“I really enjoyed creating the songs! It was great fun and the end result sounded amazing. We had lots of improvements on singing, teamwork and lots of other skills”. Kirsten, 8-year old outreach participant in 2011
“We started out with two leaders and they taught us singing. I would like them to do it again for other children” Sam, also 8 years old
All our musicians owe at least part of their early passion for music and their initial training to some inspirational teaching, a sound base for their later flourishing professional careers. Our co-director, Kate Gould, started to play the cello solely due to encouragement from her headmaster at St. Bede C of E Primary School; likewise, the music activities at Westgate School were a vital part of her early development. The support she received from Peter Symonds Sixth Form College, the Hampshire County Music Service and Hampshire County Youth Orchestra were fundamental in providing Kate with the top quality training which helped launch her career. We aim to complement Hampshire’s exceptional music provision with our modest creative learning programme and free tickets for young people.
Masterclass Sunday 22 April, 11.30 – 1.15pm
This gives budding performers a rare chance to be coached by the Ensemble and has proved popular with both young musicians and our audiences. The structure is very informal; two ensembles receive approximately 75 minutes of supportive coaching, focusing on a piece of their own choosing. Audiences can drop in and out as they like at any point during the masterclass. One of the groups is the Hampshire String Quartet, 16 and 17 year olds who are in the County Youth Orchestra and who appear with the support of Hampshire Music Service.
Informal sharing of school work: Thursday 19 April 12.30pm
The public sharing of songs created by enthusiastic primary school children, most of whom haven’t had any previous experience of this kind, is always a highlight of the Festival and we are sure this year will be no exception. A class from St Bede, Kate Gould’s former school, joins forces with pupils from Olivers Battery, who participate for the first time. They are aided (and abetted?) by some of our musicians. The children’s creations are inspired by some of the music featured in the Festival but their contribution will be very much their own, guided by our outreach leaders Sam Glazer and Jack Ross.
We warmly invite you to the free informal performance which will last approximately 40 minutes.
Young people’s tickets
For masterclass and workshop participants and for any other young person aged 8- 25 years, take advantage of our FREE ticket scheme!