Comments on Prevoius years...

The Glenfern Piano Institute represents the Team of Pianists' commitment to Music Education.

Spring Piano School for School Age for Primary and Secondary School students.

As Artists in Residence for the National Trust at Glenfern, the Team presented its inaugural Spring Piano School in September 2004. Over a period of three days, 30 young pianists ranging in age from 9 to 18, brought the house and grounds of Glenfern to life, participating in a carefully devised program of workshops, group lessons, masterclasses and presentations, with the four partners of the Team, Robert Chamberlain, Max Cooke, Darryl Coote and Rohan Murray as teaching staff. Some parents and a sizeable number of adult observers also attended. Director of Development for the National Trust, Richard Heathcote provided a fascinating and highly entertaining historical tour of the house and grounds, and the young people enjoyed croquet and cricket in the garden during their breaks from classes and lessons. Some of the young players experienced the joys of chamber music for the first time as they rehearsed and performed trios by Haydn with two young professional string players. In the final public concert most of the young players performed and a number of tuition fee scholarships, provided by the Friends of the Team of Pianists Inc. to the value of $800, were awarded. Bernie Capicchiano, Managing Director of Bernies Music Land, presented show bags with information about Schimmel pianos to all the young participants.

The Spring Piano School provided a unique school holiday activity for talented young piano students, ranging from those in the early grades to those preparing for VCE recitals, competitions and exams. The focus was on piano performance at the highest level and the aim was to guide each student to achieve their maximum potential in their piano studies. The social interaction between the students was particularly important, as were the relationships, both competitive and supportive, that developed from the group lessons, where the students were streamed into groups of similar age.

Feed back for both events was overwhelmingly positive. Many participants remarked on the quality of the tuition and the uniqueness of the concept. Particularly significant was the ambience and atmosphere at Glenfern, not only of the house, but also of the grounds where many impromptu games of cricket broke out late in the day.

The Spring Piano School has grown every year since and another exciting programme is scheduled in 2007.

Some comments:

"My name is Marc Ngan and I just had a thrilling experience with you in participating in the Spring School. I found the school enjoyable, helpful and fun. I believe that the other students also liked this school very much as it was a good chance to improve our piano skills and at the same time, having fun and making friends. From that, I would like you to hold this spring school again next year. Through the conversations withother members, it seems that many of us want to experience this school again next year so if it isn't too much trouble; please hold this Spring School next year."

"thankyou so much for the effort and expertise you put into the Spring
Piano school - I found it to be a great event which has refreshed my
practise already and hopefully will pay off in my teaching next term

I was particularly impressed with:

* the number of quite young students involved and the way they stayed
attentive and engaged throughout

* the high standard of playing amongst the more advanced players - secondary students don't get many opportunities to play for their peers and this is invaluable

* the standard of teaching and also the range of opinions and approaches -

this again is invaluable for both students and teachers as teaching/learning piano can be quite an isolated thing

* I thought there was a very good balance of lecture/input and hands on masterclass"

from Stanley Wang

"Dear 'the Great team of pianists'

What an event it has been!! Being the pioneer of such piano school holiday event, you've all done an excellent job!"

From Katrina Liston (10yrs)

"Positive:
Master classes (listening to others and learning)
Concert (shows what you have learnt) Trio (working together with other instruments)
Tour, morning tea, cricket & croquet, lunch, afternoon tea
Show bags, scholarships
other people to meet
different teachers (pianists) to learn from"

From Gregory Liston (12 yrs)

"I found the talks very helpful and interesting, like the history of the piano‚. I reckon my music pieces are getting along well. I also liked learning croquet, even though someone said "it is an old Englishman's sport"

From Sue Liston, mother of Katrina, Gregory and Daniel Liston.

"My children certainly enjoyed the camp. They were always keen to get there in the morning and I heard no gripes about losing school holidays. Katrina said she was sad it was all over and that she had made new friends. Greg thought he would like to run masterclasses‚ for Daniel and Katrina, and on Thursday night he sat at the piano and improvised for at least 20 minutes without ceasing. Daniel really appreciated working with the Team of Pianists and making some new friends.

From Melissa Pjevach, mother of one of the participants.

"Thank you so much for teaching my daughter, Marina, during your Spring Piano School…She felt that she benefited enormously from the three days that she spent with you. She also enjoyed cricket and croquet in the beautiful grounds of Glenfern. …All in all, it was a wonderful opportunity for our children to learn in such a beautiful environment, play an exquisite instruments from Germany and to be taught by experts…"

From Mary Melcherts, piano teacher.

"Congratulations on a very successful initiative. My student was inspired and learnt so much about style and musical periods, helped considerably by Max's talk on the harpsichord. It was wonderful to have technique at the core of the musicality and to have concepts reinforced by performers such like yourselves. I look forward to supporting next year."

The attachments give details of the 2004 Spring Piano School, showing the schedule for the three days, the list of participants and the scholarship winners.

Future plans for Spring Piano School:

Dates for 2007 have been set as September 26-28, 2007.

2- Weekend Retreat for Adult Piano Students

A few weekends later Darryl Coote, Max Cooke and Robert Chamberlain presented the second Weekend Retreat for Adult Piano Students.

Designed to cater for adult piano students at all levels, this retreat included presentations and workshops on the Baroque, Classical, Romantic and 20th century periods, and a presentation by Max Cooke on how adults could use his Tone, Touch and Technique books to improve their playing. Participants received individual attention in small group lessons, and worked on their learning ability, their practise techniques and their technical skills. Some chose the option of an individual lesson with one of the instructors. 17 adults enrolled, including music teachers, tertiary music students and some very accomplished amateur pianists, and enjoyed Sunday lunch and morning and afternoon teas on the verandah. Many of the participants joined Max Cooke and Robert Chamberlain for Saturday dinner at a nearby restaurant.

The feedback for this event was also very positive:

From Dorothy Bysouth by email-
"Great WEEKEND. Lots of information presented in interesting, sequential and
digestable form…"

from Beatrice Loges by email-

"Stimulating, competent, intelligent, interesting, inspiring - and ……I like another one! …
Venue was excellent. The idea of playing historical music in a historical venue contributed to the good atmosphere. …"

From Ray Jacobs by email-

"My compliments for the organisation, there was so much to go through and it all worked. …
I thought the lectures were very interesting and of a good level. Personally I was most captured by the topics on articulation and the discussion on modern music.
The classes were great to attend; it is so good to listen to a piece and think,"well that sounds quite good to me" and then have you guys get stuck into it and hearing it improve so much, that is great stuff. Also to have the different perspectives of yourself, Darryl and Max was enlightening to me."

Future plans for the Adult Weekend Retreat.

Dates for the 2005 Weekend Retreat for Adult Piano Students have been set as September 24-25, 2005.
Attachments
1- Weekend Retreat Schedule
2- Weekend Retreat Participants
3- Glenfern Piano Institute 2004 Events brochure

3- Acknowledgement of sponsors and supporters.

For both educational events the Team is indebted to Friends of the Team of Pianists Inc committee who provided logistical support during the Spring Piano School, and funded valuable tuition scholarhips, to Hans Henkell of Henkell Vineyards, whose generous donation to the Team through the National Trust supported the administration of the School, to Bernie Cappichiano of Bernies Music Land who equipped our two extra teaching spaces with a fine Bernstein upright piano and a Schimmel 213 Hidden Beauty Concert Grand, alternating with a Bernstein Grand and to National Trust staff Richard Heathcote, who co-ordinated the games equipment and developed the tour, and to Tony Lee who facilitated our use of Glenfern's East Wing, currently undergoing restoration.