When investigating adult learners I chose to compare them with their younger counterparts, holding a lengthy interview with around 10 adults and 10 children as well as recording performances of them all playing. Adults often notice that children seem to get on faster and better so I was hoping to find differences between the two to see if adults could learn anything from the children. Rather than differences I found many similarities, for example the most popular reason for starting was because a family member already played, a parent, son, daughter or sibling. A particular sound or piece of music inspired all ages, such as Nicki from Day 35 hearing Mozart, or a young sax player having heard some jazz. Image was also important and one of my school aged learners had chosen the saxophone because it looked cool. Great, I thought, finally a difference between the kids and grown-ups, the younger ones might choose an instrument because of what it looks like while the more mature adults will have sophisticated reasons for learning. However my next interviewee was an adult sax player who had attempted the recorder, violin and trombone as a youngster, proudly achieving the minimum grades along the way. After an important birthday he decided to take up the saxophone hinting in his interview it was because he thought it would look good! So image was also important, no matter what the age. And let me introduce the adult sax player as my next guest and latest sponsor - Adam! Another member of Walden Winds and one of my pupils, Adam still plays the sax, likes to ride his motorbike (image again…) and also enjoys a challenge as he cycled across France during a sabbatical a few years ago keeping us all up to date on a social networking site. After a beer in an establishment a mile over the Spanish border I would like to say he cycled back but understand that motorised transport was used. That was disappointing for his many followers! The session for Adam started with scales and went on to the pieces I will be playing this evening. I was tempted to play Rondo but will stick with my plan to leave it until after the weekend. Everything seemed fine and I finished off with a few easy pieces from the First Harp Book. 25 minutes managed so not too bad.
Chris and I have been enjoying Come Dine With Me, a dinner party-hosting competition. It is highly entertaining but like many of these reality TV shows it is more an example of what not to do, rather than what to do and the winner is usually the one who has messed-up the least! Most music and dance reality shows are like this and while I avoid watching them I do remind pupils who are keen viewers that those who have succeeded have thoughtfully chosen something they can do well and have practised. I had planned the menu and entertainment carefully and apart from dinner going on half an hour later than originally planned we felt well prepared. Our dinner guests were Sue and Ken from day 36 and shortly after they arrived we moved to my music room to hear Sue's performance. I noticed that Ken and Chris were both clutching pints of Chris's Christmas Ale from the Papworth Brewery. I had told Chris they were not to have any of the beer until after the performance but he must have sneaked out to the brewery at the back of the garage when we were setting up. Sue played really well and found the experience beneficial. She had one little squeak that was caused by a slow moving thumb but it raised her awareness of that particular passage so shouldn't happen again. My first attempt at making a steak and ale pie (with the Christmas Ale again) went really well and there were clean plates all round. After that I gave my recital on the harp and we chatted about all things artistic for a good few hours! My own performance again contained a few little gremlins but these should get "flushed out" as Sue put it by a week on Sunday. Sue and Ken staggered out and a lovely evening was had all round!
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