Chamber Music Courses

These courses take place over three days in the Autumn and Spring half-term holidays, and are the most heavily subscribed courses that take place. The course is open to anyone in the County Youth Ensembles, of Grade IV standard and above, although it mainly consists of string players. The purpose of this course is to give people enjoyment while they improve their tone, ensemble, and expression as a group.

Students on the course form small groups such as trios, quartets, quintets and occasionally octets, and prepare one or more pieces with the help of a tutor. Students are either allocated groups dependent on their age and ability, or established groups can go on the course together, through an option on the application form.

On the final day, after the traditional McDonalds or Pizzas that are brought in, the course ends with several masterclasses in which the groups perform to friends and parents, showing how much they have achieved over the three days. The idea of this is to show the process that working on a piece requires, as a result of it being nearly impossible to produced a polished performance in such a short space of time.

The Course is organised by Jan Kaznowski, who is a peripatetic string teacher in Bedfordshire.

Photos from previous Chamber Music Courses can be found by clicking here.