Warwickshire Direct
Youth Waits
Director: Alison Kinder
Age range: 14 - 21
Standard: Grade 6+
Rehearsals: Sundays 3.00-5.00 pm (fortnightly) @ Bath Place (Old Leamington Library)
The Warwickshire Youth Waits is a well established group which offers young musicians the experience of playing the energetic music of the renaissance band repertoire. It forms part of the Warwickshire Early Music Academy (WEMA) which helps to co-ordinate and develop performance opportunities for Early Music groups throughout the County.
The Youth Waits has played in a variety of venues across Warwickshire including Warwick Castle, Middleton Hall, Guy Nelson Hall and Lord Leycester Hospital. Further afield it has given performances at Canons Ashby (National Trust) and Lichfield Guildhouse, and the Early Music Exhibition at Greenwich; in 2009 it was selected to take part in the Festival of Music for Youth at Birmingham Town Hall.
The instrumental range includes violins, viols, recorders, cornetts, sackbuts, crumhorns, cornamuses, shawms, percussion, harp, rebec and voice. The County has an outstanding collection of renaissance instruments for students to use.
The director, Alison Kinder, a skilled viol and recorder player, has performed with several groups both nationally and internationally in the early music field.
Youth Waits at the National Festival of Music For Youth 2009
Youth Waits performance 1 (mp3, 4.9Mb)
Youth Waits performance 2. (mp3, 1.2Mb)
Membership and joining information
Admission is by audition. Candidates should be between the ages of 14 and 21 (applications from younger, able children will be considered if appropriate) and of a standard equivalent to Grade 6 on a modern instrument, although versatility and ability on several instruments (including voice) contribute to the qualities needed for membership of this group. Previous experience of early music is desirable but not essential, but applicants should have a keen interest in historical performance. A good technique and an aptitude to pick up new skills quickly are the characteristics needed to be a successful player of early music at this level.
