Music: New Choral partnership is off to a singing start at Nottingham Royal Concert Hall

Secondary school students and National Youth Choir singers launch new three-year partnership for choral excellence in Nottinghamshire

 

Students from The South Wolds Academy (Keyworth) and The National C of E Academy (Hucknall) joined singers from the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain’s elite Fellowship Programme under NYCGB Deputy Artistic Director Greg Beardsell at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham on Thursday 12 May to launch a new partnership for choral excellence in Nottinghamshire secondary schools. The partnership brings together the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain (NYCGB), Nottinghamshire Music Hub (NMH) and the Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall Nottingham (TRCH), who will jointly deliver a three-year programme of workshops, activities, and performances.

The partnership has been informed by NMH and Arts Council England data showing ‘cold spots’ of low arts participation among 13-18-year olds in the county. Starting in September 2016, the initial stage of the partnership will work with students from The South Wolds Academy and The National C of E Academy, with more schools joining in subsequent stages. The partnership will challenge the schools to create high-quality, teacher-led a cappella ensembles which will perform regularly and establish themselves as a vital part of their school’s artistic culture. Working with the NYCGB artistic team and the NYCGB Fellowship, the partnership will ignite a choral culture within secondary schools which will change students’ expectations of singing, encourage individual and collective excellence and create a pathway for talented singers to progress to further opportunities regionally, and nationally via auditions for NYCGB’s five choirs. The Theatre Royal and Royal Concert Hall will provide a high-profile stage for key performance and education events throughout the programme.

National Academy student Flo Jardine (13) said: “I absolutely loved it, because we got to work with the Fellows and it was really cool because they sounded perfect. I learned about beatboxing because that’s something I’ve never tried before so it was really new”.

South Wolds Academy student Matthew Cook (14), said: “It was really good. There was lots going on, all the different harmonies were interesting and the conductor helped us learn quickly. It’s the first time I’ve ever sung in choir without a piano, and the first time I’ve ever sung in the Royal Concert Hall, which was amazing.”

Lucy Reid, Vocal Lead for NMH, said: “Seeing the children soak up everything thrown at them today and to have to raise their game from good to exemplary was wonderful. They were ready for the challenge and up for it too. If this is what we can accomplish in just 40 minutes, we’re very excited about the standard that the county can be at in three years’ time.”

James Reid, Head of Music at The South Wolds Academy, said: “It was great seeing how engaged our students were. We’re anticipating an exciting and dynamic partnership over the next three years.”