London – Week 2

During the second week in London I met with the following organisations:

• National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain
• Philharmonia
• BBC Symphony Orchestra

National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain
This meeting with Sarah Alexander, Chief Executive and Artistic Director of NYOGB was utilised to learn further about the organisation’s approach to student leadership, creativity and commissioning, which to a level she discussed in her presentation at the Association of British Orchestras conference.

NYOGB’s approach to new music is that it is all about creativity, taking risks and developing the listening skills of the student musicians. A particular way NYOGB is developing the musicians’ listening and aural skills is through singing. The utilisation of singing was to acknowledge that young people connect and engage with music in many different ways.

At every NYOGB residency there are opportunities for musicians to engage with composers. For example, composers are given 10 minutes of rehearsal time to use creatively with the musicians to test sound and rhythm ideas, supported with recording. Prior to the residency, orchestral leaders as part of developing their communicative and creative skills are engaged in the first stage of the creative development of new works.

Sarah’s background is in theatre and due to that she thinks in a way where she wants to empower orchestral musicians to be equal and for all musicians to take ownership and pride for the results created in the concert hall, as actors do in theatre.

As part of the orchestra’s holistic approach, students regularly undertake physical warm ups lead by actors which relate to people skills, communication and playfulness. The 15 minutes dedicated to warm ups has significantly reduced injuries and helped the students to better engage with their peers.

Philharmonia Orchestra
Lindsay Wilson, Director of Education met with me to outline the work which the Philharmonia delivers as part of its education program, which relates to the organisation’s unique selling points.

• Esa Pekka Salonen
• Digital
• Regional residencies

Types of education work which Philharmonia delivers include:

• Schools
• Community
• Adult
• Instrumental Learning
• Emerging Artists

Philharmonie’s musicians are very key to the delivery and creation of the company’s education program. Presently close to 95% of the company’s education work is delivered by Philharmonia musicians.

Philharmonia has one and half education staff and with the organisation’s smallness there is a greater flexibility as to how the education program is delivered compared to other companies who are constrained by longer lead times and lesser availability of musicians due to the orchestra’s significant concert schedule.

Digital at present not a key part of classroom education, apart from the iPad app http://www.philharmonia.co.uk/shop/114/the_orchestra_app

A key aspect of the education program is live projects such as Re-Rite and Universe of Sound where students and teachers in non-traditional spaces can experience the orchestra with teacher training, guided tours and play along / side-by-side workshops with the Philharmonia.

Here is an example of Re-Rite http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=plpp&list=PLqR22EoucCyewMi0KJbM1wQSGdfkMfugr&v=SAIjX6C6Gxg

The latest project which Philharmonia is developing for delivery in Devon and Cornwall which will utilise digital content, live concerts and engagement is: MusicLab a two year project being delivered over 2014-15 which is pushing boundaries in terms of education, orchestral engagement and the organisation’s outreach. This project is being delivered as a consortium with three music hubs, local authorities and a university.

For a number of years as part of the orchestra’s regional residencies, the company has been delivering educational works, in locations such as Bedford, Leicester, Canterbury and Basingstoke. One of their early projects was Orchestra Unwrapped in Leicester which originally evolved as a way to secure the orchestra’s ongoing support from the Council.

BBC Symphony Orchestra
Commenced their education program about ten to twelve years ago and has only become more formalised in last few years.

The areas of education which BBCSO deliver are:

• Schools
• Families and public participation
• Talent nurturing
• Audience development

Talent nurturing is very broad it includes creative projects which responds to the orchestra’s artistic projects, e.g. forthcoming Villa Lobos day at the Barbican.

Come and Play which occurred on Sunday 9 February is a fully open access project where anyone can register to join a few BBCSO musicians (circa 5) to rehearse a couple of works on the course for the day. On 9 February, Michael Seal from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra rehearsed Mussorgsky arr. Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition and Tchaikovsky Symphony No 6 Pathetique.

Schools programs since the establishment of music hubs has significantly changed to a model of partnering with three to four schools in different ways that best suits the schools, in terms of concerts, talks and schools concert at Maida Vale, which also incorporate creative exercises.

FamIlies – BBCSO do not deliver family concerts, rather they deliver pre-concert workshops for up to 225 families with cheap tickets and manage a family orchestra project where any number of family members can join the orchestra with roughly 100 participants with music making that is fairly loose and organic, which connects to BBCSO repertoire. This orchestra performs at the Proms and can also pop up elsewhere around London / UK.

BBCSO has partnerships with Royal College of Music and the Guildhall. RCM students undertake placements as part of professional development. Guildhall composers participate in an octet project where four of the musicians are from the BBCSO and the other four are from the Guildhall. The composers are also mentored by the BBCSO musicians as part of the young composers skills development.

Villas Lobos full immersion project involves a high level creative process, to create a new work to be created and performed by 30 students aged between 12 and 18, a street band of brass and samba drums, plus a music service school chorus, supported by a family chorus and the BBC Singers. The final work created with a facilitator with a very clear brief is a 10-15 minute long work which will also be documented by BBC Radio 3 for an interval feature.

Whilst in London, due to the tube strike it wasn’t possible to attend the LSO and Philharmonia concerts. While that was so I did hear the Royal Opera House orchestra accompany the Royal Ballet performing Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini and Poulenc’s Gloria. I also attended some of the BBC Symphony Orchestra Come & Play rehearsal of Mussorgsky arr. Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition.