Ensembles and Choirs
APPLICATION
Once you have decided which ensemble you would like to join, click on the link below and complete the form. Your details will be passed to the leader of that ensemble and you should hear from them within a week (during term time).
Ensemble flyer 2024/25 below.
Please note choirs at Furness Centre have moved to Queens Park Community School (Thursdays) from September 2024.
Ensembles Flyer 2024-2025 Web Version-PDF.pdfBMS Ensembles are for children and young people who live or go to school in Brent.
If your child does not fit these criteria, they may still be eligible to join an ensemble, but may be asked to pay a higher rate.
FEES – The fee for new members joining from September for the 2023-2024 academic year is £99. Fees are due at the point of enrolment.
The Benefits of Playing or Singing in an Ensemble
Musical Benefits Include:
• It’s fun! Hearing and feeling how the music you’re playing sits within all the other ingredients in the piece (melody/harmony/rhythm) is deeply satisfying.
• The chance to play with more advanced musicians - other young people as well as the professional musicians running the session.
• Motivation to practise more - either specifically for the music you’re playing in the ensemble or more widely to catch up with more advanced players.
• Increased playing stamina -sessions are longer than individual lessons and most private practice!
• Improved confidence in sight-reading/using notation.
• Improved listening skills – hearing other sections rehearse and learning from the feedback they receive as well as learning how to listen to other parts whilst playing your own line.
• Exposure to wider repertoire - music which you couldn’t/wouldn’t play or sing in an individual lesson.
• Access to a range of professional musicians – not just your own teacher.
Non-musical Benefits Include:
• Satisfaction and enjoyment of being part of a team.
• Social element within rehearsals but especially during break-times and performance events.
Transferable Skills Include:
• Strengthened team-working skills - collaboration, compromise, listening, arguing your case
• Learning the value of working as part of a team. Ensemble music-making allows participants to experience the benefits of being involved in something which is greater than the sum of its parts. It offers evidence that individual contributions can have a greater effect or impact when collaborating with others.
• Learning to get along with new people, both peers and professionals. This can increase confidence and independence and builds resilience for other situations which are outside of the day-to-day.
• Personal responsibility – part of being a responsible member of the group means making sure that you have all the equipment you need and that you are prepared for the session.
• Developing leadership skills - opportunity for section leaders to take on responsibility for the morale, focus and discipline of their section