A Visit to the Yehudi Mehuhin School in England

July 14, 2012, 9:48 AM · One of the things I wanted to do while I was London was to see violin pedagogy expert Simon Fischer and visit the Yehudi Menuhin School, where he teaches (when he's not teaching at Guildhall School) along with Natasha Boyarsky, Lutsia Ibragimova and Akiko Ono. I'm happy to report that I spent a wonderful afternoon there last weekend, and I came just in time to see a couple of the school's Summer Festival Concerts, which each feature about a dozen students, who each play a short selection.

在伦敦停留，我想做的一件事就是拜访小提琴教学专家西蒙·菲舍，并且参观他任教的梅纽因学校（当他不在市政厅音乐学院教课的时候），同在那儿教小提琴的还有Natasha Boyarsky, Lutsia Ibragimova and Akiko Ono（小野明子）。很高兴告诉大家我上周在那里呆了一个很棒的下午，碰巧看到了几场学校里的夏季节日音乐会，每场由十几个学生演出，每人演奏一首短曲。

I've always been curious about the Menuhin school, founded in 1963 by the violinist Yehudi Menuhin,
who was known not only for his early life as a prodigy, but also for his writings, diverse interests, and humanitarian efforts.

我一直对梅校好奇，它1963年由小提琴家耶胡迪·梅纽因创建。梅纽因为人所知，不仅因为他是天才儿童，还因为他的著作、广泛的兴趣、人道主义努力。

The school is the physical manifestation of Menuhin's dream to create a place where young musicians could both nurture their talents and receive a full education that would allow them to be broad-minded. Menuhin himself enjoyed a diverse life, both in terms of the music he played and in terms of his outside interests. For example, he nurtured collaborations with non-classical musicians such as Ravi Shankar and Stephane Grappelli. He also embraced many other aspects of life. He took up the practice of yoga before it became very popular in the West; he wrote books, and he was involved in political efforts. In a similar vein, the school encourages students to study diverse subjects beyond their music focus, offering classes in Alexander Technique, non-musical arts like sculpture and painting, and of course, academic subjects. (And if they want, yoga!)

学校是梅纽因的梦想的现实展现，他想要创造一个地方，让年幼的音乐人可以培养才华并且得到全面的教育，让他们成为心智宽阔的人。梅纽因本人有过丰富的生活，就音乐，也就他其他的兴趣而言。例如，他和非古典乐的音乐人合作，如拉维·香卡（印度音乐人）和史蒂芬.葛瑞派里（爵士音乐人）。他还拥抱生活的很多个面。在瑜伽在西方流行之前他就开始学习；他写书，参与政事。一脉相承，梅校鼓励学生学习音乐之外的广泛科目，提供了亚历山大技巧、非音乐的艺术科目（如雕塑和绘画），当然，各学术科目。（如果学生们愿意，瑜伽！）

The Menuhin School is located in Stoke d’Abernon, a small village in Surrey, south west of London. (I took the train with my family, and on our way, my daughter, husband and I enjoyed afternoon tea at a great little out-of-the-way place in Esher called the Chocolate Teapot).

梅校坐落在伦敦西南方向的Stoke d’Abernon，苏雷（萨利）郡的一个小村里。（我和家人一起坐火车，路上，我女儿、我先生，和我在Esher的一家名为“巧克力茶壶”的店里品了下午茶）。

Naturally, being an American who'd never been to England, I expected Hogwarts for music students, but without the castle. In reality, the main thing it has in common is that it's an English boarding school (with steep tuition -- and financial aid) for kids with special talent. The grounds are beautiful, with old
buildings and English countryside, and Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999) is actually buried there, beneath the tree he planted in 1996 to mark his 80th birthday.

当然，作为从没有来过英格兰的美国人，我期待的是音乐学生的没有城堡的霍格维茨学校（《哈利·波特》系列故事当中的魔法学校）。其实，梅校和霍格维茨有一个共同点，都是针对特殊才华的英国寄宿学校（学费令人咋舌，有财务支持）。田地美丽，被旧宅和英国乡村围绕，而耶胡迪·梅纽因就长眠在他1996年纪念自己80岁生日所种的树下。

The students include more than 60 children ages eight through 18, from countries that have recently included UK, Ireland, France, Romania, Lithuania, Switzerland, China, Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Canada, Dominican Republic, Malaysia, South Africa, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, and the USA.

学生有60多人，年龄从8至18岁。近年来，学生来自英国、爱尔兰、法国、罗马尼亚、立陶宛、瑞士、中国、韩国、日本、新西兰、加拿大、多米尼加、马来西亚、南非、保加利亚、阿塞拜疆、乌克兰、美国。

I went to a concert in the lovely 300-seat Menuhin Hall, which was opened in January 2006 by Mstislav
Rostropovich (who was President of the school for a few years before his death; now David Barenboim holds that title) and the Duke of Gloucester; here it is:

我听了美丽的梅纽因厅里的一场音乐会。音乐厅首次开放是2006年1月，由大提琴家罗斯特罗波维奇（Mstislav
Rostropovich，当时是学校总监，数年后去世；现在是大卫·巴伦博伊姆任职）和格洛斯特公爵主持。下面是照片：

I saw some wonderful performances, and I couldn't begin to describe them all, but here are a few highlights: First of all, I have to give an immediate shout-out to the collaborative pianists. The instrumentalists are all accompanied by fellow student pianists, and I was so impressed with these
collaborations. For example, pianist Katie Morgan, at age 12, played with great sensitivity with her partner, violinist Vladzimir Chmel, only 10 years old himself. Later in the evening, at the second concert, Dorian Todorov nailed the accompaniment for the Saint-Saens "Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso," played with some nice up-bow staccato from violinist Haim Choi. Is anyone familiar with how difficult that piano part is, with the orchestral tutti? No doubt the orchestra reduction is ridiculous to play, but I
seldom hear it played with all the notes in place, so it was a real treat. I really enjoyed violinist Yume Fujise's "Chaconne" by Bartok. This was a piece I didn't know, but she played it like a pro. Honestly, I'm not hitting nearly everything; there were other violinists, and cellists, bassists, solo pianists. Watch out
world!

我看到了一些精彩的演出，难以逐一描述，这是一些高光时刻：首先，我要立刻大赞很有合作性的钢琴手。器乐演奏者都是由学习钢琴的同学伴奏，我对这些合作印象深刻。例如12岁的钢琴手Katie Morgan，和小提琴手Vladzimir Chmel（仅10岁）同台，演奏时带着很强的敏感。当天晚上，第二场音乐会，Dorian Todorov搞定了圣桑的《引子与随想回旋曲》的伴奏，伴随着小提琴手Haim Choi的一些不错的上弓断奏。有人知道包括了乐队的合奏的钢琴部分多难吗？乐队的简化部分超难，我很少听到所有的音恰如其位，所以这是一次大餐。我很欣赏小提琴手Yume Fujise演奏的巴托克的《恰空》。以前不知道这首曲子，但她像职业家那样演奏。好吧，我不想一一列出，还有其他的小提琴手、大提琴手、低音提琴手、独奏钢琴手。瞩目以待吧，世人们！

Between the two shows, while I waited to chat with Simon Fischer, I sat for a while in the old recital room. I also fell in love with the old recital room:

在两场音乐之间，等待和西蒙·菲舍聊天的时候，我在老演奏室坐了一会儿，爱上了它：

The door to this room looks like the door to a broom closet -- a nondescript wooden door that says "Recital Hall" on a tiny hand-written piece of paper, no bigger than a business card. The room smells like the wood that lines its narrow balcony, a balcony with space enough for just one row of little red chairs. The ceiling is also made of wood, fanning out from a high-set, enormous window, which provides both natural light and a view of the bobbing branches of a big evergreen tree. Two grand pianos sit at the front. Windows at the back of the small hall overlook the enormous green meadow at the center of the campus.

室门像是放扫帚的小屋的门——朴素的木门。在一张最多名片大小的纸上，是小小的手写的“演奏厅”。屋里的气味是木头的味道，室内建有狭窄的阳台，空间足够一排红色的小椅子。天花板也是木头，从高处的一扇巨窗开始，成扇形展开，既提供了自然光，也让人看到一颗常青树摆动的枝条。前部是两台大钢琴。小厅后墙的窗户俯视着校园中央的大草坪。

Who played here, who taught here, in the silent room where I was sitting? I wondered. Considering the
teachers, students and guests that have walked this school's grounds, there must have been some very special moments: besides Yehudi Menuhin himself, famous musicians who have visited the school over the years include Itzhak Perlman, Gidon Kremer, Dmitri Sitkovetsky, William Pleeth, Mstislav  Rostropovich, Louis Kentner, Vlado Perlemuter, Zakhar Bron, Mauricio Fuks, Bernard  Greenhouse, Murray Perahia, John Lill, Dora Schwarzberg, John Williams and Andras Schiff. Alumni of the school include violinists Tasmin Little, Nigel Kennedy, Nicola Benedetti, Alina Ibragimova; cellists
Tasya Hodges, Colin Carr and Paul Watkins; pianists Melvyn Tan, Kathryn Stott and Paul Coker; and the Endellion, Grainger and Belcea Quartets. That's not to mention the kids playing here right now, and what they will go on to do!

谁在这里演奏过，教授过，在我坐着的这安静的房间里？我想知道。想到那些走过校园的教师、学生、客人，一定有一些特殊的时刻：除了耶胡迪·梅纽因本人，多年来到访学校的著名音乐人有：伊萨克·帕尔曼、吉登·克莱默、Dmitri Sitkovetsky, William Pleeth, Mstislav Rostropovich, Louis Kentner, Vlado Perlemuter, 扎克哈尔·布朗（Zakhar Bron）, 毛里西奥·富克斯（Mauricio Fuks）, 伯纳德·格林豪斯(Bernard Greenhouse,大提琴家）, 佩拉希亚（Murray Perahia）, John Lill, 朵拉·施瓦茨贝尔格（Dora Schwarzberg）, 约翰·威廉姆斯（John Williams）、安得拉斯·席夫（Andras Schiff）。

I did indeed speak with Simon Fischer, who recently came out with a new  book called Scales, and who showed me the mark-up copy of his newest book, called Tone, which is a companion to his recent  DVD, called The Secrets of Tone Production on all Bowed String Instruments. The book, Tone, is due out this fall.

我和西蒙·菲舍说上了话，他最近出版了新书《音阶》，他还给我看了最新的书《发音》的有标记的版本，该书伴随他新近的DVD《弓弦乐器发音秘诀》。《发音》今秋出版。

It is very obvious that Simon loves to teach, and he also enjoys just chatting with his students, who surrounded him all the time. Here he is with a few of them:

显然西蒙热爱教学，也喜欢和学生聊天，他们总是围着他。这是一些：

Menuhin was a wonderful speaker, writer and thinker, and I'd urge you to listen not only to his old recordings, but also pay attention to some of his wisdom. I'll leave you with some Yehudi Menuhinisms on teaching:

"The teacher sets a process in motion, rather than imposing it."

"The teacher's role is to instruct the student in the art of self-correction, of analysing and thinking, taking decisions, then applying them to the task in hand."

"The teacher's ultimate aim is for the student to become independent - to become a master rather than a pupil ... the teacher must be both."

-- Yehudi Menuhin

梅纽因是一位了不起的讲演者、书写者、思想者，我认为你要听他的老唱片，还要注意他的一些智慧。给你一些关于教学的“梅纽因主义”：

“教师让一个过程处于运动中，而不是强推它。”

“教师的角色是指导学生，在——自我纠正、分析和思考、决策、然后把决定用到手边的任务上——的艺术当中。”

“教师的最终目标是让学生独立——成为师傅而不是学徒……教师必须是两者。”

——耶胡迪·梅纽因