A Tradition in the Making What makes a tradition? Some would say it is when we no longer remember how and when something began. A story is told of an anthropologist living with an isolated tribe in a remote African rain-forest. Part of his work was making recordings of its social and religious ceremonies. The tribe was happy to perform their songs and dances - all except one song. He was told it was exceedingly old and had great religious significance for the tribe. After many months the anthropologist succeeded in persuading the tribe to record the song for him. To his astonishment they intoned a curious but unmistakable version of 'Oh lllY darling Gementine'. Oearly the tnbe had been visited by another explorer several generations ago, who had taught them the song. The circumstances of its introduction to the tribe were subsequently forgotten by succeeding generations. This year's Schools Prom will involve performers, and doubtless young members of the audience, who were born after the very first Schools Prom was presented in 1975. For them, the experience of participating will quickly become part of tradition. For others, pre-Prom days are probably still fresh in the memory! But whether we regard it already as traditional or innovative, the Schools Prom has, in the ten years of its existence, changed the public's awareness of the fruits of music education in this country. Like 'Oementine' its broader meaning has assumed a value much greater than its initiators might have suspected. Some of those initiators are still involved: Larry Westland, now Director of Music for Youth, has been in charge of production since its inception and The Times Educational Supplement, first and still one of its current sponsors. Indeed the whole idea might be said to have come from Times Newspapers Ltd. Derek Jewell (then Publishing Director, and writer and broadcaster on jazz and popular music) wrote in the programme of the 1975 concert: 1t appears, in away, such an obvious idea: a schools prom. There is now so much good music, in such sparkling diversity of styles, being produ in the schools of Britain, it's surprising that tonight's concert is the first oi what we hope will be man\" .. .' Ten years later, that sparkling diversity of good music shows no signs of diminishing - orchestral,
chamber, jazz, wind and brass musics, folk, early music, choral, music theatre and this year, the Schools Prom's first ever gamelan. Perhaps the healthiest sign that this is above all a living tradition is the combination of old and new appearing each year. Aberdeen's renowned Kincorth Waits and Surrey's equally renowned StoneIeigh Youth Orchestra performed in 1976 and also 1983. Kincorth Waits' first appearance, incidentally, led to an invitation to visit the Soviet Union. Numerous groups up and down the country can already be said to be Schools Prom veterans: Cults Percussion Ensemble, EImwood Steelband, Doncaster Youth Jazz Orchestra, Darlington Youth Brass Band, Long Rirlings School, High Wycombe Music Centre, county wind, percussion and orchestral groups from Surrey, CheImer Valley School, HoImfirth High School, Stockport Schools Stagesound, King Edward VI College (Stourbridge) and many others. But magical performances have often come from the most unexpected quarters. I particularly remember the Oeveland String Quartet's captivating performance of Shostakovich's Third Quartet in 1977, the unique sonorities of Long Ridings Junior School's vast classroom orchestra in 1979, Ocho Rios Steelband's festive exuberance in 1980, the 'West End' production number of Wallace Fields Middle School in 1981, Lady Manners School's brilliant and humorous Teddy Bear's Picnic (on four bassoons of all things) in 1982 and the intense simplicity of the Lakes School's classroom compositions the same year. Last year's high spot for me (and doubtless many others) was Walsh Middle School's stunning version of Jerome Kern's The Way You
Look Tonight. Obvious idea it may have been, but few in 1975 could have reckoned with the practical problems of presenting a dozen or so diverse groups in the same concert on a stage designed primarily for large symphony orchestras and massed choirs. It is a tribute to both organisers and the groups themselves that it no longer seems ludicrous, not to say lunatic, to listen in succession to a brass band, choir, chamber ensemble, string group, recorder orchestra, jazz big band, accordion band and symphony orchestra all in the same programme. Tradition might make it accepted, but it doesn't make it any easier. The Schools Prom is probably unique in
by Andrew Peggie
that the audience has no idea what to expect. And the young people who make up the majority of the audience show considerable courage in exposing themselves to a range of musical styles they might not normally have any time for. All this and the size of the place and the TV cameras and the banner-waving supporters must combine to make it an experience of special and memorable qualities for the performers. Visible responsibility for the smooth running of a prom concert falls on the Presenters. That many have returned more than once and have become enthused by the spirit of the Proms, in spite of their unenviable task 'ÂŁranting' the whole occasion, must augur well for the future. The inimitable Antony Hopkins must by now consider himself thoroughly part of the Schools Prom tradition - he has presented and conducted at every concert since the first in 1975. Over the years the concerts have introduced a number of special guests, many of whom have also returned as enthusiastic supporters of all that the Proms stand for. Their contributions have undoubtedly helped add a further dimension to the developing tradition: there can be no greater endorsement of an ensemble's musical ability than its providing the accompaniment to a top soloist. In 1982 that enthusiasm boiled over when Kenny Baker, Don Lusher and Nigel Kennedy, together with the drummer of the Doncaster Jazz Orchestra, got together for a surprise performance of Uzdy Be Good. Supporters can be counted not only among the guests on-stage but among the many companies whose financial help is vital to the success of the Schools Prom. Their names all appear elsewhere in the programme, but particular mention should be made of The Association of Music Industries, Commercial Union Assurance, The Rank Organisation, and The Times Educational Supplement, whose partnership in Music for Youth has done much to establish the tradition and consolidate for the future. Many people will already know that the Schools Prom rests on a much larger and even more varied youth music festival, the National Festival of Music for Youth. In a sense, the Schools Prom grew out of a particularly successful National Festival in 1974. Until 1982, however, it was, strictly
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