Top marks for young flautist - with a little help from his band mates

Jonathan Thompson, 16, has been playing the flute for half his young life

A Londonderry teenager hit all the right notes when he called on the assistance of his flute band during a music GSCE exam.

Jonathan Thompson, 16, got an A grade after performing alongside three members of the William King Memorial Flute Band.

Jonathan began learning to read music and play the instrument when he was eight-years-old.

He began playing the B-flat flute with the Londonderry Bands' Forum after his mother spotted a social media post advertising classes.

Jonathan began playing the flute when he was just eight years old

The B-flat flute is most commonly used by marching bands.

There are more than 660 marching bands and 30,000 members across Northern Ireland.

The forum, founded in 2010, is a community organisation that promotes music education and fosters community relations through workshops, school programs, and events in the city.

It also offers music tuition and cultural education about band history.

"I started going to the classes and really enjoyed them", he told BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme.

"I found it exciting. I like music theory, playing different instruments and performing in an ensemble. It is just good craic – you feel part of something."

Ali Lyttle (left) next to Derek Moore and Andrew Lynch (right) played alongside Jonathan when he got an A grade

It was the feeling of community, engendered by the band, that prompted Jonathan to think about performing in an ensemble for his music exam.

He played a C-flute during his solo piece; this is the standard concert flute used in GCSE music examinations.

However, he then performed the traditional English march Punchinello by composer William Rimmer for his ensemble piece using a B-flat flute.

"That piece had a good skills range with multiple parts," Jonathan said.

"It felt really good to get an A."

Derek Moore, a founding member of the William King Memorial Flute Band and a former coordinator of the Londonderry Bands' Forum, said Jonathan showed promise from a very young age and had lived up to expectations.

"Unlike a lot of other people his age, Jonathan has stuck the pace," he said.

"He had the talent and stuck with it.

"It has always been clear to me that Jonathan is the next generation [of musicians] and that's something we're very proud of."

'The next James Galway'

Music teacher Andrew Lynch, of the Londonderry Bands' Forum, was one of those who performed alongside Jonathan during his exam.

"We are so proud of him," he said.

"It was an inter-generational ensemble – one of the founding members of the band was there, I think they were more nervous than Jonathan on the day.

"When you are teaching, you are looking for the next James Galway.

"Jonathan is our star pupil – and to get this accolade it gives the children coming behind him something to look up to."

Music teacher Andrew Lynch said he is "so proud" of Jonathan

Mr Lynch said the Londonderry Bands Forum was now working with the Royal College of Music in London to establish formal GCSE grades for the B-flat flute.

"There are grades for the tin whistle, the recorder but not the B-flat flute," he said.

"It is a traditional instrument, made here in Northern Ireland.

"If Jonathan can do it, others can too. It just takes one pioneer."

Jonathan is now studying music production at the North West Regional College in Derry.