Trinity Laban jazz students tour local schools in new initiative

Students on Trinity Laban’s jazz programme are celebrating the return of live music by combining their regular gig schedule with touring local schools. The new scheme aims to inspire younger generations and increase the pool of young contemporary jazz musicians. 

The 'Jazz on Tour' programme will be featured in both primary and secondary schools, with older students being offered the opportunity to play alongside conservatoire students to provide them with a taste of playing in a Big Band. 

Hans Koller, Trinity Laban’s Head of Jazz said: ‘The emphasis of ‘Jazz on Tour’ is on performance. To inspire, to bring in our role models, to open ears, to show the quality of jazz and how it all started and still swings.’

The group, who are members of the Trinity Laban Fletcher Henderson Project, have already delivered a workshop performance at St Dunstan’s College in Lewisham, and are set to tour other primary and senior schools in the next year or so. 

Schools on their tour include Greenwich’s Middle Park Primary and Tower Hamlets’ William Davis Primary, as well as secondary schools John Roan School (Greenwich) and Pimlico Academy (Westminster).

Malcolm Earle-Smith, who leads the Trinity Laban Fletcher Henderson Project, said: ‘Every week the band gets great pleasure playing this wonderful music and we wanted to get out there and share it.’

‘Our undergraduate students have really benefited from playing music from the 1930s and we want to show other young musicians they can too. This music has great vibrancy and energy. Once you start to understand it, it opens all kinds of doors.’

One St Dunstan student said after the workshop: ‘I haven’t really improvised before, so it was interesting trying it out, especially in front of an audience. It was scary but fun.’ Another student said: ‘It was really nerve-wracking cause everyone was really good, but everyone was really nice and really encouraging. So even if I did something wrong, which I did, I tried!’

Alongside visiting local schools, musicians from the jazz department have also been celebrating NHS heroes with a series of lunchtime concerts at St George’s hospital in Tooting. 

To find out more about jazz at Trinity Laban, visit www.trinitylaban.ac.uk/jazz