WASO trumpets a musical education
Brent Grapes can testify to the teaching power of music.
The WA Symphony Orchestra’s principal trumpet player was 10 when he was switched on to the joys of a musical life during a school excursion to hear the orchestra play at the Perth Concert Hall.
“I remember walking to the Concert Hall as a little boy and being overwhelmed by the size of the organ behind the orchestra and by the whole experience,” he said as another generation of youngsters flocked to the venue yesterday.
“But when the trumpet played this solo, excerpts from Gershwin’s An American in Paris, I just remember tingles running down my spine. I didn’t understand how or why but I just knew that’s what I wanted to do because it just made me feel something. I’d never known something as powerful as that.”
That was 20 years ago.
After studies at the University of WA and the Juilliard School of Music in New York, back-to-back victories in the US National Trumpet Competition and four years with the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra, Grapes returned to Perth three years ago to sit on stage with the WASO instead of in the audience.
“It is good to complete the circle,” he said. “If I can make even one child feel what I felt, then that’s my job complete.”
The WASO is holding its first Education Week to showcase its community activities around the State and to tackle the “edifice complex” or “threshold anxiety” that deters some people from attending the Perth Concert Hall.
Events include Rhythm in Your Rubbish, Kids’ Cushion Concerts, the Sound of Picture Books, the Rusty Orchestra for older amateur musicians, a Kombi van picture booth, silent disco and backstage tours as part of an Open Day on Sunday.
Grapes said community programs were critical to boost awareness and replenish audiences.
“It is wonderful that WASO does so much of it,” he said. “I worked in New Zealand before coming here and we do so much more here and that’s fantastic. It really does break down barriers and expose children to to some incredible music.”
WASO chief executive Craig Whitehead said the week highlighted the State orchestra’s diverse activities from its performances at Princess Margaret Hospital to music classes in the Pilbara town of Onslow.
The orchestra had taken over the management of the concert hall and was working to revitalise a venue seen as tired and under-used, Mr Whitehead said.
“We are trying to overcome what we call threshold anxiety, trying to create for people who have never been to the Perth Concert Hall, who don’t feel it is a place for them, who don’t feel comfortable there, a space where they do feel comfortable.
“We want to open the doors and allow people to really engage with the venue and to experience all that it has to offer in as positive and relaxed environment as we possibly can.”
Ticket sales have been healthy but sponsorship growth has been sluggish and the WASO is looking for more philanthropic support. It has labelled June its Community Support Month in a campaign to increase its number of donors from 1000 to 1500.
