The Strad - Coaching chamber music
“Giving formal chamber music training to students during their school years is vital for fostering a lifelong commitment to the art”
In the December 2020 edition of The Strad magazine, Graham Oppenheimer discusses his experience as both a chamber musician and teacher, and how the the string quartet is itself an instrument that can be used to not only to develop technical mastery but enhcance creativity in students. In the article, he talks about his light-bulb moment from which sparked a love of performing and teaching chamber music:
“I can still vividly recall my first experience of chamber music as a twelve-year-old at summer school. I was amazed not only by the ingenious construction of the finale of Mozart’s String Quartet in G major K387 but also by the freedom and brilliance of my own voice. I realised that my part mattered in this wonderful new medium. This was a real light-bulb moment that has always remained with me. Since then I have felt privileged to have had a career dedicated to chamber music, and as senior chamber music tutor at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester since 2002, I have been able to create such opportunities for others. My fellow teachers and I feel passionately about the importance of chamber music for young string players and recognise that one of our very important tasks is to oversee similar light-bulb moments for our own students.”
