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Jim took up percussion at the age of seven as he had been hitting buckets and ironing boards from a much earlier age! Tenyears later, he is a student in the Lower Sixth at Chetham's School of Music, he also plays the piano accordion and sings.

Jim plays in various ensembles at school plus, a folk band called 4Square, who tour the Britain playing summer folk festivals and a rock band called The Zero Symphony.

Final Thoughts

How did you feel when you heard you had reached the final?
When the result was announced, I was certain that Dave (one of the other group finalists) was going to win it. When they were announcing the word "The winner of the category final is..." I was just thinking "It's obviously Dave so don't even bother getting your hopes up."
When they said my name I couldn't believe it. I thought it was some kind of wind-up. I was just totally stunned for the 36 hours afterwards.

How did your family react?
My parents were watching so they saw the results. I could just see beaming faces, and they told me they didn't get much sleep that night either. My brother and some other relatives were all told by phone and all individually rang up to congratulate me. They seemed almost as happy as I was!

How did your music teacher/school react?
Chets were full of praise for both me and Pete (The brass finalist) and have helped me a lot in the lead up to the final. All of my percussion teachers showed delight upon hearing that I was through too!

How much time have you been playing to be ready for the final and how does this compare with your normal playing?
I have been practicing very hard for the concerto final. It is a different approach both technically and musically to the sort of thing that I normally play, just because it is a 30 minute piece, so as you play, you see how the ideas develop through the piece and how cleverly written it is. Often you don't get to appreciate that.

What would you like to do in the short and long term with your music?
I aim to become a musician although for the moment I am not sure where I want to end up. I'm certainly going to go on to music college, but I like to keep open arms and open eyes about what is available to me and what styles and situations I would like to spend my life playing in.

Do you have musical inspirations eg composers or players or friends?
Musically, I take my inspirations from anything I hear, although in my opinion music nowadays is as much about performing as it is just technique and musicianship. One of the most inspirational performers to me is Brandon Boyd, the frontman of alternative rock band Incubus. I think he is an excellent musician and is very good to watch as a performer.

Do you have favourtite contemporary music/musicians/bands?
Big Incubus fan, big Newton Faulkner fan. I'm also quite into folk music, so people like Mike McGoldrick, Seth Lakeman etc.
Compositionally I admire the music of Brahms and Stravinsky.

What would you do with the prize money?
I have absolutely no idea what I would do with the prize money. It's nice to have there though isn't it?

Do you think younger people enjoy classical music as much as they could?
With some extremely talented pop artists and rock bands knocking around these days, classical music is not really seen as an option to many younger people, yet as people's tastes mature they realise what is behind the music and how it is made. I think also in the fast moving society of today, people don't have the attention span to listen to long, heavy symphonies, whereas music that comes in 3-minute bites on radio is far more suited.
I also think that classical music has an image problem. The main classical audience is seen as been middle and upper class, whereas in reality that isn't necessarily the case.

How would you make your friends and other younger people want to come to a concert or listen to classical music?
It's a hard task because it just doesn't grab peoples attention. I think things like classic FM where the music receives a more commercialised approach helps.

Do you have siblings?
I have one brother, aged 19 called Tom.

Are any of them musical?
He plays the cornet, and for a short period played piano.

Are your parents or any other family members musical?
My parents weren't musical before I was. My dad plays the bagpipes and my mum plays the fiddle and the banjo so we are a folky family.
My grandad was a jazz pianist and also a clarinet and saxophone player. He also did arrangements of famous pop tunes to make them playable to the public.

What are your other main passions in life (acting, film, etc)?
I'm quite into football and I love going to gigs. I also play in a folk funk band called 4Square who are shortly releasing our debut album '20:20 Manchester' recorded at Chets. I also play in a punk/metal band called 'The Zero Symphony' who have recently developed a fanbase in Texas.