SCHOOLS PRESENTATION OUTLINE

"A Mandolin Journey"

School presentations take on the shape of a relaxed concert and feature many pieces I use in mainstream concerts but presented in an interesting and interactive way to the children. I outline some basic information about the mandolin and the children guess which country it comes from (I usually play some snippets as clues….the Cornetto advert, Santa Lucia etc….). We also work out the age of my oldest instrument (Vinny) which was built in 1764. I encourage them to listen carefully to the different tones of the three instruments and to the colours and textures in the music. I also give the three instruments names and introduce them to the children. (Vinny, Baby and Beast!)

The programme covers a broad range of styles and periods and features three pieces which I use to interact with the children:

Rondo and Allemande by Pietro Leoni. – is a charming, jaunty piece with a recurring Rondo theme that is very recognisable. I play the “theme” to the children a couple of times and then play the piece and the children have to try to count how many times the “theme” recurs in the piece (13!)
Sakura by Nawata Masaji – is a Japanese Fantasy based on the famous Japanese folk song of the same name. I play the piece before telling the children its name or where it comes from and they have to listen carefully and decide which country they think it comes from.
Suite No.2 by Oliver Kalberer – is a wonderful modernistic little suite of very short “sound bites”. It features many unusual effects on the instrument such as percussive noises and harmonics. Three of the four movements have evocative titles (Dance of the rain drops: Birds in the Wind: Funeral March of the Sunbeams) but the last movement is only entitled “Scherzo” so I play it to the children with their eyes shut and they have to give it a name from what popped into their heads while I was playing it. (past titles have been “bumble bees”, “late for school” and, my favourite, “Shopping in Tesco’s on a Saturday”!!)

Many of the pieces I use are particularly accessible to children and I try and vary the texture in the concert a lot and only play slightly shorter pieces. A long term favourite of many of the children I have played to is another contemporary piece that at one concert was dubbed by the children “the punk mandolin piece”.

It is my philosophy at these concerts to play “proper music” to the children and to help to try and develop their listening and aural skills by giving them specific things to listen out for, hopefully increasing their enjoyment and appreciation of music.

I always finish with a question and answer session.