The volunteer writing this feature remembers playing in a town youth orchestra many years ago. Internationally renowned concert pianist Peter Donohue was invited to play the Schumann piano concerto with the orchestra. It’s an experience that has never been forgotten and shows the importance of listening to each other and working together. It’s the type of musical opportunity that feels rare for young ensemble players these days.

Locally in Haslemere, pupils from different schools are being offered the chance to enjoy a similar experience of performing together in a new collaboration - Haslemere Festival Youth Music. This is a new joint partnership between Highfield School and the Haslemere Festival and is open to all local schools.

This is Haslemere spoke with Highfield to find out more. How timely that our conversation took place just days after the TV’s favourite choir master, Gareth Malone, wrote an op-ed for The Independent Society of Musicians where he points out, “Access to music in school has become a postcode lottery. … You cannot recruit your way out of a music teacher shortage if the children who might have become those teachers were never taught music in the first place. The crisis doesn’t just reduce provision today, it manufactures its own future.”

Gareth’s piece is rather depressing, however, Highfield School told us they are stepping in to create opportunities for pupils at local schools to join forces no matter their grade level. String, brass, woodwind, percussion and recorder players will be taught by professional musicians, rehearse together and perform in a gala concert at Haslemere Hall next May, side by side with professionals including The Royal Military School of Music as part of the Haslemere Festival programme.

Professional musicians in the area recognise the need to teach music in school and they do not see enough pupils coming through and playing music together in the three counties of Surrey, West Sussex and Hampshire that border Haslemere. If young musicians do not play together, they lose the chance to advance their music to a high level. For this reason, Highfield has created an opportunity for young musicians to join together, enhance their music making and fill a large gap in service provision.

Highfield acknowledges that the independent school sector has the benefit of specialist music teachers and lots of opportunities to perform together. Generally state schools just do not have comparable resources for classical music ensembles. There is a very clear need to do more in our area to help promote music making.

Highfield School's Head, Mrs Suzannah Cryer, is very supportive of performing arts and also has a very proactive Director of Music, Jessica Harman. Recently, Jessica wrote a feature about the future of our orchestras beginning with our children. She wrote, “When children are learning an instrument, one of the things that is so brilliant about playing in an ensemble is that it is not about you. It is about the overall sound and understanding how your part fits within the whole piece. Sometimes you might be playing something that seems quite boring to you, but when you put it with everybody else, you realise that you might be playing the bass part and underpinning the whole thing. Being one small cog in a much bigger machine is often what gives them that lovely buzz at the end of a concert.”

Jess is keen to bring together a wider group of young musicians across state and private sectors. She has personally invited local primary and secondary state schools to join a new local orchestra. So far, Beacon Hill Primary School, Camelsdale Primary, St Bartholomew’s School and Liphook Juniors have all signed up.

Jessica Harman said: “We hear concerns about the future of orchestras, but their future begins with the opportunities we give children now. Haslemere is such a wonderful area for music-making and we want to ensure the tradition transfers to the youngest members of our community. If a child never gets the chance to play with other musicians, how will they discover what an orchestra can mean to them? That’s why we’ve made room for recorder players as well as orchestral instrumentalists. We want more children to experience making music together, whatever stage they’re at, and to feel that the orchestra is somewhere they belong.”

The orchestra is being led by local music teacher Sarah Craven. She has arranged the music so that players from grade 1 to grade 8 have their own parts to play and they will all contribute to the overall sound. Sectional rehearsals will be led by visiting professionals. These include Helen Downham guiding the string players, Matt Gunner mentoring the brass and percussion section and Sarah working with the woodwind section.

Highfield values the support of professional musicians from The Royal Military School of Music (RMSM) which trains British Army musicians and bandmasters. They will be mentoring a soloist from each school to perform in the Haslemere Festival Gala Concert next May. And, they’ll be there too in person playing alongside the youngsters at Haslemere Hall.

Sarah Craven has planned a great repertoire including The Traitors’ theme tune, music from Pirates of The Caribbean and The March of The Toreadors from Carmen. Today, in their first concert, parents saw their children perform in an orchestra alongside professional musicians. And, an added bonus was a marching band performance by RMSM. It was an absolutely brilliant day. Maybe the children on hearing the professional musicians are wondering if one day they too might pursue a career in music? And! Don't worry if you missed out on perfroming today, there is still space for young players to join the programme!

Adrian Stent, artistic director of Haslemere Festival told This is Haslemere, “By bridging the gap between state and independent sectors and giving young musicians the chance to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with professionals, Haslemere Festival Youth Music is helping to ensure that the joy of orchestral playing continues for generations to come. Haslemere Festival is proud to partner with Highfield on this exciting initiative, and we can’t wait to see the results of this collaboration in the Haslemere Festival Youth Music Gala Concert in May 2027.”

This is an ambitious collaboration and the hope is that Highfield School will enable local young musicians to meet regularly and work towards a Haslemere Festival Youth Orchestra that will welcome more new players over time. There are also plans down the line for a Haslemere Festival Youth Choir and a Haslemere Festival Recorder Ensemble. There is no cost for any of the pupils to take part although parents/guardians will be required to buy a ticket for the Haslemere Festival Gala Concert.

It does all require financial support and the organisers asked us to convey special thanks to the Haslemere Challice Community Fund, The Royal Military School of Music and Tesco Stronger Starts for their support. It goes without saying that the Haslemere Festival and Highfield School would love to hear from you (email jharman@highfieldschool.com) if you’d like to support this brilliant youth music project!