Viva Viola Quartet
Issue Date: 8th April 2008
Four members of the Ulster Orchestra’s viola section are joining with the City of Belfast School of Music (CBSM) to encourage children to choose the viola when being offered instrumental lessons at primary school.
Steve Begley, who also tutors the viola section in the excellent City Of Belfast Youth Orchestra, said, “We are concerned at the shortage of young viola players. Smaller numbers of young instrumentalists are now choosing the viola, and this means that fewer join the beginner orchestras that eventually feed in to the CBYO.”
The four players will be playing to junior violinists and viola players on Saturday 12 April in Fane Street School, using attractive music to demonstrate the great sound of the viola, encouraging existing viola players to keep playing the instrument, and maybe – who knows? – even attracting violinists to swap to the violin’s big brother.
Therese McKinney, Head of Strings at CBSM, is enthusiastic about the project.
“The viola is often seen as the Cinderella of the string section, so I’m delighted that our colleagues in the Ulster Orchestra are helping to raise the profile of this wonderful instrument. I can’t think of four better ambassadors for the instrument.”
Next term, with the support of the Ulster Orchestra Education Department, the four orchestral players hope to visit primary schools in the BELB area to play to pupils who are considering taking up a string instrument. By encouraging young players to take up the viola, they want to turn it from an endangered species into the top dog of the youth music world.