During the week, I participated in the National Youth Orchestra Inspire String Ensembles. The National Youth Orchestra is a collective of the best young musicians aged 13-18 from the UK.
The inspire program is a way of allowing musicians to develop their musical life and for musicians who maybe are under-represented in their local areas. During this residency I played the viola which is a string instrument which looks similar to a violin but is bigger and lower pitch. This was a 3-day residency in Blackpool where a collective of musicians came together to create and play spectacular repertoire.
The musicians were split into their different family groups like woodwind and strings. The 3 days consisted of intensive rehearsals and different activities such as sectionals, tutti rehearsals, sound meditation and conducting in mini ensembles. At the end we did a sharing performance where we performed the repertoire that we had rehearsed. I really enjoyed this experience as I could meet a large number of great inspiring musicians from all over the country.