As Suzuki teachers we are always looking for special experiences for our students. This can be something as seemingly small as playing a single phrase with a beautiful sound, or shifting positions with ease. It can be playing a great solo in a concert or sharing an enjoyable experience with others in a group lesson or workshop. Or, every so often, there are those moments which involve so many people, and that take place on such a grand scale, that they leave an indelible mark on all of us - the type of event that will stay in our memories for ever.
Timothy Murray conducting the String Ensemble.
Rehearsals for the concert took place the day before in the Royal College of Music, situated directly opposite the Albert Hall. We, as an ensemble, would spend the day visiting each group of instruments in turn, to rehearse the music that each child had spent the previous months diligently practicing at home. As the opening notes of Bach’s Gavotte in G Minor rang out from the day’s first violin group (which must have included 200-300 children) I was hit by a wave of sound, unlike anything I’d really heard before. The leader Wilfried van Gorp’s insistence on the group striving for an ever more beautiful sound ensured that the group’s tone would continue to improve even more as the rehearsal progressed.
This Bach Gavotte would be one of several pieces played simultaneously by all children in attendance en masse, whilst each section of instruments would be featured playing various pieces from their own repertoire. As we travelled around the RCM, we would share with the children specially arranged renditions of, amongst other things, the Seitz Concerto no. 3 with the violas, Mozart’s Rondo alla turca with the pianos, Sicilienne by von Paradis with the cellos and Massenet’s Méditation with the advanced violin group.
As the day drew on, it became clear that the real challenge for us was going to be to coordinate with the various group leaders whilst playing the big ensemble music. Our leader, Guillem Calvo, and Tim Murray would have their work cut out for them when we all finally got together the following day, as the sheer scale of the concert meant that there were maybe 50 meters separating the Flutes and Recorders on one side, and the Violas on the other, with the hundreds of violins, cellos and pianos reaching from the very top of the stage (and even beyond) to the back of the Arena, the big space that occupies the centre of the Albert Hall.
But even these logistical problems were forgotten about when at last we were able to hear the entire company of children playing Tim’s specially composed Fantasia on Greensleeves. Suddenly I could feel all thoughts of the technical difficulties of the operation fading away, and I was caught up in the overwhelming emotions that such multitudes of children playing so beautifully alongside each other can bring. The sound was one of power and strength, but also of warmth, beauty and togetherness.
The teachers who made up the ensemble (many of whom were also raised by the Suzuki Method, including myself) spoke afterwards of the intense emotions that came to them on being part of this magical experience. We were part of a great event, surrounded by the students, our own teachers (those from our childhood and from our Suzuki teacher training), colleagues, thousands of onlooking audience members, and of course the music that accompanies so much of our daily lives.
And every now and again I would catch a glimpse of my little daughter, Berta. She was squeezed in somewhere in the midst of the cellos, watching intently the leadership of my dear teacher, Carey Beth Hockett, Berta’s own teacher, Eulàlia Subirà (also my teacher trainer, and an inspirational presence in my current life in Catalonia) and the other leaders of the cello group. I felt a very real and deep connection to this method that we all spend so much of our time involved in, and am very grateful for the chance to have taken part in such a wonderful occasion.
Jon Cottle, Suzuki cello teacher , Barcelona (ES)
