Student Placements and Research Projects

From time to time, Hallé Education provides placement opportunities for students studying at local colleges and universities who are interested in the arts education and arts production. Pupils from select partner institutions take part in leading or producgin some of the Hallé’s core education projects working across Greater Manchester and at The Bridgewater Hall.

Our Adopt-a-Player projects enable students studying music at the University of Manchester as well as students on the Hallé/RNCM String Leadership Training Scheme to assist Hallé musicians in education work in primary and secondary schools. Students will be ‘adopted’ along with a Hallé musician and will join them for all the workshops and culmination performance. They will assist the class in creating a new composition inspired by a piece from the standard orchestral repertoire that pupils will hear in a Hallé concert. Students are able to shadow and observe the Hallé musicians in action, being invited in to contribute and assist in the sessions, demonstrating their own instrument, talking about their choice to study music in school and university, and even perform alongside the Hallé player and the class in an informal concert for parents.

The Hallé for Youth multi-arts schools project includes a dance performance which is devised by students at the Northern Ballet School in Manchester. Using their particular schools allocated orchestral piece, fused with excerpts from a popular song on the same theme, the students create original choreography to the music which the primary school class will perform on stage at The Bridgewater Hall or Hallé St Peter’s venues. Costumes and props for this performance are created with visual artist, Alison Clarke, adding another flare to the final performance.

Both the Hallé for Youth and Set Works concerts include a live feed of the orchestra displayed on a large screen to the audience throughout the event, allowing even those at the back of the hall a close up view of the musicians. Students at The Sheffield College, studying for the Foundation Degree in Media Production, and from UTC@MediaCityUK, studying Television and Film Production, provide the technical expertise for these concerts. The pupils operate and direct several cameras positioned throughout the hall, producing camera scripts and additional materials to precisely capture each moment of the music, gaining valuable experience working in a live arts production.

The Hallé for Youth and Set Works concerts occasionally provide opportunities for young musicians studying at the Royal Northern College of Music to feature as a soloist in front of the orchestra and thousands of school children. As well as having the rare experience of performing a concerto movement or solo piece with a professional symphony orchestra, the student speaks to the presenter during the concert and tells the pupils attending how they fell in love with their instrument and when they knew they wanted to be a performer.

Hallé Education has partnered with The University of Manchester’s Department of Electrical Engineering – and through them the Science and Engineering Education Research and Innovation Hub (SEERIH) – to develop a new, electronically controlled, acoustic instrument. The Halléoojamaflipaphone contains a number of acoustic instruments, including a set of tubular bells, zither, shakers, drums, cymbals and woodblocks, all controlled from a laptop via MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) and accessorised with plenty of flashing lights.

The reprogrammable element of the machine means the possible applications are unparalleled. It can perform alongside any piece of music, from Beethoven to a computer game soundtrack, and can provide the base for a creative performance, an instant soundtrack over which participants can improvise. The Halléoojamaflipaphone has applications in the concert hall, the classroom, and in projects with Pendine Care Homes!