Orchestrating Change continued.. But other benefits were less tangible. 'It brings a feeling of self-esteem to a community. It's quite a prestigious thing to have a professional orchestra playing in your local community hall,' observes McCandlish. 'And I also think it's great for changing people's perceptions that classical music is “not for the likes of us” or is something boring and not relevant to life today.'

The orchestra also does extensive work in schools, training teachers at Inset days and helping children studying for Standard and Higher Music exams, and offering concerts illustrating the evolution of the orchestra from Vivaldi to Penderecki in secondary schools. And a highlight for many of the musicians is the orchestra's popular Monster Music concerts for the under-fives.

Ewan Small spells out the thinking behind the RSNO's outreach policy: 'It's not immediately about expanding the audience, but more about getting a broader range of people to go and sample the orchestra than would normally go.

‘Classical music is perceived as something difficult to appreciate. It's seen as a posh occasion and you have to get dressed up.

And sitting down for a couple of hours is something that's difficult these days – with the reduced attention we all seem to have. But the whole experience of seeing live music is different from listening to it in your sitting room and that's what our audiences find time and again.'

BOURNEMOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (BSO)

Serving a vast swathe of the south and south-west of England , BSO has one of the most energetic outreach programmes in the country. In a typical year, members of the orchestra will be dispatched to centres ranging from Bristol to Southampton, from Swindon to Poole . Meanwhile, a full-time animateur, Andy Baker, reaches the parts other musicians cannot reach, for example working in St Brannell School for Performing Arts near St Austell in Cornwall .

Thanks to sponsorship from JP Morgan, BSO offers term-long residencies to 14 Bournemouth primary schools, adapting its programme to the needs of each school. Members of the orchestra also give one-off concerts in schools and a five-piece mini-BSO introduces children to the different sections of the orchestra.

One imaginative recent initiative was Island Hopping. This involved taking primary and secondary schools out of their classrooms to discover whether places such as Hayling Island , the Scilly Isles, Brownsea Island or the Isle of Portland could get the creative juices flowing – through both music and the visual arts.

The BSO is just as active serving those on the other side of the age spectrum. The orchestra has run tea dances for elderly people in Dorset villages and performs annually with the pensioners of Exeter 's Heavenly Choir. The orchestra also works with local choral societies, performing Carmina Burana and Belshazzar's Feast in Newton Abbot in Devon, and has developed projects for the NHS, working recently in Bristol 's Frenchay Hospital . 'As an orchestra, our philosophy is to bring the life-enhancing force that music can be to as many people from as wide a variety of backgrounds as possible,' says head of education and ensembles Andrew Burn. 'What we don't see our business as being in the education department is creating audiences for the future. If we do create new audiences, all well and good, but our raison d'être is to encourage as many people in the community to make music for themselves in a whole variety of ways.'

THE HALLÉ

The Hallé is justly proud of its education programme. The Manchester orchestra last year ran 42 projects benefiting 25,800 participants at 108 sessions. The orchestra supports the curriculum by helping to train teachers – many of whom in the primary sector have little background in music – and also works creatively with children to promote instrumental playing.
The orchestra provides an annual series of schools concerts called Hallé Youth and is currently instigating a new project with Bolton Music Sevices to support the Endangered Species initiative, which allows children to buy expensive orchestral instruments at heavily subsidised rates. According to education director Steve Pickett, orchestras have a responsibility to be 'role models' to children. 'After all, if we don't get kids working with orchestral instruments, the Hallé is not going to exist in 20 years' time.'

One of this year's most exciting projects involved a collaboration with Opera North and children from Plant Hill School , Blackley to write an epilogue to Bartók's Duke Bluebeard's Castle. The composer and Hallé principal bassist, Beatrice Schirmer, describes what the 14-year-olds gained from the project:
‘The children had never been exposed to anything like this before, although a few of them played instruments. But they were very enthusiastic and they took everything on board. They had 12 professional artists working with them, and I think they got a lot out of that experience in terms of self-respect – because it was quite a rough school – and a number of them took up GCSE Music as a result.'

The Hallé also owns a gamelan and offers workshops introducing families to Javanese and Balinese music. It seems no corner is not invaded by creeping tendrils of the orchestra. Instrumentalists from the Hallé are resident in the Royal School for the Deaf and Communication Disorders and brass musicians from the orchestra work at the Thorn Cross young offenders' institution.