Wye Valley Music

Wye Valley Music in Schools

We run a paid training programme for young, classically trained musicians interested in doing community engagement work in schools. If you are a musician and would like to apply, click here.

We're also looking for new volunteers to help run the programme; please email us at [email protected] if you're interested.

What We Do:

We encourage young people to be interested in and learn to love classical music
We do this by providing local schools in the Lower Wye Valley with one-off music experiences: short performances in primary schools which encourage the children to get involved and to ask questions; a limited number of secondary school sessions; and master classes for secondary school students
We work with both experienced and emerging young musicians, offering the latter training via our Young Musician Training Programme (YMTP)

What We've Done 2018 - 2025

Over the course of the last seven years, we have supported over 56 live performances in more than 28 primary schools by experienced musicians and graduates of our YMTP, reaching around 5,000 children. Participating artists have included: three highly regarded string quartets (the Astaria, the Solem and the Carducci); an innovative brass/keyboard duo (Travelling By Tuba); an outstanding solo pianist (Clare Hammond); and four duos from our YMTP programme.

The YMTP was set up in 2023 as the cornerstone of our commitment to providing young musicians with work opportunities. We use it to train recently graduated, conservatoire musicians in how to perform for young children in our local schools and to use these skills elsewhere as well. Graduates include 3 duos (violin and piano, harp and mezzo soprano and two flute and guitar duos). We now use two of these duos regularly. We have a string quartet, a piano soloist and a piano and mezzo duo in the pipeline for 2025.

To date, we have extended participation in our schools programme to primary schools in the Lower Wye Valley on both sides of the border -- both Gloucestershire (Forest of Dean) and Monmouthshire (Wye Valley) -- including one all-age school for pupils with complex special needs. The performances have provided over 3,900 musical experiences for local children aged from 4-11.

In the past two years, we held our first secondary school session with the Carducci Quartet, one of the UK's top string quartets, using Dvorak to explain key musical and composition topics likely to appear in GCSE and A Level exams. We also, in conjunction with Gloucestershire Music, held a cello masterclass for local secondary school students led by the Principal Cellist for the WNO and the Principal Cellist of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. We continued to focus on our YMTP programme, working with Cardiff's Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama to ensure their graduates are aware of our programme.

Our Sponsors

These activities have been made possible by funding from two trusts, The Lark Trust and The Peter Stebbings Memorial Foundation, as well as generous donations by individual Wye Valley Music Members. Thanks to this, we are able to provide local schools with these music experiences free of charge. Schools are only asked to host the visits and to provide feedback (which we use to source further funding to continue our work).

Some Examples

In November 2022, we created some musical memories for local youngsters:

One group enjoyed a clapping competition to an accelerating sailors’ hornpipe. The game was part of a polished and engaging taste of different musical styles from the Carducci String Quartet.

In December 2022, the winter wonderland of snow and ice provided the perfect backdrop for Travelling by Tuba’s Christmas show. The show gave the children an ‘up close and personal’ experience of a variety of almost anything that can be blown to make a noise, as well as a ‘canon’ made out of a tuba.

” I loved the part when we all played lots of instruments and they put a massive tuba on me

Why We Do It:

We believe that national austerity cuts have hit “non-essential” subjects hard including music. We also recognise that school budgets have little flexibility to provide experiences such as live music. This is particularly true for schools in the more deprived areas of our local communities.

Even our short introductions to classical music can have a positive effect on the children participating in them. Music—listened to and performed—has been shown to contribute to mental wellbeing.

The musical experiences we provide introduce the idea that music can be learned and played by anyone and provide fun and community feeling based on a common purpose.

Learning about a range of instruments and a little of what those instruments can do can ignite a spark in children which some may be inspired to pursue as amateurs themselves. For some, it could even be the start of a professional career in music.

And we can offer aspiring, professional young musicians a chance to conduct community outreach with their art in a most immediate way—by working with pupils at our local schools.

Benefits

Although it is hard to measure the benefits of listening to live music, we endeavour to check what value we are delivering to our funding organisations. To this end, we ask all participating schools to provide feedback from pupils, staff and parents.

The many schools with which we have worked have shown their appreciation and their interest in follow up workshops and performances.

The children’s responses have been uniformly positive both towards the workshops and musicians.

Looking Ahead

We hope to reach even more local schools, offering opportunities to secondary as well as primary schools. We aim to enhance and build on what has worked well previously and explore additional ways of engaging professional musicians and local music organisations to provide a taste of live music performed by classically trained musicians to inspire local children.

Wye Valley Music in Schools

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