‘[Your students] will have experiences like no other and you'll remember it for the rest of your life.’

On the tour, the school’s jazz band and choir performed concerts in a Villa in Verona and in a Piazza in Torbole. When not performing, the young musicians saw an opera in the famous amphitheatre in Verona, visited St Mark's Square in Venice, had an authentic pizza making experience and also enjoyed a trip to Caneva Aquapark.

What advice would you give to other music leaders considering touring?

As a first-time trip leader, you're going to be excited and slightly nervous in equal measure. Even though I'd been on trips in the past, this was my first overseas trip. My first piece of advice would be to book early. This gives you multiple advantages - an early booking discount from Club Europe! - but mainly it gives you time. Kids are kids and any contact with parents - particularly with letters - takes far longer than you expect, even with your best students. Talk with Club Europe! They offered me so much advice with suggestions ranging from extra water on the coach, to leisure activities, to documents and more. Keep your team filled in and ask for their input - they'll probably think of things that you haven't and will feel more involved if you delegate. This means you have less to do and you can turn your attention to those things you have to. 

Would you do anything differently next time?

Definitely delegate more. Things like booking hoodies - the company I went with was brilliant, but it would have been far easier if that had been done by somebody else. 

What was the overall highlight of your tour for you and for your students?

The biggest highlights were the opera at the Verona amphitheatre, the Caneva Aquapark and the final concert we did in Piazza Lietzmann. That final concert had such a good feel to it, with a fountain in the background, people coming to sit down after having got a coffee or ice-cream. My students did brilliantly, and I was so proud of them I even shed a tear on the coach ride home. 

How often do you plan to tour?

My intention is to tour every two years with a school production in between. It is a lot to organise and I appreciated having 16 months to plan and rehearse, especially for a school that hadn't toured in many years. I would love to try another country. I know how good Italy and the Lake Garda region can be, so if they're not as good, I can always go back. However, there looks to be loads of unique, interesting and beautiful places that Club Europe could organise a trip around for a school and I'm eager to try out more with quite possibly Austria being my next one!

What do you think are the benefits of touring?

This trip brought students together far more than anything else I've done. It gave them a sense of purpose - they were playing for an Italian audience and they wanted to sound good. It gave them a sense of community - again more than anything I could have done in school. It expanded their cultural capital - I was amazed as to how many of a standard comprehensive school tour group said that the opera was their highlight. If you have people like Hannah, Tim and Sabine working with you to put this trip together, you can't go far wrong.

You can read Dr Tate’s full review of his tour here.

Or find out more about our Italy school music tours or all our school music tours.