On Wednesday 23rd May,Mr Snowdon and Mr Thomas took the Year 10 GCSE Music group on a trip to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. On arrival the group was escorted up to the light and airy Rodewald suite, a room in which practice, and some of the children's workshops take place. Here, we were spoken to by two of the orchestra's members, one a violist (viola player) and the other a horn player.
These two instrumentalists told us about working at the Philharmonic, and what it entails. We learned, for example, that practice usually lasts for approximately 5 hours per day with the orchestra, and that the orchestra can have a maximum of 10 days at a time of work, with no weekend break, because of course the orchestra often plays during the weekend. We also learned that a perk of the job was travel, and the orchestra often travels to countries such as Malta to play.
Following the informative talk by the two instrumentalists, they rejoined their colleagues in the orchestra and we went along to listen. They were rehearsing Elgar's Violin Concerto. A concerto has a soloist with the orchestra playing behind. We had an excellent view from the boxes at the back of the hall, and we were able to enjoy the sounds of this lively and interesting piece of music. The music was to be performed that evening, and to watch the orchestra at work was fascinating, although it was quite difficult to hear the conductor's comments. The solo violinist was a truly impressive sight, and the piece sounded (to me at least) to be absolutely brilliant.
Finally, we were quietly shepherded from the boxes and returned to the Rodewald Suite for some refreshments, after which we went out to the front of the building for photographs before returning to school. Thomas Keningley 10W
