Case Study: Inspiring young musicians to join ensembles

Janet Elston is one of our Hub Ensemble Leads and Musical Director of Triggshire Wind Orchestra.

Ever since I started Trigg 39 years ago I have traditionally organised concerts alongside primary and secondary schools in our area. My aim has been to show children what they can aspire to and to widen their musical knowledge and experience. I think that it is important to bring together the educational community and also the wider community and music is such an amazing vehicle for this.

Next Steps groups, First Access groups, area ensembles, school choirs, community choirs, brass bands, secondary school music departments and class music can all come together in a supportive, sharing environment.  Large area-based concerts give children and smaller, rural schools the opportunity to be a part of what can feel like a special musical event and to be able to perform to larger audiences.  The hope is that this will foster an enthusiasm and an urge to enjoy music, not just in the participants but in the audience too. Get the parents on board and they will be much more willing to support their children in their musical learning and feel part of that same journey.

The benefits can be financial too. Often the venue will be one of the contributing schools so there will be no hire charge, the audience will be larger and a sense of occasion can encourage generosity. Sometimes the school will organise refreshments and a raffle, all of which generate more profit. Obviously, the funds raised have to be shared but it does usually mean that there will be a profit rather than a loss.

At our last concert, there were children from 14 schools in the north of the county plus an adult group who provided music as everyone arrived. This meant an age group of 8 to 80 years and everyone played together in the final piece. Tina Yardley, Headteacher at Wadebridge school, was very supportive and the Rotary Club of Wadebridge organised the refreshments and took a collection on our behalf at the end of the evening. Hopefully, it will have inspired the primary players to join the Next Steps Group and then in a few years, Trigg Wind. I think that this is a good way of motivating and inspiring young musicians and encouraging them to join the ensembles. It is still very early days after the pandemic but hopefully, we will see a continued growth and this will feed through into the more advanced ensembles in a few years.