International Women's Day: Meet the Band

To celebrate International Women's Day, we'd like you to meet one of our female Jazz Bands who study at Leeds Junior Conservatoire.

Age: 16
Instrument: Piano
How long have you been playing your instrument? 7 years
What inspired you to start learning your instrument? My grandma was a piano teacher and I used to love messing around on her piano and making things up every time we visited her.
What musicians do you take inspiration from/look up to? I really like the music of Philip Glass and Hania Rani, along with jazzier bands such as GoGo Penguin or the Portico Quartet
What are your musical goals or dreams? My musical dream is to become a composer and write scores for films. I want to study composition in university, preferably in Scandinavia.

Age: 16
Instrument: Flute
How long have you been playing your instrument? 9 years
What inspired you to start learning your instrument? Seeing older students playing and listening to the beautiful sound they were making, made me want to be able to do that.
What musicians do you take inspiration from/look up to? I find Sir James Galway very inspirational in the way he plays flute and the masterclasses he does, so a lot of my flute playing inspiration comes from him, but I also take inspiration from all genres of music to improve my overall musicianship.
What are your musical goals or dreams? I’m hoping to move into music professionally, but in what aspect I’m not sure yet. I can’t imagine doing anything except music so as long as I’m doing something related to music I’m happy.

Age: 15
Instrument: Saxophone
How long have you been playing your instrument? 5 years
What inspired you to start learning your instrument? My inspiration for starting saxophone was the saxophone player in the band Madness because it looked cool!
What musicians do you take inspiration from/look up to? The musician I look up to is Taylor Swift because she’s had to deal with a lot and stay resilient but whilst doing that, she’s also continued to create music and not let it stop her.
What are your musical goals or dreams? My musical dream would be to keep playing and improving, as well as keep playing in bands with other saxophonists.

Age: 16
Instrument: Saxophone
How long have you been playing your instrument? Nearly 6 years
What inspired you to start learning your instrument? We had someone come into school and show us instruments we could play when I was in year 3, I was too small to play saxophone so I played clarinet for a while first.
What musicians do you take inspiration from/look up to? In the future I’d like to write or be involved in creating music similar to Mathilda Homer, Isaac Waddington, Jacob Collier and Tom Misch.
What are your musical goals or dreams? Continue playing live music to bigger and different audiences.

Find about more about Leeds Junior Conservatoire and the courses we offer

Apply for a place at Leeds Junior Conservatoire here