May Scholar of the Month
Sonia at our Awards day in September
Sonia is one of our 2022-26 Scholars from Bromley Youth Music Trust. She was nominated for a Scholarship by her primary school, after showing immense promise after one year of cello lessons. Her cello teacher wrote that “Sonia has an impeccable sense of pulse, a very good ear and a wonderfully positive attitude. She is a highly musical child who shows an amazing natural talent for playing the cello. She shows tremendous passion and aptitude.”
Sonia has made excellent progress during her first two terms as a Scholar. She enjoys her weekly cello lessons and playing with the BYMT Elementary Strings and in her school orchestra. Sonia’s mid-year report was outstanding; her teacher wrote that Sonia was working through her Cello Time Joggers book at a quick pace and was rapidly approaching Grade 1 level. Her technique is developing well, her theoretical understanding is very strong, and she has fantastic sight-reading skills. Sonia is aiming to take her Grade 1 Cello exam at the end of the summer term.
In addition to her cello teacher’s report, we received the following comment from Sonia’s Mentor at BYMT: “Sonia is an excellent contributor in orchestra rehearsals and will hopefully go very far in her musical development. She seems to love the cello and is a very committed student.”
Sonia attended our Awards Day at the Merchant Taylors’ Hall in September, and our Spring Playing Day at Conway Hall in February. We invited her to introduce our Spring Concert at the Mercers’ Hall on 20 April, and she gave a brilliant speech to our audience of 150 guests. Sonia then enjoyed listening to the concert which featured solo and chamber music performances from our Senior Scholars, two current Scholars, and our Ambassador, pianist Sasha Grynyuk. We have included an extract of Sonia’s speech below.
We are so proud to be supporting Sonia and look forward to following where her musical journey takes her.
“I started my Scholarship in September 2022, so I’ve been a Scholar for 2 terms. When I was told I was awarded a London Music Fund Scholarship I completely lost my words, so I just screamed.
Becoming a Scholar meant I got to take part in cool events like this one. On the Awards Day I collected my certificate for becoming a Scholar, and on the Spring Playing day we made a song together in different groups and put them together.
On my journey through music, I’ve made lots of friends. Everyone’s really nice and I always have a great time.
I love playing the cello because there’s always something you don’t know about music. Music makes me feel, laugh, dance and so much more!”
We asked Sonia some questions about her Scholarship:
What’s been your favourite moment of the Scholarship so far?
My favourite movement of the Scholarship so far was the Awards ceremony when I got my Scholarship because I got to play a brand new piece with all the Scholars and made a new friend. I enjoyed everything!
What are you looking forward to most this term?
I am looking forward to my grade exams the most.
How did you find the experience of speaking at our Spring Concert? Which was your favourite performance and why?
I found the experience very uplifting through Veronica’s coaching, and empowering as I got more comfortable with the crowd. My favourite performance was the last one (the string ensemble playing Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik) because their individual performances were awesome but all of them together was a million times awesomer and I could hear all the different parts. I’ve heard the piece before, but live, I absolutely LOVED IT!!!!!!!!
What are your musical goals for the future?
My musical goal is to be an accomplished cellist and write pieces in the future.