The Year 8s who played in this year’s 10th Piano Festival were but toddlers back in 2017 when the first celebration of the keys took place in the newly occupied Music School. Judged in-house, by the inestimable Mrs Rockhill and Mrs Weager, it was a long overdue showcase of the most popular instrument taught at the school. The Farleigh Piano Festival was born and was here to stay!

Since its inception, about 100 pianists, give or take, grace the keys each year, and the winning formula has barely changed. We have welcomed adjudicators from a multitude of senior schools; Heads of Keyboard, or Directors of Music from schools such as Bryanston, Godolphin, Marlborough, Sherborne Boys, Sherborne Girls and St Edward’s. Each adjudicator has brought his or her own style and wealth of experience to judge the classes and they have all been unfailingly encouraging in their praise of our young performers. This year’s adjudicator, the Head of Keyboard Studies at St Mary’s Calne, Mr Mark Sandon-Williams, was no exception, and despite sitting through about six hours of piano performance, his comments were consistently fresh and positive.

Our young pianists made it especially clear this year that a performance is not simply the execution of a series of notes. It starts from the moment a name is called out, continuing with a nerve-wracking descent into the spotlight, breathless announcing of the name of a piece and its often unpronounceable composer, positioning the stool and adjusting the angle of the stand, which feels as though it takes hours to do, placing a foot over the correct one of a choice of three pedals all right next to each other, and finding the starting position with shaking sweaty hands – so many things to potentially go sideways and that is before a single note is played! 

Ten years in, there was a notable air of professionalism in the children’s conduct through all these potential pitfalls, such that nothing did go awry, not that it would have mattered, nor would the audience have noticed most likely, which is all part of the skill. Every performer remembered to give their best beaming smile in acknowledgment of their audience’s appreciation (or perhaps in huge relief at having finished?) - the icing on the cake!

Thank you so much to the piano teachers who prepared their students so expertly for this year’s Festival, and for staying to watch all their pupils perform. Thank you to Mr Reeves for all his support, as ever, and for distributing awards to the winners. Thank you to Mr Sandon-Williams for all his insightful comments and THANK YOU to all the Farleigh pianists who make the occasion what it is.

- Teresa Henderson, Performing Arts Coordinator 

Marcus Reeves (Director of Music) adds:
I glanced at my watch several times during the course of the afternoon, not because I was wishing the time away, but to check that we were running to time. Every time I looked, a child was either beginning or ending their performance at the exact time allocated on the schedule. Such mastery of timing and of the organisation of this event is down to Teresa Henderson who so tirelessly ensures that everything really does run like clockwork. Huge thanks to Teresa for conquering that Herculean task once again and to all the piano teachers for their thorough and meticulous preparation of their pupils.