“If you’re keen to energise the musicianship and community of your ensemble through thoughtful rehearsal practice, this session is for you!”
Orchestras for All (OFA) is delighted to announce that its Artistic Director, Emma Oliver-Trend, will be hosting a live webinar as part of the charity’s Music Leadership Training programme.
Titled Flip the Script: Redefining Rehearsals, the one-hour session – which is the third event in OFA’s dynamic online series – is scheduled to take place via Zoom on Wednesday 21 September 2022 at 16:15 GMT and will explore the theme of critical listening when leading a young ensemble in classrooms and music hub contexts.
The National Orchestra for All conductor explains: “In the conventional rehearsal model, the ensemble plays a few bars, they stop, the conductor tells them what went wrong and how to fix it and then they try again. Okay, that’s a blunt description and perhaps unfair as this rehearsal practice can easily bring musical progress and great concerts. What’s not to love?
“At Orchestras for All, we value the discipline of ensemble rehearsals and we love it when they’re full of music-making and not too much talking. However, overall this rehearsal practice is not entirely fit for purpose. It’s simply not effective enough in delivering our aims and supporting young people’s musical, personal or social development.
“We are experimenting with rehearsals where active critical listening is owned, explicitly, by everyone. So, if you are interested in energising the musicianship and community of your ensemble through thoughtful rehearsal practice, this session is for you! We’re redefining rehearsals, we’re on a journey and we’d love to share your ideas, so do join the discussion.”
Pictured: Artistic Director, Emma Oliver-Trend, leads the way at National Orchestra for All’s summer concert
It will surely be a memorable evening both for attendees and the Cornwall-based musician – a keen classical and folk violinist, whose previous roles have included Principal Guest Conductor of the Harlow Symphony Orchestra, Founder Director of the Ware Community Orchestra and a performing member of the Bishop’s Stortford Sinfonia, among others.
Emma has also produced several operas and arts programmes for Welsh National Opera and Dartington Arts, and collaborated with Belgian singer, Nele Van Den Broeck, to pen the stage musical ‘How to fail at being perfect’ – a Young Lyric Production performed at the Lyric Hammersmith in August 2017 and Latitude Festival 2018.
Meanwhile, her current role as Artistic Director at Orchestras for All includes orchestral conducting, creating large-scale inclusive arrangements, leading conducting training for music leaders and contributing towards the artistic programme of the organisation.
Discover Orchestras for All’s programmes >
While Emma’s forthcoming webinar is free to attend, participants are invited to donate what they can to help the charity continue its life-changing work with young people and music leaders nationwide.
It comes after British DJ and composer, Jack McNeill, and music education consultant, Professor Nate Holder, hosted the first two webinars in the online series.
Students from across the country team up with Emma in Manchester for a day of Modulo music-making
Music Leadership Training Programme Manager, Sam Williams, said: “This webinar will focus on an extremely important topic – how to ensure every member of your ensemble has a voice, is listened to, and feels able to contribute. Although the expertise often lies with the conductor or ensemble leader, no group should be a dictatorship, where only one person makes the decisions. To be truly inclusive, a musical ensemble should be flexible enough to accommodate the views of its members, and we really have fostered a culture of this across our programmes at OFA.”
She continued: “Our wonderful Artistic Director, Emma, really lives for inclusivity when she works with young musicians. She is always interested in hearing what people have to say, valuing their contribution and making their feedback mean something in the way she develops artistic themes each season. I couldn’t think of anyone better to deliver this session, which is suitable for music educators and ensemble leaders at any stage.”
