Why doesn't Coffs Harbour have a youth orchestra?

It’s a question that has plagued several musical minds both locally and outside of the region. Coffs Harbour, a town with a population between 60-70 000, would surely be able to cater for the musical community just as similar or smaller communities would do the same. We have Tamworth and Armidale, two similar sized communities out west that have successfully established one, two, or even more orchestras or similar ensembles. Our neighbours down south, Bellingen, have recently established an orchestra of their own that is taking huge strides. So why doesn’t Coffs Harbour have a youth orchestra?

The answer was made quite clear today in the Coffs Coast Advocate. So what is the factor that is preventing this ensemble from taking effect? Could it be that we simply don’t have enough students to form an ensemble? Perhaps the lack of suitable staff to oversee or take control of the group? Maybe it’s the lack of substantial funding from either the Department of Education and Training or the local council? If you thought it was any of these factors, then you are sadly mistaken. Apparently Coffs Harbour doesn’t have a youth orchestra due to the following quote from the director of the local conservatorium.

“…There’s plenty of space for art and craft exhibitions, and Coffs Harbour doesn’t have a Youth Orchestra, simply because we don’t have the space.”

Of course, how could we miss the obvious answer! If we don’t have the space, then we can’t form the ensemble. So therefore, it is impossible for Coffs Harbour to have a youth orchestra simply because we can’t facilitate for rehearsals or performances.

What a complete and utter load of nonsense.

Perhaps the conservatorium could take a leaf out of the local city orchestra’s book and have rehearsals in one of the lecture theatres at Southern Cross University. Not too long ago, the local orchestra was rehearsing within the premises of the conservatorium at the Home Base area (percussion and all). Why the local orchestra was asked to rehearse at SCU would be an interesting question to have answered, not to mention why a youth orchestra can’t be established within their own building!

Let’s take a step back even further. In fact, we will be going back two years and nine months. What would be so interesting to investigate that far back? In late February of 2006, the Regional Youth Orchestra established in Coffs Harbour was brought to an abrupt end. Ever since the RYO has been ended, not one youth orchestra or large ensemble had been re-established in Coffs Harbour. And no, it had nothing to do with lack, or provision, of space.

How far did the RYO come? If you want to visit the original inception of the RYO, you would have to go back to 1996 when it was originally established as the Bishop Druitt College Orchestra. The ensemble was founded by David Slater, former head of music at BDC, with no more than about 10-12 people. I was one of the original students to form this ensemble of mainly soprano instruments. We had about 4-5 violins with a viola, 2 clarinets, 1 flute, a couple of trumpets, a saxophone, and a bass guitar. I still remember the first rehearsal we had, held in the classroom formerly known as A1 (A2 was next door followed by A Lab, the first secondary school block built). We had no music room, except for B Lab being temporarily converted from a science classroom into the music centre. The first chart we were ever given was “Under the Sea” from The Little Mermaid, all hand-written parts. This was the only hand-written chart we received since Logic would be used after this to generate computer-written parts. Until the music block at BDC was established, there were never any problems with organising rehearsals. The rehearsals commenced in A Block, moving to B Block, and eventually moving to the coveted auditorium performance space that was held onto dearly by the head of drama (believe me, students used to give the head of drama plenty about the obsession with the space). The BDC orchestra thrived on the space provided and became a well established ensemble in Coffs Harbour, inviting students from other schools to come along and participate.

In 2002 it would be decided that the BDC orchestra would be renamed the Coffs Harbour Youth Orchestra. 2002 was the last year I played with the ensemble, shifting from principal clarinet to take up a place in percussion. Other students came and left, finishing their secondary studies and orchestral careers with BDC. Some very fine students went through the ensemble and might even have some stories to share today. While the youth orchestra went from success to success, there were the constant politics behind the scenes that would plague the orchestra and would eventually become the undoing of the ensemble in its latter years when it effectively became the RYO encompassing youth from Woolgoolga, through Coffs, down to Bellingen.

Many children learned musical instruments, but their teachers refused to encourage or show children the essential step of playing in an ensemble. The lack of parents, or volunteers, to become involved with staffing to help the ensemble stay on its feet, such as a treasurer, librarian, secretary, publicity, player services, and looking after funding. While we are on parents, the lack of support for the children. There would be parents that would drop off their children at performances, then they would drive off elsewhere to come back later to pick up their children. These parents would never see their children perform! How would the children feel about playing their role in the group, or what they would think of their parents’ lack of attendance?

In 2006, prior to the sudden-abrupt ending of the RYO, Slater wrote an article in the local newsletter titled “Does Coffs Harbour Really Want A Youth Orchestra?”. A lot of the factors that I have highlighted are in fact mentioned in this article. The only factor that is never mentioned at all is “the lack of space” (I wonder why. Could it perhaps have something to do with actually finding adequate space that doesn’t necessarily have to be located on an immediate premises?). The last paragraph continues to appeal and really discuss the crux of what should be occurring in Coffs Harbour, especially after art critic John McDonald recently labelled Coffs as being “soulless”.

“Great music has always survived through patronage. It never has been, nor ever should be forced to become, a commercial venture. If the Coffs Harbour Regional Youth Orchestra is to continue it needs just that – patronage. …with ongoing, practical support from government, including the City Council, local business and the local music teaching profession can it hope to go on and achieve the great things for which it exists, not just for youth in the area, but for the future of the region’s cultural soul.”

Hang on a second, we might have stumbled onto something here! We have the local conservatorium making excuses that they don’t have enough money or space to establish a youth orchestra, even though they would have more than enough students through their tuition programs, yet the past undoings of the former RYO was due to the lack of patronage? If the RYO could survive for as long as it did on lack of funding and financial support, and it could find space to rehearse and perform in, then what excuse does the conservatorium have when they are being funded by the DET and State Government? The arts, in regards to music tuition and development, are in a critical situation and complaints are being made about space and not the lack of specialist tutors being based in the region.

People need to become aware of what has and still is occurring. Even if the conservatorium gets a new building, who can guarantee that it is going to bring a youth orchestra with it? If only it were that simple, but unfortunately musicians can’t be made out of wooden structures combined with bricks, cement, and maybe a layer of carpet. If Coffs Harbour is going to have any hope of establishing a successful youth orchestra again, it will be by having a tutor-networked music community where students and parents are encourage to take a vested interest in the project and be willing to dedicate time and support for the ensemble and music careers of many involved. It is up to us, and not a multi-million building/facility, to establish the region’s cultural soul. Otherwise, we will continue to be as soulless as we have been for many years.