Education ViVA

Carnival
Tuesday 5th February 2006
The Castle, Wellingborough

On Sunday 5 February 2006 the stage at the Castle in Wellingborough was buzzing with over 200 performers. The performance involving participants from four primary schools, two secondary schools, Nene Valley Music Centre, and sinfonia ViVA was the culmination of a music and art project themed around Saint-Saëns Carnival of the Animals.

"I enjoyed performing with sinfonia ViVA and it has inspired me to do more." - Participant

"I thought it was going to be boring, slow and dull but it was fast and lively." - Participant

The project began with an INSET session led by Workshop Director Tim Steiner, and two musicians from ViVA. The session was attended by 16 members of staff from the six participating schools and music centre. During the INSET day Tim introduced the staff to the project, demonstrated some musical activities to be used during the project, and gave the staff some ideas about creative ways of listening to music.

"I liked the fact that we were given a taste of what the pupils would experience in the workshops. We were given an opportunity to be creative and we could take the 'buzz' and excitement of the day back to school with us to share with the children." - Teacher

During the session the ViVA musicians performed the Elephant from Saint-Saëns Carnival of the Animals and the staff participated in a literacy exercise designed to develop listening skills. The exercise involved writing words describing an imaginary animal evoked by the performance. Using these characters as a starting point the staff worked together to form lyrics about their chosen character.

"I learned how music can represent animals." - Participant

Following the INSET session, each participating venue was sent a recording of Carnival of the Animals to play to their class. Prior to the workshop sessions, the primary school groups all created their own animals inspired by different movements from Carnival of the Animals, and developed lyrics for a song.

"I felt excited and thrilled that I'd be working with a proper orchestra." - Participant

Tim Steiner and musicians from ViVA worked with groups of students from all seven participating venues. During the workshops the participants all learned the four songs Tim had written in response to the lyrics provided by the participants. The primary schools worked on the vocal material with Kathryn Cook, vocal animateur for the music service between ViVA visits.

"I enjoyed the ViVA concert because I had fun and didn't just spend the day watching TV." - Participant

All participants developed and learned an instrumental piece using instruments they learned and tuned and untuned percussion instruments. Each group worked together, and the emphasis was on collaborative work.

"I learned that it is easier to work as a group than alone." - Participant

"At a time when there is so much unrest in the world it was good to see the community working together as one." - Mayor of Wellingborough

The final performance featured all the participants and their teachers performing as a large ensemble alongside ViVA. The performance included Saint-Saëns Carnival of the Animals interspersed with the songs created in response to the work. The performance concluded with the instrumental piece 'March of the Animals' followed by a final song.

"My favourite part was when everyone played their instruments together which made a wonderful sound." - Participant

"Thank you for the experience. I will never forget it." - Participant

Images from the project...