July 2013 – Multi-Piano Extravaganza

 

Multi-Piano Extravaganza

Monday 8th to Thursday 11th July 2013

The main focus of this term’s Project Week was a multi-piano event involving all our young pianists.  Thanks to the sponsorship of Voisin and the Jersey Arts Trust, we were able to bring over the Burrows Woo Piano Duo from London, and their input to the project was truly inspirational.

At the start of the week all the students involved were divided into different groups of varying sizes (trios, quartets, quintets, and even a piano sextet!).  The music given to them was based on the different elements of melody, harmony, rhythm, and texture which make up famous tunes.  Over the course of the week the groups pieced together their own versions of the tunes with the coaching of the Burrows Woo Duo alongside Sam Bisson and Chris George.

The concert took place on Thursday 11th July, and the first half of the evening was dedicated to the students’ performances, and a particularly memorable performance was given by the senior piano quartet performing a highly exciting and entertaining version of ‘Discombobulate’ from Sherlock Holmes by Hans Zimmer.  The second half of the evening was led by the teachers, firstly with Sam Bisson and Chris George performing Mozart’s Sonata in D for Two Pianos, and then the Burrows Woo Duo took the evening in a whole different direction…!

The duo led the audience into the world of minimalist composer Steve Reich, firstly performing ‘Clapping Music’ to introduce the concept of ‘phasing’ which was then fully demonstrated in a complete performance of ‘Piano Phase’.  This was an outstanding and mesmerising performance which introduced everyone to a whole new world of music, and brought the event to a dramatic conclusion.  Our thanks go to the Burrows Woo Duo for coming over for this project, and to Voisin for enabling this to happen through their sponsorship.