Grace Buttler reflects on this year's (and her final) NYOW Residency

My final NYOW residency is over. I still can’t quite believe I’m too old to come back next year and it was strange not saying to people ‘I’ll see you next year’ in the bar after the final concert.

I thought this was an incredible year to end on. I loved the programme, even though I was a bit dubious about it at the start, and I can safely say that Rite of Spring is now one of my favourite pieces. There were so many great moments on my final course, and here are a few of my favourites.

Tutors Dinner. It’s always a really fun night, and it’s a lovely way to say thank you to everything our section tutors have done for us over the first week. This year was a little different to normal, because we had a live band after the meal! They were great fun and encouraged us all to dance far more than normal. The only downside (and my fault entirely) was that I wore stupidly high heels and so spent most of my night barefoot so that I could walk normally…

 

Twmpath. I remember having a twmpath in my first couple of years, but it was always in the SU and there was never quite enough space for everyone to join in and properly go for it. When I saw this year’s social schedule, I was a little dubious of how successful the twmpath would be. In reality I loved it. It took place in the canteen with an amazing man calling it who was very enthusiastic (and very patient when we didn’t quite understand the dances). Almost everyone joined and I had a great time. We all looked totally ridiculous but were loving it.

Paul Daniel. I realise that this isn’t a ‘moment’ as such, but he was one of the most memorable parts of the course. He never rehearsed us like a ‘youth orchestra’ and could get us to change the way we played with just a few words. With his endless energy and enthusiasm he got the Nash to sound incredible and never just coast along with the performances. Something new would happen every concert and that kept us on our toes the whole time!

Fancy Dress. As I’ve mentioned before, fancy dress is always one of my favourite parts of the course. I love the process of collecting the cardboard and all the other bits and bobs and turning it into a massive structure in the kitchen. The next challenge is always then getting the creation out of the kitchen and down the stairs to the SU. We were pretty successful with all of these this year and I’m proud to say that we ended our final year with a win. Surviving the whole night in cardboard flippers was also hilarious (both for us, and anyone in our vicinity)!

The final concert. This year, the final concert was at St David’s Hall in Cardiff and it’s an amazing one to end with as we always have a great audience to spur us on. The energy of the orchestra was awesome and I was so proud of how we played, especially the Rite of Spring. The standing ovation after the last note brought a tear to my eye as it finally hit me that that was my last Nash concert and I couldn’t believe that it was all over.

The past seven years as a member of the NYOW have been incredible. I’m so lucky to have been involved for this long and have been given so many opportunities to play in some amazing venues with world renowned conductors. What I’ll miss most though is returning to my Nash ‘family’ every year, made up of friends from all over Wales, and spending an amazing two weeks playing music with them.