St Clement Danes join the BBC Concert Orchestra for concert

4:01pm Thursday 1st May 2008

A visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) and two music making workshops have provided inspiration for a new collaborative project between The BBC Concert Orchestra and St Clement Danes School.

More than 20 pupils from the school aged between 15 and 18-years-old have been exploring their own musical ideas in response to artefacts at the V&A with creative director, composer and music workshop leader Fraser Trainer alongside players from the orchestra. The students' music will be presented at a concert next Tuesday at The Colosseum, Watford and broadcast live on BBC Radio Three as part of the Discovering Music Series. The piece is to accompany the BBC Radio Three commission from composer Fung Lam.

the students have been creating their own musical materials including codes, puzzles and scales

Peter Hayward

BBC Concert Orchestra learning manager Peter Hayward explains how Fung's own composition and the museum visit has informed the young people's work.

He says: "We visited the exhibition of locks and keys which composer Fung Lam used as inspiration for his piece for the orchestra. We've been looking at what inspired him and he's spoken to them at one of the workshops. As well as interpreting that starting point and using his musical material, the students have been working with that and creating their own musical materials including codes, puzzles and different musical scales.

"They're a very talented group comprising strings, woodwind, percussion and brass."

The students have also been working with four players from the BBC Concert Orchestra. They are Stacey Miller (bass), Marcus Broome (violin), Kate Moore (trumpet) and Simon Haram (sax) under the leadership of Fraser Trainer.

Peter says working directly with composers such as Fraser and Fung Lam has helped the students understand the creative process more fully.

Peter says: "What this has given them is a new way of working because they're not sitting down on their own with a blank piece of paper. They're sharing and exploring ideas in a practical way and collectively they've come up with things they never would have thought of on their own.

"Music emerges that nobody would have thought of and it's exciting when some things work but just as interesting when they don't."

With one workshop left this weekend, the group will be drawing all these elements together and gaining valuable experience of working on their feet, which Peter feels is vital for their professional development.

"It's a fluid, flexible process at this point and you don't know where it's going to go. You know what the elements are; but they need to be shaped and structured.

"I think for the young people we're working with this process of thinking of music from the inside and using their ears and imagination is vital. Jazz is a good example of how it works. Very little of this music will be written down, it will be in their heads and their fingers but not on the page. It will contribute to their musicianship considerably in years to come.

"It's great for them to work alongside professional players as many of them are looking forward to a career or a life in music, they're fascinated by how our players have got where they've got and can really see how an orchestra works."

The concert takes place at The Colosseum, Rickmansworth Road, Watford on Tuesday, May 6 at 7pm. Details: 0870 901 1227 or www.bbc.co.uk/tickets

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