Live webchat with award-winning conductor, Charles Hazlewood - Wednesday 15th February 12 - 1pm

[RachelMumsnet]

Charles Hazlewood is an award-winning conductor who works regularly with great orchestras around the globe. Alongside the great traditional classical orchestras, Charles has also conducted over 50 orchestral world premieres from the cutting edge of contemporary music. Charles is committed to giving young people from all backgrounds the possibility of experiencing classical music, he appears regularly on BBCTV, Radio 3 and also periodically hosts his own show on BBC Radio 2. Charles is currently working to establish the UK's first ever national orchestra for musicians with disability; The British Paraorchestra.

This weekend (Saturday 18th February) sees Charles conducting at London's South Bank Centre for part of their Imagine Festival for children. Charles will be joined by The Southwark Youth Orchestra and the David Idowu Choir who are teaming up with the Philharmonia Orchestra to perform Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 (From The New World). The concert will be a brilliant introduction to kids of all ages to classical music and the orchestra.

Join Charles on Wednesday 15th Feb at 12 midday or send in a question in advance to this thread.

This is a very mundane question to ask, but what instrument or instruments do you think it's best to begin learning?

Oh god. I know nothing of music or conducting, except that gleaned from Jilly Cooper. Are you able to control entire orchestras with one eyebrow? Do people call you Maestro?

Sorry

Whenever you conduct Strauss' Radetzky March how do you resist the urge to jump up and down? (it's the musical bumps music of choice in this house)

Are there any other pieces of music that you find it difficult to restrain yourself from dancing/leaping about to?

Do you think the image of classical music has improved over the last few years in young people's eyes? Has the rise in popularity of mainstream classical acts such as Russell Watson, Myleene Klass, Vanessa Mae, Bond etc. and the accessibility of classical music on radio, tv and online filtered through into increased interest in orchestral performances?

Oh, and do you know my cousin James Judd?

Charles - do you think classical music is doing enough to increase access and break down the perception that it's elitist? Can anything that's being achieved today through education and outreach schemes really do more than was possible when every child could learn an instrument at school for free in the 1970s and 1980s?

I have a question about adult musicians.
I play the trumpet and was quite good as a teenager/young adult, played in youth orchestras and brass ensembled. but now that I am older, not living near where I grew up I find it very difficult to keep it up. playing by myself is not much fun. adult groups are either very advanced or the opposite, orchestras often don't play anything that involves brass. some groups want a lot of committment that I cannot give.
where can adults find groups of different levels/mediocre committment?

Do you think excellent musicianship is a product of nature or nurture? Do you think it is more important to have 'a natural musical ear' or a personality and disposition towards hard work and disciplined study?

Mousymouse - I had exactly the same problem (except I wasn't all that good, either). I've actually taken up a totally different style of music and instrument in order to play at a different level and with a mediocre committment for a surprisingly reasonable output. The trumpet has been packed away in a cupboard...

Hello
What do you think of Tiger Mothers?

How did you start learning music and did you always want to be a conductor?

What's the best way to persuade/bribe/coerce your children into practising their instruments regularly? And should you even try, or just back off and leave it to their teacher to motivate them? (Or actively discourage them: apparently the fathers of both Handel and Telemann were adamant that their sons were to study the law and eschew all musical endeavours.)

Am hopeful that someone else will ask what we can do about the deplorably patchy state of musical education in state schools so I won't have to break the 1 question rule. But really, what can we do?

Hi Charles! I've recently started following you on Twitter. I'm a fellow conductor (Harmony Sinfonia and Stoneleigh Youth Orchestra) and surprise, surprise - a mum. Do you have any advice for juggling parenting with the demands of the job? Score study, rehearsals and performance days etc?

Testing Testing Mumsnet HQ

Charles has just joined us and is ready to answer your questions. Welcome to Mumsnet, Charles..

I'm at mumsnet towers! I am very excited to be here, and hope I have some useful answers to your questions

@GrendelsMum

This is a very mundane question to ask, but what instrument or instruments do you think it's best to begin learning?

If you ask this question in relation to a child, I think the answer is that (within reason) it's the instrument that chooses the child, rather like wands choose their magician in Harry P. The thing is to get them as much exposure as you can (ideally live, but not essential if that's difficult) to all sorts of instruments, all sorts of music. And also to be quite relaxed that the first instrument they start on may not end up being the 'one'. After all any adventure in music is worthwhile. Almost more important than finding the right instrument is finding the right teacher. This person can single-handedly inspire a life-long engagement with music, or snuff it out

@linzryan

Hi Charles! I've recently started following you on Twitter. I'm a fellow conductor (Harmony Sinfonia and Stoneleigh Youth Orchestra) and surprise, surprise - a mum. Do you have any advice for juggling parenting with the demands of the job? Score study, rehearsals and performance days etc?

How nice to meet you! yes, the eternal juggle, no different to any other walk of life really, except concert and/or rehearsal schedules have no respect for holidays or even weekends!! The one rule I made for myself really early on, was to ring-fence portions of holidays in particular, so that I could still be a meaningful dad/husband, no matter how juicy the offer of work might be. difficult call to make, but in the end, parenting is MUCH more important than anything else, and that's coming from someone who is OBSESSED with music!

Do people ever confuse you with Ronnie Hazlehurst?

If you're interested, you may be interested to read this article about why it's vital to have hands on experience of music in early life.

@karlu

How did you start learning music and did you always want to be a conductor?

Istarted by singing in a church choir aged about 6 - the most BRILLIANT introduction, where you learn so much about the pull of the collective, but also how important your own part in that collective is, when to lead, when to follow. Also the drama - in liturgy, just like theatre or film, the music is not the end in itself, it's the means to a more ultimate end, a sense-enhancing conveyor belt along which you travel to a more ultimate goal...an amazing responsibility therefore, creating the right environment.
as to conducting i discovered it by accident when i was about 15: choir director didnt show up at rehearsal, i got bored, thought, I'll give this a go. BIG LIGHTBULB GOES ON OVER MY HEAD...this is IT!! I knew, in that instant, and it's all I've done since

@CurlyRooth

Do people ever confuse you with Ronnie Hazlehurst?

Ronnie Hazlehurst was a genius. A genius with a white tux, big cans and a mellifluous Hammond organ. yes people have sometimes assumed that. If only!!