Coffee-break interview: Helen Wiles

What did the La bohème Youth Chorus experience involve?

All of our Year 4 and 5 children took part in workshops with the amazing vocal coach Patrick Barrett. Some were invited back for a casting workshop from which our final 20 children were chosen to perform in ENO’s La bohème.

These children gave up the final week of their Summer holiday to rehearse with Patrick in school before joining the company for Production Rehearsals – getting to grips with acting, moving around the stage, using props, interacting with soloists and the chorus. This was such an exciting time being up close to, and a part of, the phenomenal sound of the chorus, following a professional conductor and working with a director.

The Sitzprobe was another big moment. This is the first time that the chorus and soloists are joined by the orchestra and we hear the full sound.

Finally, to the Coliseum, watching the staging move around and learning to negotiate that safely as they walked on in the dark!

What impact do opportunities like this have on your pupils?

The obvious answer is on the standard of their singing which was already high but is now stratospheric!

The children also have first-hand experience of all the different roles in a theatre including those less visible e.g. wardrobe, dressers, hair, stage management, props, rehearsal pianist and conductor.

Their horizons are broadened; they are encouraged to dream bigger and consider areas of The Arts that may have been relatively unknown to them before. The children have matured a lot in a short space of time. The effect on their self-esteem, confidence and self-belief has been transformational. After performing with the ENO, they know that ‘they can’.

What impact do opportunities like this have on the school and wider school community?

It is wide-ranging! Positive, encouraging ripples are felt by the whole school community: there is an excitement in the air and regular ‘wow’ moments shared in assemblies and through our school newsletters and Instagram. Staff and children feel a great sense of joy and a gratitude too to be a part of something so much bigger than ourselves.

As an opera lover it has been special to see the whole school embrace opera as a relevant and relatable art form to engage with and enjoy. We love attending the relaxed performances and I have introduced an opera unit of work in our Year 5 curriculum – it’s part of our musical culture now! My Year 4 class are currently working on the ‘Finish This’ composition project too.

The standard of singing that the children achieve with ENO remains with them. It feeds into the school community and raises everyone’s standard of singing.

For me personally, working alongside Patrick is the best CPD I could wish for. He inspires me as a musician and as a teacher and I take techniques back into school to use with our choirs which has a really positive impact on these children as well.

Has anything surprised you about this project/opportunity?

La bohème is a demanding sing for such young children. Not least because they are spread across the stage with the adult chorus and soloists scattered between them. I was worried that this would impact the children’s confidence to sing out, especially when in two part harmony. However, they rose to the challenge magnificently, encouraged and nurtured by members of the chorus and soloists.

I was blown away by the stage presence and volume these young superstars created. I may have shed a few tears…..

.

What’s the best thing about being a music teacher?

I am privileged to be able to spark a love of Music in the children and to be able to facilitate experiences which create this, be it classroom lessons, playing in the orchestra, singing in the choir – or with the ENO! I love hearing back from old students – it’s so exciting hearing about their musical accomplishments whether as a profession or a hobby, it’s humbling to think I have had such a lasting impact and in some cases influenced career choices!

I get to create special experiences that children and parents will remember forever. To foster skills, accomplishments and confidence that my students can take forward into the rest of their lives.

Favourite opera?

I’m a bit of a butterfly, it tends to be whatever is in front of me! I love Mozart‘s humour, and Turnage’s Silver Tassie has stayed with me as my first London audience experience in 2000. Britten‘s Peter Grimes probably wins overall though, I love the atmospheric sea interludes and the huge chorus scenes.

Fair to say I think the La bohème earworms will be floating around for a long while to come too!