Orchestras for All Trustee Beth White and Executive Director Nick Thorne join the presenters of Performative as special guests in a new podcast tackling diversity and inclusion in music.
The makers of British arts podcast, Performative, have released a new episode in a bid to highlight the growing need for diversity and inclusion across the music industry.
Hosted by percussionist Chris Pott and double bassist Tom Morgan, the weekly podcast unravels the thoughts and experiences of artists, performers and other creative minds – with previous episodes exploring famous classical composers, the fascinating career of jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald and the work of conductor and organist, Tom Daggett.
In today’s episode, the duo discuss how to break down barriers to orchestral music making with Orchestras for All’s Executive Director, Nick Thorne, and former National Orchestras for All member and Trustee, Beth White.
Describing her personal experience of diversity and inclusion in music, Beth said: “When I joined Orchestras for All, I was 13 years old. Before then I’d only had access to brass bands, so for me it was a great opportunity to join an ensemble and meet people from different backgrounds from around the country. It was my only source of diversity growing up.
“That was a big barrier for me – in classical music, you can only play in an orchestra if you have the strings but you can’t do that with a wind band. Coming from a white mining town where there’s no diversity to then being part of a huge ensemble felt right.”
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Beth White (pictured middle left) attends her first Trustee meeting with Orchestras for All
Beth continued: ”But Orchestras for All aren’t traditional. They have guitars, ukuleles and saxophones – far too big a range for me to name! It breaks down that barrier of people thinking you have to play a certain instrument or look a certain way – and no matter what standard of music you are, they’ll write you a part to play.
“Although they play a lot of classical music, they’ve also done pieces in the past that have been composed by members of the orchestra or included synthesisers and videos. I mean, how many people at the age of 14 can say they’ve played at Leeds’ First Direct Arena in an orchestra with lasers and smoke machines?”
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Speaking about the benefits of joining a diverse ensemble, Nick added: “We see musical, personal and social progression as the same thing. You can develop your personal and social skills through music – and you can develop your musical skills through being on podcasts and talking at conferences to boost your confidence!
“We dedicate so much time to our young people and have someone in the team who connects with their parents and guardians to ensure we develop a pathway that’s individual to them. For Beth, progression might mean going to University in Leeds and studying music but for someone else it might mean having the confidence to go to their music lesson.”
But it’s not just about the playing – Nick also highlights the importance of harnessing youth voice across the industry: “We want to get young musicians involved in our youth board and give them the opportunity to become role models for others facing the same challenges as them, so they can see what’s possible. It’s about belonging.”
And after carrying out research for her university course, Beth says that gender equality is still an issue: “I went to Birmingham Conservatoire and questioned a lot of the orchestra members about equality because in 2018, 69 per cent of the musicians in the world’s top 20 orchestras were male. Once I showed people my research, they started asking me, ‘well why shouldn’t more principal musicians be female?’ – it came as a shock.”
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Performative’s new podcast comes after UK-based music education charity, Music Masters, selected 40 organisations to take part in its diversity and inclusion audit tool, I’M IN, late last year.
Rob Adediran, MM’s Executive Director at the time, told DiversityQ: “We were blown away by the response from the sector to the launch of I’M IN. Clearly, organisations ranging in size from small community outfits to our major symphony orchestras are recognising the need to go beyond issuing statements about diversity and start creating inclusive cultures.
“Change starts by taking a hard look at what we are getting wrong and what we are getting right – and I’M IN will help all of the organisations who signed up to do just that.”
National Orchestra for All members
Describing Orchestras for All’s involvement with the tool, Nick Thorne said: “We are proud to have been selected and know we have more work to do in identifying how to break down these barriers.
“We look forward to working with colleagues across the sector to understand how we can better equip ourselves to take meaningful action against inequality through our work.”
