The Music Workshop Company Blog

Each month the Music Workshop Company publishes two blogs. One blog, written by the MWC team addresses a key issue in Music Education or gives information about a particular genre or period of music. The other blog is written by a guest writer, highlighting good practice or key events in Music Education. We hope you enjoy reading the blogs.

To contribute as a guest writer please email Maria@music-workshop.co.uk

Be Part of the Extraordinary: Support the Horniman Museum

Posted on 26th October 2017 at 15:00

The Horniman is an award-winning, family-friendly Museum and Gardens in south London’s Forest Hill. Established in Victorian times when tea trader and philanthropist Frederick Horniman first opened his house and collection of objects to visitors, the Museum is currently undergoing a major three-year development of its gallery spaces.

As part of this project, the Horniman’s world-renowned Anthropology collection will be redisplayed to create the World Gallery: A special space designed to encourage a wide appreciation, curiosity and celebration of the world, its people, places and cultures.

Higher Education: What’s Right for You?

Posted on 12th October 2017 at 14:30

Although the deadline for applying to conservatoires and music colleges has passed, the closing date for university applications through UCAS (UCAS.com) is the 15th January 2018.

This gives plenty of time for potential applicants to consider whether they want to study at university, and if so, which university and which course best suits them.

Chineke! Leading by Example

Posted on 27th September 2017 at 16:30

The Chineke! Foundation was established in 2015: it’s mission, to provide career opportunities to young Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) classical musicians in the UK and Europe. At a time when much of the news around classical music focused on laurel ts, elitism and the problems of engaging young people in a ‘difficult genre’, the organisation has stepped forward with inspiring energy.

Chineke!’s message is of real importance to young BME musicians. For these students, the orchestra offers more than the traditional outreach: It offers role models.

Learning and Participation Manager, Ishani O’Connor, has been in her role since June 2017, and has already found herself ‘very busy!’ The Music Workshop Company catches up with Ishani to hear more about Chineke! and its work both in the community and within its groundbreaking Junior Orchestra.

The Influence of African Musicians on Classical Music

Posted on 18th September 2017 at 14:00

Western classical music, by its very definition, is rooted in the sacred and secular traditions of the western world, centred around Europe. Although the genre has been influenced throughout history by folk song, jazz and music from other continents such as America and China, it rarely diverges far from its Western identity.

Much like Western music outside the ‘classical’ box, African music is incredibly diverse, varying greatly by region. There is lots of opportunity for creative inspiration.

In his 2006 book, Listening to Artifacts: Music Culture in Ancient Israel/Palestine, Theodore Burgh suggests that classical music ultimately has its roots in North Africa, in the art music of Ancient Egypt, as well as other ancient cultures such as Greece. However, there seems, at first glance, little evidence of African influence in classical music. When it is found, for example in Tippett’s A Child of Our Time, it is generally Afro-American in origin, interpreted in a western-dominated form of music.

The Curtain Rises on Trestle’s New Theatre School

Posted on 29th August 2017 at 14:00

Trestle Theatre Company is celebrating a big anniversary in 2017: It’s 15 years since the company moved into its home, Trestle Arts Base, a £2,000,000 refurbishment of the 100-year-old Hill End Hospital Chapel in St Albans, Hertfordshire.

It’s also a year of new beginnings for Trestle, as the new Trestle School of Drama opens its doors in September.

Celebrating the Centenary of Two Jazz Greats: Thelonious Monk and Dizzy Gillespie

Posted on 15th August 2017 at 14:30

October 2017 marks what would have been the 100th birthday of two jazz legends: Thelonious Monk and Dizzy Gillespie.

Born 11 days apart on October 10 and 21, 1917, pianist, Monk and trumpeter, Gillespie, shaped the landscape of jazz composition and improvisation, each exploring harmonies with a complexity previously unheard in jazz, leaving behind an immense legacy of music.