Typical British Weather

It has been a really busy (unsurprisingly, it is London after all) and very productive year. I have been given lots of opportunities to play as well as new experiences to further develop myself as a professional musician and violin teacher. I was extremely pleased to have been offered a full year internship at the Junior Royal Academy of Music on a musical course for young children, which takes place every Saturday and is called First String Experience. I have helped out there several times and it has become an inspirational source for me to discover how to teach music to young children in a playful and enjoyable way in small and bigger groups. I am also very proud of my private student who reached distinction on her internationally recognized violin exam.

During this year I took part in a lot of concerts.  The one I would like to highlight was with the Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra by the seaside in the south. It was nice to escape from the capital. I like living in London as the city is always bustling which makes the life itself so exciting, but on the other hand and in the longer term it can sometimes feel rather stressful, especially when you travel in rush hour every day to school or when you need to sort a few things out at the same time and you have no clue what is the fastest way or even how to get there. And when you finally get there, can you actually trust all those people offering and persuading you with their best possible deals? Yep, I remember very well how painful was to have my laptop fixed.

The best concert which I went to I would say was the one with incredible Israeli-American violinist Itzhak Perlman at the Barbican to celebrate his 70th birthday. It was absolutely marvellous to see him live perform presumably what will be his last concert in London. That is what I love about being in London, you can be constantly inspired by the best and it does not matter in what field of your study.

Working intensively in a piano trio with my colleagues from school and having had several coachings at the Academy and concert at the Slovak Embassy (btw, the Czech Embassy is being refurbished at the moment, but it is very much connected with the Slovak one) made me realise, how crucial it is to match musically, and share the same expectations, and most importantly the working approach. The friendship is great and it is important in a professional group, but making music to some certain level is something else and sometimes it needs to go beyond your comfort zone. Yes, musicians sometimes have to challenge themselves and not everyone is so happy about to do so.

At this point I am really looking forward to going home for holiday and pleasant warm summer, because the weather in London can be really bad sometimes. I can confirm that what is usually said about British weather is unfortunately very true. I feel it has something in common as with being a student in London. It is always changing, nothing is the same and stable and it can seriously surprise you. I have never experienced putting a coat and scarf on in the middle of June. Here you will learn to face unexpectedness by being thick-skinned. But, it is all definitely worth it though and I certainly can’t wait to see what the next year will bring me.