Christopher Norton Piano Festival Sunshine Coast 28th Sept 2012

Christopher Norton Piano Festival Warana, Sunshine Coast, Australia, 28th September 2012

And so to the Sunshine Coast – what a great name for what is a lovely part of Queensland! I stayed at Mooloolaba, right on the beach (hey, someone has to do this stuff!) and found my way, via my trusty GPS, to Kerry’s Keyboards in Warana for another one-day Piano Festival.

Kerry’s Keyboards, as the name implies, is a keyboard shop, so all of the students had superb Yamaha pianos to play on.

Once again, I had “mixed” groups and once again it proved to be fine as an idea – improvisation group work can be quite intense, so students were quite pleased to be able to have a break to observe during their session. We had just one Prep Level player, who did very well and thoroughly enjoyed her place in the sun.

Students had also prepared pieces and Improv Etudes from all Levels (1 through 8) and we really created a fine sound in the store. Here are some more students from the intermediate Levels:

The master-classes were a delight, with many well-prepared students eager to learn and quick to respond to suggestions about technique or interpretation.

And some teachers who took part really enjoyed the improv and proved to be superb improvisers.

Having had a very enjoyable day making music and discovering their own musical “voices”, the students (and I) were amazed and delighted when we got to the venue for the Gala Concert, which was a beautiful private home with a room big enough to seat an entire audience. There’s a photo on my Facebook page (Christopher Norton – Composer) posted by the teacher whose home was the concert venue. Do check it out. It was a lovely end to a very positive day for me and for the students.

Brisbane, 30^th September 2012