At last and hot off the press - The Breathing Bow retreat in May 2020.
Limited places available.….. https://www.facebook.com/flowtowardsfreedom/
Details below
The Breathing Bow
May 24, 5pm - May 28, 10 am, Blauvac, France
Provence Retreat 2020
with
A holistic approach for string players of all levels, drawing on breath, mindfulness and gentle yoga techniques to promote ease, efficiency and presence in the practice room and on stage.
Price for three full days' coaching, four nights' luxury accommodation, transport from Avignon TGV station and delicious whole food - €795. Student scholarships and cello travel bursaries may be available on request.
Ruth Phillips and Jane Fenton
Ruth Phillips, a baroque and classical cellist, studied with Johannes Goritzki in Germany, and at the State University of New York with Timothy Eddy where she received her Masters degree. She has a degree in Voice Movement Therapy, completed a mindfulness course with Tara Brach, a training in Non Violent Communication and studied yoga with Peter Blackaby. Ruth pursues an International career as a chamber and orchestral musician. With her baroque trio 'Mythos' Ruth is currently collaborating with folk musicians the Gillespie brothers and the Occitane sgroup Tant Que Li Siam. In May 2020 whe will tour India in duo formation with the Indian cellist Saskia Rao. Her articles on stage presence and breath have appeared in the Strad and BBC Music magazines, and on The Cross Eyed Pianist and Paul Katz' CelloBello blog.
Through her work with The Breathing Bow Ruth is sought after internationally as a wortkshop leader. Ruth and Jane played for many years together in the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and in Glyndebourne Touring and Garsington operas, and have been running Breathing Bow workshops together for five years..
Jane Fenton grew up in a musical family and fell in love with the cello on hearing Saint Saëns’ ‘The Swan’. At the Guildhall School of Music she studied with Stefan Popov and Raphael Wallfisch, receiving her performance diploma. Jane was a founder member of the Guildhall String Ensemble and was principal cellist with Glyndebourne Touring and Garsington Operas for thirty years. During her career Jane became increasingly interested in the role of breath, body and mind during performance and, in 2003, completed the British Wheel of Yoga Teacher training in Scaravelli inspired yoga under Peter Blackaby. She has since taught yoga as an aid to performance as part of the secondary school curriculum. In 2019 Jane taught yoga to string players on the European String Teachers’ Association summer course, and this year she will be undertaking a teaching module with John Stirk.
Tara Lee Byrne is an Irish cellist, yoga practitioner and professional wholefood chef. She combines her career as a classical cellist and music academy director with world music projects and another of her passions, cooking. Since training as a professional raw and wholefoods chef in 2014, Tara-Lee has been cheffing in yoga retreat and health and wellness centers in the Mediterranean, India, Australia and Asia. Tara-Lee's debut as a brand director and culinary creative recently launched in Ireland under the innovative health driven, flavour focused, sustainable eatery, Copia Green.
‘Elongation and extension can only occur when pulling and pushing have come to an end. This is is the revolution’
- Vanda Scaravelli, Awakening the Spine
‘The bow must be a living thing at all times, and living things need to breathe’
- Steven Isserlis
The retreat is open to all string players. Amateurs, students and professionals are all welcome. No previous knowledge of yoga is required. No ‘body beautiful’. Only a curious spirit. We all search for and struggle with the same things, and we can all support and learn from one another.
What we will cover....
*Through gentle yoga based practices, we will find our ground, get in touch with our backs and our feet, and look at even the smallest movement as it originates at our centre.
*Through breath work we will learn how natural expansion and contraction of the body supports effortless phrasing and technique from bow changes through shifting to rubato.
*Through mindfulness practice and compassionate communication skills we will learn how to free ourselves from crippling thoughts and judgements, and delight in the present moment.
*By developing a set of simple skills we will open the way to reconnect with our joy in music-making and in sharing that joy through performance.
What people say...
"Ruth and Jane created a space and time for this alchemy, in which a sense of fellowship, support, courage and love nourished us all."
"Life changing!"
"When the moment came to perform, it almost felt like a meditation."
"I will never forget the joy and laughter that characterized every moment." "Do less, achieve more. What’s not to love! "
"There is no need to have to 'put on' a performance Ruth helps you feel the honesty and beauty of the music in its own right and that the last thing it needs is us getting in the way!'"
Domaine de la Grange Neuve, Blauvac, an old Provençal
‘mas’ (farmhouse), is luxuriously renovated and set in 180 acres of vineyard, meadow and garrigue to the south of Mont Ventoux. It has original terra cotta floors and a Steinway piano.
Accommodation is in shared en suite rooms and we work in a state-of-the-art yoga room overlooking the lush Provençal countryside.