Continuing our relationship with the Malcolm Arnold Academy in Northampton, a group of our players, led by Jamie Hutchinson, visited the school in March to work with a selection of year 7 and 8 students. The morning was spent rehearsing and performing some sections from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons which had been specially arranged by Rachel Lockwood.
Students without instruments worked on creating lyrics that reflected the music and the entire performance was brought together and recorded for a future showing at assembly. The afternoon featured a lecture-recital given by the players who performed music such as Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals and Dance Macabre as well as more up-to-date hits such as the theme from Harry Potter. There were games and quizzes throughout the afternoon, all of which were designed to get the students thinking about how music can represent anything from animals to the weather to Satan himself!
Michelle Reading, the school’s new Head of Music commented: ‘The day was a wonderful opportunity for our students to work with professional musicians, who supported them brilliantly with the music that had been written especially for them. It was a very productive and exciting day that we look forward to repeating in the future.’
