11th March – ‘Piano, Piano, Piano!’ project review

Saturday 11th March 2017

 

A wonderful day was had by all in our ‘Piano, Piano, Piano!’ project!  All the piano teachers at the academy joined forces to create a varied programme of piano-related activities during the day.  The morning focussed on Primary-age students, and the afternoon on Secondary-aged students, with each session ending in a concert for parents, family and friends.  In each session the children were divided into groups, and moved around the academy from activity to activity led by Georgie, Morag, Tara, Grace, Sam, Chris, and Julie.

Each session started with an introduction to Pianology led by Georgie:

Which led on to physical activities outside, moving and stretching in the sunshine!:

There then followed a session focussing on performance ideas and presentation led by Tara:

Five pianos were assembled in one room for a ‘multi-piano improvisation’ workshop with Chris and Julie, exploring special effects produced from stroking and plucking the strings inside the pianos.

After breaktime, the children were split into small groups of duos, trios and quartets to learn new pieces for two pianos which were then performed in the concert at the end.  Some very interesting and unusual performances emerged which were enjoyed by everyone!

We are also pleased to share some feedback we had from the day, many thanks to all involved:

I just wanted to thank you so much for organising the super ‘Piano, Piano, Piano!’ day. My son Jack Byrne absolutely loved it and hasn’t got off the piano since. It is so lovely to see him so enthusiastic about playing and wanting to practise, you obviously really inspired him. Please pass my thanks onto everyone involved.  Katerina