Page 39 - 367639 LP248834 NE Volume Magazine (170mm x 245mm 52pp) October 2022

THE MAESTRO ONLINE
BASED
Yarm
WEBSITE
the-maestro-online.com
With the help of The Maestro Online, based in Yarm but with classes on the web, you can excel in all styles of piano, singing, organ, improvisation, composition and aural. Lee Allcock caught up with owner Robin Harrison to find out more.
Tell me a bit about your musical background...
My initial journey was conventional and in no way reflects who I am today, but certainly established a grounding. I began with recorder club after school until Mrs Williams said: “I only do recorder club because the headmaster asked me to and you’ve got as far as I can teach you”. The local councilranaschemethatenabledmetogetfree
The Maestro Online is a music learning platform with a difference. The aim is for musicians to achieve high standards as individual artists and not clone copies of famous people. The courses work as supplements to existing 1-1 lessons or as add-ons. A library of singing, piano and organ courses start with the ear and evolve rapidly into harmonies, improvisation and more, all with a deep understanding of music and individuality.
And some high-profile celebrities have created courses on The Maestro online too...
clarinet lessons and the loan of a clarinet. I also joined a local church choir and this is where the whole journey began for me. Once I started Senior School, I began organ lessons and gained my Grade 8
in 2 years. I won bursaries and studied
with some wonderful leading people.
Following this, I was offered a place
at the Royal College of Music in my
audition, but, being scared of running
up London debts, I accepted a place
at the Royal Northern College of Music instead.My‘real’journeywasyettobegin.I
participated in a week of courses at Dartington International Summer School with an amazing group
called “Black Voices” who sang in the Gospel tradition. I loved it so much that I wanted to experience more. Initially, I spent time living with a Mandinku tribe in Gambia and learned their singing and drumming with their griot (leader). I also spent time with tribes in South Africa, particularly in Ladysmith where Ladysmith Black Mambazo originate (think Paul Simon and the World Cup rugby fame). When I started teaching in Cairo (I was there for four years), I met an amazing Russian jazz pianist who actually studied jazz in Moscow in the ‘70s and later arranged music for the Russian army. This was a huge turning point for me: four years of rock, pop and jazz without being allowed a jot of notation in my lessons. This was a new world! Later I reached no. 1 in a small chart and 33 globally, putting jazzy spins on pop songs.
And tell me a bit about The Maestro Online...
Celebrity masterclasses are rapidly evolving with Madonna’s keyboard player, the pianist who has just finished touring with The Jacksons, a saxophonist who has played for Whitney Houston, a singer who has worked with Stormzy and so many more. The Maestro Online brings international- level musicians into your living room. All of the celebrity courses allow you to think as a session musician, convert what you hear in your head into your performance, incorporate important techniques and really enhance your musicianship. The platform is about to expand to enable you to reach such
celebrity musicians for 1-1 sessions too.
And finally, what advice would you give to an aspiring singer that’s nervous about getting on stage?
The very best advice I’ve received, which I pass on to all students, is to think about the area around you that is your comfort zone. When you feel nervous, you feel like people are entering your personal/emotional space. If you turn this around, foster strong emotional connections with the song, express its true meaning as you perceive it in your heart, and then expand your comfort zone, taking the song out to your audience, then you will be sharing with them. You will give them what you feel in your soul and create a connection that no top artist can truly explain, but all get a tremendous buzz from.
To find out more about The Maestro Online, head to the- maestro-online.com.
“The Maestro Online brings international-level musicians into your living room”
INTERVIEW // NE VOLUME MAGAZINE // 39