Start at the very beginning: Behind the scenes at Junior Guildhall

Junior Guildhall is a specialist Saturday School, training over 500 4-18 year olds in music and drama. Most students go on to study their chosen discipline full-time at undergraduate level, before starting careers in the profession.

Chen-Chen is a ten year old violinist who joined Junior Guildhall in 2013

I started playing the violin when I was five. I had asked for one for my birthday as I liked the sound and was interested in playing it. The year after that, I joined Junior Guildhall after a competitive selection process.

I have been going there for 5 years now and it is a creative, exciting place that makes me think about music in many ways. The first time I went to class I enjoyed it so much that I could not wait for the next lesson! We learn through singing, movement and playing the instrument. We take Kodály (an interactive way of learning music), rhythmic and chamber music classes as well as violin classes.

I was really happy when I discovered that chamber music could be so fun and I was especially pleased last year when I turned ten and received my Grade 8 Violin certificate with distinction from my violin teacher Vanessa David. To achieve this took a lot of hard work and I practice for many hours every day. I have sections I need to practice on over and over again and then work on details to improve my playing. My mum will often ask for a concert when I am ready, pretending our living room is the Barbican Hall.

I work with really top musicians. In November 2016, I was given an opportunity to play Mozart’s Violin Sonata No 18 in G major, K 301 in a masterclass with Pedro Lopes, a violin professor from the National Conservatoire in Portugal. I also successfully auditioned for the upper school at Junior Guildhall where I played Romance by Johan Svendsen and the first movement of A minor concerto by Johann Sebastian Bach.

For me music is magical. I see myself as a musician, and music is what I enjoy doing every day. But Junior Guildhall is my special place on a Saturday and I feel very proud of it.

Georgie is seventeen years old and joined the Junior Guildhall Drama department in 2014

When I started at Junior Guildhall, the whole concept was new and overwhelming. I had no idea what to expect and was quite intimidated about acting in small groups. I have been attending the course for 4 years now and as my first year went on I began to enjoy and appreciate the challenges that we were set in class.

What I have realised through doing the course is that drama is an industry where you can use lots of initiative. I aim to challenge myself in order to improve and learn a lot about who I am in the process.

In class we usually begin with a physical and vocal warm up. Sometimes we do this in pairs, on our own, or as a whole class, using tongue-twisters and stretches. Then we work on parts of texts and go over any Actioning. At the moment we’re focusing on monologues, as well as poetry and movement work but we have worked with loads of different texts and plays including Dido, Queen of Carthage by Marlowe and Marriage by Gogol, which are some of my favourites. I hadn’t read either of the plays before studying them at Guildhall and the way in which we worked with them, questioning the texts and our intentions, was completely new to me.

When I am working on text, I always think back to what one of my teachers told us: remember to be present onstage rather than revert back to playing a sort of state. To help me with this, I check back on my objectives and actions so I can go onstage with clear intentions!

The opportunities and people I’ve met at Junior Guildhall have been invaluable and I’ve never been more motivated, pushed and challenged.

Thomas is an eighteen year old pianist. He travels from his home in Italy every Saturday to train with Junior Guildhall

Junior Guildhall has been like a second home for me. It has given me lots of incredible moments and opportunities that have made up for the long hours spent travelling. Every Friday, as soon as I finish school in Italy, I drive an hour to the airport near Milan and catch an evening flight to London then a train to my grandparents in Earley, Berkshire. My Grandad gets me up very early in the morning to catch a train into London for a full day of lessons at Guildhall. I then catch an evening flight back to Milan.

I began playing when I was eight at a local music school in my home town Ivrea, Italy. My parents found out about Junior Guildhall through research into the most prestigious conservatoires in London. I auditioned when I was 15 and was overwhelmed and excited to hear that I had passed. A part of me was nervous to be starting a new school so far from home and I was not really sure what to expect. It was very different from my previous music school in Italy and it took me a while to get used to everything but I immediately found lots of wonderful people ready to help me out and help me fit in. My outstanding moment was winning the Piano Prize last year, awarded by the teachers of the School.

The School provides great opportunities for students. I represented Junior Guildhall in a piano competition in Manchester playing Beethoven’s Sonata 32 Op. 111 and next year I have been offered a place at senior Guildhall for BMus Classical Piano which I’ve happily accepted. I am sure that I’ll find the same great atmosphere I encountered on this programme and I hope that I will have the opportunity to come and assist young students on a Saturday at Junior Guildhall.

Music is everything for me. I think it’s the greatest of arts; it can give you emotions that nothing else can create. I really couldn't live without my music.

Zands is an alumnus of Junior Guildhall and the Guildhall School and is now a percussion teacher at Junior Guildhall.

I have been part of the Guildhall School for 19 years, starting at the age of 14 and then continuing to the senior school on the Percussion course. I started teaching at Junior Guildhall about 5 years ago, having already been teaching in the senior school.

I enjoy the talent and great personalities of the students. It’s a great team and we’ve produced brilliant players who we are very proud of. Our lessons are usually one-to-one and I also lead a percussion ensemble. It is usually very repertoire based and, wherever possible, I encourage students to explore pieces that they want to learn and in some cases even make their own arrangements for a particular instrument. We also spend time studying styles and percussion techniques from around the world.

It’s very exciting to follow the successes of students, past and present. Many of my Junior students are completing their studies in conservatoires and colleges both in Europe and the USA. Many of the senior students are working musicians in orchestras, bands and the West End and sometimes we get to work together or I go to gigs and see them play.

Junior Guildhall is a fun place to be and everyone aims for excellence – that creates an atmosphere which is bursting with potential.

This article first featured in the Spring/Summer 2018 edition of the Guildhall magazine, PLAY.