Firstly grateful thanks to http://www.wordpress.com Founder, Company and Team for making this efficient 21st Century Tech and website facility available:-
THANKS ALSO TO:-
Colleagues Carys and Anne helping to make, teaching me and launch my websites.
David Wright of AD Music for mastering and presentation of CD and DVD.
All Past Teachers including especially those who helped advance my music career; please see the BIOGRAPHY – Adriene’s Past Teachers page.
Lancashire County Council for 6 yrs of Grant to help pay for my life enhancing studies.
All Past Teachers, Coaches, Accompanists, very supportive encouraging Friends and Colleagues – remembering also my colleague, Amersham’s cheerful Adrian Clipsham who although could speak seriously in earnest on matters, was so often laughing as he shared and discussed teaching ideas and taught clarinet in the room next door.
ALL MY STUDENTS past and present, for as in the words in Hammerstein’s The King and I, Anna’s song Getting to Know You goes “it’s a very ancient saying, but a true and honest thought, that if you become a teacher, by your pupils you’ll be taught”. What fun it has all been, and still is, to help students progress on their musical journey, enhancing, it is always hoped, their lives, as many others, as they go on their journey to share out to others.
Chorley Duke Street Primary School Head Master Mr Vere’s advice to parents to encourage their children to read aloud from a distance even for five minutes daily, to encourage their confidence. Some of us brothers and sisters were later invited to read aloud late in our schools’ assembly. Because of this and gaining some leadership skills helping our parents to look after the others, it led to some of our seven to be given school etc leading positions as noted below.
OUR PARENTS: for our family and Church ethos of “work hard, education, think of others “, Father often saying “have a heart” i.e. to be interested in caring and sharing with others outside of our very large family, for recognising each and everyone of us as individual with different talents, to avoid jealousies, for their sacrifice, funding all those early years of private music lessons, as well as our home rather Sound of Music-like – Friday Night is Music Night – mini performances, encouraging of reading Look and Learn, checking up information in our modest encyclopedia set, trips to borrow library books, and reading aloud from the newspaper or books 5 minutes daily; singing, flute piano violin tennis and swimming lessons, driving us around, including to orchestra, choir, choral and orchestral concerts, local theatre, quartet recitals, musical & operetta productions and competitive music festivals, for introducing us to the beautiful music via the Readers Digest Great Waltzes, Richard Tauber * other classical singers and orchestral music on record, and poetry via Robert Donat’s reading of such poems as Upon Westminster Bridge and T S Eliot’s “Gus is the Cat of the Theatre Door…” Mother nurtured a love of verse reading history and reading aloud poems such as I remember, I remember by Thomas Hood from the Golden Treasury. All of this was no mean feat with seven children.
Six brothers and sisters for their encouragement and inspiration, leading the way ahead. Our three eldest sisters attended a R C religious boarding school, had exemplary life ethics, sometime almost substitute parents for us, inspiring us and taught us respect for our parents and others. English & Religious Sister/ MA Teacher, School Head Girl & London’s Royal Free Gold Medallist Nurse/Artist, Nurse creative spirited operetta singer, School Deputy Head Girl/Personnel Manager/Cordon Bleu Cook/our childhood Christmas Club organiser for saving up for presents for the others, School Head Boy Actor/Poet/Philosopher, world class Violinist String Quartet Leader and Teacher, and for them all for sharing their love of music, literature, philosophy, verse. Some of our family had great wit and a sense of fun; two members especially with such wit and humour we would be roaring with laughter. Midst studies we seemed to manage plenty of fun time building garden dens, rounders around the apple trees, and simple sweet treats making Scottish Tablet.
Our larger family of cousins, with good life ethos including a musical nursing great Aunty Mary Kay who encouraged and took a green 16yr old Adriene on her first abroad holiday in a pink jumbo jet to Mozart and Sound of Music land in Vienna and Salzburg. As a very young nurse Mary Kay had been asked to present the great Tenor Richard Tauber with a bouquet at Watford Town Hall. He looked at her, before his encore and said. “My dear, I sing this for you….” whereupon he proceeded to the stage singing one of his favourites Girls Are Made To Love And Kiss. Tauber’s other memorable songs were Vienna City of Dreams and You Are My Hearts Delight.
All the inspiring performers especially those heard on Radio Three, played every am by our Father before school, records, CD’s, concert halls, opera houses, Andre Rieu’s Lighter Melodic Popular Concerts and CD’s, SKY ARTS 2, and currently Classical FM, to lift all our spirits. Adriene hopes for an ideal TV Channel showing the best productions of musicals, operas, operettas and Classical Concerts.
Last of all, but not least, thanks to my guardian angel and husband Gabriel, generous to a fault, with truly brilliant, creative mind and achievements, and life dedication to decency and excellence via a wonderful career, still finding time to support and do so much in supporting and helping me, as others.
ERRORS?: If any of you reading this website find any errors at all, or that anyone e.g. my accompanists has been missed, Adriene would be most grateful if you would let her know via the contacts page.
Hoping that her story on this website may be of even some small value to those of you reading this, especially to the young ones and those of you just beginning to take an interest in Music Learning.
WISHING YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY MUSIC FULFILLED LIFE
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Adriene Ellis ARCM Singing Flute Piano Violin Lessons Suffolk Teacher 