Yuri Djachenko

Colourstrings – Workshop on skill development

Zoltán Kodály advocated a thorough music education with singing while simultaneously building aural skills, intellectual understanding and emotional development. His philosophy has also been harnessed in instrumental music teaching. Colourstrings is a translation of Kodály’s concepts to string instruments and was founded in Helsinki in 1971.
Just as Kodály’s programmes have spread beyond Hungary, so too has Colourstrings from Finland. One of the most successful places Colourstrings has been transplanted to is Australia, where it was first taught in 1980 by violinist Judy Fromyhr. She inspired Helen Holt to become the first Colourstrings cello teacher. Since then, more colleagues have joined them, with a growing cohort of new teachers who themselves were Colourstrings beginners. The number of Australian Colourstrings beginners holding principal chairs in Youth Orchestras is increasing. Some have won important local, national and international prizes. One has recently made her debut as violinist in the Berlin Philharmonic.
This proposed workshop will involve young string players demonstrating thorough skills including rhythmic accuracy, fine intonation, sight-reading, transposition, improvisation, and ensemble playing. It will be interactive, with audience members invited to make spontaneous requests of the children, showcasing how their ability extends well beyond mere choreography of specially learned performance repertoire.

About Yuri Djachenko

Yuri Djachenko is an Australian-Estonian violinist, violist, pedagogue, researcher and scholar. His teachers and mentors have included Tor Fromyhr, Judy Fromyhr, Lyndal Edmiston, Jan Sedivka, Spiros Rantos, Noël Tredinnick, Géza Szilvay, Csaba Szilvay and Leif Segerstam. As a professional violinist and violist, Yuri has worked in every State and Territory in Australia, in the UK, and in Finland. He has taught in Hobart, Queensland, the UK and Finland, and for the last twenty years has worked in private practice in Brisbane. He is also a well-known authority on English bows and bowmakers, and is a dealer and expert in fine instruments and bows.