A rare opportunity to re-create a grand era and style of music easy on the ear and satisfying to the players. The light, popular and classical style drew its name from the potted-palm filled public spaces of its heyday, from about 1880 to 1960.
STANDARD: CONFIDENT, SKILFUL
Resident: £402 Non-Resident: £292 (25% off for under 27s) Code: 25/276
Booking for Members opens at 9am on Wednesday 27 November 2024
Non-Member and online booking opens at 9am on Monday 16 December 2024
For details on how to become a Member to take advantage of early booking, see here
What is this course about?
Pretty pieces, sentimental pieces, inspiring pieces, quirky novelties, dramatic juxtapositions. String players, woodwind soloists and (if balance allows) a few brass players and a pianist will enjoy the wide range of accessible music which makes up a typical Palm Court programme. Our rehearsals, in chamber music style without conductor - and led, in time-honoured fashion, by a violin virtuoso - will be concentrated and demanding but also great fun. Typical features of the style such as phrasing, rhythmic freedom and expressiveness will be emphasised. Violinists may be asked to alternate between First and Second.
What will the course cover?
Ensemble balance, phrasing, rhythmic freedom and expressiveness. For string players, effective pizzicato, general technique. Musical comedy development and changes in orchestration methods. Social history of players and audience.
What will we accomplish? by the end of this course you will be able to...
Join in re-creating a particular style and era of music.
How will the course be taught, and will any preparation be required?
All sessions are held with the whole group, mostly playing repertoire and rehearsing some passages. Tutors welcome discussion and Q&A.
Will music be provided in advance of this course?
No, it will be provided by the tutor on the course.
Is there anything that participants need to bring?
Your instrument(s), soft pencil and rubber.
Tutor biographies
Miriam Kramer Miriam began studying the violin aged four, giving her first public performance at seven, in Mozart's Concerto in G Major. Since then, her recitals and concerto performances have taken her round the world to such venues as Carnegie Hall, (USA), Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall (UK), Vienna Konzerthaus and Theatre Champs Elysees (France). Praised by Strad Magazine as "a violinist of superior natural talent…. a phrase maker of uncommon expressivity" and by the NY Times as a "soulful and virtuosic performer", Miriam has received critical acclaim for her 6 CDs, including Editor's Choice for her recording of the violin music of Ernest Bloch, from Gramophone Magazine which said "Her musicianship is irresistible." Alongside her performing and recording schedule, Miriam maintains a busy private teaching practice and was a tutor at the late Dartington Summer School. She champions the music of new composers and her latest project, a recording of Elegy, by British composer Andrew Pearce, with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, has led to invitations from other composers in France, Belgium and the USA. Miriam has broadcast on Classic FM, BBC Radio 3 and international radio, as well as on BBC television in a tribute to Yehudi Menuhin.
Roger Moon Roger has been a Benslow tutor since 1999. At his workshops and courses many singers and instrumentalists have surprised themselves, leaving with greatly enhanced confidence in their abilities. He showed great musical promise from a very early age, inheriting from both his parents a love of many kinds of music; including vocal, choral, lighter classics, 1930s dance band, jazz, and stage and film musicals. He studied jazz piano under Peter Ind, classical piano under Iain Ledingham (RAM), and sang and studied under the world-renowned choral conductor (and late Benslow president) Stephen Wilkinson. He took First Class Honours in a degree course in Performing Arts. Roger has played in many performances and recordings, in venues such as Abbey Road Studios, Theatre Royal, Margate, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, Chichester Festival Theatre, BBC Broadcasting House, Bath Abbey, Wells Cathedral and the Holywell Music Room, Oxford, with some of the most respected members of the music and entertainment profession, including John Dankworth, Cleo Laine, Petula Clark and Guy Barker. Roger has made a speciality of the popular music of the earlier twentieth century. For a spell he played appropriate music with Miriam Kramer (violin) in the restored Art Deco splendour of Claridges Hotel, London.