klezmer accordion lesson

Finally my accordion lesson started! I've dreamed this moment for five years when I'd started to study klezmer music. My teacher is perfect. She teaches me not only basic accordion practice but also a lot of knowledge on klezmer history, repertoire, klezmer performance scenes, musical elements such as rhythm, stress… Her personality is also great. She is intelligent, kind, and generosity! I was supposed to be taken one-hour lesson, but today, she gave me a longer lesson (around 90 min.).

It took 40 min. from my accommodation to her house by foot and tube. I might go there by bus. (Buses in London are so convenient and cheap.)

I need to explain you about the performance course at SOAS. There are some performance classes, like Gamelan ensemble. However, if you want to learn some minor (?) music performance, you need to find a teacher outside the university. I could find a great teacher through JMI, Jewish Music Institute. The institute belongs SOAS, and it has a nice archive (however, I don’t know it yet). There are some kind staffs and they introduced me a teacher. Anyway, students who want to learn music need to look for their teachers in some ways.

Performance course required students to play 20 min. in public as a practical examination including oral exam, and submit a portfolio. Students need to keep lesson diary, and at the end of term, they make their portfolios based on their lesson diaries. They are expected to include music analysis or something in their portfolios. Students are not allowed to choose music which is not related to their researches. So if you will research Japanese Syakuhachi for your master dissertation, it is impossible to take didgeridoo lessons as a performance course of the university. The good thing is students who take one to one performance lessons, some money will be returned as a part of lesson fee. Of course, the amount of money which will be returned is not enough to cover all lesson fees, but it is better than nothing.

I like the system of SOAS performance course. Although each student has each purpose to learn music performance, students can experience to play in front of public at the end of course. And keeping lesson diary and submitting a portfolio will lead students to consider about history, theory, repertoire, musical structure, and other important things on the music as well as improve a performance skill.

I was very lucky to encounter a great teacher.

Although I bought electronic accordion as well as acoustic one, the biggest problem is the practice place. I can practice at my own room with electronic one every night, but it is necessary to practice with acoustic one at least two days each week, because the size and touch is different between two. So I asked my teacher I can practice in a park. She answered “why not?” I require courage to practice in a park, but I would like to do so.