Oundle for Organists

Beautiful weekend back in Oxford, teaching on the new Oundle for Organists course, 'Advance!'. This course is aimed at current and elected organ scholars, working at the whole broad range of skills they need to develop and use, from taking choir rehearsals and planning music lists to accompanying singers and playing for rehearsals. It was a privilege to teach alongside Owen Rees, Paddy Russill, Dan Hyde, and course director Robert Quinney, and to be teaching such receptive students. We were based at Balliol and used Queen's and Magdalen for teaching, all of which looked absolutely gorgeous in the glorious sunshine, and provided an excellent basis for a productive weekend. It was fascinating and inspiring to chat to the students about their routes into this world and their future plans beyond it; I certainly call on the experience of that meticulous organ scholar training on an almost daily basis, and feel very privileged to have experienced it, even though I am now primarily focusing on totally different areas of music!