TWENTY-four instrumentalists from the Chase, Malvern, took part in a workshop with professional players from the English Symphony Orchestra.

The Y7 – Y10 students (mostly the Chase Orchestra plus a few extras) learned two very different pieces: the Finale from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and a medley of film themes by John Williams, including Star Wars, ET and Jurassic Park.

The afternoon’s work resulted in an impressive performance of each piece, really showing all the hard work over the two hours.

Students also had the opportunity to ask questions: the two that occasioned most discussion were “are there actually jobs in music?” (yes, if you’re prepared to work hard – “there’s always room at the top!”) and “how much practice do you have to do?”

In the discussion about this, we found that many of our students already practise between one and two hours every day: the ESO players said that once they got to music college or university, most practised for at least three or four hours a day, and string players are encouraged to put in six to eight hours!

Well done to all who took part: the ESO players are keen to return next term, so watch this space if you would like to be involved!

“We had so much fun doing the workshop. It really improved the cohesion and coordination of our orchestra. The musicians were very helpful, giving us tips and helping us on the harder parts of the pieces. Our overall performance and understanding of the context of the music we played benefited from the experience.” - Sophie James, Areti Huwiler, Filip Twarowski and Elijah Nixon.

Report by Sally Livingstone.