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Guest post by Charlotte Tomlinson

January 2025 will mark the 3rd anniversary of the Oxford Piano Weekends, and the thirteenth weekend. I can hardly believe that what started on the back of an envelope in late 2021, has developed into such a fixture in the piano course market that pianists return again and again.

We started in 2021 with the legacy of Covid and all the social and musical anxiety that came with that. It was essential to find a way of getting people to know each other quickly so I devised a mini workshop to be held before supper on the first evening, in which people get into pairs to chat about a particular musical and performing issue. Within a short space of time, the conversations are animated, social anxiety disappears and people feel relaxed and comfortable. By the time we start the evening session, a united and supportive group has already established itself.

It can’t be underestimated how important this group bonding is. A good number of pianists who come on the Oxford Piano Weekends struggle with performance anxiety and physical tension, and feeling emotionally safe within the group is essential to move through these issues.

I used to have crippling performance anxiety and now I really enjoy performing, something that would have been previously unimaginable. The weekends have helped me immeasurably.

Right from the start, Oxford Piano Weekends have had a wonderfully diverse pool of advanced and committed pianists taking part: bankers, medics, piano teachers, lawyers, choir directors, pianists returning after many years, battered and bruised pianists from a legacy of harsh teaching, students preparing for final recitals and many, many more. Pianists come from all over the UK, as far afield as Dublin, Finland, Malta and most recently, Canada.

The weekend is a chance to reflect deeply on your playing with expert guidance to take away and improve your practice.

On any one Oxford Piano Weekend, the numbers are kept deliberately low with six or seven as the ideal. Each pianist has twenty minutes teaching within the group, in rotation over the weekend, and it’s extraordinary how much can be packed into that short time. I listen to each pianist to see what they need, and then make sure that my response is valuable not just for the pianist themselves, but also for the group. Participants learn so much from watching and listening to each other, seeing their own challenges reflected in other pianists and then observing that pianist transform in front of their eyes.

A truly wonderful weekend. Charlotte is so caring, and teaches with such empathy, understanding & musical knowledge and expertise.

And what’s more important than the meal times? Homemade, tasty, nutritious food with free flowing wine in the evenings, the now-famous homemade flapjacks for coffee breaks, all provide a wonderful back drop for lively, stimulating conversations among like-minded people. They truly are full and rich weekends, and I, for one, come away at the end of each one feeling exhilarated and all ready to go for the next one.

Next weekend: January 17th -19th 2025

For more details go to: https://www.charlottetomlinson.com/oxford-piano-weekends

Watch a podcast with Charlotte Tomlinson and The Cross-Eyed Pianist

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Are you an advanced pianist wanting to move through performance nerves in a safe, supportive group? Do you want play with greater physical freedom and practise more efficiently with an empathetic and experienced teacher? If so, you may enjoy an Oxford Piano Weekend. There are some places left for Friday June 23rd – Sunday June 25th 2023 and Friday October 6th – Sunday October 8th 2023. For more details and to book, go to: https://www.charlottetomlinson.com/oxford-piano-weekends

Pianist and teacher Charlotte Tomlinson introduces her Oxford Piano Weekends:

In these last rather strange couple of years of isolation and restrictions, it feels as if music and performing has become more important than ever. The desire to learn in person along with other musicians has also taken on an extra special meaning.

Pre-2020, I had spent many years in my roles as piano teacher and performance coach, giving presentations and masterclasses for conservatoires, universities, festivals and orchestras around the world, but when the cancellations started as they did for so many musicians, I found myself thinking about what I could offer from home. After all, we were all so used to working from home. At the same time, I had a number of requests from piano students for me to run my own course.

I have been teaching and coaching one-to-one in my own studio at the bottom of the garden with its lovely Steinway for around thirteen years and had already run some one-day workshops there. And from 2000-2008, I ran my own chamber music course at the Purcell School. But it was these requests from pianists that got me thinking: could I run a piano weekend from my own house and studio? I realised that I did have the space for a small group both in my kitchen and studio, and that perhaps there might be a gap in the piano course market for a weekend of teaching in a small, supportive group within a home environment.

“Many thanks for all your warmth and total acceptance of where we’re all at. Your ‘can do’ approach is so positive and encouraging. You have the ability to ‘see’ the individual.”

So, in January 2022, Oxford Piano Weekends was officially born. The first weekend was intense, fun and stimulating. There were seven pianists and the eclectic mix of scientists, medics, writers and sport coaches along with professional pianists, made for dynamic masterclasses and some wonderful discussions at mealtimes.

“The weekend works on so many levels, musically and socially, and I thoroughly recommend it. It is so encouraging to spend time with other people who are both talented and supportive.”

Providing fresh homemade, nutritious and tasty food (with free-flowing wine in the evenings!) is important to me. I want everyone to feel nourished and refreshed for the learning part of the weekend.

“The food was excellent – all thought through and prepared with care and love!”

It was such a delight to have my house and studio full of people, that after it had all finished, I wondered why I had never thought about running this type of course before. I am now planning a number of weekends and booking has already started for the next two.

Next weekends:

April 22nd-24th 2022

July 1st-3rd 2022

For further details and to book: www.oxfordpianoweekends.com

Charlotte Tomlinson is an internationally renowned pianist, piano teacher and Performance Coach. She taught piano at the Purcell School for eleven years, the University of Hong Kong and HK Academy for Performing Arts and has worked with pianists in masterclasses at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and International Piano Academy, Konz, Germany among others. She has a thriving piano teaching practice in Oxford where she teaches students from the University of Oxford, post-graduates from the London music colleges along with international piano students who come to Oxford to study with her. She gave a presentation on the Psychology of Performance and Competition at the Leeds International Piano Competition 2018 and has been invited to work with laureates of the Sydney International Piano Competition.

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