Education ViVA

ViVA On Track
Thursday 15th July 2004
Assembly Rooms, Derby

Steam was the theme of the day as 'ViVA on Track' pulled in to the Assembly Rooms Derby - a nostalgic journey in words and music back to the heyday of steam trains in the company of Station Master David Lawrence (conductor), with 1500 eager children, parents and teachers from local primary schools packing the coaches.

The concerts centred around performances by the choir and audience - drawn from 18 local primary schools - of selected songs from two works, Steam and Running on Rails. They were accompanied by ViVA who also performed several works on the theme, amongst them Edward White's Puffin Billy (the nostalgic radio theme from Children's Hour), Model Railway by Charles Williams and most memorably of all, Benjamin Britten's Night Mail which included sound effects provided by a wind machine and a fire extinguisher! Throughout, the audience was entertained and guided by Rebecca Lawrence who besides narrating, also drew the children's attention to individual instruments and features of each piece in her preamble, with demonstrations and illustrations coming from the ViVA musicians.

"I think the orchestra are great. I am only a beginner clarinet, but I hope that one day I will be as good as the clarinet player in the orchestra." - Participant

The stars were the children who gave a performance which confounded their ages. David Lawrence has a great rapport with young singers; today he encouraged, cajoled and gave technical pointers which fired them up and brought out the very best from them. The choir made a solid job of their own songs, in particular, Mallard which, rather like the train, gathered pace at a cracking rate and saw wonderfully clear diction and strong, confident voices. Also of note was Evening Star with its dreamy yet challenging format; the weeks of workshops, rehearsals and concentrated effort on the day clearly reaping rewards.

"I think [it] was really brilliant and we give you thanks for inviting us to your wonderful, wonderful concert. It was great!" - Participant

The audience of mainly younger children, not to be outdone, had also been busily learning songs in school and were equally enthusiastic when challenged with four-part rounds in Batty Green and Seventy-Two Miles of Rail, the latter with delicious steam train noises and different actions for each verse. Another high spot was the performance mid-concert by pupils from Meadow Farm Primary of Strange Train, a piece they had composed during two days spent working with ViVA musicians. This fascinatingly haunting work had moments of genuine, unsettling eeriness and a spooky factor which clearly scored a hit with the audience members, particularly the sections of whispered vocals as they reverberated around in ghostly fashion.

"I really enjoyed doing the whole concert." - Participant

'ViVA on Track'was the sort of journey where the passengers hang on to their tickets afterwards and paste them carefully into a scrapbook as a souvenir of a great time. Definitely a day to remember.

"It was brilliant and I would like to sing again." - Participant