Somers Town Sinfonia – first steps to changing the face of orchestras?
Somers Town Sinfonia is an introduction to ensemble playing for young musicians beyond First Access in one of the poorest parts of Camden.
Music leaders from Camden Music Service and the Young People’s Concert Foundation are getting ready for the next cohort of Somers Town Sinfonia which offers a first ensemble experience beyond First Access for young musicians in one of the poorest parts of the borough.
Somers Town Sinfonia brings together professional and young musicians, playing alongside each other, devising and performing a wide range of repertoire. It encourages parents to support their children’s achievements and to encourage their continued participation in out-of-school-hours musical progression, all of which Camden offers at subsidised fees for disadvantaged families.
Following a pilot in 2015, with Youth Music support we ran Somers Town Sinfonia in summer term 2016 for Years 4 and 5 pupils from four local primary schools at Regent High – their likely secondary school (a well equipped neutral space). Led by Becky Chalmers, sessions comprised warm-up exercises and games including singing and body percussion, full ensemble and sectional rehearsals, and culminated in a play-through so that parents could hear their children’s progress each week when they came to collect them at the end of the session. There was an excellent turnout of parents and siblings at the end of each session, who were all made very welcome (by pastoral staff) and which paid dividend in the level of attendance at the concert in the final week.
We knew that pastoral care was a vital aspect of the programme to support the young people and their parents, many of whom had no personal experience of music-making and its value for their children’s development. We ensured there was a familiar person to welcome parents delivering/ collecting young musicians and following up on any absences. Some parents brought younger children with them to the sessions and, at the concert, these younger siblings were highly proficient when the audience was led (by young musicians) in a body percussion participation section. It seems they did rehearse at home!
The sessions provided musical progression building on the young musicians’ whole-class instrumental learning experience -
introducing ‘new' notes - fingerings and music notation recognising and playing new rhythmic patterns introducing different time signatures including 6/8 and 5/4 maintaining their own lines while playing with others listening and responding to other sections playing at different dynamic levels, achieving balance between sections, accompany solo instrument.
The young musicians sang confidently throughout the project and improved their co-ordination through body percussion. In focus group discussion, they identified (positive) differences about their Sinfonia experience compared to their whole class learning -
We get to meet children from other schools.
It’s not just our class making music.
I like learning new notes (faster than at school!) and new tunes.
We learn quicker in smaller groups - at school it's hard to hear yourself when everyone's playing.
At first I thought my instrument was boring because I couldn't play anything good on it. Since I came to Sinfonia it's actually very good. It makes me want to practise more.
You play for a long time.
You get to hear lots of different instruments.
The games help you be energised and communicate with the other schools
We get to play with other people and make great sounds.
Currently, 21 of the Sinfonia members (from a total of 29) have continued with instrument lessons either at school, after school or at the Camden Saturday Music Centre and 10 are participating in borough ensembles. We’ve established the ELO (Entry Level Orchestra), a new ensemble for beginner instrumentalists led by Becky Chalmers. It’s open to all Camden young musicians but most of the participants have come via Somers Town Sinfonia. The involvement of Becky and our Sinfonia pastoral support worker are important links for these young musicians, and we look forward to the numbers swelling when we have completed Somers Town Sinfonia 2017.
If music education programmes can’t make a positive change to the diversity of young musicians playing in ensembles, it is unlikely that the make-up of professional orchestras will develop. We are hopeful that Somers Town Sinfonia (and Haverstock Sinfonia, a parallel programme in Kentish Town we are about to run with support from The Mayor’s Fund for Music) will provide some small but significant steps in effecting this change.
See here for photographs and to hear young musicians from St Mary and St Pancras School talk about Somers Town Sinfonia.