This June, pupils from Play On are our Young Musicians of the Month!

Our Young Musicians of the Month are the fantastic pupils who’ve been joining Musinc each week for Play On. Play On is a music club based at Middlesbrough Town Hall in partnership with Abingdon Primary School and Newport Primary School.

Young people in our club are learning to play the cello or the clarinet in an ensemble setting, as well as exploring different types of music, with an emphasis on classical music.

We spoke to a few of the pupils to ask them about how it’s been learning a new instrument, their progress, and their favourite pieces of music – in their own words.

Layla who plays clarinet said “It’s fun, because of the different types of music we play”. She enjoys playing Ode to Joy by Beethoven, Easy Streets and Djembe Jam. “It’s been good [to play in a group]” she continued, “I took an instrument home at break and played to my sister –  she said it was good”.

When Layla’s guardian received the news that sessions would be continuing throughout the year, she commented: “I’m so pleased… she’s got the sparkle back in her eye!”

Aisha plays cello and spoke about how she’s found the sessions so far:  “It’s good, but it’s hard – some of it is medium level, but some of it is hard.  We go over the same music again and again so that we’re revising it but we learn new music at the same time, so it makes it easier every time. Cos if we just went over it once we’ll forget it!”

“Mam’s heard me play once when she came to pick me up, she thought it was good and she said she couldn’t do that cos it looked hard! [The music we’ve been playing here] is very loud and fast most of the time, it can sometimes be hard and sometimes be easy… and it can sometimes be at different paces. I like Active Ants, one of the first ones we played.”

When asked how music makes her feel, and what it means to her, Aisha replied: “it makes me feel happy, excited and energetic. [Music means] joy, it means relaxing and having fun.”

Eninla who also plays the cello commented on her progress at the sessions: “I’ve learnt how to place fingers on the cello, how to position it properly. I really like [playing] the A Day in the Life of an Octopus and also The Wriggly Worm-Stew. I’m taking my cello home tonight – I’m excited but also scared because I’ve got a sister. She thinks it’s giant so she’s going to help me carry it. She listened to me play before and thinks it’s cool, but she kept on laughing when I made a mistake. My parents also like it.”

“When I first started I was so confused because I didn’t know what I was doing, I didn’t know what I signed up for and I was uncomfortable with the positions – but now I’m just getting used to it! I’m not really a fan [of classical music] but I’m starting to kind of like it. I usually listen to rock, pop and hip hop.”

We asked what she thought of the differences between these genres: “some [classical pieces] are fast, gentle and smooth, and go at the same pace, but rock and hip hop is so different, it changes pitches and everything so it’s so confusing, and goes from one song to another – classical is longer.”

Finally, when she spoke about how it has felt coming to the sessions, she added: “it’s felt good, I think of music as like a stress-reliever to me, because normally I just go on my phone and listen to music on there.”

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