March 2009
If you take a short walk along North John Street away from Liverpool’s splendid new Liverpool One development, you will find yourself outside “Music Notes” a privately run music shop, specialising in sheet music. Opposite the world renowned Matthew Street with all of its Beatles links, this large, impressive shop is an oasis of music of all genres. Whether your tastes run to Classical, Choral, Jazz or Pop there is something for everyone and if you are interested in folk music, not only will you find all the sheet music you require but also a wide range of instruments including mandolins, ukuleles, accordions, bodrans and banjos - quite a collection by any standards. Music Notes also stocks a wide range of beginner instruments and digital pianos plus both electric and acoustic guitars. The shop is arranged over two floors and the upper floor is primarily given over to piano music, everything from Albeniz to Yradier is here. It was to this venue that renowned composer and educationalist Christopher Norton came to host a workshop about his new “American Popular Piano” series of tutor books.
Universally recognised as a leader in his field, Christopher Norton is best known for his Microjazz and Microstyles books which have become staples of the Associated Board’s syllabi. The new “American Popular Piano” series came about because Christopher realised that as many as 65% of piano students dropped out of lessons before their third year of study, and that boys in particular, were giving up playing by the time they reached 12 years of age. Despite the usual reasons given such as sport and homework, Christopher became increasingly aware that pupils could not relate to the music they were being taught. Bach, he pointed out, did not teach his own sons music that was 100 years old, he taught them pieces from contemporary composers, musicians they could relate to, so why should modern pupils be treated any differently? This is the background to the “American Popular Piano” series. Students are encouraged to develop their skills through music in contemporary, popular styles; be motivated to practice by working with familiar and fun music; to nurture their creativity using improvisation and to enjoy regular ensemble playing. With this foundation, students will find that they have a lifelong relationship with music. The four books - Repertoire, Etudes, Skills and Technic - offer students modern compositions that they are familiar with and mirror the sort of music that they listen to every day. The Repertoire book includes a CD of backing tracks for use with both it and the Etudes volume, and is aimed at developing the student’s improvisational skills from the beginning.
Christopher has a warm and engaging style of presentation and his musical skills are second to none. He played many of his own pieces in demonstration, firstly alone and then with one of his backing tracks to demonstrate how quickly students can progress to a performance level. This would not only increase their confidence but also illustrate to their peers the joy that can be found in making music. One could easily see why his books are so popular. From Grade 1 studies to extremely taxing Grade 8+ pieces, all of Christopher’s works have a freshness about them that will undoubtedly appeal to young students. Indeed, as he demonstrated during the second half of his workshop, his Microjazz, Microswing, Concert Collection and Jazz, Latin, Rock and Country collections of books enable pianists to play not only jazz and Latin pieces but rock and heavy metal arrangements. Has playing the piano ever been so “cool” for modern students?
Christopher’s readiness to include the audience in his demonstrations made him lots of friends in the room and by the end of the session most were queueing to both buy his books (in great number!) and to have them autographed. An enjoyable morning was had by all and no doubt everyone present will be looking forward to using Christopher’s methods. Young music students are in for a treat.
Music Notes proprietor Lawrence Albrighton pronounced the workshop a great success and said that he looked forward to including more workshop based activities in the future. He has recently opened a new teaching/practice room on site which is available to hire for music teachers looking for a city centre base, and as he stated he is always looking for new ways to benefit the musical community of Liverpool and beyond. As an independent store, he is able to develop new ideas quickly and he is always open to suggestions and ideas from customers as to what they feel would be helpful to them. A result of this has been that despite the current financial climate, Music Notes has been going from strength to strength. In a city with such a strong musical heritage, Music Notes could just be the jewel in its crown.
(article written by Alice Mintz 2009)
