The day followed a few rehearsals for BSO Resound so luckily the car was packed and ready to go. Travelling with Tamsin (BSO Communications Officer) we arrived at the school earlier than expected, including a stop at the train station to collect Matthew and Ed on the way

We were shown through to a beautiful wood panelled room adorned with fairy lights and refreshments awaiting us. We quickly set up and awaited our first group.

Our first group was the school’s open orchestra. It was great to also see members of the National Open Youth Orchestra (NOYO) in this group too! We had great fun getting to know everyone with an ice breaker called ‘2 things I like and 1 thing I don’t like’. We had a strong dislike towards tomatoes in the group! BSO Resound then played a few pieces showing the theme of working together before it was time for the students to get involved.

Each student sat with a BSO musician and we started with a quick improvisation, passing tunes around the circle and adding in dynamics, helping everyone to click as a larger ensemble.

We then had great fun playing Bach/Gounod’s Ave Maria with students playing the bass line on Clarions and BSO Resound improvising along with the student’s framework. I even got to put my own marimba lessons with Philip (BSO Resound-Percussionist) to use and play along on marimba with the students!

After a group photo and the creation of the name ‘TreSound’ for our new merged ensemble, it was time for a nice, relaxing lunch break.
After lunch, we did it all again with students from the college’s open orchestra this time. Again, we managed to create some fantastic music together in such a short amount of time.

One student was fascinated with the LinnStrument and I started to see some great friendships developing between musicians and students throughout the day.

We had such a great day at Treloar School and College and are really excited to go back for our second session in November. As the new ‘TreSound’ there were stunning performances of Ave Maria in both sessions and, if this was our first visit, I can guarantee that by June, there’ll be something really special in store.

Alison Holmes, BSO Participate Coordinator