On Tuesday 28th January, as part of the Music department’s ongoing careers development, we welcomed Hollie Whittles to our music centre.
Hollie is a local musician and also the CEO of two companies. Hollie has always played musical instruments as much as possible outside of her corporate work. She is a sought after professional speaker and she also delivers workshops to businesses, organisations and schools. We were fortunate to have her visit our KS4 and KS5 students this week. Music students and instrumental learners in Year 9 and above were invited to attend her inspirational TED talk. TED talks are influential videos from expert speakers on education, business, science and technology.
Hollie highlights how learning a musical instrument can benefit cognitive development, help with other subjects at school and with being part of a team.
In her musical world, she is a woodwind player specialising in clarinet, saxophone, flute and piano. She plays regularly in orchestras, chamber ensembles, musical theatre pit bands and gives solo recitals.
There are many skills that are learnt in music. For example, communication, team working, listening, coordination, multi-tasking, resilience, confidence to perform and many more! All are needed to be successful in business. There are also scientific studies that correlate playing a musical instrument with cognitive development, higher IQ and improvements in core academic subject results.
Through Hollie’s experience of blending her passion for music with running her own company, she shares her thoughts on how utilising the arts can not only benefit your mind but also your business.
Hollie talks about the many types of career opportunities within music available to young people. She also shares her experience of blending her passion for music with running her own company.
You can watch her TEDx talk on YouTube here: Holly Whittles TEDX
You may even get those instruments back out of the cupboard!
