls in the downstairs dormitory, or to play chess or drafts, rather than to sleep! The teachers had worked hard to organise a timetable of activities for all of us, pianists or not. Joe, the pianist in our family, had lessons with two other pianists on each full day, plus the opportunity to play duets, and in trios and quartets, again with other young pianists, but also with string players. Five or six pianos were dotted about in the centre and most of the time the sound of children practising their pieces for the daily concerts could be heard. Then there was the dalcroze, a sort of music and movement. Joe, Harry and myself went to this with the older children and we did lots of challenging but fun exercises, like clapping the beat whilst stepping the rhythm to 'Happy Farmer'. We also worked towards a performance for the final concert using scarves to show staccato and legato, and crescendo and diminuendo in a piece of music. Jim, one of the other parents, and a rugby player, was very good at tip-toeing around the gym waving his coloured scarf to the music. There were concerts from the children every day, and it was wonderful to see the youngest and newest Suzuki pianists playing pop-long-pop and Piccadilly circus alongside some really polished performances from the older players. The confidence of the children seems to grow over the course of the workshop as they make friends and feel comfortable with each other, but also imbibe the musical vibes from the teachers and from each other. If the immersion in music becomes too much for them, well then there's always the art and craft room, where they can make badges, mouse mats, candles, cards ... you name it. Oh, and a playground and football pitch just outside the hall! The workshop is a real break for parents too; yes, there are lessons to attend and practices to supervise, but there's no cooking or washing up to do and there's lots of entertainment too. The children's and teachers' concert, a ceilidh, and the thing that has proved to be a real hit over the last two years, the parent/family talent show. In this, we can all be as serious or as silly as we like and still get a round of applause. So, will we be going again next year, the answer is a resounding 'Yes'! |
