We've had our very first Showcase for the brand new North London Performance Academy on Saturday, 6 March 2010 at the beautiful All Saints Church in Oakleigh Road North, London N20.One of the Academy's main aims is to give students of all ages and abilities a framework and structured schedule to regularly perform material they have worked on. The point of learning any instrument, including the voice, is to share music with audiences - guaranteed, we all think about pieces differently when we intend to perform them.
The Showcase lasted for about one and a half hours, and we intend that future Showcases never be much longer than that - after all, our youngest pianist was six, the eldest performer, in their fifties - which is exactly the kind of variety and age-range the Academy had intended to achieve. The performances ranged from pianists, flutists, violinists, singers, to an actor and we even had a street dance performance! The styles of music presented stretched across the board from classical to pop, and the variety was clearly appreciated and thoroughly enjoyed by an enraptured audience.
All photos published here were taken by Mr John Killingback - thank you John!
The Showcase lasted for about one and a half hours, and we intend that future Showcases never be much longer than that - after all, our youngest pianist was six, the eldest performer, in their fifties - which is exactly the kind of variety and age-range the Academy had intended to achieve. The performances ranged from pianists, flutists, violinists, singers, to an actor and we even had a street dance performance! The styles of music presented stretched across the board from classical to pop, and the variety was clearly appreciated and thoroughly enjoyed by an enraptured audience.
Although Elizabeth and I each have extensive experience producing Showcases for our own students over the years, this is the first time that we've joined together to form an Academy, and we are most excited by the opportunities this will bring to our own, and other teachers' students. Thus we also approached other teachers, who put forward their students whom they felt would benefit from the kind of regular performances the Academy offers. Some teachers even came to perform themselves, as did Elizabeth and I, because we feel it is extremely important that students know they are being taught by people who are themselves performers, understand performance phsychology and stress, know stage craft, and can therefore genuinely help them.
