Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra Day

This was an inspirational music partnership initiative designed to give students both a valuable teaching and performance opportunity on a  large theatre stage. The event was led by the incredible musicians from The Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra and was designed to give students an opportunity to extend their understanding of orchestral playing and benefit from guidance from professional string players to help them with their instrumental technique. Throughout the day students had an opportunity to work alongside students from other schools and prepare 4 pieces of music to perform in a concert at the end of the afternoon.

Aims

The aims of the partnership were to fundamentally provide an opportunity for development of orchestral and instrumental skills across a range of local schools. This opportunity allowed string players from different schools to meet and work together whilst preparing items for a concert to be performed at the end of the day to parents, staff and other visitors. Some of the students had never experienced live music performed by professional musicians before, and it gave them a chance to work alongside these inspiring performers.

 

The immediate beneficiaries were the students who gained confidence and self belief and a chance to perform on stage to a live audience. Their parents also had a valuable chance to see their children perform as part of a real orchestra and achieve something they had never thought possible.

Background

The partnership came about because a member of staff holds a dual role as an outreach officer for the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra and she was keen to build links with schools in the local area. There was also an identified need to provide more learning and performing opportunities in our local area.

Resources

The resources critical to the success of this case study were the expertise provided by the Oxford Philharmonic orchestra players and the flexible performance spaces made available at the school. 4 venues were required for the breakout group sessions and a number of supporting teaching staff were also required to support those 4 groups. The school gave a financial contribution to the Orchestra for their time.

Impact

A qualitative assessment was made by the Orchestra staff through a written feedback sheet given at the end of the event. Verbal feedback was also gathered from parents and students as they left. We had a number of feedback emails from the visiting schools afterwards which were really positive and will help to shape future events.

Pupil Involvement

The event consisted of 2/3 state school students and 1/3 independent school students. The group were a mixture of genders, although a large majority were female.

Frequency

This was a one off activity which lasted for 6 hours. We hope to repeat the event again in future years as it was a such an inspirational event.