10 The National Festival of Music for Youth By Larry Westland Director, National Festival of Music for Youth. Sponsors: The Association of Musical Instrument Industries The Electronic Organ Distributors Association The Piano Manufacturers Association The Times Educational Supplement Regional Auditions presented by BBC Local Radio The rich harvest of music at these Schools Prom concerts provides a public summary of the best and newest in British youth music. Finding the newest and best may sound a tall order, but The Times Educational Supplement, joint sponsors of the event, are also joint sponsors of the National Festival of Music for Youth - an immense threeday festival of young talent from all over the country. It is from the National Festival that the Schools Prom performers have been selected. Some ten thousand young musicians took part in the preliminary stages of. the Festival, of which 2400 appeared at the National event in Croydon in July - 1000 ofthese are performing at the Royal Albert Hall. The Schools Prom is an added bonus to the assessment of developments in young people's music, which the Festival covers in greater depth. Both events, however, reflect the success of the emphasis on music as something to be enjoyed and the triumphant flowering of talents and styles this has helped to create. Since its founding in 1971 by the Association of Musical Instrument Industries, the Festival, now in its ninth year, has favoured a largely noncompetitive approach to youth music. The success of this philosophy can be seen in the astonishing breadth of repertoire and high standards of performance displayed at the National Festival. This emphasis on music as something to be enjoyed has had, over the years, a marked effect on performer
initiative, imaginative choice of material and performing morale. The concept of youth ensemble music as a community activity in which all may participate is at the very roots of the Festival's success, notably in its encouragment of new music composed with the special needs of young performers in mind, and not simply for the purpose of displaying competitive qualities. Freedom from the "set piece" and from the need to win above all else has, for many years, motivated a more adventurous approach to both repertoire and performance. This deliberate move towards experimentation embraces new compositions, fresh idioms and new techniques in both teaching and presentation. Much of this imaginative and innovative work will be heard at these three concerts, some for various practical reasons will not. One such group is the glorious performers of Cerddorion Osbwyn Wyddel from Harlech, breaking completely new ground with the colourful presentation of medieval music, dance and traditional Welsh songs. Another group from the Weston Park Boys School in Southampton impressed the Festival audience and adjudicators alike with their complex patterns of electronic music. So too the wizardry of the tiny musicians from Ambleside County First School, amazing their audience with imaginative and gripping performances of percussion improvisations. Over the three days of the Festival, works were presented by 19 mixed instrumental ensembles, 8 jazz and big bands, 7 brass bands, 12 chamber music groups, 14 school and country youth orchestras, 6 wind bands and 13 recorder ensembles. Of the 154 different works presented at the Festival, at least ten were new compositions. Nowhere in the Festival was the phenomenal development in school music more clearly to be seen than in the Chamber Music class on Saturday, July 15. It was music that surpassed anything ever heard at the Festival before, and fully illustrated the standards of British school music that are the envy of music educators in Europe and the United States. The Festival ended on a triumphant note on the Sunday with thrilling performances from orchestras from Northampton, South Nottinghamshire, Watford and Brighton who gave a remarkable performance of the Mozart Bassoon Concerto with young bassoonist Simon Couzens. The three-day Festival in July was stretched to breaking point and with the number and quality of entries, it would have been possible to have mounted a week-long event. Plans for 1979 include extending the National event from three to five days and providing a greater number of regional venues for the preliminary stages of the Festival. BBC Local Radio have announced their intention to present the regional auditions of the Festi val in the S pring of 1979, and it is hoped that this move wiU make it easier for even more schools to take part. For 1979 we are making provisions for increasing the numbers taking part in the National event to at least 3500 young musicians. Details and entry forms for the Festival are distributed through local authority education departments and through BBC Local Radio stations. All of us connected with the National Festival wish you an enjoyable and exciting evening at the Schools Prom, and hope that these two events will clearly show the importance of nurturing and encouraging the musical talent of our younger generation.