National Youth Choirs of Great Britain
National Youth Choirs of Great Britain plays a vital role in keeping Great Britain’s reputation for musical excellence alive, and kindling a passion for singing in young people. NYC offers the highest performance and training standards to bring young people into contact with the repertoire, quality of work, ethos and pleasure of choral music.
Introducing Mike Brewer OBE - Musical Director, National Youth Choirs of Great Britain
"We want to give opportunities to people from different backgrounds."
Mike Brewer has been Musical Director of the National Youth Choirs since 1983. A gold medallist double bass player, he tours the world working with choirs and teachers, and as a guest choir conductor. Mike is a consultant to more than 20 UK choirs, including the world-famous girls’ choir Cantamus. He was awarded an OBE in 1995.
“I took up the piano aged five, but gave it up at 11 because I didn’t want to practise, then at 14, I discovered Jazz and formed my own Jazz band called, embarrassingly, The Buccaneers. I learnt the different instruments in order to write music for the band and took up double bass at 17. That got me in to the Midland Youth Orchestra – I could hardly play it, but they were short of bass players. It wasn’t until university that I fell for choirs. At that point I became very excited about choirs and what they could do. My father wanted me to get a proper job and for that reason I went into teaching, but I wish I had taken the plunge into performing at an earlier age. have loved teaching and still do so when working with choirs, and am very fulfi lled with performing now I’m retired from full-time work.
The aims of the National Youth Choirs – excellence and access – are in conflict in some ways. The problem with the fact that a majority of singers come from private schools is that it’s self-fulfilling. You get more cultural opportunities there. Our aim is very much to change that spectrum. We want to give opportunities to people from different backgrounds. What does singing in a choir give young people? Musical understanding, reading, maths and verbal skills, memory, good posture and breathing, working to a distant goal, teamwork, leadership – the list is endless.
It’s the pure experience of the power of music that is life enhancing, and the fact that it’s achieved together. The great thing about singing, as opposed to playing an instrument, is that we are communicating in a very direct way. You have to look the audience in the eye and say, ‘Here I am’. It gets over all the adolescent stuff very quickly. We don’t allow negatives from teachers. We don’t want to put people down. Trusting the children is very important. There’s a lot of trust and because the young people know they have a voice it’s a happy environment. They just get on with it.”
Case Study: Laura Attridge, 19 (NYC)
Laura Attridge, 19, from York, has been involved with the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain for five years, working her way up from the through the training choirs to the main choir. She was a member of the NYCGB from the age of 14. Laura’s association with NYCGB continues to this day through her membership of the NYC’s semi-professional chamber choir, Laudibus since March 2007.
“I have always, always been singing. The story that my parents like to tell people is when I was four and I wouldn’t stop singing the Queen of the Night aria from The Magic Flute. I started having singing lessons and doing grades as soon as I started secondary school. I have been lucky to have been very well supported and to have gone to a private school which had very good facilities.
“I was 14 when I auditioned for the National Youth Choirs. I wanted a more challenging choir than my school choir. It’s been amazing. Twice a year I go into this incredible atmosphere with some of my best friends who really understand the way I work as a musician. And everyone comes from such different backgrounds. There are medics, geographers, people who are still at school and don’t know what to do with their lives, people who are dedicated to singing.
“The fact there are these tiers from the training choirs to the main choir is good. It’s like going from primary school to secondary school to university. You feel like you have really outgrown it but then you go to the next one and feel challenged again. There’s a real sense of progression. The first time I got a solo part was just incredible for me. I took part in the European tour in 2006 and it was wonderful to know I had advanced enough to be given that opportunity.
“The choir is a huge part of my life. I can’t imagine life without it. It’s my dream to be on stage but singing is not like the violin where you know you can get to the standard you need to if you work hard. My voice might not keep getting better.
“If I went to music college and I got to the point where I wasn’t going to get any better, then I’d have wasted three years of my life. I didn’t want that to happen. That’s why I’m studying English Literature at Newcastle. It will give me the sensible fallback if music doesn’t work out. But the voice is what I really love. Singing with the choir when everyone is on the ball and everyone’s feeling it, it’s wonderful. It’s like a physical glow.”
Visit the official website for the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain
www.nycgb.net
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