Music: Celebration concert from Music and the Deaf

Jun 26 2009 by Val Javin, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

THEY are a Huddersfield charity with a national reputation.

Music and the Deaf, founded in the town by Paul Whittaker, has spent more than 20 years providing people of all ages and with varying degrees of hearing loss with opportunities to access music and the arts.

What we take for granted, Paul and his charity help make possible for many other people.

That can mean workshops, educational projects, talks and signed theatre performances.

A concert in Leeds tomorrow night offers music ranging from jazz, tango and chacha to original compositions, all played by musicians with some hearing loss.

It is the third time that the charity has held this annual celebration concert and there is much to celebrate.

The concert at The Venue, at Leeds College of Music will feature three of the charity’s innovative music groups.

The Deaf Youth Orchestra will get feet tapping with their brand new programme which includes those Latin rhythms. Watch out for the samba drumming where everyone takes a turn to transfer their sense of rhythm on to orchestral instruments.

Deaf young soloists who are all part of Music and the Deaf’s programme of instrumental tuition, will be showing off their skills.

And the Hi-Notes Ensemble, a group of eight young players from the Deaf Youth orchestra will perform its own music using live and recorded sounds. This is the group that won an original composition award at last year’s National festival of Music for Youth and performed in front of an audience of 6,000 at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the National Schools Prom Finals last autumn.

The concert starts at 7.30pm.