Yamaha Education News

Hallé & Yamaha Silent Strings in Oldham

A quintet of Yamaha's stylish Silent Strings, in the form of two electric violins, a viola, a cello and a double bass, took centre stage in one of the Hallé Orchestra's inspiring education projects in June, for young string players who learn with Oldham Music Service. A string orchestra of around eighty musicians from Oldham's primary and secondary schools performed specially written pieces featuring the electric instruments.

Yamaha UK lent Manchester's award-winning symphony orchestra, the Hallé, a quintet of electric stringed instruments for the education project to help inspire and enthuse around a hundred young musicians from Oldham Music Service and encourage them to continue their music education. Earlier in the year a similar and very successful project had visited schools in Bolton.

The Silent Strings were used by five Hallé string players during the education project, which was generously supported by the Duchess of Kent's charity, Future Talent, with which the Hallé has close ties. During workshop that preceded a final concert in each location, the Hallé players demonstrated the contemporary sound of the electric instruments when coupled with an effects pedal and a Yamaha StagePas 250M powered speaker for each instrument.

The pieces, which were performed before impressed and proud parents at Oldham's Queen Elizabeth Hall, included Bill C Martin's electric string quintet composition, Available Light. The Hallé's education director, Steve Pickett, composed two new pieces of music for the projects, incorporating the Silent Strings quintet of Hallé string players with the children's own acoustic string playing: Sunshine, and What happened after…?, a piece inspired by the Hallé's recent award-winning CD of Wagner's Götterdämmerung. In all the performances the young musicians were clearly inspired by the opportunity to play alongside professional string players.

Yamaha UK is featuring its Silent Strings in several of its own education projects in 2011 and 2012. To that end it has produced the first in a series of video guides, introducing the Silent String family and demonstrating how each instrument can be combined with a guitar-type effects pedal and Yamaha amplification to create lots of exciting performing and composing possibilities for young string players.

Originally designed as practice instruments, Silent Strings have now evolved into fine performance instruments and are perfect for any string player who plays amplified music and who wants to avoid the problems of feedback and of a drastically altered sound, which is often the case when using a mic or a bug on an acoustic instrument. The acoustic sound is recreated by the instruments' clever electronics, leaving the performer much more free to move than when performing with a mic. Of course, silent practice on headphones or even a silent lesson with a teacher, are both also possible.

Many teachers and parents have found that the addition of a Silent String instrument has often rekindled the interest of string players in their mid-teens, who can then join in with rock, jazz and folk bands with their friends much more easily. The fact that the instruments are available in a range of colours and at prices which won't break the bank, is a real bonus.

Bill C Martin, Yamaha UK's music education manager who composed one of the electric string pieces for the project, said: "For us, the core aim is to help remotivate and sustain young string players' enthusiasm for playing their instruments. Through a range of projects and activities over the past few years, we have found that this can extend string players' musical opportunities and possibilities, allowing them to experience and participate in a broader range of exciting musical possibilities. We're delighted to be partnering the Hallé and Future Talent in this exciting project, which allows us together to take this aim to new levels."

More information on Yamaha's Silent Strings education activities can be found here.

(Posted: June 2011)