Highlight 1: Day 1
Always a good start if one of your highlights is your first day. – Normally it’s a day of nerves and anxiety but not at Berkshire Maestros! The first challenge we were given was to mend a selection of broken instruments. We were shown a shelf full of Glockenspiel keys, a box of screws, some screwdrivers and a cupboard full of Glockenspiel bases – cue the first debate between some of our colleagues (were these glockenspiels or xylophones). Having never met before, Lauren & I were quickly able to bond as new team members, whilst putting the instruments back together. We were even involved in the latest office joke when Lee (Facilities Manager) came down and asked why the newly fixed Glockenspiels were missing keys. Instruments are not his speciality!
Highlight 2: Steel Pan Works
We arrived at 9.00am on the dot for day 2, eager with diaries in hand! – These diaries have been glued to us so far. We had been told that since it was the start of term, today would be jam-packed full of meetings. Not the most exciting day in the world but necessary all the same. The day kicked off with an introductory meeting, before staff split for their different area meetings. At this point, we were accosted by an excited and enthusiastic Sarah (Marketing & Business Development Manager) who insisted to the CEO that we absolutely must get involved with a steel pan workshop, which was going on down the corridor. He agreed and feeling slightly nervous, off we went. The workshop was being run by a company called Culture Mix, a Maestros Hub Partner, who had come in to give all the music teachers a taste of the sorts of sessions they normally run in schools. Their 45 minute session was incredible and we were able to learn the intro and outro to ‘Can you feel it’ by Jackson 5, which was then stuck in our heads for the rest of the day – “GG D G, GG D G”. I hope all meeting day’s are like this.
Highlight 3: YouTube
Still on a high from the beginning of the week, day 3 was found to be quite different. The office was exceptionally quiet with the majority of the team away at a joint conference with the Oxfordshire Music Hub. This meant that we had a day spent getting well acquainted with the office database system, the photocopier and the orchestra filing system. It may not sound particularly interesting – especially compared to learning the steel drums – but at lunchtime we visited YouTube and revealed some hidden gems from our past. More team bonding!!
Highlight 4: ‘First Access Programme’
The next day we were pleased that our cars were not the only ones in the car park and it wasn’t long before the office was back to normal with familiar faces and a gentle buzz. Every day so far has been different and today was no exception. We spent the morning with the new Intern-teachers (who were sat like rabbits in the headlights) learning about the ‘First Access Programme’ which Berkshire Maestros runs. – First Access is where music teachers go into schools and work with a whole year group delivering high quality musical lessons over two terms, with the option to continue. They have a 45 minute session once a week and it means that all children are given the opportunity to learn an instrument for free. Peter and James (Deputy Head and Area Senior Leader) were not ones to ease us in gently, and immediately had us on our feet, chanting in unison with actions included. Although we felt silly at first, it actually became a lot of fun and the team ended the session singing in a round! It was so much fun and a great way to start the day.
This was possibly our favourite day so far! Louise had roped us in to support the Berkshire Youth Choir at the BBC Singers workshop. Lauren has previous experience with sight-reading
and singing in choirs, so was not quite as fazed as me when we found ourselves sitting in the soprano section performing Mozart’s Requiem in D minor. She chose not to tell me which section we were sat in until it was too late – I don’t think she realised that I have never had any experience reading music in a choir and my only experience with singing is in the car! Even pronouncing the Latin words was proving difficult. Then, to really throw us out of our comfort zone, we were split up (stood alongside the Alumni in order to help us learn the piece quicker). After the first hour we were looking less like Penguins who had arrived in Africa and were becoming increasingly proud of how well we were doing. By the end of the session the choir sounded amazing and it was time for lunch. Safe to say, the mixture of singing with the BBC Singers and the copious amounts of cake and cookies afterwards soon set Lauren on a high – even a stair race with Louise (Head of Voice) took place!! Every day at maestros has been different and this gap year has definitely started on a high! I wonder what next week will bring - Watch this space!