Education ViVA

Animal Magic
Thursday 6th November 2003
Assembly Rooms, Derby

"I've been teaching for 32 years and I thought I knew everything, but these workshops gave me numerous ideas about warming up, stature, pronunciation, phrasing, voice exercises and generating enjoyment/excitement." - Teacher

Bonfire Night had gone, but there were musical fireworks aplenty to be enjoyed on November 6th 2003. In a single day as part of its Derby Residency, ViVA presented not one but two concerts involving a total of 28 primary and special schools from Derby and Derbyshire working with and performing alongside the musicians of ViVA.

The Assembly Rooms, Derby hosted the event, entitled Animal Magic. Designed to closely fit with the national scheme of work for music in primary schools, Animal Magic was the culmination of months of hard work on the part of everyone involved - children, ViVA musicians, teaching staff and helpers.

"The orchestra was brilliant and everyone sang along to it." - Participant

The event gave many of the children the chance to experience both the music of a professional orchestra and the wonder of choral work on a large scale for the first time. And the scale was impressive. The combined attendance for both concerts was nearly 2200. More than two hundred and fifty Year 5 and 6 children made up the hard-working choir whilst another seventeen hundred younger pupils from Years 3 and 4 joined in enthusiastically with songs that they had learned in school. Parents and friends were there too proudly watching and of course joining in with the fun.

"I learned that you can make your own pictures in your head when you listen to the music." - Participant

The concert itself, conducted by David Lawrence, was based upon Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns. As part of the concert, the ViVA musicians played excerpts from this work introduced by Rebecca Lawrence, whose own composition Animal Antics provided the storyline and songs.

"My favourite part was being in it because I felt all grown up." - Participant

The primary school curriculum for music stresses the value of children listening and responding to live musicians. Teachers and children had been supported in their preparations by ViVA-organised workshops, CDs of songs and a ViVA-commissioned teachers' pack of ideas and suggestions.

"I hope when I'm in another school I can do something like this again." - Participant

The result of all the preparation was clear to see and there was no shortage of interaction from an audience who were obviously keen and enjoying themselves. Songs with intriguing titles such as Cat and Mouse Games, Blue Whale, A Twist in the Tail and Tails, Tails, Tails continued the animals theme and in combination with the ViVA musicians resulted in a sound that was truly fantastic. The enthralled faces of the young participants during the concert and their glowing comments afterwards showed the profound impact the day had made.

"Just to say how much I enjoyed the Animal Magic concert! The children really enjoyed themselves." - Teacher

Images from the project...