Learning lessons: Ken Wardrop discusses the deceptive cadence of Making the Grade
Ken Wardrop is a maker of heartwarming and fulfilling documentaries on the smaller things in life. Making the Grade tells the simple story of the teacher student relationship, but does so in a beautiful way. When we sit down he has just returned from SXSW in America, where the film enjoyed its North American premiere.
Ken Wardrop: America was great. I really like Austin as a city. And SXSW was a great festival. A good spot for Making the Grade given the music content and everything.It seemed ideal. We kind of had an inkling of it way back some time ago so we kind of held out for the festival, and I'm glad that it came through in the end. We've now done Telluride (with Mom and Me), Sundance (with His and Hers) and now South By. Only Tribeca remains of the big four US festivals.
Are the grades in piano teaching the same in the US?
That's the curious thing. The US doesn't have a grading system. So in Europe we have a grading system. Certainly in Western Europe. Eastern Europe is kind of different as they are quite hardcore about the whole piano thing. Having said that it didn't actually come up in the Q&As at the screenings. Everybody just connected with it on a human basis. I had a few people come up to me after the screenings and say that they taught or studied piano and thank you for the film. But it never really came up in the Q&As as a discussion of it as a system. Which I thought was interesting as I was full sure that that would be one of the first few questions. As it would be quite alien to them. They would learn it in a different way. But it didn't appear and they just went with it. They understood it and it didn't confuse matters. The time that it takes to teach students is the same and it's probably the same the world over.
Have you gone through the process yourself?
No. I haven't got a note in my head. I
Words: Niall Murphy
38 CinÉireann / April 2018