3 minute read
Working side-by-side in a distanced world
Almost exactly a year after the first lockdown, Paul Stubbings, Director of Music, reflects on the School’s creative and ingenious responses to the challenges of remote teaching, learning and performing.
What are the biggest challenges the School has faced during lockdown?
“Undoubtedly the loss of opportunities to collaborate musically - for choir, orchestra and chamber music, it could have been disastrous. However, professional musicians around the world are similarly unable to play and perform together as usual so we grasped the opportunity to make the most of their current availability and have been inviting them to collaborate with us via live Zoom sessions – Celebrity 6, Alumni 6 and our new ‘Not-the…’ sessions.”
What was the thinking behind ‘Not-the…’?
“It’s really about shifting the focus from pupils working on written assignments to pupils engaging with music through listening, discussing and analysing. Not-the-choir has seen us gallop through the choral repertoire and explore genres such as Celtic music and Gospel. We took the advice of Steven Isserlis that all musicians should listen to Beethoven’s Missa solemnis… and we did. Three long sections of it! We’ve had ‘Operatic Wednesdays’ with Margaret Aronson of Scottish Opera (also a teacher at the School) and ‘Musical Wednesdays’ with West-end star Tabitha Webb (Christine, Phantom of the Opera).”
“Kathryn Jourdan and I have curated a whole-school discussion, via Zoom, for Not-the-Orchestra. We’ve looked at ‘Orchestra through the Ages’ with the help of the Hallé Orchestra; we’ve explored ‘Putting on a Concerto’ with Will Conway and Zoë Beyers (Leader of the BBC Phil); and we’re finishing with the idea of orchestra as community in ‘The Future of the Orchestra’ with Kathryn Jourdan and a ‘watch this space’ guest. Not-chamber-music, aka ‘At home with Mr Ferguson’, has seen pupils and teachers tune into his lively conversations and interviews with guests including Jonathan Morton (Artistic Director, Scottish Ensemble) and Martin Outram (Maggini Quartet). In other words, we’ve actually used lockdown to open up opportunities to bring world-class musicians into the School.”
How will the School’s much-loved Spring Concert be presented at the end of term?
“Our magnificent Christmas Concert brought home to me what could be achieved through a ‘blended approach’ to performance. The Spring Concert will screen recordings and videos from the Lord Clyde Competition finalists and our new Side-by-side Competition winners, as well as our Junior World Rhythms Ensemble. Our four Lord Clyde finalists are currently busy recording their solos and working remotely with John Cameron to provide orchestral accompaniments.”
Is the new Side-by-side Competition a direct response to restrictions?
“Yes – again, it’s all about collaboration. The idea is to give pupils the chance to place their creativity side-by-side with something else (stop-motion film, video, still or animated photography, choreography, poetry or something dramatic) and with someone else too. Entries are to be the work of two people but no other rules beyond that – imagination is everything!”
And finally, what are your thoughts on a post-lockdown future?
“My plea has always been for optimism – to look to the future rather than dwell in the moment. We want to equip our pupils for the life ahead of them and that’s been the inspiration behind all our new ways of working – it’s critical that our young people understand what’s happening in the music industry, what’s coming up in the future and how they can be a part of that.”
The Spring Concert will be screened on Good Friday (2nd April, 7.00pm) – please join us!
