The Cyfarthfa Band in its period of grace

The Cyfarthfa Band flourished between the mid 1840s and the late 1870s. It was founded earlier and lasted longer, but it was in this period that it was one of the greatest bands the world had known. Such a bold claim is credible because we know so much about it. No other band has left a trail of sources that reveal its intimate history so vividly. There are documents, pictures, the original instruments and, critically, the hand written music from which the musicians played. It provides a window into the life of a distant and unique musical institution we even know with a good degree of precision what it sounded like. The music is hand written and bespoke for the individual players. It would have made no sense for the parts to have been written in any way other than to fit the style and competences of the people who had to play them: as such, it comes close to an autobiography of the practices that created music making of unprecedented sophistication in Wales. The band was an outsider to what became known in Britain as the amateur brass band ‘movement’ , even though its famously successful appearance at the National Brass Band Contest at the Crystal Palace in 1860 might suggest the contrary. It didn’t subscribe to the practices and musical values that typified Victorian working class brass bands elsewhere. It was unique and isolated, with its own idiomatic musical identity and exercising values that served a very particular set of musical and cultural purposes

Pedagogies of composing

This chapter explores essential pedagogical questions for music teachers to reflect upon when teaching composing in the classroom. Starting with the historical and contextual background of composing in English schools, this chapter summarises some of the current challenges teachers face, such as confidence and assessment requirements. Drawing on previous research, this chapter goes on to outline the different ways composing can be taught and learnt with four pedagogical approaches being identified and discussed: composing as (1) creativity, (2) self-expression, (3) craft, and (4) cultural knowledge. Under these four headings, their different pedagogical aims and ideologies are presented, along with examples of practice and the limitations of each pedagogy. This chapter aims not to create a hierarchy of composing pedagogy, but to encourage the reader to reflect upon the place, purpose, and suitability of different approaches. Following the discussions of the four pedagogical approaches, an integrated model of composing pedagogy is theorised that acknowledges the interconnected relationship between craft and creativity. By combining the four composing pedagogies, this chapter asks the reader to view progression and planning for composing as long term. The model acts as a visual aid for music educators to reflect on their own teaching and expand their own knowledge and practice of composing pedagogy

Reimagining the one-to-one studio

This chapter recognises the centrality of one-to-one teaching in the conservatoire, past and present, critically reflecting on the role of this pedagogical and professional relationship in the development of emerging artists in the twenty-first century. Following a summary of current issues and debates surrounding this pillar of conservatoire learning, the chapter explores the role of conservatoires in promoting best practices, to facilitate optimal conditions for positive outcomes in the one-to-one teaching space. To illuminate possible approaches, the chapter considers outcomes from a research project on transforming performance pedagogies, funded by the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE). 1 By examining the experiences of students and staff from the Royal College of Music (RCM), the chapter discusses whether the innovative use of digital technology can evolve and enhance one-to-one teaching in the conservatoire. The chapter concludes by proposing that the preservation of tradition and the innovation of teaching practice are not diametrically opposed; rather, today’s conservatoires need robust frameworks to facilitate reflective one-to-one teaching at the intersection of tradition and innovation

Bands as musical subcultures: cultures, practices, and influences

This chapter examines the place of military, brass, and show bands in nineteenth-century music culture and their relationship to the classical music mainstream. It concludes that each of these domains was related to, but separate from, art music culture, its institutions, repertoires, and practices. It argues that bands were subcultures the identities of which were internally formed and shared through structural networks. Obvious structural similarities defined each type of band—their instrumentations, the way performers were recruited, and their purposes in the musical life of the period, for example. These distinctions created value systems that served to define their performance idioms. There was mobility from these subcultures to the classical music mainstream. For example, almost all brass and wind players were trained and gained their formidable musical experience in military bands. In the first part of the period this included players who had never enrolled in the military but were hired as freelancers by regiments as needs arose. It followed that the performance practices of bands, including brass bands that in many respects were replications of military models, caused performance conventions to be transferred to aspects of art music. The chapter also touches on the organological issues that were shared between bands and orchestras, in a period when almost all wind instruments were the subject of major design developments that led to both gradual and acute reforms to their music idioms

The healthy musician

This chapter focuses on the importance of health and well-being in musical careers, reflecting on the conservatoire’s role in advocating for healthy and sustainable practices across education and industry. It reviews existing knowledge in the field, focusing on the health benefits as well as challenges of being a musician. Informed by this evidence, it introduces and critiques initiatives designed to optimise health within the conservatoire through curriculum-based and extracurricular activities and support networks. It also highlights the roles the conservatoires have played in shaping health initiatives and knowledge across the wider industry, including the leadership of cross-sector networks designed to share good practice and conducting pioneering research examining what it means to be a healthy musician

Perspective: chapter 3

I was Managing Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) between 2016 and 2024, and, prior to that, I worked at the Philharmonia Orchestra and Royal Northern College of Music. Alongside my fiduciary responsibility for overseeing the RPO’s wider business, my role encompassed artistic planning (in conjunction with the RPO’s Music Director Vasily Petrenko) and shaping the strategy for the Orchestra’s education and community engagement work. As an orchestra that receives under half the level of public funding compared to its UK counterparts, the RPO has to remain tenacious and fleet-of-foot to adapt its business model in order to maintain earned income and ensure that its artistic and education programmes evolve to remain relevant to the diverse range of communities the Orchestra serves. I had the privilege to be a member of the Royal College of Music (RCM)’s Council between 2020 and 2024, providing a direct insight into the challenges and opportunities that face today’s young musicians

Personal realities I: what makes an artist?

In Chapters 2 and 3, we introduce views on two central questions for the contemporary conservatoire: What makes an artist? How does the conservatoire link with the profession? We present perspectives that were gathered from interviews and conservations with a small group of staff from the RCM community, with the aim of catalysing thought and reflection. We recognise – and celebrate – the diversity of potential responses to these questions, many of which will be explored throughout the remainder of the volume

Dialogues with musical histories: learning from the past

A distinctive feature of the RCM’s education and training of musicians is the hands-on experience they enjoy with various tangible objects relating to music’s art and craft. These items encompass more than musical instruments, portraits, images, engravings, sketches, photographs, busts, and concert programmes, as well as archives pertaining to individuals, ensembles, and organisations. In enabling both the RCM community and the general public access to these materials, the College continues to encourage and promote ‘the cultivation of music as art throughout the world’, as outlined in its founding charter of 1883. This chapter outlines circumstances behind the acquisition of such collection materials, charting interactions from which students benefit. We consider how such encounters synthesise post-war developments in object-based learning and arts education practices. Two case studies demonstrate the breadth of these materials and their current relevance: the first predates the College’s founding and considers items from a canonical period in musical history, highlighting aspects of the reception of Austro-German high Classicism; the second begins in the 1930s as the RCM celebrated its 50th anniversary, using evidence from personal archives to portray the fostering of musical friendships and collaborations, amidst portfolio careers similar to those currently pursued

César Franck’s early piano works: documenting the implicit

The discovery of César Franck’s Op. 7 Souvenirs d’Aix-la-Chapelle (1843) encourages a fresher, more complete understanding of his early piano works. A look at other solo piano works from this period — the Op. 3 Églogue (1842), Op. 5 Caprice (1843) and the Op. 9 Ballade (1844) —allows a re-assessment of his compositional processes. Elements of compositional practice found in the young César Franck’s output can be seen in his late period, often implied but never adequately presented in previous scholarship. The ‘musical style’ of César Franck will be addressed, as found in literature and through personal research, with several elements of his compositional habits compartmentalised, defined and located in both early and late piano works. Using the terms created for this thesis, a detailed examination will be made of the aforementioned four early piano works, with location of elements such as Cathedral of Sound (large registral sonority, inactivity of harmony and loose rhythmic pulse) and Infinite Melody (static tonality, repetition of scalic phrases from a weak beat). It will be discovered that certain aspects of assumed stylistic tendencies in César Franck are misinterpreted, such as his idiosyncratic use of basses misconstrued as originating from his time at the organ, or at least misinformed, such as the quarrelling opposing sides regarding the dilemma of his character in music, whether spiritual or erotic. While the early piano works never elevated to the level of his late triptychs, their transparency in harmonic and formal processes as well as treatment of thematic material allows for clear dissection of his compositional style, many elements of which can then be transferred to his final works for a more holistic approach to his output