Leigh Perry

And the Dorridge School of Music……Alan Ashton

On Sunday October 19th my wife and I, together with organist Jean Martyn and her Manager, were amongst the 1500 audience members at the Birmingham Symphony Hall for the Dorridge Music School Annual concert.

The invitation came from Leigh Perry, someone who was a rising star back in the former Pontin’s Organ Festival days of the 70s & 80s, but life eventually offered her better opportunities than touring the organ concert circuit. Leigh and her husband Pete Angelides have run the highly successful Dorridge Music School for the past 22 years, and it must now surely be one of the biggest in the Country.

Upon entering the Symphony Hall one’s eyes immediately focus on the huge German built organ by Johannes Klais Orgelbau, a long-established family firm from Bonn. In the shadow of the vast array of organ pipes, there were 12 electronic organs, 5 keyboards, an electronic piano, the Symphony Halls own grand piano, 7 drum kits, brass instruments and guitars.

Roland UK sponsored the event that saw over 300 students performing, not to mention Teachers, all of whom were from Dorridge Music School. Additionally there were 4 local Dance Schools: Dance Warehouse / Freeman Dance / Elmhurst School for Dance and Learning Curves – Modern Dance that took part, and all had been invited by Leigh based on the fact that many of her music pupils also attend one or more of them.

Commencing with a full scale RIVERDANCE routine that had the audience enthusiastically showing their appreciation for a very slick show opener, the rest of the evening went from strength to strength, culminating with a Last Night at the Proms finale that ended with huge bangs as hundreds of balloons descended from the ceiling and were eagerly burst with great abandon.

Afterwards I had the chance to spend a little time with Leigh, recalling the old Festival days and the fact that it had been 23 years since we last saw one another. I’ve asked her to record some items for the Organ1st Radio Show, because after all, she has technically moved on to great acclaim since the days of her early cassettes.

Leigh explained that the show took 8 months to produce commencing with the choice of music right through to working out the arrangements, teaching the pupils in their weekly lessons and culminating with the final rehearsals. The Music School is fairly small in area space and so this year to try and bring the vast amount of people together, which included the 20 Members of the Crystal Gospel Choir, they had to rehearse in a local indoor shopping precinct on 4 consecutive Sundays. For many performers however, the actual concert was the first time they had all worked together. The entire evening was a feast of music and talent that proved to everyone that there is something for young children to do rather than hang around on street corners or congregate in gangs.

This was a show that showcased the youth of Birmingham as having some very talented artists of the future. The event raised £500 for the Acorns Trust, which is a Charity, based on Care for the Child, Support for the Family. Leigh has since told me that there has been an amazing response, and this has resulted in the Head Teacher from a Solihull school writing to say if any of the Dorridge Students would like to learn the pipe organ, they give scholarships and would very much like to work in conjunction with them in the future. It gets better because Leigh & Pete have been asked how much it would cost to take the show to the Belgrade theatre in Coventry. In the meantime Pete has booked the Symphony Hall for early 2010 which will be for the 25th Anniversary for this very popular and successful Midlands ‘Academy of Talent’

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27.10.08