Trinity College, London, an international examination board that does assessments in various arenas of music in over 60 countries across the world has almost twenty six centres affiliated to the college in the country and seven examination centres across Kerala. The main centre is the National Academy of Music at Ravipuram. It was started in 1999 and was headed by Unnikrishnan A V.
This year, Mezzo Soprano Catherine Denley was a part of the team of the examiners who visited Kochi as a part of the programme. She has worked with renowned music conductors like Rostropovich, Boulez, Rattle, Mariner and Nagano. Denley, born into a musical family in North Hampshire, London was fond of music from a young age. She studied at the Trinity College of Music and completed the fellowship diploma programme with coveted awards in Lieder and French songs. As every working mother, the greatest challenge for Denley was bringing up a family while still pursuing her career and passion.
“I had decided that I needed to do both things and that I would get on with it. It was hard work sometimes. With three young children, I used to look on my work as ‘rest’,” she beams. “I was very lucky that I had the privilege to work with such great musicians. I would say I was lucky to be at the right place at the right time.” With over sixty recordings to her credit, her spectacular concert experience includes the premiere of the Europera by John Cage in London, Paris and Berlin, Britten’s Spring Symphony for Dutch and Polish Radio; Beethoven's 9th Symphony with Sir John Eliot Gardiner in Japan, Mozart's Requiem in the Salzburg Mozartwoche and at the BBC Proms and many more. When asked about what her advice would be to young singers of today, she says “You are your instrument. You have to take care of your voice, if you are fit, your voice is fit. It’s just like how an athlete trains to keep fit; you have to practise every day. It should not be a chore but something that you love to do”.
Having sung in various languages, she says “if you start early enough, it’s not that difficult to learn languages. In singing, words are just as important as the notes. It’s important to understand every word of the lyrics and understand what the music is all about to express it right. I have always loved learning new languages so I enjoyed it.”
Denley has close to twenty years of private teaching experience, “I started out by helping a friend who had to perform at a concert and that is when I realised how much I loved doing it. I have learnt as much teaching as I have learnt in my own lessons in the past. It is a privilege to teach and to help others.”
Her husband Miles Golding and her three sons are all professional musicians.
James Smith is an accompanist pianist and a member of the Incorporated Society of musicians too was here as part of the examination body of Trinity College. Smith also has over twenty years of teaching experience and was the head of Christ Church Cathedral School, Oxford for four years.
Later, he felt he needed to spend more time pursuing his passion and he undertook two recital series and appeared in the Aldeburgh festival besides accompanying for the Britten Pears School at Snape Maltings, apart from several conservatoire auditions. He has been associated with Trinity since 2005 and is on his eighth visit to India to assess students.
Born in Germany, Smith also comes from a family of music lovers. His father was in the army, which meant his family kept moving and so he could not start his formal piano lessons until he turned twelve.
“I loved listening to the piano and I couldn’t wait to start my lessons. It’s good for children to begin playing the piano at an early age. Seven would be a good age to start. The piano needs a certain level flexibility, dexterity, coordination and it gets harder as one gets older, not that it’s impossible,” says Smith. He explains that for children, an electric piano is very practical, you could use it with headphones, never goes out of tune, can be transported easily when compared to an acoustic piano. The only difference between the two is that you could feel the sound through your fingertips in an acoustic piano unlike the electric one.
His advice to parents who would like to train their children on the piano is that, “If you have a piano in the house and if you can’t keep the child off the piano, it’s time to begin lessons. It’s important that it is something that they want to do. It is also important that you have the best instrument you can have. When it comes to lessons, it is crucial that the beginning is done right. It’s like building a wall, if the base is not strong, it will be wobbly. One needs to look out for teachers who can take the students through a long journey of music”. When asked about his assessments in Kerala, he says, “The quality of preparation of students in India is no different from around the world. There is always a mix.
There are always those who work very hard and do very well, others who are nervous and still others who have not done what their teacher told them to do. It averages out,” he grins.
