Musical rewards

By Diane Daniel, Globe Correspondent, 02/02/03

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Alison Barr and Debi Adams have been giving piano lessons to children and adults at their studio in Brookline Village for 15 years. In August, they traveled to an even more exotic village to teach, meeting with students in Kromeriz in the Czech Republic. Barr, 48, and Adams, 46, colleagues since graduate school at Boston University in 1981, had been invited by Peter Mose to join the faculty of Symphonic Workshops. Mose is a piano teacher, music critic, and creator of the Workshops' avocation program, an amateur piano and music appreciation course. Symphonic Workshops (www.symphonicworkshops.com, 416-760-9319) holds summer programs for professionals as well. For a town of about 30,000, Kromeriz takes its music seriously, with three training institutions: the City Music School, the Kromeriz Conservatory, and the Church Music Conservatory. The women's classes were held at Kromeriz Conservatory.

"It was very much a quintessential working town," Barr said. "The cafes were very Central European. Everything was frozen in time, though the culture has definitely changed. Especially the women; they're very Westernized."

English, however, was not commonly heard. "My phrasebook was always out," Adams said.

The town's most famous spot is the huge Kromeriz castle, built in the late 1600s and used as a summer palace. Part of the movie "Amadeus" was filmed there. Kromeriz, which is in Moravia, the eastern part of the country — is called "the Athens" of the Czech Republic, Adams said, because of its architecture and cultural history.

Their 10-day workshop had 12 participants, from Switzerland, Canada, and the United States. One of the Americans was Debbie Tucker of Marshfield, a regular student of Barr.

Barr called her time there "the most rewarding teacher experience I've had. You felt revered." Much of that she attributes to the setting and the people of Kromeriz. "Music is integral to them. You could tell. It's just a part of what they do in their daily life."

"You couldn't imagine a better setting," said Adams, who called the workshop "a transforming experience. It was the convergence of loving music, students wanting to learn, and being away. It was a whole magical, musical world." The women have signed up to teach again this summer.

They stayed in the dormitory of a vocational school, where local students and visitors shared breakfast and lunch in the cafeteria.

"The food was all caloric," Barr said. "Fried baloney and cheese at breakfast, for example. The characteristic dinner was a dumpling, with some kind of a pork or beef, some kind of breading, with some kind of a sauce. The meals were very heavy."

They held classes several hours a day, and gave some private lessons. Furthermore, Barr shared her "Joyful Listening" music appreciation course; Adams demonstrated the Alexander Technique, which she teaches in Brookline; and Mose lectured on 18th-century music and critical listening.

Their group of 15 was "very simpatico," Barr said, and did most everything together. "It was really a complete pleasure." They frequently attended concerts in the beautiful town square, and one evening they went to a concert by students in the Workshops' advanced pianist course. Another day they sat in on a session of a conductors' workshop, Barr said, which gave them a different perspective.

They ate as a group, and "we'd often sit around the table and sing," Barr said. "After dessert, which was always palacinky, a fruit-filled crepe, we'd sit around with our coffee and wine. We'd just sit there and sing. We went through every musical ever written, in every language we knew."

Mose taught them "Music Alone Shall Live," a traditional German three-part round, which they joyously sang in English inside the huge Hall of Mirrors in the palace. (Tourists are allowed to sing in the hall, which is famous for its acoustics.) The lyrics include: "All things shall perish from under the sky. Music alone shall live. Music alone shall live. Never to die." Send suggestions to ddaniel@globe.com.