Page 5 - Info Magazine nr 13 Nov 2020_Classical

An Interview with a Class Band Teacher!

Teachers: Aveli Paide and Gunnar Pettaig to the opportunity of using that lesson to offer
Country: Estonia the students the YCB method.
School: Tartu Tamme Koole Tartu Since 01.09.2016 there are four different class
orchestras. In addition, we have put together
Why are you a Class Band teacher? a concert group, which consists of the most
AVELI: hard-working students. We take part of all the
I am a Yamaha Class Band teacher, because school’s ceremonies.
it is something new and challenging for me. Because the instruments are limited, we dis-
What makes the teaching interesting is that it infect the brass instruments mouthpieces be-
isn’t individual, but in a group. You have to be fore every lesson. The woodwind instruments
able to teach the whole class all at once and have many sets of mouthpieces.
have attention for everyone. In the beginning it I am glad that the school had the chance to
seemed extremely difficult, but now I have be- hire a woodwind instrument teacher Aveli. This
come wiser. I like it a lot and can recommend way it is easier to keep an eye on each stu-
this to other teachers, who have thought about dent’s playing.
using such method, without a doubt. I like being a Yamaha Class Band teacher, be-
GUNNAR: cause this way I can promote playing wind in-
Almost every school had a wind orchestra struments to numerous young music-lovers.
during the Soviet Union times. The economy
was in a bad state when Estonia became in- How old are the students you work with in
dependent and most schools didn’t have en- your Class Band?
ough money for wind instrument teachers and AVELI:
instruments. Tartu Tamme high school (previ- The students in our class bands are from the How is your class structured? dents who already have more experience (they
ously named Tartu 5th high school) wind or- third until the seventh grade. The age group is AVELI: study in music schools), because they can
chestra was first mentioned in 1947. Since then 10-13. We start the lessons with warming up the in- then play more difficult parts.
the orchestra has had an important role in the GUNNAR: struments. This involves playing long notes
school’s culture. The orchestra has taken part Students this age are physically and mental- and breathing exercises. After that we start What additional material do you use?
of every Estonian songfestival. ly developed enough to start with instrument playing the pieces. We have access to phono- AVELI:
I have been working in the school since 2010. studies. They are able to blow and think at the grams of different exercises and pieces so we Recently, we have used our countries local
In 2015 the high school part was separated same time. use those in the lessons. Those we start using music and some pop music arrangements.
from the basic school, which meant that both only when the students are already familiar GUNNAR:
schools now needed a new wind orchestra. It with the notes and for it to be more fun. Because we perform at the school’s ceremo-
became difficult especially in the basic school GUNNAR: nies, we learn ceremonial music like the na-
part, because most players in the previous or- In addition to the warming up exercises, we tional anthem and marches. In addition the
chestra were from the high school. They were shortly play a couple of easy and well-known repertoire that we play in orchestra camps.
a big inspiration to the younger students. At Estonian children’s songs in the beginning of
the same time, the school didn’t have instru- the lessons. We also practice pieces that are
ments. needed in the school’s ceremonies and or-
Fortunately, both school’s directors support chestra camps.
music and the orchestra.
When looking for instruments for Tamme ba- What method do you use and how do you
sic school, I firstly stumbled upon the Yamaha apply it?
brand and then the YCB method. AVELI:
The music class students of Tamme basic The method is based on the Class Bands stu-
school have 3 music lessons in a week. One of dy materials. In addition we use “Take Off”
those lessons is meant for a hobby group. Dis- books, which consist of a bit more difficult
cussions with the school’s management lead pieces.
GUNNAR:
“Take Off 2” is especially good for those stu-