Heli Blog

The first milestone of this schoolyear has been conquered – on the 26th of November HeliStudio pianists gathered in Auditorium Van De Winkel in Kipdorpvest to explore the Bösendorfer grand piano.

The first part of the concert was all about young talent among our piano class – students who follow lessons for 2nd year or longer. We heard several personal creations – Marten, Leya and Soline shared their own compositions with us. Our youngest soloist was Ayana (7 years) and this time she performed chamber music with Mattijs on altviola. I strongly believe that playing together with another instrument is more fun way to learn about how to ‘breathe’ in music rather than counting the beats and practicing alone. For Nikita and Lev it was first time to take part of our student recital. A very warm welcome to both of you and congrats for your great performance!

Tom and Zoë are two students who have a very special place in my heart. Music is written all over them and I’m very excited about their future. Tom would like to escape into the world of jazz and luckily Yves is there to catch him! Zoë is simply a ray of light behind the piano. Just like Tom, she has her own personal connection with this instrument. I wonder how much do these young people realise themselves that they have a special gift to share with the rest of us…

Yves and I are most excited about dicovering ‘the sound’ within each student. When we find it, they take off like rockets!

Britt and Nick - also two amazing people around us! Both of them have their future carreers planned and they go for it! Britt loves interieur design. She visited us often during the summer when we were working on our new location. Britt kept an eye on us and gave instructions where necessary. Nick’s big dream is to become a rugbyplayer, however, he’ll make sure that his children will also study piano, because according to Nick ‘piano is the basis of everything’!

In the second part of the concert was more about adult students. Also here we are very glad to welcome new people – Floris, Kan and Laura! They all made splendid debute at the recital on Saturday – Floris with a beautiful Bach Prelude, Kan with Spanish Follies by Scarlatti and Laura played Nocturne by Alan Haughton. Leen and Marc have played along in different concerts with us and they always capture the audience. I’m simply proud that we have so many inspiring people around us in HeliStudio. I love to witness how piano links us all together in a very special way.

Politically Europe seems to fall apart, but pianistically it’s coming together, at least in HeliStudio! We are seriously amazed by how many different countries are represented among our students -at this moment we are with 9 different nations!

Shradha from India played Für Elise -  this is one of the ‘cultural highlights’ in my piano class this autumn. I can’t help wondering what is it about this piece that makes every child on this planet so eager to learn it? I played Für Elise when I was around 10 years old and those first 24 bars  (back then played with almost euphoric enthusiasm, bad fingerings and sticky pedal) probably helped me to convince the jury at the entrance exam in the music school. I guess Für Elise is a very personal story for everyone. Every single student does their absolute, ultimate, personal best with this piece.

Thank you all for the challenging and inspiring moments we share together!

Wish you all a big crescendo towards the next concert!

Heli & Yves

The second schoolyear in HeliStudio has started in full gear!

The piano has tuned in with our students and new classroom. 
It was really fun to witness how the youngest children explored the piano during the first week. Everyone was so curious!  The best question I heard during the first lessons was: “How did they pack this piano actually, was it in a very big box? Did you like the box also?”

Nick has given our piano a nickname – HeliJunior. Indeed, HeliJunior she is!
Only our cat Neboela would probably think otherwise – she considers this piano as her
“private black tent” to sleep under. In fact, Neboela is also the ultimate piano teacher in HeliStudio – as some of you have already noticed – she comes around (only) when she hears full lenght piano pieces. At the moment she likes mostly modern music composed and performed by Rocco.

I enjoy witnessing how the character of each student mirrors in the sound of the piano. Tom has held on to his jazzy tone over the summer. Shradha has picked up Für Elise by ear during the holidays and she’s really eager to get started with classical style.  Zoë is exploring New Age music and her technique is growing with every week! Marten brings some cool Estonian spirit - he has made his first piano composition this summer!

We are very happy to welcome Lev, Nikita, Hannah, Soline, Lola, Rocco and Katrien on board in HeliStudio!

This schoolyear we also introduce new lesson: every last wednesday of the month there is theory class with Yves. It consists of writing, singing, clapping, conducting… – our goal here is to make sure that children learn the different parameters of music. You can play your favorite song 10 times all over again, but each time you can concentrate on listening to a different layer of music. In the end of the first theory class I heard some seriously beautiful voices, so now I have a plan for a surprise performance during the Spring Recital!

I am also very proud to share with you that few weeks ago Yves tuned the piano in jazzcafé De Muze – how cool is this?
I would say 100%. 

See you in the next lesson!
Heli

On these photos you can get a small idea of the big things we try to make happen!

Dageraadplaats is een van de mooiste pleintjes in Antwerpen – het is gezellig voor kinderen en voor de ouders zijn er genoeg cafés en restaurants om uit te kiezen. De maand augustus is extra speciaal, elke zondag staat er een vleugel op het plein en er is open podium voor iedereen die hun vingers voelt kribbelen.

Op 28 augustus was het laatste editie van “Klassiek op het plein” voor deze zomer.
Wij vinden dit open podium een mooie gelegenheid om een duwtje te geven naar een nieuw schooljaar toe. Weersomstandigheden houden openluchtoptredens ook altijd spannend tot het laatste minuut - altijd een leuke ervaring!

Leen Stockmans, Zoë Meyer en Britt Berx speelde met ons mee. Sterk wind en lichte regen hebben niemand kwaad gedaan! Tussen de volwassen leerlingen is Leen een van onze ‘leading ladies’! Zij heeft de concert geopend met “Free Flight” en daarna hebben we samen Rondo van J. Chr. Bach gespeeld.

Zoë is vorig jaar begonnen met pianospelen en ze gaat met erg grote stappen vooruit. We zijn heel benieuwd wat er zou gebeuren met dit zonnig wondertje!

Britt heeft al een aantal optredens meegedaan met ons en de grens tussen leerkracht en leerling is verdwenen in warme vriendschap met haar en haar familie. Britt speelde “No One” samen met Yves op gitaar. Ze houdt ook goed oog op Yves naast het podium!

Iedereen van harte bedankt voor jullie opkomst en we kunnen alleen hopen voor nog beter weer volgend jaar!

Hier een reeks foto’s van onze middag in Zurenborg door Nico Berx:

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Kemble grand piano has arrived!

After waiting for months, then weeks and finally the last days, which seemed to be especially long, suddenly Yves gets a phonecall from Ortwin saying: “Guys, it’s on the way to you!”. When you look forward to something so badly and when it finally happens I, Heli, got a panick attack. Yves ran downstairs with a big smile and I simply cried upstairs at the window when I saw Griffioen’s truck at the corner of our street. For 4 months I had tried to guess how would it feel to welcome our first personal piano. When the moment arrived it was much more overwhelming than I had ever imagined.

So, last week wednesday was especially beautiful sunny summer day in Antwerp. People who happened to walk by in Mechelsesteenweg during the afternoon enjoyed quite a special scenery – a grand piano hanging in the air – it was really an amazing site to experience!

Our Kemble grand has arrived safely in the new location of HeliStudio and she sounds beautiful!
(Yes, we are convinced this piano is definitely a she.) Her tone is soft yet strong, its bright, but also with a lot of depth. You will discover the magic of this instrument very soon during the lessons. 

Many thanks to Ortwin Moreau & Griffioen Transport for a safe delivery.

We are now ready to start the Kemble year in HeliStudio!

See you soon!

Many greetings,
Heli, Yves & Kemble

Currently we are working on a trailer about HeliStudio. We have had great first school year filled with joy and loads of inspiration, therefore we want to celebrate our students and share this positive vibe with everyone. Stay tuned for the upcoming video!

Our summer holidays are all about preparing for the next schoolyear. We are moving to the new apartment where we can finally welcome our Kemble grand! So looking forward to that day when the piano ‘flies in’ through the window of the livingroom! Yves puts final touch to his 8-lesson theory course and in July he finishes his training period for piano tuning at Ortwin Moreau Piano Service.

Success never happens alone. We believe it starts with the trust and support from the people who believe in you. Yves has the honor to learn from his great mentor and friend Ortwin. In this respect Ortwin is also an important cornerstone for HeliStudio and we say loud and sincere Thank You!

Heli is looking forward to series of concerts in Estonia in April 2012. It is about time to go home again and share the musical growth from the last years. There is a lot to celebrate in spring next year, so this summer will be all about practicing and composing – putting together different programs. Countdown to the new grand piano and moving to our new place adds more inspiration to this process!

There was lots of action in The Location on the 28th of May. HeliStudio Spring Recital took place in two parts: the Junior Recital was followed by HeliStudio Special Edition – the concert of adult students. Children’s performances were accompanied by Diedrik Boyen on drums and Yves with his brand new guitar. During the second concert we enjoyed the solo performance from the cellist Mathieu Jocqué.

For both recitals the hall was filled with excited parents and friends – all performances were filmed and recorded. It seems that especially our junior students are very relaxed in front of the cameras and microphones. Surprisingly for Yves and me, HeliStudio has turned out to be quite an international pianoschool – our students come from Belgium, Estonia, India, Lebanon, Spain and The Netherlands.

Children’s recital was full of charm – next to few advanced students, most of the soloists completed their first year piano studies with this concert and we are very pleased with the results. In fact, there is no magic to learning the piano. Just as by discovering any other new skill – dedication and regular practice – are also here the main keywords. Therefore, our warm gratitude also to the parents of the children – moms and dads who bring their kids to the lessons and follow up their practice at home. Thank you for your care and engagement!

Working with our adult students is truly inspiring experience. We believe that everyone has deeply personal reason for learning the piano and it is never too late to go for it. Every road begins with the first step – no matter when you start. However, especially for adult beginners piano playing can be a challenging start due to some motorical difficulties. Therefore we are very proud of our adult students for their dedication and enormous amount of will to achieve their personal goals behind the piano. In comparison to our younger students, Yves and I are especially moved by the results we witnessed at our adult student recital. Our wish is to help everyone achieve their piano dreams and discover the joy of musicmaking.

Teaching is also an important channel for us to refine and develop our personal musical aspirations. We will use the coming summer holidays to finish few projects behind the scenes of HeliStudio. You will see and hear the results in September!

Thank you for all the positive energy and inspiration!

With Love,
Heli & Yves

PS: Feel free to share your photos and comments from the student recital!