In 1994 Rosemary Nalden ran Buskaid’s very first string-teaching ‘bush’ workshop at the Lapalala Wilderness School, for the pupils based at the original Diepkloof Hall project. Owing to their exposure to early Suzuki-style methods, most of these children had virtually no music-reading skills. Rosemary used the workshop as an opportunity to apply the string teaching techniques which she had been using in the UK alongside the late, renowned British string teacher, Sheila Nelson.

In the 1970s both Sheila and Rosemary had attended workshops led by the late Hungarian/American pedagogue Paul Rolland, who, together with a distinguished team of teachers funded by the University of Illinois to investigate the fundamental principles underlying movement in string playing, had devised an organised plan of instruction derived from their findings.

Based on free-flowing movements in musical expression, this style of teaching proved to be admirably suited to the natural talents, both musical and physical, of these highly motivated children. Nearly all this training took place in group sessions – another important feature of the Rolland/Nelson approach – which also worked well in this particular environment.

In 1997, in conjunction with the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Sheila Nelson and a group of like-minded music educators produced The Essential String Method, which is still used to this day by Buskaid’s teachers, all of whom have been trained in this method.

Both Sheila Nelson and Paul Rolland must be acknowledged as the pedagogical inspiration behind Buskaid’s many musical successes, whilst the Ensemble’s intermittent exposure to Sir John Eliot Gardiner has inspired their extraordinary performances of the music of Rameau. The results have drawn comment and admiration from all over the world. In particular, the freedom in bowing, and rounded, earthy sound of the members of the Buskaid Ensemble, are testament to the success of these teaching techniques.