Trio of clarinetists scale heights with awards

[caption id="attachment_39673" align="alignright" width="405"] DUET ON CLARINET: NMMU music lecturer and director of TwoTone music Gareth Williams, left, alongside his student Tiaan Uys, plays the clarinet in the TwoTone studio PHOTOGRAPH: SUPPLIED[/caption]

THREE Port Elizabeth clarinet students are proving they have what it takes to compete against the country's top classical musicians.

Pearson High matric pupil Mieke Struwig, 18 and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) music students Grant Snyman and Tiaan Uys have excelled in two major national competitions over the past two months.

Students of Gareth Williams, a NMMU School of Music lecturer, the musicians were placed in the top three of both the South African Society of Music Teachers (SASMT) National Competition and the Grahamstown National Music Competition. Last Month Struwig came second in the high school category while Uys took third place in the tertiary education category.

In May, Snyman won The South African Society of Music Teachers (SASMT) National Competition with Uys his runner- up. Struwig was unable to compete as she won the competition in 2012.

All three musicians are members of the Eastern Cape Philharmonic Orchestra (Ecpo) and perform with TwoTone Music – a group started by Williams.

In 2013 Struwig was the runner up in the woodwind category of the Artscape National Youth Music Competition.

Williams said: "Excellence in music tuition has always been my passion and I have been a woodwind teacher since 2001.

"Now that I am the director of TwoTone Music, I have fewer students than in my full-time teaching days at schools across the country.

" It is a pleasure to teach talented and hardworking young musicians and then see the fruits of your and their labour."

He added that he was proud that TwoTone was able to provide performance opportunities for young artists as, "these are few and far between in the Eastern Cape.

" When they 'graduate' from my studio and their involvement in TwoTone concerts and ensembles, they are well on their way to being valuable and versatile musicians who can make a sustainable living out of their art," Williams said. - Deon van der Walt