Lottie Young, ITG youth correspondent
As part of the ITG Youth Day, one event which took place was ‘Junior Ensemble Coaching.’ This was attended by twelve students in total, whose ages ranged from 6 to 17 and whose abilities from grade 3 to grade 8. There was a friendly, relaxed atmosphere as everyone settled and warmed up, and we began by playing a sustained C Major scale, focusing on intonation in particular. Most people who attended this event were only at the conference for the one day, and this must have been a valuable part of that experience.
A couple of parents stayed to watch as the ensemble launched into the Eastenders theme with great gusto. There was a part for everyone – no-one felt left-out or ignored, a trait which I feel is very important in ensembles. This was a good way to wind down nearing the end of the day - most of the other events which these children have attended on youth day were competitions or master-classes and this must have been a welcome ‘no-pressure’ situation after the stress of the aforementioned events.
Although some of the parts may have been unchallenging to the more experienced players, everyone still had fun and playing in a group is always a good experience, even if the parts are easy.
The next piece attempted was the Earl of Oxford’s March by William Byrd. This was arranged by Murray Greig and worked very well. All the parts were pretty much independent, which gave each player the feel of having the melody at one time or another. Amongst playing all of these pieces, we were also given valuable bits of general information for all trumpet players about tonguing, articulation, and other aspects of playing. I certainly found this helpful and I’m sure that many of the other players did too.
In the last half-hour or so of the session, we moved on to some slightly more challenging music in the form of Londonderry Air and The Floral Dance. Both these pieces were very much enjoyed and the session ended with an impromptu performance on the balcony of The Earl of Oxford’s March. This was well received, and gave the young trumpeters a feeling that they had achieved something in this brief session. I think that this workshop was very much a success – everyone involved enjoyed themselves enormously.
