"It's nice to make a beautiful sound," said ten-year-old Emily Cowan when asked what she enjoyed most about spending a good portion of her free time practising with the Victor Scott recorder ensemble under the direction of Stuart Hayward.

It's not really work as long as you keep practising, she noted, and went on to say that, in fact, it's lots of fun because Mr. Hayward is "really funny" and "a really cool teacher".

The ensemble, now comprising seven young people, the majority of whom attend or attended Victor Scott Primary School, meets at the school on Wednesdays for an hour after school and on Saturday afternoons. It was formed following a conversation Mr. Hayward had three years ago with the school's music teacher at the time at a Spring Into the Arts event at the school.

As the music teacher was leaving at the end of that school year, Mr. Hayward was asked if he would care to share his love of music with the children; he replied in the affirmative, but only as a volunteer. Thus the recorder ensemble was formed, and Mr. Hayward is now supported by Dr. Jamie Bacon and Marianne Penner.

Mr. Hayward raises funds himself to cover the cost of the recorders and the music, so that there is no expense involved for the students. The programme is open to all students as long as they are committed to practising regularly and show consistent progress. Students who show an interest are recommended by the school's music teacher, and the main criteria for inclusion are effort and interest rather than ability.

Two Victor Scott graduates, one at Mount Saint Agnes Academy, the other at Dellwood Middle School, return to their alma mater for practice and join the group for concerts. In addition to preparing for concerts, students are encouraged to develop a solo repertoire and are entered for the Royal School of Music practical examinations.

The group has been invited to perform on a number of occasions, most recently at the Bermuda National Trust walk-about on December 7, on Saturday December 15 at both the City and Victoria Street markets, and on Sunday evening at St. John's Church. They have played at various company Christmas events and at the ceremony held on the occasion of the re-naming of the Frederick L. Wade International Airport.

Mr. Hayward, son of well-known jazz pianist Lance Hayward, has played a musical instrument almost from birth, and always has a recorder with him. Small and relatively inexpensive, the recorder is often used to introduce young people to the world of music performance, as children can quite quickly learn to play simple tunes.

He points out that this has led some to regard it as an unsophisticated instrument, but then mentions the virtuosity of the recorder ensemble Red Priest, featured in the 2007 Bermuda Festival.

Jada Simmons-Trott, at eight years of age one of the youngest members of the ensemble, enjoys the fact that her peers are impressed that she can do something they can't. "Some people," she stated, "think it's magical because of the sound it makes."

Her brother Jordan is pleased with the progress he has made with the fingering and tonguing, and enjoys creating music.

P4 student Jade Simons practises every day, and in describing what she likes best about the ensemble, said that when she played with the group "it feels like I'm a star".