The Scottish International Piano Competition was founded in 1986 and since that time, the triennial event has brought the world’s finest young musicians to our doorstep. The scope of the event in Scotland and its importance within the wider world of Piano Competitions was realised earlier this year when our 1998 winner, Alexander Kobrin (who had come to us as a young 18-year-old Russian on his first trip to the West) took First Prize in America’s most prestigious musical event– the Van Cliburn Competition.
Quality alone, however, is not enough in present day Arts projects and since 1992 SIPC has included educational projects, Masterclasses, and Workshops running alongside the main competitive event.
Masterclasses in which a succession of highly talented junior pianists from Britain and abroad have been tutored, before a public audience, by great performers such as Cecile Ousset, Vera Gornostaeva and John Lill.
When the SIPC Education Committee conceived the notion of introducing the Grand Piano to school audiences with a series of workshops in the classical repertoire, it was a risk……..but a risk considered worth taking.
In turn this led to the inclusion in the Competition Programme of Performance Workshops. These workshops take the form of “mini masterclasses” and are open to the public as well as school pupils. They allow young local pianists, chosen from those who participated in the schools workshops, the wonderful experience of working on selected pieces with RSAMD staff tutors.
In October 2003, three schools had been selected to be hosts for the SIPC Piano Workshops: Cathkin High School, Cambuslang ; St Aloysius’ College, Glasgow and Hillpark Secondary School, Glasgow.
In April 2004, we extended the series to Boclair Academy, Bearsden, Kilmarnock College and Gryffe High School, Houston. On each occasion, upwards of 100 pupils were bussed in from neighbouring high schools.
Each year the number of participating schools has grown, the number of children attending has increased and several of the schoolchildren who participated in the earlier school workshops, like Catherine Patterson (Grange Academy) and Amy Millar (Boclair Academy), are now on the B.Ed degree course at the RSAMD….our teaching staff for the future.
The 2006 October sessions proved highly successful and rewarding for all who attended.
Children from Primary 7 to Secondary Advanced Higher were full of questions for the players. Tutors came from the RSAMD and in the Renfrew workshop, the very first winner of the Scottish International Piano Competition, Graeme McNaught (1986) gave encouragement to the young performers in his tutoring session. The next day a teacher from Eastwood commented:
‘This had been the first performance workshop my pupils had experienced. They were very tense and nervous at the prospect of having to play in front of so many people. I was delighted when they asked me in the car if they could do it again next year. They all felt that the experience was invaluable. Everyone warmed to Graeme as he made performers feel at ease and went out of his way to involve the audience.’
The children to take part in the Performance Workshops at the RSAMD in September will be selected once the 2006-07 outreach programme has drawn to an end.
With an education programme focussed on quality and opportunity, SIPC continues to demonstrate its commitment to bringing piano music into the lives of Scottish schoolchildren.
SIPC Education Committee: Robin Barr, Diane Levey, Des McLean, Hugh Walker, Norman A Wright, Havilland Willshire.
