By David Banbury, new BBCM student

The Béla Bartók Centre of Musicianship (BBCM) runs Saturday morning classes for musical development for children and adults to develop their musical instincts and skill. The centre was founded by Agnes Kory, who instils musical understanding and the ability to read notation through carefully chosen class based musical exercises and games. The emphasis is to develop an acute sense of pitch through a grasp of solfège, disciplined rhythm and stylish phrasing. The results with her long standing students are impressive. Students learn how the degree of a scale feels and needs to be modified, rather than thinking of it simply as a pitch constrained by equal temperament of the piano. Agnes also cultivates the polyphonic and polyrhythmic ear, with exercises coordinating brain and hands – and sometimes feet, too!

The annual workshop is the culmination of the academic year, in which students from all the classes, their families and some past students meet. This is an opportunity to showcase the year’s work with pieces which have been studied in class. It is also an opportunity for ensemble performing experience, with the responsibility to be musically self-reliant. The younger students in particular have a great deal to gain, as they are learning difficult skills which will give them a secure, lifelong musical linguistic ability. It is also a social event where there is an opportunity to talk to many interesting people from culturally diverse backgrounds and enjoy good food with a bring-and-share buffet. As in previous years, the event was generously hosted by Clair Constable and Mogador Empson in their beautiful home. It was a privilege to be welcomed there and share in the musical enthusiasm of the BBCM community.

The music began with the children singing a nursery rhyme, Peace Pudding, to solfège notation, and then showing us the ‘Ram / Sam Orchestra’ – a musical exercise in which the children perform the actions of orchestral instruments to a melody and add dynamics to reflect the instruments character. Words were also added to this Kindergarten ensemble. There followed a communal round in a minor key, the Hungarian Mosquito Song. The BBCM Song followed as another round, but with added ostinato from adults. The song was sung both with words and solfège notation.

We continued with international songs reflecting the background of some current students. We sang a traditional Korean song with sol-fa from hand-signs; with sol-fa from music; and finally, after a Korean mother and son demonstration, everyone sang it in Korean. There followed a Russian folksong (Balalaika) with variations including: sol-fa from hand-signs; sol-fa from music; clapping; and harmony. The Russian folksong was followed with performances from longstanding BBCM students Clara Heck and Juliette Majid singing two duets from Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades, Op. 68 and then Scipio Zamparo (violin) and Juliette Majid (piano) played the third movement (‘Melodie’) from Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir d’un lieu cher, Op. 42.

Part of Agnes’ training involves using music by Kodály and Bartók. These short, but challenging pieces serve as vehicles to learn the musicianship which Agnes works tirelessly to instil. Examples of these were performed by some of the more experienced students. The selections included Nos. 3-7, 42/42a, and 57 from Kodály’s Bicinia Hungarica, volume 1. The Bartók selections included: Nos. 1, 2, 5, 10 from Fourty-four Duos for two violins; Kánon, Resteknek Nótája and Ne Menj El from Twenty-seven choruses. The exotic rhythm, melody and harmony of these pieces were a treat to experience, as they are not usual in British musical education and performance.

The workshop is not intended as a platform for solo performance, however, some notable exceptions were made to encourage and celebrate the achievements of BBCM students in a safe environment. These included a simple melody played by a very young violinist (Mimi Madaras) on a tiny instrument, accompanied by his father Gergely on the flute. She astonished us all with the intonation, quality and lovely sound of her playing. Konni (Konstanze Rietsch), an adult BBCM student, played the viola after only a few months of viola studies. She delivered a very musical performance of a Tchaikovsky symphony movement arrangement (with her daughter Juliette Majid on the piano and Scipio on the violin) with a beautiful mellow tone – an impressive achievement.

Agnes had a special guest, Hungarian pianist Misi Berecz (Mihály Berecz), who performed a selection from Bach’s Goldberg Variations with apparently effortless technical facility and a stylistic, but yet engaging interpretation. We continued with Bach that is with performances of sublime chorales from the Matthäus-Passion: Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden; and Wer hat dich so geschlagen. Misi supplied discreet keyboard support, whilst former BBCM student and Director of Music at Notting Hill and Ealing High School, Hester Goodsell, supplied continuo on the violoncello.

The music concluded with Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, performed by the eight-piece “house band” (of BBCM students on violins, viola, cello, flute and piano) and sung in harmony by children and adults from all the classes and their parents. Herbert von Karajan arranged this setting of Schiller’s text celebrating friendship, as the anthem to the European Union. Founded in 1958, the EU is bound by the motto devised by Italian Nobel prize winner Ernesto Teodoro Moneta: In varietate concordia – United in diversity – meaning that Europeans are united in working together for peace and prosperity, and that the many different cultures, traditions and languages in Europe are a positive asset for the continent. This amounts to embracing multiculturalism and integration. Concluding this year’s BBCM workshop with Beethoven’s Ode to Joy was a celebration of peace in Europe and a poignant reminder of the worrying current political climate.

In summary, the day was a celebration of music and Agnes’ vision. The most important gift to take away is the joy that music gives, as it transcends all barriers and binds us together with a shared emotional experience.