Online Music Camp launched by Laidlaw Music Centre
The Laidlaw Music Centre at the University of St. Andrews is poised to launch its flagship outreach project, StAMP - an acronym for St. Andrews Music Participation - with an online brass camp on 11, 18 and 25 July. Open to worldwide participants of all ages and abilities, delegates can play with the University’s Ensemble-in-Residence: The Wallace Collection, plus a range of experts and acclaimed soloists.
Marco Blaauw (trumpet) and Christine Chapman (horn), from the Cologne based Ensemble Musikfabrik, will lead special ensemble performances, whilst Ian Bousfield (former Principal Trombone of the London Symphony Orchestra and Vienna Philharmonic) will share his insights into solo performance and play for participants in a final virtual concert.
The camp will include sessions from renowned brass experts Trevor Herbert (Royal College of Music), Arnold Myers (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) and Peter Holmes (European Music Archaeology Project), and feature stimulating discussions aimed at simplifying often over complicated ideas about how brass instruments work and how we play them. There will be presentations on new research into the archaeology of brass instruments, along with their place in society and culture, and participants will be able to question and interact with tutors, as well as with each other and everyone will also be able to record a contribution to the final virtual concert.
Notably, the brass camp also invites any child from Fife, Clackmannanshire, Perth and Kinross, and Tayside to start learning the trumpet at home, for which participants will have a polycarbonate trumpet delivered to their address to start their ‘Discovering Brass’ learning via a pioneering method of teaching developed by The Wallace Collection, after which arrangements will be made for anyone who wishes to continue learning at no cost.
Made possible by an anonymous philanthropic gift, StAMP and the Brass Camp is designed to incorporate many coalescing strands within the broad aim of raising aspiration, attainment and well-being by providing opportunities for joyful music making.
Ellen Thomson, Head of Outreach, University of St. Andrews said, “The StAMP Brass Camp is a fantastic opportunity for local children to take their first step in music. By receiving an instrument and lessons completely free of charge, we hope that StAMP will help young people focus on something positive during this challenging period. It’s a perfect time to learn an instrument and develop a new skill in a supportive and nurturing digital environment.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Bede Williams, Head of Instrumental Studies, University of St Andrews, also commented, “An exciting new world of learning music is opening up before our eyes and ears; the future is bright!”
Concluding, Professor John Wallace, Honorary Professor of Brass, University of St. Andrews, observed, “There is so much that we have all learnt recently about how online music making can be fun and rewarding. It is going to be so exciting to have participants from around the World learning together, and I am absolutely certain that though it won’t be anything like playing together in person, we will all find it an altogether different experience and thrill.”
For more information and to register to attend visit: www.stamp.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/brasscamp/
.gif)
