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The return of the Danes
In November 2003, 22 pupils, their parents, and teachers Betty & Stephen Power enjoyed a weekend in Copenhagen, staying at a youth hostel, sightseeing, and performing a joint recital with students of Anne Birte Andersen and Esther Lund Madsen from the Danish Suzuki Piano Institute. This past October 2005, we were delighted to renew our European Suzuki connection by hosting a reunion concert with our Danish friends on Saturday 15 October at the Kaetsu Cultural Centre, Cambridge.
The following is an account of the day, written by Anne Seiten, mother of Rasmus Reeh (age 10) from the Danish Suzuki Piano Institute:
Indian Summer in Cambridge – Report on a Suzuki piano tour
It was a good beginning to the autumn holiday: fourteen 7–16-year-old Suzuki piano soloists, accompanied by Esther and Anne-Birthe and a creatively assembled reinforcement of family members, took a trip to Cambridge, where they were to give a concert with nineteen of their like-minded English counterparts, whose regular tutors are husband and wife team Betty and Stephen Power.
The preparatory rehearsal session on the concert hall's grand piano took place surrounded by the supportive working atmosphere we all know so well from Suzuki teaching methods. One after the other, big and small, they came up to the piano. Deep was their concentration as they tried to combine their trying-out of the new instrument with their last rehearsal of the piece each had polished to musical integrity. All were determined that they could and that they would. Their beloved teachers were there with a pat on the back and an encouraging word; mum and/or dad were somewhere in the hall, not to mention all their friends with whom they shared this hour of trial. Music seemed to flow from the very intensity of the listening. There may not have been any bowing and clapping, but it was still a real 'dress-rehearsal' performance and a display of collective Suzuki-work nerves. This in itself was such a little joy.
After the rehearsal and before the concert was a time for relaxation and refreshment. And what better for this than a punting trip on the little river that winds round the backs of the legendary Cambridge colleges and under numerous charming bridges. From here the city was seen but not really taken in. That had to wait until the following day: just now it was the concert that mattered.
The pupils' concert was the high point of the trip. Everyone played so beautifully. [Editor's Note: The concert included a wide selection of repertoire, including pieces from Suzuki Books 1–5, and by composers Debussy, Stravinsky, Nielsen, Kurtag, Fitkin, and Cashian.] Each and every one of them held the full attention of the hall. Just as the Danish children had supported each other in the morning's rehearsal, so the English and Danish children followed each other with great naturalness and dignity, bowed (a bow whose function was far from merely ceremonial) and sat down confidently at the grand piano. A meeting of cultures? Yes, perhaps, for the Danes and the English met each other through their music. Perhaps one could sense certain differences – something a bit Danish, something a bit English, but above all they were united in their joint repertoire, both by the atmosphere of generous confidence in them and by the seriousness and deep concentration that is so typical of the Suzuki method. The children, English and Danish together, united around every child's musical performance.
Mette Fjelsted (a former student of Esther Lund Madsen, now studying Law at Manchester University) came specially to round off the concert, which she did in virtuoso style with a performance of Rachmaninov's Prelude in G# minor that included an almost choreographic embrace of the keyboard. And then finally, after rounds of applause, a group photo and exchange of presents, Xenia Kandel Frederiksen played, brilliantly and movingly, a completely unprogrammed piece by Carl Nielsen. The English parents had arranged a communal meal which was followed by a wonderful, high-spirited party. [Editor's Note: Following the concert, all the British children were given their very own copy of music by Carl Nielsen, the most internationally respected of Danish composers – a most thoughtful gesture by the Danish teachers and parents and very encouraging for the children.]
Next day brought another big experience – choral evensong in King's College Chapel, with the famous King's College boys' choir, whose participation in the service in fact consists of a whole mini-concert. The thrilling sense of history as the boys file in – in medieval procession in cloaks and the rest of their picturesque get-up – gives way to a musical thrill as they start singing. The whole church, already aided by its soaring gothic dimensions, seems to take off. Our children were spellbound by this high church English service where so much was topsy-turvy: the boys' choir was in the middle of the congregation, so that the voices rose acoustically from earth to sky (an idea for Copenhagen Cathedral boy's choir perhaps); and you stood up when you sang and sat down when the lessons were read!
There were many other cross-cultural experiences for the visiting Suzuki group: a visit to the magical Colleges (whose pecking order, however, didn't appeal to our children) strolling through the city, pubs, hot chocolate, popping in and out of phone boxes, etc. It all helped to weld social connections. Little friendships grow stronger...
Tel: (01223) 264408
Email: info@suzukipianocambridge.org.uk
08 April 2006 15:42