Ambre Hammond’s student orchestra shines the spotlight on second instruments

​BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE


Many musicians will train hard — really hard — on their chosen instrument.

Then, there’s that second instrument. The one that might not clock as many practice hours, but is nevertheless valued for the joy (and versatility!) it brings to its players.

Classical pianist Ambre Hammond chose to put second instruments under the spotlight with her newly formed student orchestra. The 16-piece group is made up of Ambre’s young piano students who play instruments other than piano.

It took Ambre just eight weeks to form this orchestra from scratch, and plan the concert, and premiere some original music that was composed and arranged for this event — music that came from Ambre and her students alike.

The resulting concert met full capacity when it took place in a private venue on 26 February, and was filmed as part of a music documentary Ambre is producing. We wanted to know what it was like to pull together a major student event project in such a short period of time, so we asked Ambre how she made it happen.

Ambre, what sparked the idea of forming a student orchestra that would allow your piano students to practice their second instruments?

Initially, I hadn’t realised how many of my piano students played second instruments! Once I started asking around, I realised I had kids who played with various ensembles — such as my young concertmaster Sophia who plays with the sub-branches of the Sydney Youth Orchestra (SPO), the Western Sydney Youth Orchestra, and two other school orchestras. My highest level student, 11-year-old Bowen who is doing his AMusA, also plays French Horn in the Sydney Youth Orchestra sub-branch: Symphonic Wind Orchestra!

However, the idea really first formed when I was teaching two rather shy students pieces of video game music they had brought to me. The pieces were so lovely, I decided to find a way to really bring these girls out of their shells and give them a special experience of playing with an orchestra.

The creative idea hit me before the realisation of how much work it would be to form an orchestra, arrange the music, the rehearsals and the concert! I arranged their video game music for the orchestra, and it went from there.

I realised more and more of my students who I had asked to start writing little compositions were bringing me the pieces they had written for the piano, and I felt they needed to be given the opportunity to share their new music. So the idea of a Young Composers concert began.

I wanted to write parts for the orchestra that enhanced how fantastic the music the kids had written was […] Nehme (12) played an arrangement of my composition Clancy with string ensemble. I told the kids the story of how I wrote Clancy for a friend’s dog, and the piece got picked up by Channel 7 and used in a piece on the Rio Olympics. So you never know where your music might end up.

How would you describe the value of playing a second instrument and taking it seriously, when so much time is invested in building the skills to play just one?

Absolutely invaluable — especially in order to become an even better piano player! So often, I talk to my [piano] students about the lack of space and breath within playing a piece of music. Breath — something that is fundamental for any brass or woodwind player or singer.

After this recent experience, I’ve decided to take up the cello again!

You had 16 students involved, giving some that opportunity to write their own music, which premiered at the event. Why did you want to allow these kids the chance to hear their own music come to life?

The chance to leave a legacy; to create something of their own that is theirs for life, and reflects a moment in time, a snapshot of their youth captured in music. A chance to explore outside the usual rules and boundaries of music classes, and to put their own unique stamp on their creations. And then most of all, to be able to be fearless enough to then step up in front of an audience and say: ‘I wrote this!’

When it came to arranging and notating these compositions, what were some of the things you needed to keep in mind? How did you make it easy for your students to understand and play the music — and have a great time doing so?

I took the piano parts that the kids wrote — and of course, most of the really young ones didn’t notate, as they didn’t know how. So they played, I filmed and then notated it so I could arrange music to go with it for the ensemble.

I just love the fact that the 8- and 9-year-olds got up at our only rehearsal, having never played with other musicians — yet here they are playing their piece, with an orchestra having never heard the music that I had written until the first and only rehearsal. And yet they had such composure and were undaunted.

Considering you made this happen in just eight weeks — from conception to concert — it must have been a huge job from a logistics perspective alone! Why did you set yourself such a time-pressured challenge, and what strategies got you through?

I get really excited by ideas, and I convince myself anything is possible.

I had a date in mind as the first student concert of the year, and I needed a date everyone could do. That became it, and off we went. Eight weeks of sheer madness, and many 18-hour days.

This must also have been a challenge for your students! How did you organise a practice schedule for them that would help them get up to scratch in such a short period of time, while keeping it fun?

Every piano lesson, they brought their instrument so I could rehearse with them the music I had written for their second instrument. And every week, the score would change slightly, so the adaptability of the students was impressive.

Why is it important for teachers to showcase their students, giving them extra performance opportunities like this?

I think young students given the opportunity to play regularly in public is a sure-fire way of assisting in prevention of severe nerves setting in. It also reinforces how the power of music can be so positive for themselves and others.

What else does an event like this tell us about your approach to music education?

I have a few primary philosophies. The first one is an appreciation of the ability of the instrument — having a understanding and therefore excitement about what sounds, effects, ideas, melodies, and harmonies can be created on this great instrument. I think teaching a child the wonder of how powerful it is to have a command of the piano is a great first step to teaching them to enjoy the process a lot more.

Then, I like to crack the usual mould of technique being a chore, and make it something the student looks forward to by finding new and unique ways to revitalise the usual scales and Hanon, and asking my students themselves to come up with different and fun ways of approaching repetitive studies with a fresh angle. Having a student come up to me with a piece of paper with the dashes showing he practised Hanon 300 times that morning, just to prove he could do it, really put a smile on my face.

So ideally, the combination of a fun, highly charged energetic lesson that really involves the individual student, plus a combination of telling them and asking them information so they feel very involved, is always important to gaining their trust as their teacher.

This balance between fun and serious is a delicate balance, but one that seems to prove itself time and time again so that I have an incredible rapport with each student, and watching their weekly progress becomes a joy equally for me and them. It’s not unusual in a lesson to find my students doing push-ups or a bit of boxing on the bag outside, handstands, skipping, cartwheels, or even a group trip to run the Coogee stairs. Integrating appreciation of good health is high on my list, and imperative for me to share that with my students.  

This event was part of a documentary you’re filming — what’s it all about?

I decided to make a doco on music education partly because of my long-standing passion for that very subject, but also because of the unique and spectacular talent I found myself fostering over the few years I’ve been teaching full time. I wanted to share some stories, and put a spotlight on some of the amazing success stories that were emerging from my slightly less orthodox style of teaching.

Case in point: siblings Felix (8) and Charlie (11) who came to me both on Grade 3, and within three years they had sat for and passed five exams — including Grade 8. They are now playing diploma-level pieces! Phenomenal progress and a continued love of playing the piano from both boys. Then there’s young Aloyisus who had his first piano lesson age 6, and a year later he is now playing a Grade 7 Chopin prelude and has learnt 30 pieces of delightful classical music of varying difficulty.

I constantly seek new and thrilling ways to challenge these extraordinary minds who are showing their hunger to learn and immerse in their love of music and the art of playing the piano. Inspiring children to love the art of learning is top of my list.

Watch the video below to learn more about Ambre Hammond’s inaugural Student Orchestra Young Composers Concert. Visit Ambre’s website or YouTube channels (@ambreteacher @ambrepianist) for more.

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Images taken with parental consent and supplied; credit Julian Crupi.