Benedetti Sessions
EXCLUSIVE
At the Benedetti Foundation, we create transformative experiences around mass musical events for teachers and young people, which celebrate music participation on all levels.
The Foundation is a registered charity and is funded entirely through the generous donations of individuals, trusts and foundations and
corporate sponsorship.
If you would like to make a donation to help our
work to continue, please
visit: www.benedettifoundation.org/support, or
contact us on: info@benedettifoundation.org
Thank you for your support The Benedetti Foundation is a Scottish company limited by guarantee with charitable status. Company number: 636675. Charity number: SC049688
WWW.BENEDETTIFOUNDATION.ORG
CONTENTS 01 NICKY'S WELCOME
ILLUSTRATED BY MARK BEECH
02 SIR SIMON RATTLE
ALL PHOTOS CREDIT TO ARTIST
03 A LETTER FROM ELIN MANAHAN THOMAS
04 EXTRACT FROM NICOLA'S SPEECH TO THE ROYAL PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY 07 MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS
HEALTH 09 BEING A MUSICAL ATHLETE 10 PHYSICAL WELL-BEING
13
ENGAGING STUDENTS WITH SCALES
14
SCALES ADVICE
15
DEVELOPING SKILLS AS A PLAYER
16
DEVELOPING YOUR SOUND
17
CONDUCTING FOR TEACHERS
19
DAILY PRACTISE ROUTINE
21
SHIFTING
22
VIBRATO
23
KODÁLY IN THE INSTRUMENTAL LESSON
27
WHAT IS MUSIC PERFORMANCE ANXIETY
28
BEYOND STAGE FRIGHT
30
SOUNDSCAPES
33
A NOTE FROM RICHARD MORRISON
34
MUSIC IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS TRUST
YOGA AS MEDICINE
PAGE 08
ELENA URIOSTE
WYNTON MARSALIS PAGE 11
BACK TO BASICS 38
WHY ARE THE BASICS IMPORTANT?
39
WARMING UP
41
INSTRUMENT POSITION
42
FUNDAMENTALS OF A STRONG LEFT HAND
34
MUSIC IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS TRUST
TOP TIPS 43
HOLDING THE INSTUMENT
44
BOW HOLD
48
BOW STROKES
SHEKU KANNEH- PETR LIMONOV PAGE 25 MASON
PAGE 18
49
BRINGING HOME THE BENEDETTI SESSIONS
BENEDETTI FOUNDATION 2020
A LETTER FROM
ELIN MANAHAN THOMAS To young musicians everywhere; YOU ARE A SUPERHERO! Oh yes you are. And do you know what your superpower is? You can stop time. Did you know that? Do you know how you do it, or remember the last time it happened? I’ll tell you: you make time stand still when you make music. It’s like magic. All those hours of practice, those fiddly technical sessions, those minutes devoted to tricky passages, those lessons filled with scales, dynamics and repeats – they all boil down to one special moment when you get to play your piece. And what happens then? The room falls still. You command everyone’s attention. Your instrument colours the atmosphere of the space you’re in; your sound conjures up images and memories for everyone listening; your music sparks emotions the audience didn’t even expect. And all of that – the stillness, the rapt attention, the colours, the emotions – that’s because of you, and your music-making. You are a superhero.of music. And even better than that, there’s no
kryptonite to stop you, and you don’t even need the power of the sun to refuel you; nope, you only need yourself. You can make this magic as often as you like, and no two times will be the same. You’re like a storyteller with an endless book of tales. Remember that your story is unique. Even when you’re learning a piece that’s been played a hundred, a thousand times before, when YOU play it, you own it. Give the audience your take on the music; tell the tale as you understand it; invite us in to a world of your own making, one that you’ve prepared, studied, considered, and are ready to share. There’s no such thing as a ‘wrong’ story, so have faith in what you’re saying, and convince the audience to listen to your version. Use your power with care: you can reduce people to tears, make them smile, maybe even bring out a laugh, and you can certainly overwhelm them. That’s the magic. And that magic is in you.
x Elin
03
Royal Philharmonic Society Speech Extract NICOLA BENEDETTI Our sense of the world and our place in it expands exponentially by the hour. This 21st century jungle is incomprehensible in its complexity and fullness; the earth is saturated with people and with information. Just to think about how much stuff is out there, from scientific and medical discoveries, books written, works of art created, the 500 recordings of Elgar cello concerto - the inordinate documentations of our collective pasts, and the continuous stream of current inventions is overwhelming. We also have so many things in every shape, size, colour and form conceivable, and for every purpose imaginable. And many of these things are deliberately designed not to last. Mobile phones are actually downgraded through a process called ‘upgrading’ - the companies that do it have even admitted to it. But what about a thing that does last, and is intended to? Do we understand the weight or value of a timeless thing? “Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge, where is the knowledge we have lost in information?” wrote T.S. Eliot in 1934. If he felt that then, I wonder what he would be saying about us now. I believe that people still want to feel and to be moved. They want to communicate with loved ones better, and we all want to feel we are not alone in the world. Even though more and more young people seem content in the worlds of their phones - adults too - I meet plenty more still committed to community, and to the enriching experience of creating something collectively. Yes it’s an effort, but that effort is the sacrifice that seals lasting bonds and allows for deeper, more profound and lasting experience.
Photograph: Jeff Holmes/REX/Shutterstock
But I am not bemoaning the present and lusting after the past. The amassed insights, information and resources at our disposal now, gives us phenomenal potential for a conscious and deliberate shaping of the directions we wish to go in. I believe we have a better opportunity than ever to choose to reacquaint ourselves with all the most enlightened areas of our past and to develop a deeper relationship with the profound intelligence of our intuition. Classical music sits in a very interesting place in this evolution of humankind; it is a grand and beautiful dialogue between instinct and intelligence. Music comes from so deep inside that it’s able to speak ancient truths in our modern language. Like learning how to deal with heartbreak, or how to trust - things that are not going to be discovered more truthfully through an equation or formula or data. Music can tell facts of our humanity that may seem to be imprecise, but are actually as precise as it’s possible to be because they can only be what they are.This of course is old wisdom, but old never means it’s less just because it’s old. 04