Violin Tricks

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Dear Students, Parents and Friends of the Studio

Thank you for an amazing concert last night.

I wanted to hold a speech the way Iain used to, but I’m simply not cut out for this.  We missed him terribly, and his guitarists too.  Nevertheless, we had four (!) hours of music.

Almost Everybody arrived!

The concept we started last year, with having all children on the stage at the same time, works.  A lot of walking on and off was avoided this way.  Furthermore the instruments were safely in the hands of either the players or the parents, which gives a teacher immense peace of mind.

Our youngest player was four!

We also had “veterans” – old students of ours who have long since evolved into performing musicians – gracing the stage with their music, and also friends who had joined our ensembles.

Iain’s “Trad of the Isles” ensemble, after the horrible shock in January which nearly shook it apart, has regrouped.  They played, and gave us some lovely traditional melodies, and are luckily now picking up more players again.  Iain never wanted the music to stop.  They also brought a song that he composed (an E-tolls protest song called “The Highwayman”).  That was very special.  It is a rock song but it was surprising how well suited it is for Trad.

After the concert, while people were having some lovely food (thank you!) in the foyer, some of us just wouldn’t quit the stage.  The acoustics of that place are so alive!  We “duelled” parts of the Bach Double Concerto for 2 violins, doing “doubles” like in tennis, with 3 violins and an oboe.

More pictures and vids will hopefully come in through the week. I will post them once I have them.

In total it must have been one of the longest concerts we’ve had yet.  We usually aim to keep them under 2 hours, but in this case everyone wanted to bring a tribute…

Thank you.  It is deeply appreciated.

Sweet Students and Parents

I know this concert will be bittersweet in every way.

Let’s make it the best, musically.  Let’s all practise hard and make this one special.

Studio Concert:

Saturday 3rd June 2017

16:30 for 17:00

Tauromenium

See you there.

Dear Students & Parents

Thank you for your solid support during this difficult time.

Lessons have restarted and are going on at the usual pace.  I will work out individual schedules with each of you who have lost lessons due to the tragedy.

We have 1 potential venue for a Ceilidh, and we have 2 potential guitar teachers, for the guitar students who wish to continue with lessons at a referral. Please, guitarists, do come to our Ceilidhs still, and if you can, our concerts.  It would be empty without you!

We also have taken aboard a piano teacher who is prepared to drive out to students.  Please message me for details.

Arts at Sussex has kindly offered their venue for the Junior Orchestra, on Saturdays.  This is accepted gratefully.

Iain would not want the music to stop!  Please keep on practising.

Love.

Your teacher Lyz

Dear Students.

My husband Iain was shot in a house attack last Thursday.

There will be no lessons this week, violin lessons will resume next Monday (30 January).  Sorry about the factual tone, I need to arrange things.  Please message me rather than call, it is easier from many angles for me.

Your teacher Lyz

Hi all, welcome to 2017.

The Studio starts with lessons on the 16th.  Junior orchestra will resume Saturday the 21st.  We had fun last year but we also saw some impressive progress, lets make this year even better.

I am particularly proud of all my students who learned how to practise, last year.  Self-discipline is not a straightforward thing. Even for adults learning a new routine that happens every day, weekday or Sunday regardless, is not easy.  But it does get results, doesn’t it?  Have you noticed how it lifted your whole thinking onto a whole new level?

So as the holidays draw to a close, don’t be sad.  Be excited!  A new year full of bright new stuff to learn and do, lies ahead.  🙂

See you wonderful kids and adults at lessons!

Some pics from the studio concert 2016:

Here’s wishing you all a wonderful, musical 2017!

I don’t have photos and vids yet from yesterday’s concert, but want to tell all who participated, whether as players, helpers or audience:  Thank you SO much!

It was a fabulous concert.

The new format works a lot better, that is thanks to my friend Eloise Hellyer, who gave me the idea.  We had in the past partially implemented something like that, but never completely.

This time, we did a few numbers with the orchestra, and then all the violin solos in one go.  This cut out a lot of dead time walking on and off, falling over music stands, shooshing kids backstage and so on.  Also a big thankyou to the parents who kept their excited children sitting quietly with them while the strings ensemble and guitarists performed first.  This worked very well.

Part of the purpose of the concerts is of course to teach children how to listen to other people’s performances.  This is not something a person is born with, and it is different from school as no explanations are given with the music and no notes are taken.  So it is an entirely internal experience for the listener, translating the music into his inner world.

Please remember the Ceilidh at the end of this week, to celebrate the year that has passed and give the holidays a good starting impetus.  🙂

See you there!

We’ve had some interesting concerts in October in previous years.  There was a time I scheduled all second-semester concerts for September to avoid the exam/sillyseason crush, but that had its own set of complications.

Last year it was so humid during the October concert, I had to re-tune every last violin before every last performance.  Educational for the audience…

Playing Davy Jones’ Theme with Ray

Brave and good.

Star Performers Dominique and Marguerite

This year the weather really tripped us up.  I have never, never yet, delayed a concert due to clouds in the sky.  We’ve had concerts in the rain (it’s indoors, people), we even had one where the roof started leaking, and another where the electricity went off.  Real fun; but the show went on.  You understand, in showbiz, The Show Must Go On is all twelve of ten commandments.

But this year, there was this:

That was Wednesday; the previous Sunday had seen a similar scenario in Hazeldean and Equestria.  So when Vodacom sent us all storm warnings out of courtesy, and a number of students raised concerns about these on Friday afternoon, I thought it safest to call off that evening’s concert and move it to the 3rd of December.

Speaking to some of my students’ parents the next day proved it had not been a wrong decision.  There was a storm that night; some roads were very difficult to navigate.  Apparently there were also renewed floods, in Joburg.  One of my students drives from Joburg.

Here is the new concert date:

3rd December, Saturday

16:30 for 17:00

At the Tauromenium, 330 Derrick st, Waterkloof

I’m hoping to see you all there!

Your teacher Lyz

Here is a reward for my three brave ones who played Violin Exams today.

We found the examiner to be rather a rules-person.  Possibly his first time in Africa, who knows.  I’m curious of what precisely he wrote on those reports…  anyway, here’s Mozart for you, for listening joy (because we don’t play music to compete; we play it because it is beautiful).