Notes for Young String Players - Benedetti Foundation

Benedetti Sessions

At the Benedetti Foundation, we create transformative experiences around mass musical events for teachers and young people, which celebrate music participation on all levels.

The Foundation is a registered charity and is funded entirely through the generous donations of individuals, trusts and foundations and

corporate sponsorship.

If you would like to make a donation to help our

work to continue, please

visit: www.benedettifoundation.org/support, or

contact us on: info@benedettifoundation.org

Thank you for your support The Benedetti Foundation is a Scottish company limited by guarantee with charitable status. Company number: 636675. Charity number: SC049688

WWW.BENEDETTIFOUNDATION.ORG

CONTENTS 01 NICKY'S WELCOME

ILLUSTRATED BY MARK BEECH

02 WORD SEARCH

ALL PHOTOS CREDIT TO ARTIST

03 IF I HAD ONE HOUR TO PRACTISE 04 DAILY PRACTISE ROUTINE 06 A LETTER FROM ELIN MANAHAN THOMAS

TOP TIPS 07 SCALES 08 DEVELOPING YOUR SOUND 10 WARMING UP

A PERFORMANCE DISASTER PAGE 22

11 HOLDING YOUR INSTRUMENT

WYNTON MARSALIS PAGE 15

HEALTH 13

GENERAL BODY HEALTH

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BEING A MUSICAL ATHLETE

MORE TOP TIPS 17

BOW HOLD

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VIBRATO

20

INTONATION

21

SHIFTY SHIFTS

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STAY INSPIRED

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CONCENTRATION

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MY LEFT HAND

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A NOTE FROM PATRICK KING

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BRINGING HOME THE BENEDETTI SESSIONS

SHEKU KANNEH- A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A LSO MASON

PAGE 23

MUSICIAN

MAXINE KWOK-ADAMS

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BENEDETTI FOUNDATION 2020

MY LEFT HAND

BY NICOLA BENEDETTI

STEPHANIE BENEDETTI PERFORMNG WITH CLEAN BANDIT

To start playing an instrument can be really, really tricky and we don’t all have a good, fun beginning. Sometimes things can happen that put you off really quickly!

For me, that was being left handed. I actually only wanted to play the violin because my big sister Stephanie wanted to play. Do you know of Clean Bandit?

She’s the beautiful violinist that can dance and play at the same time!

Anyway, when I went to my very first lesson with Brenda Smith to study Suzuki method, my teacher handed me the violin.

She gave it to my left hand, and I switched it straight away to my right hand. She promptly took it back out of my right and into my left. It felt so, so wrong to me aged four - to hold the violin that way that soon enough I started getting really upset.

So, what started off as an exciting moment soon turned into floods of tears!

Luckily, my teacher was the nicest, most encouraging woman ever and she was very patient with me. And from the second lesson onwards, I accepted that the violin goes in the left hand and the bow goes in the right hand. How did you start playing?

Share your stories with us, or write them in this book at the back for good memories!

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A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN LSO MUSICIAN WITH MAXINE KWOK-ADAMS 1ST VIOLINIST WITH THE LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA,

"What's a typical day in the LSO?" is a question I've fielded countless times in my years as a member of the 1st violins.

Hopefully this Q&A sheds a little light on my life in London.'

WHAT'S MORE TIRING?

Photo: Joseph Branson

HOW LONG DO YOU SPEND ON A CONCERT PROGRAMME? Typically we would start two days prior to the concert day. There are no sectionals so everyone is expected to know their parts ahead of time. At this point in my career most repertoire is coming round for the 5th, 10th or even 20th time!

DO YOU LIKE ACCOMPANYING CONCERTOS? This will depend on the repertoire and I'm definitely biased towards hearing violin concertos! But in general it's lovely to either discover new talent but, more often than not, have a chat with a soloist the LSO has worked with for years and catch up with them.

DO YOU PLAY DIFFERENT PROJECTS ON THE SAME DAY? We often go from a rehearsal straight to recording sessions so it can make for a long day needing stamina and concentration. We can have a rehearsal followed by two recording sessions, which means you are at work from 10am-10pm. You might also find yourself doing unusual things like recording a Christmas album in July, or in the morning you’re rehearsing a Brahms symphony and two hours later you’re accompanying Jamie Cullum in a recording studio.

Rehearsals and recording sessions are very different animals. In a rehearsal you're generally involved in everything that's going on and can play whole movements at a time.

There's always the noise of sections organising details like bowings and dare I say, a level of chatting! In recording sessions you might record for only up to a minute of a film scene and then there can be a large amount of sitting around in silence whilst things are organised, so it's a good idea to have a book to hand.

WHAT IS YOUR FUNNIEST LSO STORY? A moment that stands out in my mind was a concert on tour when I was sitting with our coleader Carmine Lauri on desk 2. He broke a string and, in his enthusiasm to quickly change it, yanked the broken string free without grasping the peg which then flew into the extensive row of flower arrangements lining the front of the stage. The whole section was in fits of laughter as he scrabbled about amongst the flowers trying to find the small peg. I had a similar situation recently in China when I removed a broken string in a concert but decided it was too close to the end of the symphony to bother changing it. I lifted my violin back up to play but the peg, no longer anchored by a string, fell out and bounced nice and noisily onto the stage. Cue lots of snorting and giggling from my section! So it's not only getting all the right notes in a concert you have to worry about!

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