New Year, New You?
Blue background and a picture of Gwenllian sitting in a chair. Upcoming Concerts, February 12th Orpington Methodist Church; February 24th RWCMD, Cardiff; March 2nd St Mary’s Church, Aylesbury; March 10th St Martin-in-the-Fields, London.
January seems to have run away from me again. Like most months, I find that I’ve reached payday without knowing how; feeling the hours, days and weeks prior turning into mush in my brain as I try to distinguish one Friday from another.
This time though, I can say with confidence that many more of those hours were spent with focus and concentration, building the stamina and finger dexterity I’ll need over the coming months for my next flood of concerts. I always enjoy that sense of newness that the New Year brings, though I often wonder - as someone who’s long given up on actual “resolutions” - how many are still sticking to their new commitments as we near the end of the month? I find that true change takes much longer to take hold than we expect or hope. In my lessons, I have come to accept that there will be a degree of repeating myself. But in order for my words to have real meaning, the students have to be open to that change. I can’t force it nor want it for them.
Harp, Gwenllian visible through the strings
In a few weeks I will be giving my first masterclass at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, where I first chose to study. I’m so looking forward to hearing what the students have prepared. I have a lot of experience with masterclasses, having taken part in many myself, taught masterclasses and workshops, as well as observing my students taking part. It’s always interesting how someone can say the exact same thing in almost the exact same way but THIS is the time it has an effect. It doesn’t mean that the teacher who has said it a hundred times before is a bad teacher or the masterclass teacher is better. It depends so much on the participant’s mindset in that moment.
This is one of the reasons I always encourage students of all ages and levels to play for others. It can be daunting to say the least, especially if you are someone who gets nervous even playing for your teacher. It can make such a difference to the way you practise and prepare, and you never know who might be inspired by your performance.