Is there a piano in the house?
(What I did on my summer vacation)
Michelle Conda is the Coordinator of Secondary Piano and Piano Pedagogy at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She also teaches an adult piano class for the university’s Communiversity program. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma. Adult learning is her focus, as she heads the Adult Learning Committee for the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy.
Can you imagine spending ten glorious days in a stunning country setting, surrounded by good food, good company, and thirty pianos? Many pianists have done just that by attending the Sonata camp, held in an antique-filled forty-two-room house set on two luscious acres of rolling hills in rural Vermont. The Sonata camp has been a tradition for more than twenty-five years, allowing adults to immerse themselves in music, camaraderie, and country charm.
Rosamond and Rein van der Linde started a children’s camp, the Camp Sonatina, forty years ago. The parents of the campers wanted a camp of their own, and the Sonata camp for adults was born. With the Sonata camp going full steam, the van der Lindes soon outgrew their original ten-room house, moving the camp to its current location, which is on the National Register of Historic Buildings. Rosamond’s daughter, Polly van der Linde, and her husband, Dale Cobb, purchased the camp in 1991 and continue to run it in the family tradition.The Sonata camp first received national attention in 1996 when Noah Adams, a former host for National Public Radio, attended one of the camps. He featured his experience in his book Piano Lessons: Music, Love & True Adventures.1 The camp has since been featured in numerous articles and television news stories.
Responding to the busy schedules of many adults, the van der Lindes now serve up the “Intermezzo” experience. These long weekends boast a smaller number of participants, the possibility of private sleeping quarters, and no final recital.
The “campers” of Sonata and Intermezzo are passionate about their experiences— many have returned numerous times. You’ll find participants from as far away as Japan and New Zealand. There is even a Yahoo group devoted to the lasting friendships started under the Vermont moon.
We are lucky to have three enthusiastic campers willing to share their experiences. Christie is a photographer and John is an author—their expertise is the reason we have such beautiful pictures and prose. Our third columnist, Carol Barth, chronicles her experiences below, as a special online-only feature. Here you will find an in-depth snapshot of a typical day at camp, see additional photos, and discover why there is a “wheel” in the house!
While you are looking at programs for your adult students, peruse Ramona Kime’s annotated list of the most accessible classes, workshops, and camps. The websites provided are a gold mine for extracting just the right experience. If you are anything like me, you will not only spread the word to your students, but also consider a little fun in the summertime for yourself!
1Adams, N. (1996). Piano lessons: Music, love, & true adventures. New York: Delacorte Press.
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Keyboard canon, Vermont vespers
by John C. Wohlstetter
For three decades adults have attended Sonata sessions in Vermont, arriving on a Friday evening and then spending the next eight days immersed in piano pursuits. The busy days include four hours of daily piano practice spiced by private lessons, off-session classes on piano and music, evening master classes, and instructor performances. This is all capped off by a final concert at the end of the week. A small music library is on tap, and an inviting hot tub beckons those seeking to relax after hours of exertion. Add in restaurant quality food to fuel musical fires, and it’s home sweet home.
The motivating force behind the “grand and upright experience” that is Camp Sonatina in Old Bennington, Vermont, is the van der Linde clan, which has opened its home to thousands of strangers, instantly treating them as family. It was a crisp morning in November 2003 when I began my first practice. I had played fifteen minutes when the door opened and in walked Rosamond van der Linde, the matriarch. We worked on Chopin’s Polonaise in AFlat Major; Rosamond made sure I dissected the slow swirling section near the end, that I played every note. The flashy sections could wait.
That night I played in my first master class, conducted as always by Polly, who teaches gently and entertains grandly. Attempting the Chopin showpiece, I was naturally last to play—crashing octaves and chords can smother a Brahms lullaby. Not then used to playing long hours, my body balked. Somehow I made it to the end, having hit perhaps ten notes written by the composer. Yet I was praised for my “courage” (chutzpah was more like it). I did better by Frédéric at the final concert the following Saturday, which is of course what Sonatas are all about.
In between was a week under the spell of musical magic from would-be wizards at work. Walking through the halls, one is inundated with overlapping waves of Bach Preludes, Chopin Etudes, Debussy, Granados, and Gershwin. Far from distracting, sound waves of music fill one’s aural sense to glorious surfeit and deepen one’s own concentration on the daunting task of making music.
Working with many instructors trumps Svengali. I was blessed to study with one magnificent musical mentor in my youth. But at Sonata the student learns to think independently and assay alternative paths. I try to work on a wide variety of pieces, so as to take more instructional variety away for the months between visits.
The end of the week and the final concert arrive much too soon. I have come to prefer playing jazz or American songbook selections I have arranged; these are novelties to an audience mostly playing from sheet music. When asked about his many wrong notes, piano legend Artur Rubinstein once said that he cared more about his right notes than his wrong ones (so did his audience, including me). At Sonata we are taught to be unforgiving in practice, but forgiving in performance—seeking to make music, not antiseptic perfection. Once I played Chopin’s Nocturne in D-Flat Major and suffered a memory balk of at least five unhappily silent seconds. Yet after the concert, Sonatans proved Rubinstein and the van der Lindes right, asking only how I had pedaled the coda.
This past September I attended my first Intermezzo, a markedly different experience than my thirteen Sonatas in six years. An Intermezzo is intense: five hours Friday afternoon, nine Saturday and eight on Sunday, focusing on a few pieces. I added a Saturday morning massage and much needed trips to the hot tub. At the recital I played Gershwin’s “I’ve Got a Crush on You,” plus a sweet song chosen by a young couple that I had arranged and then played in church at their Norwegian wedding last August.
In 2007, to celebrate my sixtieth birthday, I played a full-length concert for friends, a task I never could have even contemplated before joining the Sonata family. My labors there are repaid every time I sit at the keyboard.
Fall in New England - Autumn Sonata camp - October, 2009
by Carol Barth
This was my ninth year attending Autumn Sonata in Bennington, VT. As one of twenty-three adult pianists, mostly repeat participants, we gathered for eight days of immersion into playing piano. I was invigorated to again spend time making notable progress on my current repertoire, visiting with very special friends and witnessing their musical growth and progress.
Twenty of us stayed in the 42-room gray house. We shared seven bedrooms, two to five campers per room. Along with storage facilities and a bed for each, there was a piano in every bedroom. Throughout the house there are 24 pianos, with 11 being grand pianos.
DAY ONE: The Arrival
The daily routine started on Saturday. All of our names were on “The Wheel.” This assigned us to a piano, a practice shift and a chore. The wheel was rotated one turn each day. After breakfast, we had an hour and a half to practice and a morning class. After lunch, we again had an hour and a half practice session and free time. During the late afternoon, we attended monster rehearsals, which were an assortment of four-handed pieces, played on multiple pianos, and another hour-long practice session. Before dinner, the pianists gathered in the living room to chat and munch on appetizers. The dinner bell summoned us to an excellently prepared dinner served buffet style. After dinner we returned to the living room for an evening program.
DAY TWO: Gearing Up
I was eager to start the routine on Day One: It felt good to really plunge into practicing. Before leaving home, I spent a substantial amount of time considering what pieces I would concentrate on improving, what new music I played well enough to perform in a master class for extra polishing, and what selection was almost performance ready to play in the final concert. I had a plan and I wanted to make noteworthy strides towards achieving my goals.
The morning classes and evening programs were varied and interesting. Morning classes covered such topics as Experiencing Music in Unusual Meters, An Overview of Building & Identifying Chords, A Discussion about Technique, and Strategies to Use Practice Time Effectively. Evening programs included three different master classes, a recital of all of the Chopin Etudes, a Duet Concert, and a documentary film about Rosina Lhevinne as a master teacher.
THE WEEK: Progressing
During the week, I had four lessons, each from a different staff pianist. I was able to incorporate many suggestions in my four to five hours of daily practice, and felt that my pieces were becoming more refined. With the outstanding guidance I received when I played Chopin’s Prelude in C# Minor, Op.45 in a master class, my playing was much more fluid by the last day. My duet partner and I practiced, were coached, and performed “Pas de duex” from Souvenirs by Samuel Barber in the Duet Concert. I worked most diligently on Schumann’s Novelette in F Major, Op. 21, No.1. On performance day, I knew my piece was ready and I felt confident. How tremendously satisfying that my performance lived up to my expectations!
THE END: The Prognosis
I spent eight days with dear friends who are fine pianists. I respect their musicality and dedication to their piano progress and I know this is mutual. I look forward to experiencing this incredible soaring feeling next year when I return.
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