Before Sheku arrived, I thought he would help us with weird, different sounds, techniques, and songs on the cello. I was highly nervous, causing me to blush. I had a quivering voice because he is well established, as he played at the Royal Wedding. He won the BBC Young Musician award in 2016.

I could never imagine being in a room with such an immense talent. Cellist Master Sheku Kanneh-Mason coming to Jessop to teach us more about the cello. All the cello teachers kept it a secret, so we were all surprised.

He happily taught us on the cello. When he started playing, I felt inspired to try and do the same technique he did. I felt so scared that I was going to mess it up, which means we would have had to play it all over again. Sheku was calm and made it feel realistic. I tried to apply the same technique, but then I did it wrong. My teacher explained that it is an advanced technique taught in year seven or above. I’m only in year 5!

But after learning it, I got the hang of it, and we could play it all together. We ended up teaching him a song called Allegro, and we all rehearsed together.

When we finished practising, I didn’t have anything to tell him because I was nervous to ask a dumb question. I wondered if there would be time to talk about him and his experience in the cello. There was, but everyone had to ask a question, so I just went for a random question: ‘Do you have more than two siblings?’

Guess what he said, ‘I have 7 Siblings!’

I love playing the cello, and I found out that the more I practice, the more fun it is and having the right cello size can also help. I have a goal to become a great cellist like Sheku, and I intend to play all my life, so having a plan helps motivate you.

Written By Edward, Year 5

Edward was interviewed by BBC London about Sheku’s visit, which you can watch further down the page!