A Dartington Update from Jo

We had just settled in to the end of another special week at Dartington Summer School when, sadly, the week was brought to an abrupt end by a COVID case on campus. Nevertheless, we’ve had a wonderful time and settled into a relaxing and productive routine with 3 1/2 hours coaching in the mornings and 1 1/2 hours in the afternoon, followed by extra rehearsals and concerts. This year all our students (both young and not quite so young) have been enthusiastic and receptive and it has been a pleasure to introduce them to new consort pieces (Lawes 6 part this morning), and to encourage them to branch out playing different size viols. We’ve tried to introduce a few little technical pointers along the way, mainly focused on improving bow technique and control, with the aim of increasing everyone’s palate of colours and their ability to inject a bit more personality into their individual lines. Thank you to all those who have tolerated my scale of the day practice suggestions!

If you are thinking of signing up for next summer we would love to see you. If you need any extra motivation I can also report that the food is excellent and the river is idyllic (photo taken this morning before our swim). The Dartington website is HERE.