All together now

National youth ensembles have been part of our cultural landscape for decades, and many readers will have fond memories of their own experiences performing in such groups. I myself remember an open day with the National Youth Orchestra in Kettering (longer ago than I’d like to admit), in which novice musicians had the opportunity to shadow existing members. The day nurtured my fledging understanding and appreciation of orchestral music.

But what if your musical interests lie outside the classical canon? The National Youth Jazz Orchestra and National Youth Wind Orchestra have both been in existence since the late sixties, and offer lively platforms for young musicians keen to explore alternative ensemble repertoire. There’s also the National Youth Brass Band – as well as children’s iterations of these groups for much younger musicians. However, until very recently, there was no national group for folk musicians. The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS) saw an opportunity to remedy this oversight.

COMMUNITY WORKING

It might have been tempting to rush straight in, appoint a team and begin the auditions, but EFDSS education director Rachel Elliott wanted to have the backing of the sector, and for the ensemble’s inception to be informed by rigorous research. In 2013, she commissioned a consultation with musicians, educators and organisations that worked within folk music. The response was extremely positive, with 34% of the participants under 25. The organisation then secured funding from Arts Council England, which is fixed until 2018.

The next step was to analyse the existing youth folk music groups, which would provide a basis for a national ensemble. ‘In 2015, we did a mapping survey to audit youth folk music provision to see what organisations were already running,’ says Sarah Jones, the ensemble’s programme manager. ‘We don’t want to drain talent away, we want to support these groups. It’s important to us that this is a two-way process. We worked with Sound Connections, who produced various reports on the state of folk music education provision. We also set up an advisory working party who helped us write the vision and mission statement ahead of recruiting an artistic director.’

STARTING OUT

Sam Sweeney was appointed to that post in October 2015, having had a successful career as a fiddler in touring folk band Bellowhead. ‘The interview was the first interview that I’d ever had; I became a gigging musician straight from school,’ says Sweeney. ‘So this is my first proper job – it’s brilliant.’

The NYFE advertised sampler days that were offered around England, says Sweeney, ‘from Exeter to Gateshead, and everywhere in between. All musicians aged 14 to 18 were invited to join in. We taught the students a little folk tune and then they each performed a short audition piece. We had more than 100 musicians taking part, which was really good considering that folk music is a minority interest, at least at the moment. From there, we selected 30 students who came to London for another audition.’

The group was then reduced to the final 17 musicians: six violins, two violas, a cello, two piano accordions, a melodeon, three guitars and two flutes. ‘We were open to anything, as long as it was an acoustic instrument,’ says Sweeney. ‘It’s a diverse group: some who have been playing folk music since they were in nappies and some who are new to the genre but very enthusiastic. I was looking for individuals. Above all, I wanted young musicians who had personality. The ones that we chose did have something sparky about their music making. We also wanted a mix of girls and boys, and a broad geographical range. It didn’t quite work out evenly – Leeds and Manchester were very well attended, but some of the other sampler days were quieter.’

CREATIVE ATMOSPHERE

For those musicians who come from a traditional orchestral background, the NYFE rehearsals offer a change from the norm. It would be virtually impossible to formally arrange music to suit the group’s instrumentation – and, more importantly, that method would not be true to the genre. ‘You have to be able to write your own music if you want to be a working folk musician,’ explains Sweeney. ‘We want to give our students the tools to forge a career, should they want to go down that path. We are playing instrumental English music and there are tune collections and manuscripts that date from the 1600s to the 1900s – so there’s an infinite repertoire.

‘We introduce these traditional melodies to the students and then run workshops on how to create full arrangements. I teach a simple tune from a book and then we work out how to make dots on paper into a six-minute piece of music. So we’re not writing the music for them – we are showing them how to do it themselves.’

The NYFE had its first residential course in October, and the ensemble bonded straight away. (‘At Christmas they met up – not timetabled – and made music together. It’s fantastic’, says Sweeney.) There will be four residential courses a year, and the group has its first concert in London on 12 April. Sweeney expresses an interest in collaborative work with some of the more established national youth ensembles. ‘It’s great to be an official National Youth Music Organisation [NYMO]. It’s all still new but I do hope that some of the other NYMO members will come to our concert – and hopefully be impressed!’

The ensemble is already starting to think about its next intake. At the end of the summer, the oldest students – those who have turned 18 – will move on, and the existing musicians will have to reapply. It is thought that between half and two thirds of the group will stay, and the numbers will then be made up by new recruits. ‘I’m not really looking forward to that part of the job,’ says Sweeney. ‘They are all so brilliant! But folk music doesn’t lend itself to large groups – the ideal size is three! – so I think that 17 is probably as large as we can go.’ Sampler days begin in May; teachers with students who may have an interest or aptitude for folk music are encouraged to pass on the details.

‘I thought I’d be a gigging musician forever,’ concludes Sweeney, ‘But working with the NYFE is the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done.’