PLAY!GROUND LIVE NORDIC

PLAY!GROUND LIVE NORDIC was a project aimed at creating a touring talent development orchestra across the borders of the Nordic countries, guided by the well-known Danish musician and conductor Bo Stief in 2017.

The concept and the idea behind PLAY! GROUND LIVE NORDIC originated from Swinging Europe’s more than 17-year-old national talent development orchestra, PLAY! GROUND LIVE, which has had great success every year to tour Denmark thinly.

Each partner country chose three musicians aged 15 to 22 who participated in the orchestra and the Nordic tour. The project started with an intensive 3-day practice session in Herning. During the three days, the musicians lived together and led the Bo Stief, like the swinging pillar, as well as instructed the young musicians in the handling of instruments, solo performances, interaction and acting together as a harmonious orchestra.

Throughout the process, Bo Stief focused on creating a safe and welcoming learning environment that helped to develop the young musician’s creativity. Through differentiated teaching, he had both focus on the orchestra as a whole, but also on solo lessons, where his starting point was in the strengths and weaknesses of each musician.

Learning by doing is a continuous thought in PLAY! GROUND LIVE, and so was PLAY! GROUND LIVE NORDIC, which was about to send out the young musical talents in reality and give them a new cultural insight as well as practical experience as a professional musicians in the form of a Nordic tour.

The musical program was wide and straightforward. The orchestra played their way to some kind of nu-music that was open, wide, youthful and full of challenges. Thus, the musicians spread around the universe of music without being restricted by specific genre understandings or definitions.

Before the end of the internship in Denmark, the orchestra had practiced between 10-15 songs. A mix of interaction and shorter passages, where the individual musician was allowed to stand alone or in a musical combination with the others, which was a key element in the concerts.

The tour included a selected number of concerts in each country, as well as seminars and workshops for music teachers and students. Through these seminars, Swinging Europe wanted to share experiences and generate new knowledge about talent development in the Nordic region.

A total of three partners cooperated with Swinging Europe to realize PLAY! GROUND LIVE NORDIC: National League Young Musicians (RUM), Korsholm Music Institute and Legato Music Institute.