Music Education

What am I missing about PM Starmer's Video?

For someone who claims to love classical music, Starmer doesn't strike me as someone who is that passionate about it. Let's hear him play the flute. Does he go to concerts? How does he support music colleges? 

If he's that keen on music for kids then he'd make sure they have access to music education in school time with specialists. 

And there should be more music colleges. Nobody can become a musician by having a bit of a go on an instrument. It takes hours of practice every day!

And musicians should be financially supported. Like artists in Ireland, the government should pay them a basic salary because they can't get off the ground without financial help when they're just starting out. There's no career structure. 

Musicians, and dancers especially ballet dancers (many families flock to ballet performances during the Christmas season), like artists, are important to the economy, the status of a country and its culture. Without them life is very dull. They are part of the creative industry which brings in around £125 billion a year. So they deserve to be supported. It makes economic sense!

Music isn't something to fit around school. Kids will see it as less important than school subjects if that's all it is.

I'm really not sure about this myth that music, drama and sport give kids confidence because it gives them a voice they may not have in the classroom. What's the implication? It's mainly the unacademic child who prefers music, sport and drama? That's not true. And could be why parents tend not to encourage their kids to study these subjects unless they want to go to Oxbridge then suddenly music and sport are valued because they offer scholarships in those.

But these subjects don't give kids or teenagers confidence unless they're good at them. Who gives a kid a lead in a play if they're useless at acting? 

And music is difficult. Starmer, of all PMs, should know this. It's not one you can 'knock up' with a bit here and a bit there. 

Just as schools expect some kids to become mathematicians they should expect some to become musicians. This isn't possible unless a decent amount of time is devoted to it. And it's taken seriously. Just as seriously as the sciences so kids can carry on with music to degree level at an university or music college. The latter needs to open up more and be less restricted in number, a figure set by government (max 10 for main instrument which is what I learnt when attending an Open day) because that disadvantages everyone from school leavers to mature students. Unacceptable! 

The acceptance rate for the RAM is 10%. This makes it one of the hardest to get into especially given quite a few come from abroad. 

However, even unis are closing their music departments eg. Nottingham, Kent, Oxford Brookes, Cumbria, Wolverhampton, Lancaster. Music courses suffer from Humanities closing down in universities. This could prove disastrous.

Music does count. There's Music GCSE ( significant increased uptake in 2025) and A Level Music for a start! Schools should be encouraging kids to learn an instrument or two because that's how you gain a place at a college of music. And it helps with composition which is a component in GCSE. And grade exams count towards your UCAS points from Grade 6 onwards with obviously grade 8 giving you the most points. Music Theory also gives you UCAS points but significantly less. 

I didn't take music exams because I fast tracked to a repertoire (age 10) including concertos by the age of 11. The decision was up to the tutor not me.

Exam entries need to be cheaper too!! Grade 8 practical costs £137. That's stressful! If you don't get the grade you need or want then a retake may not be affordable. Music theory exams cost £68. That's £205 in total if you want to have the complete package. That's without the second instrument and private tuition which is astronomical. I was lucky that granny paid for my cello lessons and my cellos. So when Starmer tries to make the older generation poorer how the hell does that help. That affects not just their children but their grandchildren who, as a result, end up having less opportunities. Starmer only values cogs in the wheel not behind the scenes economic help.🤦‍♀️

And why are pop music courses and qualifications so ridiculously expensive?

Happy World Music Day 2023

 

Happy World Music/Make Music Day 2022

Happy World Music/Make Music Day! ❤🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵 🎻🎹🎸🎻🎷 The American musician, Joel Cohen, thought up the custom of playing live music on the French radio station he worked for to celebrate the beginning of summer time. However, nobody took up his idea until a couple of Frenchmen tweaked this idea and turned it into a widespread celebration of live music, produced by all musicians and accessible for all to hear, free of charge, irrespective of who they are. Music for all - What a great principle! 💖💖💖💖💖🙂 Although this Day started nationally in France in the early 80's, it has now expanded to being celebrated worldwide in over 120 countries. It's about making music and listening to music in public spaces. So grab your instrument, if you have one, and strike a few notes🎸🎻🎷🎵🎶; or sing out loud and proud👄🎵🎶🎵🎶; or turn up your MP3 player 📱👂🎵🎶🎵 and feel the stress just leave you.🙂🤗❤

It's also Humanist Day and humanists put a great deal of emphasis on the value of the arts which includes music, of course. So Happy World Humanist Day too!❤  I've written a short post on humanism, here:

https://philosophythoughtsasandwhen.blogspot.com/2022/06/celebrating-world-humanist-day-21st.html

World Music Day promotes the value of free public concerts and music events. I remember when I was visiting Prague, there were loads of easily accessible classical concerts around the city, simply advertised on a board in the street. There wasn't any formality around it, occurring very frequently, and with lots of variety and venues to choose from. Whereas I've never seen that in London (UK) - yes you can come across them but they are not prolific, not advertised out in the street so easy to miss. You have to keep looking for brochures or listings to find out what's going on and where. There is a lack of free concerts and events too, just as there is a dearth of free and accessible dance shows. And we don't all want to have to sit in a church in order to hear a free concert. Besides, these are invariably classical music concerts, not genres of pop music, so that restricts your choice of music concerts. 

So WMD is about making music accessible to all, not just the wealthy who can afford the expensive venues such as The Barbican, Sadlers Wells or the O2. Music is considered part of the good life, wellbeing and human flourishing. We can't have a society whereby wealthy can flourish by affording musical instruments, lessons and attending concerts while others completely miss out due to circumstances, lack of opportunities and a lack of diverse options for participating in music at all levels. And just because you attend concerts at expensive venues, that doesn't mean you want to be restricted to such venues all the time, you also want to attend easily affordable and free concerts regularly as well. 

Participating in music means not only that schools provide the music lessons, singing and instrumental, but also that they offer the subject at A Level as well as giving all pupils opportunities to perform. Furthermore, school pupils need to then be able to attend a music college to further their musical education and become performers. There are not enough music colleges in London never mind the whole of the UK. And those that do exist are, in a word, stuffy, and way too formal, thus not conducive to making music which should be a relaxing thing to do. If you're stressed you'll play badly. 

In this country too much value is given to certain fields such as, science, technology, engineering, finance, business and law and everything else is on a descending scale of not necessary. We heard this during the pandemic. Ballet dancers told to become IT Cyber Security specialists. Ballet is a physically demanding yet a creative, aesthetic profession whereas IT is sedentary, cerebral and repetitive one. It certainly isn't viewed as creative although sometimes it can be, for example, web design. Of course you need IT specialists but the creative industries provide much needed emotional outlet, thought provoking ideas and  relaxation. Music and other art forms  generate ideas which can set up interesting thought patterns in the brain that may not occur if the person doesn't incorporate creativity and imagination into their lives. 

Early Music Day 2022

Today is Early Music Day 🎶🎶🎻! This year is the 10th anniversary of celebrating Early Music Day, which is held every March 21st. This day was chosen in honour of Johann Sebastian Bach and because it is considered the beginning of spring it feels like an uplifting time of the year. 🌱🌼🌺🌷🌄

In terms of famous, key musical eras in classical music, Early Music includes:

the Medieval Period (500-1400)

the Renaissance Period (1400-1600), with composers such as Byrd, whose main purpose was to create secular compositions 🙂 rather than perpetuate the religious music of the past🥱; 

the Baroque Period (1600-1750, making this the style of music my 17th century philosophers,  Baruch Spinoza and Margaret Cavendish, would have heard. 👂👂🎶🎶🎶 Some famous composers in this era include Vivaldi, Telemann, Handel, and Johann Sebastian Bach. 

The Ambassador, Carlo Vistoli, asks the following pivotal question on the designated website for Early Music Day 🎼: 

"Why and how does Early Music still speak to us today, from hundreds of years away?" 

Good question! I think it's appeal is that it's emotionally and intellectually undemanding. Hence, students can study while listening to Bach, or Handel. This is less true of Smetana because you find yourself singing along to his lyrical music and wishing you were some place else. 🌄

I've been reading an excellent book* by J. Schröder written for performers of Bach's violin works and baroque playing technique. I think it has some pertinent points relevant to this question, some of which I agree with and will briefly discuss below. 

The exact sound and expression of music from earlier eras is basically impossible to recreate, let alone authentically. So we are not listening to the same sound production as the original audiences would have heard. Indeed, the instruments are rarely of the same period as the original music. For instance, Schröder tells us that 21st century audiences may sometimes hear a 17th century violin but this will not recreate the baroque sound because the set up of the instrument may be in accordance with the Classical, 18th century. The violinist may be using a 19th century bow together with 20th century strings. As Schröder highlights throughout his book, this not only impacts on the instrument's natural sound production but also on the musician's playing. As musicians, we need to adapt our playing technique according to the materials we are playing on or with, as far as possible, or at least be aware of the strengths and pitfalls of the instrument, strings and bow. This helps on a practical level to give us more control of the instrument. It also assists us in thinking about the extent to which we are able to, and creatively want to, partially recreate the atmosphere of early music, for instance, 17th-18th century baroque compositions. 

Perhaps one of the main attractions of Early Music for musicians is that the composers were often less prescriptive and allowed for more creative input by the musicians. For instance, baroque concertos usually give us musicians space to play a cadenza, which we can compose ourselves if we so wish. This gives the musician the space to have a direct compositional dialogue with the composer of the past and build on their musical themes, motifs and ideas. Another way we can personalize an early music piece is through adding or leaving out decorative extravagances such as trills and grace notes, giving us the freedom to express and personalise the piece as we wish. Whereas, as Vistoli points out on the Early Music Day website, such personalising and creative approaches to interpretation are no longer part of the process when playing later pieces, so he feels that:

"...one of its most fascinating peculiarities is to allow the interpreter to express themselves in many ways, and to give, even within the boundaries of the practicing"rules", the possibility to personalize that performance even more than later repertoires."

"For me, fantasy and inspiration go along with accuracy and historically informed practice." 

He's absolutely right about this. If I play a cello sonata by Vivaldi, I can add in decorative notes (sometimes suggested in my edition) as and when I please, to express myself and what I feel fits the mood of the piece. When I play a cello concerto by Boccherini, for instance, I can choose to play my own cadenza (that I have composed) for the end of a movement. Freedom of artistic expression was very important to Boccherini. And I think that's true for every musician. For example, when a royal patron commanded Boccherini to rewrite a passage in his composition, he responded by making it twice as long! 🤣👍 And he didn't change it, even when he was sacked. Now there's a good rebellious spirit! Maybe philosophers should do the same in response to peer review. Stick to what you want to say so we end up with the authentic version not an adjusted one suggested by an anonymous reviewer.

However, when I play later music, I do not have this inherent flexibility of adapting the composition by adding notes which give me the feeling of almost composing with the composer, as it were.  Having said that, I do prefer the intensely emotional tunes and atmosphere that later compositions express, especially in the Romantic Period, with the odd exception, such as Paganini, who is surprisingly categorised within the Classical Period alongside Mozart, yet his music is deeply passionate. The latter sounds more baroque-like, and so closer to Bach, whereas Paganini has the emotional style of the romantics. Equally surprising is to think of Wagner as a composer of the Romantic era given his dark, heavy-going style which has no appeal for me!

However, I leave you with this question: Should we attempt to or worry about recreating Early Music authentically given that it's an impossible task? 

I ask this because it's something I've heard promoted in masterclasses as the ideal but this isn't the full story, according to Schröder and Vistoli. 

Surely each musician should be free to interpret music from whatever period in the way they see it/feel it otherwise performances become too similar to each other? 

Pop stars are encouraged to put their own style onto a song which can lead to significant differences. A well known example is Dolly Parton's 'I Will Always Love You' which she wrote and sang in an acoustic style that sounded wistful. This song was later sung by Whitney Houston who turned it into a power ballad. One song two different interpretations! Dolly loved Whitney's interpretation. Maybe Bach would equally love various interpretations of his works if he were alive.

Maybe classical music should be more open to dramatically different interpretations of past repertoire?

I think the cellist Pablo Casals was more than happy to do this! He played Bach in a romantic style and that's how I was originally taught to play him. So perhaps we should follow in his footsteps. Certainly Bach's Cello Suites lend themselves to such reinterpretation, in my view. Even more so given there's no original copy of the Bach cello suites, therefore, we are guessing what Bach wanted. There's no definitive way of playing them. 

Nevertheless, I appreciate that I was given the opportunity to study how to adjust my playing style, musicianship and technique between early music and the Romantic Period so I enjoy playing both and find myself trying to be authentic on a modern instrument!🤔

Happy Early Music Day 2022! 🥳🎉🎊🎇🎆🥂🎼🎻🎶🎶

* Schröder, Jaap 'Bach's Solo Violin Works: A Performer's Guide' Yale University Press 2007

– 

International Cello Day (minor update)

For International Cello Day, I thought I'd go back to where it all started at the age of rising 6: the Royal Academy of Music group string classes (violin and cello) where I first learned to play the cello. As you can see in this photo I'm not playing a full sized cello that would be ridiculous at such a young age! All children start on small cellos just as they start on small violins. I could have gone either way: violin or cello? Having already started the violin earlier, I decided to choose to study the cello there because I had been keen to learn the instrument years back but it didn't happen because my mother favoured the violin. It's also a better instrument to begin with when you are little because they make tiny sized violins and Suzuki lessons were easier to find for that instrument locally 🎻. Here I am aged 3, practising the violin at home:

In the background you can see my first drum kit for kids and my astronaut suit hanging up on my playhouse, behind my bow hand. 

Before all this, I was already annoying my mother by insisting on playing her piano 🎹 instead of her 😂 when still a baby 👶. Here's a photo of me in action:

My mother taught me piano 🎹 until I went to school and so, aged 4, I started piano lessons there with an opera singer who taught music, especially at the senior school. So by the age of 6, I was playing all three instruments (and singing) as my main instruments. However, I was also still happily playing percussion instruments and the recorder for fun, alongside these four. 🙂🎵🎶🎵

So I'm passionate about children learning musical instruments. I am concerned about how much music education has suffered over the last two years, as well as the opportunities to meet up to play music or sing with others. 😒 All my singing studies have been undertaken in a group, initially with children of around my age then later with adults (men and women). 

Kids are never too young to start learning an instrument, in my view. It doesn't mean they have to become musicians, classical or otherwise, although I always wanted to be a musician, especially a cellist. But regardless of what the child chooses to do, it does enrich their life and help expand their concentration and learning capacity in subjects other than music as well.

I love music. I can't really imagine life without listening to music 🎧 or making music 🎼🎶🎵🎶🎵🎹🎻🎸💖💖💖💖💖💖

Here's a short extract from the Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto No.1 which I initially recorded as a music accompaniment to a ballet YouTube Short I choreographed and performed (available to view on YouTube here). Obviously, Saint-Saëns didn't intend this concerto as ballet music - I put the two together. For International Cello Day, I've posted it on SoundCloud as a sample track from my new cello album I'm working on, 'CelloRealm'. As the subtitle to the playlist for this album states, all tracks will be short extracts as tasters of the full version to be released at a later date. 

Saint-Saëns: extract from CelloRealm

#WorldPianoDay and Music Education

I know this blog is about the cello but I did say I'll stray into talking about other instruments, especially ones I learnt to play. I wish I played the piano like Barenboim or Edna Stern but that's not going to happen. Nevertheless, I did start the piano before either the cello or the violin since my mother plays the piano. I was very good at it. I could play contrary motion by the age of 4. Then my mother brought home a keyboard. She was Head of Music at the time so when I had a spare moment I'd play it. I enjoyed playing with all the features on it! My mother wasn't keen on me playing it because I'd become less interested in the piano. She had a point. I do prefer the keyboard because I can use it for arranging music in different styles/genres. However, I'm so used to having a piano around that I take it for granted. My mother lives in vain hope that one day I'll practise the piano with as much passion as the cello. But I prefer string instruments, so that's unlikely, but I think I should work at it more because here I am preaching about how all children should learn the piano while I'm not putting in the hours myself!👍

On Facebook today, I posted the following:

🎹🎼🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵💖 The piano is a beautiful instrument. It enhances any room.  Moreover, learning to play the piano is fundamental to classical music in various ways: music theory, aural skills, singing, accompanying other musicians/singers, composing and, of course, becoming a pianist. However, the piano isn't just for classical musicians. Jazz piano (Norah Jones) is one such example (I've done courses on jazz piano although I'm classically trained); pop/rock/soul/hip hop/R&B stars can play the instrument e.g. Freddie Mercury, John Legend, Carole King; Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga; Alicia Keys (learned to play Beethoven and Mozart!); comedians can also play the piano e.g. Victor Borge, Victoria Wood. It's a versatile instrument. 

The good news is now it's possible for most people to learn this instrument because you can buy a roll-up piano for a reasonable price (£15-30) and it doesn't take up much room. Lessons are expensive so we need schools to teach whole class piano which is possible with the roll up piano! So let's get kids playing piano!🎹

Is chamber music dead or a staple diet for all musicians?

When you are thinking about a musical career I don’t think you cross off any aspect of it. Your repertoire will include concertos, sonatas and recital pieces¹. Cellists may well have the goal of becoming a soloist but role models from the past show how you don’t just play with orchestras and piano accompanists as a soloist but you can also play chamber music. Many of the greats like Casals and du Pre have played in chamber ensembles. So it has always been the case that chamber music has been a component of a solo cellist’s repertoire. Everyone benefits from having a diverse repertoire because realistically you won’t have enough engagements to perform as a soloist. So it’s important to have variety in your repertoire and musicianship skills so you can respond to a range of opportunities.  

Young cellists all learn the solo repertoire, including concertos and recital pieces, irrespective of whether they wish to specialise in solo, chamber or orchestral playing. This is because they need to perform concertos, sonatas and shorter recital pieces in order to pass exams and auditions at all levels for a place (Undergraduate/Postgraduate) at a conservatoire. For instance, to audition for a place on the Royal College of Music undergraduate cello course, you need to demonstrate you can play “First movement of a concerto” and “A contrasting piece of your own choice”². Again, for a place on their taught postgraduate course, you need to prepare a “First (or significant) movement from a major concerto from the 19th or 20th century” and a “A contrasting piece of your own choice”³.  You will not need to demonstrate your ability to play chamber music with others or play within an orchestra for these main degree courses. The only other musician you are allowed to have playing with you is just the one accompanist:

“The only people in your audition room will be you, your accompanist and the audition panel.”⁴

The same is true of the Guildhall school of Music, with a few additions. For the undergraduate degree in cello, you again prepare “The 1st movement from a concerto in the standard repertory” and “One contrasting piece of the candidate's own choice.”⁵ In addition, you should prepare a listed study from the Popper High School of Cello Playing. Obviously the solo repertoire is still taught at undergraduate level and seen as an important way to assess proficiency in cello playing because to progress onto their postgraduate degree for Advanced Instrumental Studies, you again need to play “The first movement of a concerto from the standard repertoire with cadenza” and “The first movement of a duo sonata (with piano) written after 1800” in your audition⁶. Indeed, the extra element to prepare here for postgraduate study involves demonstrating you can play without any accompaniment at all: “One movement of unaccompanied Bach”⁷. As far as I can see, there are no chamber music qualifications or degrees at these two conservatoires. If you want to specialise in chamber music, you take an optional module/s eg Guildhall School of Music but this is only if you already have a fair amount of chamber music experience and are part of an ensemble, then you put your ensemble forward for consideration for a postgrad option. Afterwards, auditions for joining an orchestra require performing a concerto as a soloist eg Haydn. So the solo repertoire remains highly relevant, even for those who become orchestral players. It is the solo repertoire that is the staple diet for a cellist, not chamber music. The solo cello repertoire, including concertos, sonatas, recital pieces and unaccompanied pieces are also generally considered to be the best music written for the cello. For the top 10, see:

thttps://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/instruments/cello/features/best-cello-pieces/

If a cellist doesn’t learn these, s/he is missing out on the best cello music ever written!

So, just like everyone else, I learnt a core repertoire of concertos and recital pieces eg Waldesruhe (Dvorak), Vocalise (Rachmaninoff), The Swan (Saint Saens), sonatas and unaccompanied pieces eg Bach Suites. The purpose was to perform them with pianists or otherwise. I loved technique be it Sevcik for the violin or Feuillard, Franchomme and Popper for the cello. I was even taught some interestingly difficult exercises made up by Rostropovich. At a young age it was all about technique and performance (including reading the score carefully and interpreting how to play what’s written in it) because these are physical skills that are very demanding so it helps to train your fingers to be capable of complex dexterity. The history and musicology behind the music can be learnt just as easily and better when an adult. I think history does play a part in understanding a piece but it doesn’t warrant a deep study of it at a young age. This can be incorporated as and when relevant later to acquire a deeper appreciation of a piece of music and examine how to play it authentically. This is, however, difficult to ascertain because original first publications of scores did not always reflect the composer’s wishes and some were more vocal than others about how representative the score was of their intentions. There is no one objective source to consult which tells us exactly what the composer wanted. Some composers were more prescriptive compared with others who preferred the instrumentalist to have more freedom of interpretation. There are also many different arrangements which, by definition, do not replicate the original score and vary in how much they take the composer’s possible wishes into consideration eg in expression markings. Some pieces are transposed for a different instrument. While some are transposed for a related instrument eg violin to cello, others are unrelated eg horn to cello. Transposing, especially between unrelated instruments, means the instrument, as well as the musician, will express the music very differently from the instrument for which it was originally written. So when we refer to authentic renditions of a piece, what do we mean? What is and isn’t completely authentic is itself open to interpretation.  

Furthermore, there’s nothing wrong with reinterpreting the score and giving it a new, fresh approach. Some may view this as being almost a cross-over style but I think all musicians, classical or not, have made the pieces their own in some way throughout the ages. It’s unavoidable. Much as a writer has their own voice so a musician has theirs. Therefore, the way musicians interpret a piece of music will vary from person to person. Even classical drama eg Shakespeare is often given a contemporary interpretation. We don’t think a contemporary production of a period play is automatically worse simply because it isn’t an historically authentic production. We value the new light it sheds on the play as much as productions which re-enact the original play and the staging of it. Many of ‘the greats’ in the past approached cello pieces in this way eg Casals’ unique interpretation and recording of the Bach Suites. Singers are expected to make songs in their repertoire their own so why shouldn’t instrumentalists? I’m not saying never be authentic but it’s not entirely realistic to be so since we haven’t lived in the composer’s era or often even close to it!

To answer my question, I don’t think chamber music is dead and never has been but neither is it a staple diet for musicians. Many musicians try to be part of a chamber ensemble in the same way as most tennis players play doubles, at some point in their career, not just singles. Is it necessary to play chamber music? No, it isn’t. Just as a few top singles tennis players opt out of doubles it’s perfectly fine for a soloist eg cellist to do likewise and opt out of playing regularly in chamber ensembles and orchestras. They are not less good musicians or tennis players because they haven’t done so. They may well prefer to focus on one specialisation be it singles for a tennis player or as a soloist for a musician. It’s not something everyone wants to do but if they do then their focus may yield unique insights into the solo repertoire. Similarly, top tennis players, especially on the men’s tour, don’t play doubles eg Nadal but he brings something special to the court much as Serena Williams does in the women’s game.

It’s the musician’s choice. Music is a creative process not an academic pursuit so a literal interpretation is not as paramount as expressing an unique voice and providing listeners with an aesthetic experience.   

¹ Based on my comments on Steven Isserlis’s post ‘Some good news, amidst somewhat surreal times?’ 7/3/2017 available at:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1292516914129934&id=191956057519364

² http://www.rcm.ac.uk/strings/auditionrequirements/

 ³ ibid

⁴ ibid

⁵ https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/music/principal_study/strings_harp_and_guitar/auditions/#c405

⁶ ibid

⁷ ibid