Piano Sanctuary

A ten-minute shuttle service from Saxmundham train station takes you to a haven for adult amateur pianists. Andrew Quartermain talks to Erica Worth about the unique ambience of Piano Sanctuary

Erica Worth finds out why Pro Corda’s weekend retreats entice adult learners from near and far

et in the grounds of Leiston Abbey in Suffolk, Pro Corda’s chamber music school has been running for over 50 years. At the start of last year – amid the flurry of uncertainty and upheaval – the organisation rebranded its piano courses for adults, naming them Piano Sanctuary Retreats. The man behind the revamp, pianist and teacher Andrew Quartermain, has been running Pro Corda since 2005. In these troubling times, why change now? ‘When I took over 16 years ago,’ he tells me, ‘I had various adult piano students at the time, and I thought what a great location it would be to get them here for a long weekend. The time felt right.’

Quartermain was just 12 when he attended his first course at Pro Corda. ‘My dad had died very suddenly and it felt like a sanctuary. I fell in love with Pro Corda – of course I had no idea back then that I’d be involved years later.’ Quartermain continued his studies at university followed by the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where he studied solo piano, but teaching became his main focus.

‘I have taught all types,’ he says, ‘from talented youngsters to those with special needs – I feel fortunate to have been involved in teaching children with autism in particular. I started teaching adults almost by accident… parents of students who wanted to learn for themselves, that kind of thing. I became interested in the similar paths that adult returnees seemed to follow: “I learnt as a child and got to Grade 5 and 6, but had a strict teacher who put me off…” Almost all adult beginners also have a personal back story. And that’s how the weekends have developed. It’s as much about participants coming together socially as it is about learning the piano.’

Everyone welcome

Quartermain’s vision is to offer part-piano course/part-weekend break in the country, with an emphasis on well-being as well as artistic development. Sessions of yoga and personal training are offered alongside piano tuition. He emphasises that every standard of playing is accepted: ‘We’d never divide the course into ‘junior’ and ‘senior’ levels, for example. I ask people about their background and the music they want to bring with them. It could be one small Chopin prélude or an advanced-level set of pieces by Debussy or Shostakovich. We put people into groups based on repertoire, but we are clear that whatever level, even the beginner, everyone is welcome.

‘We are lucky to have studios and lots of breakout spaces. There is a lot of one-to-one work so that we can home in on

everyone’s individual passions. One student might want help with their improvisation skills while a more advanced player will want 45 minutes on Rachmaninov with Warren Mailley-Smith, for example. These are all one-to-one sessions.’

Quartermain takes up to 15 participants for each weekend, which makes for an intimate, close-knit environment. ‘The crucial thing is that the sessions are intense, and that participants have lots of performing experience. In that sense it’s like a masterclass course.’

There’s no shortage of pedagogical authority in the expanding line-up of tutors. Mailley-Smith has been involved since the beginning, but Pianist contributor Annabel Thwaite has recently joined him and Quartermain. ‘The other teacher who’s been around from the beginning is Helen Reid from Bristol. She’s a wonderful pianist and teacher. Then we have a yoga specialist; personal training sessions are important for posture and relaxation. As a postgraduate student at Guildhall, I worked with the pianist David Dolan, and I invited him to coach at Pro Corda. An important part of David’s career is the revival of classical improvisation and he can teach people how to improvise with a Mozart cadenza!’

The surroundings surely play their part in nurturing a creative environment. The Pro Corda Trust bought Leiston Abbey in the late 1970s and they finally secured the land ownership from the Church of England last year, facilitating further expansion. Facilities include Barn concert hall, the 14th-century Guesten Hall recital room and recording studio, Lady Chapel concert hall, the restaurant, accommodation for 55 people, rehearsal studios, a dance studio, the grounds and gardens, plus the Abbey ruins that one can explore. ‘It’s meant to feel like a weekend break in the countryside,’ says Quartermain. ‘We have a champagne and jazz evening in the Tudor room in the farmhouse, for example. These things add to the atmosphere.’

Virtual learning

Quartermain hopes – don’t we all – that the coming months will bring a return to something like normal life, but the next Pro Corda Retreat courses are almost fully booked, even under current Covid-related restrictions. In the meanwhile, however, he has launched two online-only courses, Piano Sanctuary Starter and Piano Sanctuary Adventure.

‘Piano Sanctuary online grew out of lockdown,’ he says. ‘I started putting out our own Piano Sanctuary podcasts. We have had guests on: some of them might not even be pianists. We had an Italian chef talking about making pizza! And then we mix it with repertoire and live performances. Lots of people have responded and told me how much they like it, especially during lockdown. It was a way of meeting people from your own world.’ At the beginning of March, there were over a hundred episodes available (free) to enjoy at the Piano Sanctuary’s ‘Live at the Abbey’ channel on Soundcloud, hosted by Quartermain and the violinist Noel Vine. They include more than 30 ‘Spa Sessions’ – piano chill-out zones – as well as live performances and chat related to the passing seasons and the wider world.

‘With our online courses, we are honest from the outset. They don’t claim to be a complete fix for piano tuition. They offer an injection! Piano Sanctuary Starter is a kickstart, getting people into gear. The Adventure course is usually for more advanced players. We use techniques to make the process more organic and spontaneous, dealing with tone production, getting into the soundworld of a composer (Debussy for example), how to develop muscular memory, freedom at the keyboard, that kind of thing. The online courses are there to propel people towards their next stage of learning.’

Each participant in the online courses receives two recorded lessons and a printed lesson pack: Quartermain still likes to use the old-fashioned mailbox method, though he tells me his one participant in Sydney, Australia, prefers her pack sent via pdf on email. These are followed up by three live sessions on Zoom. The Zoom lessons are one-to-one, half an hour long for Piano Sanctuary Starter students and 45 minutes for the Adventure course. All lessons are totally bespoke, catering to the individual. ‘The average age is people in their 50s and 60s,’ he says, ‘but my oldest student is 98!’

Quartermain has no shortage of former Piano Sanctuary students who say how much they have gained from the experience. ‘A Piano Sanctuary retreat is my treat to myself,’ says Jo Eccleshall, ‘a space where I get to concentrate totally on something I love, with like-minded company.’ Hugh Rollings, a subscriber to the online Adventure course, says that ‘the Piano Sanctuary Adventure course was so stimulating. The creative activities truly set me free at the keyboard. A new approach and it did the trick!’

Will it do the trick for you? ■

Forthcoming Piano Sanctuary Retreat dates at Leiston Abbey: 7-9 May, 11-13 June, 16-18 July, 17-19 September, 8-10 October, 12-14 November, 3-5 December. See www.procorda.com/take-part/ piano-sanctuary for more details. Tune in to the Piano Sanctuary at www.soundcloud.com/liveattheabbey