The NSW Public Schools State Wind Orchestra visited Tamworth High School this week to play with students from across Tamworth.

For some of the Tamworth students, it was the first time they had played in a band that big, and the city students were enjoying their regional experiences.

Conductor Scott Ryan and four other staff members, including fellow conductors Matthew Manchester and Stephen Williams, left Sydney on Sunday, May 1, with 43 students to travel to Newcastle, Singleton, Scone, Tamworth, Gunnedah, Narrabri and Boggabri, before returning to Tamworth on Thursday for concerts and workshops across the region.

The students come from Year 5 to Year 12 at public schools across metropolitan and greater Sydney, and meet weekly to rehearse for two hours.

“The ensemble is fully auditioned, and the tour is about building skills and promoting good music-making in regional areas,” Mr Ryan said.

“We have progressions from school to regional to state focus.”

Department of Education arts co-ordination officer Di Hall said the visit gave the regional students the building blocks to get them ready to audition for shows at the Opera House, Schools Spectacular and other events.

“We are giving them skills that will enable that to be a possibility,” she said.

Some of these local students will go on a European tour later in the year.

Mr Williams worked with teachers, providing workshops on conducting, to help them improve with their school bands.

Mr Ryan said the tour gave the Sydney students an appreciation of regional students and the difficulties they faced, such as the tyranny of distance, when it came to making music this way.

“Lifelong friendships form that music provides the opportunity for in a non-competitive and non-threatening environment,” he said.

The country students often billet with the families of the students they meet in this way, when they travel to the city.

The students gave a public concert on Thursday night, to show what they had learnt during the workshops.