I have really enjoyed the coaching I have done with adults in the last few months - both sectional rehearsals for orchestras and one on one teaching. It's a very different experience to taking rehearsals with fourteen year olds! Both are fun, but the adult amateur world gathers together some very bright people who really want to make the best music they can.
On the subject of teaching bassoon players and teaching reed making one on one I asked one recent pupil - a very advanced amateur who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of chamber music repertoire - to write a few words on how he got on:
"In a matter of minutes Tom Hardy had singled out the right crook for my setup from among many. He then specified the right scrape for this crook and this reed, and proved it with a few deft scrapes to my number two reed, which then instantly became my number one reed! Invaluable session!"
He also said:
"I had reached a very low limit of staccatto speed. Tom Hardy took one look at what I was doing and not only showed me what was slowing it down, but followed that up with a written set of exercises for me in particular to keep me from falling back into bad habits. Extremely useful. I will go back regularly from now on." Hugh Rosenbaum.
Couldn't have put it better myself, so I won't! Thanks Hugh!
