THE world famous violinist Tasmin Little gave a virtuoso performance which was free for some lucky people at the Winchester Festival.
All children accompanied by a paying adult were admitted free to the "No Strings Attached" workshop on Tuesday afternoon (July 8) at St Swithun's School Performing Arts Centre, and they revelled in the experience.
Tasmin smiled her way into the audience's hearts, with the help of her 250-year old Guarneri violin, made in the year of Mozart's birth.
She played a variety of classical music, explaining the basic form of each piece and asking the children to tell her the meaning of various technical terms before she demonstrated her supreme skill and understanding of the music.
The youngest child was aged six, most were under 12, and at least half the audience played the violin or cello.
Others in the audience, many of whom were grandparents, could not play an instrument at all but loved every moment of the workshop.
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Everyone joined in when Tamsin divided the audience into two parts to clap the rhythms of the habanera dance tune from Carmen, and they sat enraptured while she demonstrated the most extraordinary techniques of bowing and fingering demanded by Bartok.
Tamsin explained why it is important for the right hand to be sensitive and flexible for the intricacies of bowing, while the left hand deals with the demands of fingering. Her gentle way with the children, and her ready acknowledgement of their knowledge, together with her straightforward answers to questions, made it a refreshing and inspiring afternoon.
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