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Three
chamber orchestras in the North West -
Lancashire Sinfonietta, Manchester
Camerata and Northern Chamber Orchestra
– have teamed up with Manchester
Metropolitan University (MMU) to deliver
a tailored training programme for
orchestral musicians who are involved in
the delivery of education work.
The course, believed to be the first of
its kind, is supported in this pilot
year by the North West Universities
Association (NWUA) as a Higher Level
Skills Partnership. Its first fifteen
students, drawn from all three
orchestras and the North West’s
freelance pool of orchestral musicians,
will begin their studies with tutor
Barry Russell on 1 February at MMU’s
Didsbury campus. Some elements of the
course, focusing on the use of
technology/different media, will be
delivered at the Royal Northern College
of Music (RNCM).
The need for the course grew from the
huge growth in the education and
community work undertaken by the UK's
professional orchestras that has taken
place over the past twenty years.
Orchestras are reaching more children
each year, performing concerts to
300,000 school children in 2008/09. .
Much of this work takes place 'off the
platform' and beyond the concert hall
and incorporates both informal and
formal learning. This new course is a
long term commitment to increasing and
developing this valuable work. Charlotte
Spencer, Head of Learning and
Participation at Manchester Camerata,
where the idea for the course first
originated, explained further:
“Here at Manchester Camerata Learning
and Participation is now central to our
work and runs hand in hand with our
concert season. It’s the same for the
other orchestras: education work is
right at the top of the agenda. Some of
our musicians who want to participate in
work of this kind, particularly those
who trained before outreach experience
was part of the conservatoire
curriculum, felt they would benefit from
extra training for their work in the
education sector.
“The beauty of this course is that
players have been asked for their input
into its design. It aims to deliver what
they really want and need. And of course
the extra skills and understanding that
the musicians gain as a result of
completing this course will improve
still further the quality of the
workshops they deliver.”
The North West Chamber Orchestras
Training Programme will be very much a
hands-on experience, with a balance of
creative and theory-based modules,
ranging from general skills required for
working in the formal education sector
to specially-tailored modules with
experienced guest lecturers from the UK
music education scene. It includes
placements in a range of educational
settings, including the educational
workshops being run by the various
orchestral partners.
The course’s part-time structure means
it can be fitted in to the musicians’
busy schedules. It is hoped that after a
successful pilot year the course will
lead to a Post Graduate Certificate in
Professional Studies and be subsumed
into MMU’s ongoing Post Graduate offer.
MMU already has a track record for
practical courses for musicians, having
pioneered the very successful PGCE in
Specialist Instrumental Teaching jointly
with the RNCM.
Dr Jonathan Savage, at MMU’s Institute
of Education said: “The University is
delighted with to be associated with
these three marvellous orchestras.
Education is a very important branch of
work for the modern orchestra and we
look forward to seeing musicians
‘graduating’ and really benefiting from
their learning.”
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