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SUPER STRINGS
is a
charity for
young string
players aged
6-18 run by
the gifted
cellist and
inspirational
teacher Liz Anderson. Liz founded Super
Strings 10 years ago in a rurally isolated
part of Wiltshire near Devizes. Three
orchestras operate in term time with
weekend workshops and holiday courses.
Based in the shadow of Salisbury plain,
young musician s get an enormous
amount from the opportunity this
exciting project offers.
Liz thought Hosepipe! would be a
great focus for this year’s summer
course.
Children of all ages played the
piece together. The older players (grade
4-8) and the younger ones (grade 1-3)
were coached in two groups - hence
needing two conductors on stage at the
same time!
Liz decided to add improvisation to see
what would happen. Many of the children
had never improvised before and really
relished the challenge.
Liz says “It is great
to see the kids just relax and have a goand
the more they got into it the better
their improvising got - very good practice
for them to get away from reading the
dots all the time”!!!
Super Strings are
still thinking about what to ask for as
their prize. |
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EAST SUSSEX
ELECTRIC
VIOLIN GROUP is an innovative ensemble, run
by East Sussex Music Service
as part of their area music
centre activities. It started
just over a year ago after a
very successful summer school course, and
continues to focus on improvisation in a range of
styles which have so far included blues, folk, pop,
rock and jazz music.
The group is made up David Antonia (15), Nico
Briceno (14), Tom Crofton-Green (12) and Maxim
Gamble (12). It is directed by Simon Smith, one of the
East Sussex Music Service’s violin teachers.
For their performance the group enjoyed creating
a percussive accompaniment using their instruments,
including tapping the bridge with the bow, hitting the
strings with the hand, pinching the amp jack and
dropping amps on the floor!
They also made use of
the chord structure to create a harmonic
accompaniment which gave the tune more depth.
The students all agree that the group has helped
them with their playing and have really enjoyed
discovering a whole new world of violin playing.
David
Antonia said “The group has really helped my
confidence as we improvise something different in front of each other every week. It has also made
harmony finally make sense!”
Anyone who would like more information is
welcome to contact Simon directly on
simon.smith@eastsussex.gov.uk
For their prize, the group have
requested a visit from Steve Bingham |
