The Canterbury Vocal Scholarship Fund has helped 25 individuals so far.
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00:00["From Those Cousins' Minds"]
00:29Well, joining us now is Dr. Kerry Boyle and two of your young talents.
00:35Thank you very much for being with us this morning.
00:37Great to have you on.
00:38Obviously, that was one of your younger groups there,
00:41so tell us what it is you get up to at Canterbury Vocals.
00:45Well, we are a group of female choirs,
00:49and I also work with girls and young musicians in the Canterbury area.
00:54And one of the things that we do is run the scholarship fund,
00:58which is basically a fundraising strategy
01:03to help support young female musicians in the Canterbury area.
01:06So we have various events and activities,
01:10including our big annual concert at the Shirley Hall,
01:13where we involve lots of local female musicians
01:17to perform together in a fundraising event.
01:21And all of the funds that we raise are given back
01:26to young female musicians to help them in their journey, really.
01:31And why is it so important that they receive this support from you?
01:35Well, I mean, it's a tough time for everybody, isn't it, at the moment?
01:38And music is quite an expensive pursuit.
01:42So they, in addition to studying music in school, perhaps,
01:45they'll also have to pay for instruments,
01:49our instrument hire, the cost of upkeep for an instrument,
01:53instrumental lessons, which are not cheap,
01:57and also for sheet music and all of those other things.
02:00And if they want to progress, they'll also be expected to attend courses,
02:04all of those things.
02:06And I don't believe that not being able to pay for those things
02:10should be something that holds young musicians back.
02:13I think we have a valuable opportunity here to help them reach those goals.
02:18And it's 25 people that receive this, is it?
02:21How exactly is this helping their careers?
02:24So far, we've helped, I think, 26 students since 2019.
02:31And we help to cover the cost of tuition for a year.
02:35We've helped to send them to courses, things like that.
02:41We had a couple of young composers who we've helped them
02:48with the cost of software to help fund that.
02:52And so far, some of the recipients are at conservatoire studying music now.
02:56They're at university studying music now.
02:58And so it's really helped them in their journeys.
03:03And I want to bring in Holly and Poppy now.
03:05Thank you to both of you for joining us.
03:07Tell us what your experience has been like since joining the choir
03:11and receiving the award.
03:12We'll start with you, Holly.
03:16Well, I feel like it's been really helpful to not just develop my techniques
03:23and stuff like that, but also grow on my self-confidence and self-esteem.
03:28And since getting the scholarship, I've been able to expand
03:32on my abilities and stuff.
03:33So I feel like it's a really nice opportunity to be able to do things
03:37like that without limitations, no matter what you have or who you are.
03:42So I do think it's really important and it's really helped me.
03:45Oh, fantastic.
03:46And Poppy, what's the ultimate dream for yourself?
03:50Well, I'd love to be a musician one day.
03:53I mean, I play the cello and the piano at the moment.
03:57And with the scholarship, I've been able to spend the money
04:00on buying books and adding extra time onto my lessons
04:04to really further my repertoire.
04:06And it's actually really helped.
04:08I feel like I'm almost like a proper musician now, having had the scholarship.
04:12It's really helped.
04:13Yeah.
04:14And what are some of those barriers that women face in music?
04:16Maybe everyone can maybe give their own perspective on this.
04:25Well, for me, I didn't come from a very wealthy background.
04:30I was given free tuition in school.
04:33We were given a piano by a neighbour.
04:35And if that hadn't happened and at various stages in my journey,
04:39if I hadn't received support, I wouldn't have been able to,
04:42for financial reasons, to carry on and to have a career in music.
04:47And the difference now is that they're very unlikely to get free tuition,
04:52certainly not through to an advanced level.
04:54They're very unlikely to receive free instruments.
04:58And so I think the most important thing is that we help them
05:03to seize these opportunities and make music accessible to people.
05:10And what do you guys think in terms of being able to access music?
05:13Has it been really exciting to be able to have this opportunity
05:17and move forward with your craft, I guess, right?
05:22Yeah, definitely.
05:23I mean, I think music is one of those things.
05:25It's like it's so costly.
05:28And I think if you don't have the support behind you,
05:31like you just, it's really hard to get into it.
05:35And I think with the scholarship, there's so many people
05:38who can enter that and get the support that they need
05:41to carry on their music career if they want to.
05:44So it's such a good thing.
05:48Yeah, and it's going to prepare you for the future, right?
05:51Yeah, definitely.
05:52Amazing.
05:53And Dr Kerry, just before we wrap up today,
05:56I was wondering if there's any sort of parents watching this now
05:59thinking, oh, I've got a youngster who's sort of shown an interest
06:02in music or singing.
06:04What's your advice for them?
06:06Get them playing, get them singing, get them to join things
06:11if they're available at school or local music centres.
06:15But definitely get them playing because music is a life-enhancing thing.