"It’s really Autumn!” my pupils are saying as they arrive, now that the nights are drawing in and there are thick piles of leaves to crunch through on the pavements.
To warm everyone up, we have a tradition of starting lessons with some folk music; these days I use Bags of Tunes with the younger pupils, graduating to Bags of Folk. Actually the 17 year olds love still playing Bags of Folk (extremely fast) too!
The other day Becky asked me if I could help her learn some tunes by heart so she could just pick up her fiddle and “start playing without having to find the music and a stand”. It’s a great moment when a pupil asks to do this, because for some people memorising a complete piece can seem a daunting process; so if the idea of playing without music comes from them it’s much easier to encourage them to keep at it.
Thanks to Sinéad for this fabulous Autumn cello collage, lovingly made, leaf by leaf.