Do you watch Channel 4? If so you might have seen Teddy last May on The Piano, their competition to unearth the UK’s most exciting amateur pianists. Or even on ITV’s This Morning the day after the competition.
I met him at 3am on the World Service – on Outlook, the Memory Box, a programme in which people talk about the most important thing to be found in their ‘memory box’. For Teddy it was piano keys drawn onto a piece of cardboard on which he had taught himself to play the piano.
Teddy was born in Korogocho, a super deprived slum in Nairobi next to a massive garbage dump. Korogocho had never been graced with the presence of a piano but at primary school Teddy saw images of pianos. He was so taken that he spent all his pocket money in internet cafés where he could watch world famous pianists while ‘playing’ on his cardboard keyboard.
Aged eight he followed his brother to Ghetto Classics (see below), an amazing music programme in Korogocho for under priviledged children. His brother was learning the violin but they did not have a piano for Teddy so for two years he played the tuba as no one else would play it.
Finally, after two years a piano became available at the local community centre and he got to finger a real keyboard.
‘I was jumping and shouting with excitement. I could not wait for the end of school classes every day so that I could rush and play the instrument.’
But – there were no teachers so Teddy was still effectively teaching himself from the internet. And then there was Covid although he persuaded the gatekeeper at the locked down community centre to let him in each day for a couple of hours to practice on the piano.
His break came when UK pianist Cordelia Williams arrived in Nairobi. She was on a mission from the Guildhall School to scout out piano talents with a view to setting up some kind of future scholarship or assistance for the most promising pianists. For the first time Teddy had access to a real teacher.
Cordelia was so impressed by both his technique and his desperate desire to learn that she encouraged him to apply for a scholarship to study piano performance at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. And he got it! His bursary topped up by private donations and a Go Fund Me campaign, he is now in his third year.
It has not been easy. He was, inevitably, shocked on his arrival in Birmingham at the high standard of playing of his fellow students who had benefited from many years of tuition and access to a piano. How much work would he have to do to catch them up. He was also, hardly surprisingly, lonely and homesick in chilly Birmingham and was only kept going by nightly conversations with his mum back home.
The competition
And then last spring his tutor in Birmingham suggested that he try his luck in Channel 4’s competition. He chose to play the first movement of Debussy’s Suite Bergamesque (the very one that our lovely harpist and his trio will be playing for us on March 9th, as it happens). And not only did he get to play it but, in the final, he played it to his idol, LangLang. Not surprised he is looking happy.
So… what next? Who knows but meanwhile, you could maybe find out by subscribing to his You Tube channel.
And more….
If you want to get more details on this fascinating story you could listen to the World Service interview that I heard at 3am. Or you could read this very interesting guest blog post on the CrossEyed Pianist by Cordelia about her experiences in Nairobi with not only Teddy but some of the other musicians she found there and how the Kenyan classical musical scene is developing. Or….. you could watch Cordelia’s interview with Teddy in which he talks about how diffcult it was to learn with so little support and how playing the piano makes him feel.
You are somehow there when Bach was composing this piece, and you are working with him, and then you forget everything that is around the area you are living in; you’re somehow there, with your hero, your mentor… I don’t want to play notes, like a robot, I want each note and each rhythm to mean something or, to like, touch someone’s heart.
And of course you could always help out with his funding on his Go Fund Me page.
And for those who cannot resist yet another rabbit hole… Ghetto Classics
Ghetto Classics had obviously featured largely in Teddy’s development as a pianist – and in his brother’s as a violinst. In trying to find out more about Teddy I found myself reading about Ghetto Classics an its amazing founder, Elizabeth Njoroge — a pharmacist who returned to her native Kenya after training and working in Canada and Britain and paired up with a priest from the local St. John’s parish who wanted to build on the local choir.
Started in 2008 but still based in Korogocho, Ghetto Classics now provides lessons to about 1,000 students, who feed three orchestras, a choir and a dance group. Njoroge raises funds to support its expanding programs.
If you have a few minutes there are two really excellent articles about Ghetto Classics, one in The Peninsula, the second in The People – or you could could just go straight the Art of Music foundation website. The foundation focuses on two programmes: The Ghetto Classics, a community programme that involves over 500 children in Korogocho and hundreds more in satellite areas around Nairobi – and a musical and leadership training programme, The National Youth Orchestra of Kenya (KNYO), a music ensemble that brings together talented young musicians from all walks of life in the country.
And it really is worth following this rabbit hole if only to meet the charismatic and delightful Elizabeth Njoroge. She appears in several of the videos about Teddy.
Meanwhile, back in Highgate….
26th January – Highgate Society lunchtime concert
Book here for the Flaugissimo Duo – Flautist Yu-Wei Hu and ‘romantic’ guitar player Johan Löfving
30th January – Nathaniel and La Pompadour
I am afraid that this concert is now sold out but there is a waiting list just in case anyone drops out.
9th March – A Feast of Debussy with Hugh Webb, Bridget Carey and Nancy Ruffer.
Much more to come about this in the next post – or you can find out more and book here.
For future happenings in at Hampstead Lane and elsewhere – see our Upcoming Events page.
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