Page 11 - Info Magazine nr 13 Nov 2020_Classical

An Interview with a Class Band Teacher! What do you think is the added va-
lue of a class band?
The links we have with Yamaha are
Teacher: Jerome Bisotto How old are thes students you work with? the result of the encounter with 2 gre-
Country: France Students are 12 years old, it is their 2nd year at people : Sébastien Cabaret from
School: College Lei Garrus St. Maximin la of Class Band now. Yamaha France and Vincent de Leur
Sainte Baume from Yamaha Europe. It’s an human
How is your Class structured?

Why are you a teacher of the orchestra We have 26 students: flute, saxophone, cla- and a musical link we have develop-
ped and we are « enchantés » of that !
class? rinet, trombone, trumpets, drums, conga, Also the partnership we have with Ya-
I have been on St Maximin for over ten years xylophone and Ebass. We have 2 hours a maha is very rich and interesting for
as a music teacher and I noticed the little in- week for the orchestra. One hour for sepe- our orchestra, because it has enabled
terest in wind instruments from colleges and rate groups lessons with the teachers of the us to make beautiful projects such
students in the conservatory. As a saxopho- conservatory of Saint Maximin. The 2nd hour as participation in the European Ycb
nist and wanting to develop the discovery of we rehearse at the Auditorium of the school. festival in 2019. This partnership also
these instruments, the idea came in 2012 to I would like to add that this project could not allows us to contact teachers from all
create a classband in the collège Leï Garrus work without the help of the conservatory over Europe and thus exchange on our
with the help of the conservatory of St Maxi- and its talented teachers! learning methods. For example, the
min and its director of the time, Maurice Le What method do you use and how to you Yamaha seminars organized by Vin-
Cain. apply it? cent de Leur also enabled us to learn
We then appealed to Frédéric Briant from Students learn the scores by heart, we have new teaching approaches at the or-
Luynes’s luthery store “musique à vent” which provided an Internet site (orchestre Olga) chestra level through the knowledge
then oriented us on Yamaha instruments. where they can work on the pieces by liste- of the conductor Marion Zwanenberg.
And then our class band began in september ning to them. This oral method works very We hope to be able to speak about
2012. It’s now in 2020 the 4th génération of well and allows us to go fast enough on im- Covid in the past so that we can make
class band and all the teacher’s team is still provisation. these encounters and beautiful trips
very excited by this project. that are very enriching at the musical
With the exception of bass and drums all What additional material do you use? and cultural level.
the instruments are Yamaha and we are very We also use the Yamaha method Essential
pleased with that. Indeed we have been in Elements to make our students play. We also What would you like to learn your-
them for eight years and they are still in very use arrangements made by Dimitri Alexaline self?
good condition. and myself. We are always interested in learning

How is your class band classified in the What is your goal for the students partici- from other orchestra’s through new
methods. This was the case with Ma-
school? pating in the Class Band? rion Zwanenberg during the Yamaha
We are very lucky bécasse our college fully Our goal in this orchestra is to teach children seminar which allowed us to learn a
supports the orchestra project. All travels, to play music in an orchestra through auditive new apporach with the beginning of
concerts and projects are really well suppor- working. To learn how to listen better, while the project.
ted and accompanied by the direction of our playing in a band. We also want them to play Otherwise I remain convinced that exchanges through travel and concerts are the greatest
college. The orchestra is well placed in the on stage as much as possible. Of course at source of motivation for our students.
college and participates in his life (concerts, the moment it is difficult with the Covid-19
carnival, music festival, discovery of instru- pandemic. Would you like to say something to your European colleagues?
ments with younger people). The orchestra I was delighted at the last Festival in Riva del Garda in 2019. I hope that this kind of exchan-
class students have 2 hours/ week of or- ges can continue because it allows us to
chestra class and they really appreciate this see other bands and other methods. It is
project that has enabled them to learn a play always very interesting to see how other
in an orchestra instrument thanks to all the
teachers of the « Conservatoire de la Proven-
ce Verte » who come to the college every
week. The students love to play concert, go
on a trip and play together. It is a real pleasu-
re for both students and teachers.