We are delighted to welcome you to a new season at Jackdaws. We have lots of wonderful opportunities for you to set your creativity free in this, the 28th season of music making in our glorious corner of the valley, here in Great Elm.

SPECIAL OFFER – £10 off any course if you book before September 7th 2020

Please do book early as course numbers will be reduced initially to enable social distancing. This will be reviewed as new guidance is issued.

We understand you may have concerns about attending in the current circumstances. We have worked hard to be Covid-19 secure and have “We’re Good to Go” accreditation from Visit England in place, which demonstrates our commitment to safety. Please read more about our Covid-19 readiness and how it affects booking on our website.

We hope you enjoy this new online only format and full information can be found on courses in each section by clicking on the title box and other links.

As ever we have dedicated time and effort to finding new opportunities for you to explore music and we are delighted to welcome Sara Harris (Vocal Health, 13 Dec), Charlotte Tomlinson (Freedom in Piano Playing, 15-17 Jan – Pictured) and William Westney (The Perfect Wrong Note, 30 April – 2 May) to our team. All incredibly eminent in their fields, we know they will be a positive musical force when we welcome them into the studio.

One benefit of the lockdown was the ability to reach more musicians through our online provision.

This has led to the development of “Jack IN Daws” and we are also delighted to offer two exclusively online courses, one in piano – Piano Technique Online, with Melanie Spanswick – and one in voice – Nuts and Bolts: Fundamental skills for singing healthily in classical and musical theatre, with Samuel Queen and John Lattimore of the London Singers Studio.

Our ever popular one day courses offer the ideal way to try something new, whether it is the chance to sing for health or, for the first time this season, to create your own art with local artist Nicky Knowles, and maybe make a Christmas present or two.

Pianists can look forward to some wonderfully varied themes including some Beethoven with James Lisney, which could also include chamber ensembles, and a new focus on an integrated approach with Julian Jacobson. We are also thrilled that Graham Fitch is running two Practising the Piano courses with us this season – November 2020 and May 2021.

Our pianists enjoy the benefit of using our Steinway in the main studio during sessions and also have the opportunity to use one of the practice rooms during breaks to consolidate and reflect on the musical process.

Singers have a selection of repertoire and technical based foci to choose from including the return of Rosa Mannion solving the “Performance vs Technique” conundrum (pictured) and opportunities to sing in every language and style from Russian with Alexandre Naoumenko and French with Robin Bowman, interpreting text with Amanda Roocroft and Joan Rodgers, tackling opera with Mary Plazas and a new theme from Evelyn Tubb and Michael Fields testing the boundaries of dynamic expressiveness. There is something for all songbirds.

Our Guitar Ensemble led by Eden Stell has returned to it’s regular spot in January (21 – 24), and at the other end of the year Nic Fallowfield is leading Strings and Things in August (12-15).

Recorders, clarinets, oboes and bassoons are all individually catered for with opportunities to play solo and in ensembles.

The big news for our ensemble players is new leadership of the Chamber Music weekend (16 – 18 July). We owe a huge debt of thanks to Sarah Francis as she retires from her long serving role and are delighted that Stephen Gutman has stepped in to take this incredibly popular course forward for the future.

We are also delighted that William Lyons and Richard Thomas are giving an extra opportunity to make music as an ensemble by running two weekends of The City Musick (12 – 14 February & 10 – 12 September)

Plus of course the ever popular Stylish Baroque with Theresa Caudle and Alastair Ross (3-5 Sept), there are some great opportunities to make music with others.