After a few years of looking at music summer school listings, I took the plunge and tried a residential music course in Somerset. The provider, Jackdaws Music Educational Trust , runs one day and weekend courses for adult participants as well as educational projects in-house and in local schools. The course I decided to try was 'The Pianist Within' with Elena Riu, faculty professor at Trinity Laban and creator and collaborator of many genre-bending releases (to judge from her online bio available on her website ). There were 9 of us on the course and it was a very relaxed, friendly atmosphere. Indeed I met one fellow pianist at Frome station whilst waiting for a taxi! I had a B&B in Great Elm, a short walk from Jackdaws and the village was really nice. Music mixing in with birdsong, the river bubbling away, the odd horse and rider - very tranquil. We even had a day of summer on the Saturday! I also realised I knew one of the other pianists - it's a very small worl
The varied musings of a music maniac...