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Summer School Reviews

BKA Summmer School 2004
by Chloe Morris (from BKA Winter 2004 Newsletter)

Leicester University, the oasis of calm which was to be the venue for the BKA 23rd International Summer School, turned out to be a quiet, surprisingly beautiful campus approached via long groves of tall trees. I arrived on 8th August 2004, a Sunday afternoon, little realising we’d be too busy singing over the next seven days to notice the greenery and the ‘summer’ pass us by in almost endless streams of rain.

Around one hundred people, tutors and participants of truly varied musical backgrounds and ages attended this year’s event. We rose to Common Singing, at 8.55; a pleasant tuning in for the day ahead. This was followed by two solfege classes either side of a coffee break, and choir before lunch. In the afternoon a choice of three methodology classes (or Group Singing/Chamber Choir,) included; Early Childhood (teaching age 3-5), Primary (5-11), Secondary (11-14), the Teaching of Stringed Instruments, and in other sessions Choral Conducting (beginner-advanced), Working with Children’s Choirs, Voice Basics, and Dalcroze Eurhythmics (beginner/intermediate).

I was lucky enough to be taught solfege by Cyrilla Rowsell, possibly the most kind and patient soul ever to walk the earth, who created a safe environment to begin to discover even long shamed and dusty voices. This solfege group, as the foundation choir, was made up of accomplished instrumentalists and those without musical training: A curious and comforting mix of people who didn’t read music, and those who read but hadn’t yet developed natural inner hearing, all brought together ‘in the same boat’.

Alison Renvoize’s Conducting Children’s Choirs classes were full of energy and fun; her exuberant conspiratorial conducting brought simple songs off the page with drama and humour. Nicky Woods calmly and with ease bridged the gap to allow what was learned in solfege classes to be applied for the Teaching of Stringed Instruments and in the Foundation Choir Celia Cviic smiled at us as if we were the most wonderful singers in the world, as we worked on songs for the end of week concert. Individual singing tuition was an added extra, and with some trepidation I seized the opportunity for six half hour beginner lessons with Judy Hildesley, where Judy’s practical tips and the use of Solfa made interval jumps much less hit and miss, and I began to relax after having hated my voice for as long as I can remember.

One of the greatest inspirations of the week was the Intermediate Dalcroze sessions with Sîan Davies, where physical expression was given to musical elements. In solfege we’d sung in canon, here exercises such as stepping the rhythm of a piece in canon with Sîan’s piano playing provided a new challenge. Sîan’s grace and energy, combined with her obvious love of her subject shone through. She left me determined to follow up courses in Dalcroze as a perfect compliment to Kodály musicianship, and, Sîan pointed out, the Dalcroze Summer School is always the previous week to the BKA, allowing attendance at both.

Evenings were no less busy with a fabulous recital on the first night, interspersed were readings of love poetry as musicians sat amidst strewn rose petals. Other evenings offered folk dancing, solfege, choir, a singer’s Master class, and a free evening. At the final night concert and party, I learnt much from the youngest members of the group as they sang and played. Capable and confident, the synergy of these qualities elevated their music-making to a ‘performance’; exemplifying what children and young people with a quality music education can achieve.

Accommodation was in single study bedrooms -the only criticism was that sound travelled, and finding time to practice was a challenge, but with twenty pianos brought in specially and rooms in the main building, it was by no means impossible, or perhaps a short walk to the nearby botanic gardens or swimming pool.

The poised and professional air exuded by the several Hungarian tutors meant they were easy to spot although I had no direct teaching from them. They acted as a form of enigmatic Hungarian tourist board advertising, as if willing you to someday attend the Kodály Institute in Kecskemét.

My greatest disappointment was that to do one course I had to forsake another and I could happily have done them all. My only real criticism would have to be that with such a wealth of talented singers and musicians it seemed a wasted opportunity to have any recorded music at all at the final night party.

My overriding memory is of being smiled at encouragingly by tutors and new friends and feeling ‘wow, maybe I can do this’, which is exactly what I think Kodály wanted children to feel. My hope for the future is to contribute to this education. Truly ‘music for all’.