Kit Marsden // Musician

Tuition

  • Keyboard Camp 2017 A Huge Success

    Keyboard Camp 2017 A Huge Success

    Kit Marsden

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    10 Years Of Keyboard Camp! (Photo: Will Jones)
    10 Years Of Keyboard Camp! · Will Jones

    The first time I’ve got ’round to sitting down to write about it, even though it was now three weeks ago… (After Keyboard Camp finished, it was straight into four gigs over three days that weekend; an exhausting four-day studio refit; another weekend of gigs right down in the toes of Cornwall; and a day of PA system setup in readiness for new ventures this summer… More on all of that soon enough!) But I am delighted that the tenth anniversary of the (by now) famous NKO Keyboard Camp was such a success!

    With music drawn from the material we have learnt as an orchestra over the previous nine residentials (plus some new music thrown in especially for this year) – as well as party games, birthday cake, a nostalgic photo slideshows from Keyboard Camps gone by – and culminating in an evening performance showcasing all the hard work and preparation over the past four days, the tenth Keyboard Camp was a true celebration of what makes it special, and exciting.

    Sectional rehearsals in The Big Room at How Hill
    Sectional Rehearsals In The Big Room At How Hill

    I have always been proud to be associated with a residential music course which is always evolving and improving, and where the students keep coming back year after year (for nine years in a row, in some cases!),

  • Ten Years Of Keyboard Camp

    Kit Marsden

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    Keyboard Camp – the exciting four-day residential course for keyboard and piano players, held every Easter in the heart of rural Norfolk (first at Wymondham College, and subsequently at Whitwell Hall and now the How Hill Trust) – is turning ten years old this year! First held in 2008, this year’s Camp marks the ten-year anniversary of what has become the highlight of the musical year for many young keyboard players and pianists in the area.

    Sectional rehearsals in The Big Room at How Hill
    Sectional Rehearsals In The Big Room At How Hill · Kerry Marsden

    Organised and run by the team from the Norfolk Keyboard Orchestra, Keyboard Camp is a great opportunity for students of piano and keyboard of all ages and stages to come together and enjoy making music in a fun and social environment. As well as sectional rehearsals (with parts tailored to suit different playing abilities), and full orchestral playing, there are a variety of other workshops (on topics ranging from different styles of keyboard playing, to using technology in music and writing your own compositions), and opportunities to have fun learning and making music together – plus games, quizzes, ‘tuck shop’, and the inevitable talent show.

    Synthesis and technology workshop
    Synthesis And Technology Workshop · Kerry Marsden

    This year, we return to the How Hill Trust in Ludham, to enjoy a selection of brand new repertoire and old favourites (all especially arranged for keyboard ensemble) in this beautiful country setting.

  • SEYO And Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar At Teatro Alla Scala

    SEYO And Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar At Teatro Alla Scala

    Kit Marsden

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    At La Scala with SEYO and Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar (photo by Jana Svobodová)
    At La Scala With SEYO And Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar · Jana Svobodová
  • Teaching On SEYO 2015 In Milan

    Teaching On SEYO 2015 In Milan

    Kit Marsden

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    Working with SEYO percussionists in rehearsal (photo by Jana Svobodová)
    Working With SEYO Percussionists In Rehearsal · Jana Svobodová

  • SEYO Summer Camp Side-By-Side Concert At La Scala With Sinfónica Juvenil De Caracas

    Kit Marsden

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    A video (and Spanish language interview!) of the Side-By-Side concert, featuring players from the Sistema Europe Youth Orchestra alongside El Sistema’s Sinfónica Juvenil de Caracas (and me) playing Ritmos Ciganos at Milan’s famous La Scala.

  • SEYO Photos

    SEYO Photos

    Kit Marsden

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    My photos (edited on the plane home!) from an absolutely amazing time in Milan working with with the Sistema Europe Youth Orchestra.

  • SEYO Day 3: Tutti Rehearsals

    SEYO Day 3: Tutti Rehearsals

    Kit Marsden

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    We’ve now been in Milan at the SEYO Summer Camp for three full days (and when I say ‘full’, I really do mean that – they have been three long, intense, full-on, exhausting days!), and it really is a fascinating experience.

    A few things have mainly struck me so far…  The standard of the students participating is very high – in the advanced orchestra, where I am working with the percussion section, we have been able to focus on little details, points of technique, performance advice, and other minutiae, almost right from the start.  The students are all excellent players already, and this makes for very interesting, dynamic sectional rehearsals with a lot of ideas being thrown around and a real rehearsal process being very much in evidence!

    The incredible passion and enthusiasm of all the teaching staff is also plain to see.  Given the number of different countries participating, and the fact that as a team of tutors, many of us had never met each other before and we have just been thrown together from different Sistema-inspired projects across all of Europe (each with their own, slightly different, customs and ways of doing things!), I think we have gelled pretty well.  From my point-of-view, I feel privileged to be working alongside a fantastic percussion tutor in sectionals, and under conductors in full rehearsals who really know what they want from a piece of music and have a vision for the performance.

  • SEYO Day 3: Combined Wind/Brass And Percussion Sectionals

    SEYO Day 3: Combined Wind/Brass And Percussion Sectionals

    Kit Marsden

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    Behind the stage at Teatro degli Arcimboldi
    Behind The Stage At Teatro Degli Arcimboldi
    Massed wind, brass and percussion of the SEYO
    Massed Wind, Brass And Percussion Of The SEYO

    Day three, and we’re all rehearsing onstage in the Teatro degli Arcimboldi this morning, except the strings! They’ll join the rest of us later this afternoon for the first tutti rehearsals.

  • SEYO Day 1: Percussion Sectionals

    SEYO Day 1: Percussion Sectionals

    Kit Marsden

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    Sectional rehearsals in the auditorium
    Sectional Rehearsals In The Auditorium

    Intense first sectional rehearsal in Milan, working on Shostakovich’s Festive Overture (Op. 96).

  • Sistema Europe Summer School In Milan

    Kit Marsden

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    I am delighted to have been chosen to be one one of the tutors going to this year’s Sistema Europe Summer Camp, which is being held in Milan, Italy; a colleague from Sistema in Norwich and I will be going with a delegation from Sistema England, to work for eight days with students and other tutors from Sistema-inpired projects based across Europe.

    This is a very exciting opportunity for me to work with some fantastic music professionals and to learn from them – and to be more involved with the Sistema movement as a whole, to just here in Norwich but throughout Europe.

    Keep checking back here after 21st August for more updates on my time working with the Sistema Europe Youth Orchestra in Italy, and all the wonderful activities we get up to!

Kit Marsden // Musician