Established
in 1919, Clement Pianos are now a third generation family business. Owners Mick
& Andy Wilson, both of whom are piano technicians, trained by some of the
world's finest, have spent many years carefully selecting what they consider to
be the ultimate instruments in each class and price category.
Apart from their wonderful piano showroom and recording
studio, they also run the Nottingham International Jazz Competition (http://nijpc.com) which was won in 2012 by Jeremy
Siskind, who I know well from various conventions in America and who always
comes and does a duet with me on the APP stand. Small world! Here’s Jeremy
(www.jeremysiskind.com)
Clement Pianos has a selection of sheet music for sale in
the showroom and decided to put on a Christopher Norton event, partly due to
the enthusiasm of a teacher who came to my last Nottingham presentation (see
the report on that workshop at http://christophernorton.blogspot.com/2012/09/v-behaviorurldefaultvmlo.html)
The presentation at Clement Pianos started with American
Popular Piano, introducing the series but also immediately launching into
simple improvisation. Students and teachers had a go at this and one of the
teachers did particularly well:
The audience were very interested in both the Repertoire and
the improvisation Etudes and looked at the books on sale with great interest in
the interval:
The second half was all things Microjazz, with video clips
of students from around the world as well as performances by me and by some
students who had learned the pieces for examinations. This was also of great
interest to the audience, especially the backing tracks for Microjazz and the wealth
of online resources now available on Youtube and Facebook.
The idea came up of both another, longer workshop day and also
of a Nottingham-based Piano Festival. I hope to see some or all of the teachers
and students again sometime soon.
Christopher Norton, London, UK 24th April 2013
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