19/2/09

Internet has been down. Sorry!

Lesson with Michael on Tues. He’s definitely improving, and very enthusiastic, though still having troubles playing in tune. His left hand wants to slide everywhere. We’re working on a study for extended first position which is a useful thing to master, but we only got as far as the first 4 bars which is guess is enough to work on for now. Maybe I’m being too picky about tuning, but it’s so important! Hmm. I played him some other of the pieces on the Grade 3 syllabus so we know what we have to work with. Next was Disan who is also doing well. Started off with scales, then spent most of the lesson looking at the shift study I set him. Still needs lots of work - he has to keep his left elbow up otherwise he’ll never be in tune! I only just discovered too that he got merit in his Grade 4 a couple of years ago which would have been very useful to know when I was trying to decide what pieces he should play. There is one major problem though in that the library doesn’t have enough pieces on the Grade 5 syllabus to do an exam so maybe we’ll just look at pieces. They’re very keen to do exams though so it’s a bit of a shame. Plus he’s good! Maybe we’ll find a way of getting hold of the music before it’s too late.. Next was out last sectional with Beata, who left on Wed. Well in fact it was just me and Michael as Sam was teaching and Soloman was no where to be found. But it was good anyways. We looked at Handel’s Water Music which we’re also playing in the concert. She has donated the cello she brought out to practise on too which is very generous of her. It was great having her here. Maybe we’ll meet again at some point in the small world of musicians/cellists! Has been seriously hot the past few days. Even people at school and home have been commenting on just how hot it is! The evenings are practically as hot as the day time, just without the sun glaring down on you. Lamin said he checked the other day and it was 34 degrees which is very rare for Uganda to get that hot apparently!

Yesterday (Wed) I taught Charlotte who is also improving lots. She was asked by Julie to join Junior Orch which has been a real boost to her confidence and had a look at the music with Beata so I’m sure she’ll manage fine. Starting new scales with her, plus have decided on another piece for her Grade 1 which is good and gives us something else to work on. Next was my first lesson with Soloman. He’s been learning with Sam up until now, working in particular on The Gadfly by Shostakovich which is on the Grade 5 syllabus. He’s doing pretty well and knows when he’s out of tune which is useful. Need to work on maintaining his sound though. And vibrato. We also decided to just work on pieces and not take an exam as he would probably be taking Grade 5 too, which we don’t have all the music for. He doesn’t seem to mind about this too much which is good. I think I’m also going to start teaching tenor clef to Disan and Soloman. It’s really weird teaching stuff like this, because I have absolutely no idea what standard I was when I started learning it. But I think pieces that come up in Grade 6 have tenor clef in so I guess it would be a good time to start for them. Carys and I went with a lovely lady called Teddy to Jenny and Jessy Primary School in the afternoon. Teddy was fantastic at teaching and getting the kids to sing along and clap and stand up and sing etc. And they’re all so cute! I honestly have no idea how we’re going to do the same though. For one we don’t know any of the Ugandan nursery rhymes, we don’t speak Luganda, and I don’t play guitar or anything to strum along while they sing like she was doing. It was really fascinating though. There were some older kids there, still at primary school I guess because now is when their families can pay the fees. There was also one gorgeous little girl who must have been maybe 4 called Serena who came straight up to Carys and I and hugged us and wouldn’t let go of our hands. I want to pick her up and bring her home with me! So it was great being there, and our time there is being paid for by someone from England (Fiona Carr) and the BA pilot man is contributing in some way too I think. They have both been playing a big part in funds for KMS as well. So anyways that should be good, as scary as it is going to be! Was a very hot and sticky journey back to KMS in a matatu taxi. I went straight home to take a cold shower before having something to eat then going out to choir. We’ve started singing the Faure piece I sung at the concert I did to raise money for the school (which they were very grateful for!) and I brought the music with me. It’s such a gorgeous piece, but we’re singing it in English because negotiating the accents here could be interesting! I keep getting confused though as I sung it in French before so am singing something more like ‘Franglish’ at the moment! Haha. Fatu finished her exams yesterday too so we had a nice catch up in the evening which was cool. She doesn’t have school until next week now so she has time to relax which is nice. I think there is a plan to braid my hair this weekend which should be fun, though I’m a little scared of how it will look, but I’ve got to do it haven’t I?! At least once while I’m here anyways.

Today (Thu) wasn’t too busy which was nice. I taught Disan first who is still doing well. Worked lots on the and tuning is definitely improving. We will start tenor clef next lesson I think. It’s a similar story tuning wise with Michael who I taught after. Spent ages on his study, and then ages on one shift in particular in the Hungarian Stomp (I think there is only one!) I’m hoping he’s learning that the way we’ve been going over things repetitively, until it’s consistently right is the way he should practise these things. Having spoken to Julius on Monday to rearrange our lessons for today, he didn’t turn up again and his phone is switched off. Mystery person! I investigated the internet place across the road from the school at lunch with Carys - it’s 700 shillings for half an hour. That’s maybe 25p! Pretty cheap huh? So came home, had lunch, chilled with Fatu, did some practise. And then the internet finally came back on! Hope all’s well back home! X