Young Musicians Club

Where do you go to play music when you’re 10-years old? It’s a question that not all children ask, but it’s becoming common for kids in primary and intermediate school to need a place to express themselves creatively.

Ukuleles in schools, especially in the Ponsonby area, are becoming more common and songwriting is being encouraged all over the country by teachers, families and organisations. So, in answer to that burning question, until recently there has been nowhere. ‘Open mics’ have almost exclusively been at bars, starting late in the evening on a school night and are generally not the type of environments best suited to young songwriters. While the ‘all ages’ music scene is taking off in Auckland currently, with live bands playing at least every couple of weeks in halls and concert venues around town, these are generally late weekend nights and for established bands or graduates of Smokefree Rockquest. They’re not the ideal place for a girl and her guitar.

Sofia Roger Williams is 10 years old and attends Gladstone school in year 6, soon to move to Ponsonby Intermediate. She has been playing guitar for two or three years since she decided she needed to learn, “There was a boy at my school who was really good.” She is in the finals of the school talent quest and came second last year! School gala days have been her primary performance space, but Sofia is eager for more. Without a fear in the world, she is confident in front of a crowd and relishes the opportunity to perform.

Yet Sofia was struck with the problem - she wanted to perform and didn’t have places to do it. Alongside her grandfather Tony, Sofia visited the Bunker, the home of the Devonport Folk Music Club and performed a Bob Dylan song with him, one they’d been practicing at his house on Sofia’s visits. She went down a treat and had a great time, but a Monday night at the Bunker is a late night for her, and so it’s not an option all the time. Sofia promptly asked Tony when she could do that again and this was the beginning of the brand new Young Musicians Club.

Tony went and spoke with One2one cafe, the home of the best open mics and sessions in Ponsonby. One2one boasts Wednesday through Friday open sessions most weeks, with some of the best jazz and folk musicians coming through the door each week, and they were very excited to team up for this new venture and welcome the youth into the cafe. The first club afternoon featured just Sofia as she played five songs, almost certainly this included some from her favourite artist, Taylor Swift. The second club night had two performers, and the crowd is always full of friendly faces, family members and classmates, the perfect environment to perform in.

One of the important ideologies of the club is that there are no winners. It is never a competition. The whole point is to get up there and practice getting up there. This is the way that people learn how to sing to groups, how to front a band and how to find themselves performing in the music world as they get older. Playing in your bedroom is great practice but it needs to go somewhere!

The Young Musicians Club is open to everyone under 18, this is a hard cut off because the opportunities for songwriters vastly increases once you turn 18 and the bar circuit becomes open to you. The YMC is looking for up to six or seven performers each time and the floor is available for between one and three songs for each of them. It is the perfect environment to try out a new song you’ve written, try out the first song you’ve written or play that beautiful cover you’ve just worked out.

The next session is on Sunday 4 October from 3pm until 5.30pm at One2one Cafe on Ponsonby Road. It is on the first Sunday of every month, and dreams of becoming even more regular with multiple sessions each month. To book a place at the Young Musicians club, get in touch by E: 121.YMClub@gmail.com. Thanks to One2one for providing a space for this new exciting venture. (FINN MCLENNAN-ELLIOTT)