RNCM
JS: The argument for a separate jazz degree is often that students who want to pursue jazz are usually very single- minded about their aspirations. But there was already a well-embedded approach to jazz here, which might not be so obvious at first glance. There’s not a separate course but every student in this institution engages with improvisation in some form. Of course jazz is only part of that experience. There was plenty of evidence that we were attracting a number of students who wanted diversity, who come here for a high-level classical training but with strong leanings towards jazz, folk or other traditions. The question is then: how do we support that kind of student? Through the development of our recent Strategic Plan we opted for the integrated approach. Our School of Wind, Brass and
Percussion, which includes saxophone of course, embraces a diversity of music making, essential to any aspiring professional. More recently we’ve been looking at how we cater for keyboard and double bass players, who are studying classical music intensively but who play also in big band, for example. We’ve put in some strategic funding to bring in expert teachers to support these areas. So Tim Garland, Gwilym Simcock and Mike Walker, are now working with us to supplement the excellent work that Steve Berry and Mike Hall have been doing on the jazz side over many years. I have to say that it’s really working! If you look at some of our successes, it’s really interesting. There are young musicians like Amy Roberts, the sax player who won the Rising Star category of the 2009 British Jazz Awards. And then there’s the Beats and Pieces Big Band, centred around students from the RNCM as a semi-structured musicians’ collective, who won the 2011 Burghausen European Young Artists’ Jazz Award. Like many of the enterprising students we have here they just launched themselves, using the RNCM environment, the facilities and other excellent students who are around, to form their own ensmebles, drawing on the expert training that’s provided to all students, to create something absolutely unique. We are looking at historical performance too and, year on year, thanks to their training in improvisation, students have been increasingly taking risks, performing works in their final recitals that give
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What’s happened in education is that courses have been fragmented into separate genre-based programmes. I always said that, at some point, these would become glued back together again
space for cadenzas and ornamentation. It’s great to see it! It links back to the specialist training they receive and the confidence that it creates. The challenge, of course, is to hit
the very highest standards in whatever genre and approach is taken. We are starting to see performers emerge who have that capacity, championed here by musicians like Tim Garland and Gwilym Simcock. We are certainly not aiming to train every student with that all-round experience but there is a growing number of students with a strong desire to cross boundaries and we should respond to that positively to support their ambitions for the future.
BCM: Some people may wonder if you are able to provide people with enough
Above: Le Yu, Yamaha’s 2010-11 RNCM percussion scholar
immersion in the specifics of distinct musical languages for musicians to deal with them authentically?
JS: That is the challenge! The evidence is in the output, though. Almost everything that students do is public-facing. It sets the bar, drives up standards and is key to the RNCM experience. We are now the busiest arts centre outside of London with a year-round programme of concerts and events that enhance our students’ experience and enrich our audiences. Because of the arts centre side of the college we work on a very busy and demanding series of projects that innovate, challenge and inspire. Years ago if you wanted to study music there was only one kind of music
Photo: © Yamaha Education Department
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