Ever since she was nine, Adah knew she wanted to learn an instrument. After group lessons at her school, she settled on the clarinet. Now 18, she’s been playing ever since! Adah describes what music has brought to her life:
“Playing and performing with other people brings me joy in a way that is hard to describe. I love being challenged to express myself in different ways. I love the opportunities that music provides to collaborate with other people who share my passions and to step out of my comfort zone.”
Adah is currently in her last year at school and studies at the Sheffield Music Academy on Saturdays. She has big plans for a future in music. She says:
“Next year, I’m going to start a music degree at either a university or music college (we’ll see what happens on results day!) and I would love to eventually be a clarinettist in an orchestra or chamber ensemble of some kind.”
To help towards her future goals, Adah’s teacher spotted that she needed a second clarinet in the key of A. Adah applied to our Awards programme to help with the cost. Being an Award winner has not just provided financial support. It’s helped Adah to develop in lots of ways, as she describes:
“AYM means a great deal to me. As well as financially assisting me to purchase my own A clarinet, they have provided unique and incredible opportunities to perform and play with others. Last year, AYM ran an Awards Day at Maida Vale studios where I was able to play alongside the BBC Symphony Orchestra! It was such an honour to play and meet such incredible musicians.”
Adah also took part in our Attune project in Birmingham earlier this year. Attune is our chamber music project, run in partnership with the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation. In February, we delivered Attune with the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Adah was one of four young musicians who came together to learn about chamber music and explore playing it as an ensemble. She describes what the project was like:
“We had four intensive rehearsals at Birmingham Conservatoire where we had amazing tuition from experts in chamber music and performing. The project really pushed me to share my own ideas about the piece, to really think for myself about what I wanted to achieve, and to listen to other peoples’ ideas to try and create a performance that we all contributed to. I absolutely loved every minute of it.”
Thinking back on her experiences as an Award winner, Adah feels inspired to support other young musicians in the future and share her skills. She says:
“Being supported by AYM has made me realise how important charities like this are. It’s been so beneficial to me and other young people like me. It’s inspired me to want to give back to other young people in similar situations to me, and maybe get involved with musical education and outreach in my future career.”
We’re thrilled that Adah has been offered a scholarship at Guildhall School of Music and Drama to start in September and we wish her all the best for her exam results. We look forward to seeing what she does next.
If you are, or if you know, a young musician like Adah, aged 5-17, with bags of musical potential who needs support for musical costs, AYM could help!
