Amberley pupils get musical

Children at Amberley School had a special visit from The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, who came to conduct workshops and stage a concert.
By The Newsroom
Published 8th Dec 2016, 15:33 BST
The children were visited by The Bournemouth Symphony OrchestraThe children were visited by The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
The children were visited by The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra

This event took place thanks to Melanie and Stephen Edge, Amberley residents whose connections with the BSO gave rise to the idea of the orchestra’s education and outreach team coming to work with the children. Years Two and Three in Holly Class and Years Four and Five in Oak Class were the lucky children to benefit from tuition from the professionals, each participating in workshops focussing on rhythm, using tuned percussion instruments, singing and dynamics. The singing workshops got to grips with an African song called ‘Bulawayo’, with the children singing a three-part round each with loud or soft dynamics. The percussion sessions were based on the four-beat Samba rhythm and the children chose their own titles for the pieces they created.

The concert, which took the form of a musical world tour, was also an opportunity for the BSO musicians to showcase their own instruments. Starting on home territory, Rob the trombonist played a fantasy on ‘Rule Britannia’, followed by Vicky, the violinist, who gave a German slant on Hungary playing Brahms’ ‘Hungarian Dance’. Emma on the bassoon went to Myanmar with ‘Nellie the Elephant’ and another Rob, playing the French horn, performed an excerpt from Stravinsky’s Russian classic ‘The Firebird’. Kitty’s percussion took the children to Mexico with ‘Tico Tico’ and the musicians coached the audience in the art of the Mexican wave.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The children’s own contributions, Bulawayo, the ‘Breakfast Samba’ and the ‘Rock Star Samba’ further extended the geographical reach of the concert to Zimbabwe and Brazil.

Performing musicPerforming music
Performing music

Don’t miss out on all the latest breaking news where you live.

Here are four ways you can be sure you’ll be amongst the first to know what’s going on.

1) Make our website your homepage

2) Like our Facebook page

The children watchThe children watch
The children watch

3) Follow us on Twitter

4) Register with us by clicking on ‘sign in’ (top right corner). You can then receive our daily newsletter AND add your point of view to stories that you read here.

And do share with your family and friends - so they don’t miss out!

Always the first with your local news.

Be part of it.