September Vacancies For All Young Players! After-school activity Thetford Music Project (TMP) is pleased to be offering vacancies this September. Offering young musicians (6 – 17 years) the opportunity to learn an instrument or sing and perform with others. Affordable lessons take place every Monday during term time. See the website: www.thetfordmusicproject.co.uk for full details of instruments and teachers.
Our belated 20th anniversary showcase celebration (starring every club member) takes place on Sunday 12th December at the Carnegie Thetford and tickets are just £3 (under 15s go free). Tickets can be bought from Leaping Hare. Thetford Music Project is a registered charity that runs an after-school music club during term time. Led by our current Director, Ann Smith who in turn manages her expert team of specialist instrumental tutors and ensures every TMP member has a chance to learn one of 14 instruments (often from scratch, but going up to Grade 8), as well as the opportunity to play and develop musicianship alongside their peers, in groups and ensembles. Instruments are loaned out; all music and other equipment is provided free of charge. The project was set up over 21 years ago as a response to a decline (even then) in instrumental teaching in state schools. There were literally hundreds of unused instruments across every Primary and Secondary School in Thetford, and no County teaching in any of them. John Weeks, who became Vice-Chair of TMP, suggested a local partnership group to do something about grassroots musical instrumental teaching. The late David O’Neale, MBE (who became our first Director) set up a small team of Music Service and freelance instrumental tutors and teachers at Queensway School (now Diamond Academy). Since local management of school budgets, academisation, the withdrawal of County Music Services and a number of other political changes
TMP members and teachers performing together at Thetford Academy
since, the picture has become if anything more fragmented across England: yet in Thetford, over the past 21 years, sometimes more than a hundred young people a week have benefited from lessons and ensembles, affordably, and with increasingly high musical standards. Thanks to John, David, a loyal band of willing helpers, our sponsors, fundraisers and many others, TMP has consistently delivered a total of some 30,000 hours of instrumental teaching, as well as bands, groups, concerts, charity events and other activities enabling talented and keen young Thetfordians and others a locally accessible chance to learn to play and love music. In 2002, Juliet Rickard took over as Director and developed things on significantly, in scale and musical audacity; who present would ever forget her massed voices and instrumental version of songs from the Lion King at the Carnegie! Between 2005 and 2011, Sue Taylor, then Polly Fenn, took the helm. Polly innovated us towards a website and among many other things, a 60 player charity play-in in aid of the Haitian Earthquake appeal in February 2010. Ann, our present, indefatigable, longest-serving, stalwart Director took over at a time of some upheaval, as further political changes meant we had to sadly leave Diamond. We moved to Bishop’s School and then Ann oversaw the long planned move from Bishop’s to Thetford Academy – where we remain to this day. TMP are warmly hosted by Principal Dan Carter, and Assistant Principal in charge of Performing Arts, Helen Thomas-Jones. As the only state Secondary in Thetford, 1,300 young people a year stand to benefit from the specialist music tutoring of TMP. Classes now take place every Monday afternoon, as an ideal complement to the developing music curriculum of the Academy. Our committee meets voluntarily – once in November, for our AGM, and once in the summer
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