What the Schools Say
Hawick School,
Scottish Borders
“WOW! What a marvelous day we had with Richard. The
afternoon workshop had 7 participants, with an audience of around 250, and
Richard had no difficulty sustaining their interest. The players acquitted
themselves well, and all received useful tips from Richard. It was great to see
the various ways he engaged with the audience members, and made them feel very
much part of the event. Then we had the concert! ‘Superb’ ‘Breathtaking’ – just
2 of the positive comments heard at the end of the evening. We had a good
audience (including a good representation of children, both participants and
non-participants), who were immediately captivated by the quality of Richard’s
music-making. So many people were overwhelmed by every aspect of the evening –
the small cost, the quality of performance – and the astonishing generosity of
the sponsors. It goes without saying that should a similar venture be offered in
the future, we would be very keen to be part of it.”
Jim Letham, Head
of Music
Springwell Community
College, Chesterfield,
Derbyshire
“. . . it was an unforgettable experience. The hall was
full of students from our own and several from other secondary schools in
Derbyshire. Nine of these students performed and the master class was completely
absorbing. Even the few primary school children who attended were enraptured and
the music teachers also learnt a great deal. Mr Meyrick was personable and
skilful in how he interacted with all involved. The evening recital was superb
if not a little surreal to see a performer of Richard Meyrick’s calibre in our
school hall playing our “slightly rickety” grand piano. The audience knew that
this was an extraordinary event . . .”
Debbie Rayner, Head of
Music
St Martins
Comprehensive
School, Caerphilly,
Wales
“As a school we felt that
the whole ethos of the project was to reach out to all the pupils, not just the
specially selected few, therefore the School Hall was packed full of pupils from
a wide mix of ability and ages from the high achievers to special needs pupils.
Richard, a true showman in every way, entertained the pupils with supreme ease,
but also showed sensitivity for those performers who were very nervous. All the
performers felt the criticism was constructive and have talked of nothing else
since the event. The evening’s performance was thrilling . . .”
Jane
Sheppard, Head of Music
The Boswells
School,
Springfield,
Essex
“The workshop was truly
inspirational with lots of humour interspersed with the more serious aspects of
rehearsal/practice techniques. Over 200 students took part in the workshop, five
of them working directly with Richard. Many of them returned for the evening
recital and were stunned by his amazing performance.”
S
Clemson, Head of Music
Carnoustie High School,
Scotland
“We had a terrific day
yesterday … all the pupils thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon and many returned in
the evening. The only ‘loser’ was the piano. 60 years old, it woke up yesterday
morning expecting its normal diet of ‘chopsticks’etc. Then this man came up from
England and started to ‘beat it up’... I explained to our pupils that Richard
had used a special spell to ‘remove all the wrong notes from it’ before he
started!! I cannot thank Man Group plc enough for providing this unique
opportunity, and I cannot thank Richard enough for his wonderful masterclass and
his magnificent piano playing.”
Bill Joss, Head of
Music | 