Education ViVA

Animal Magic
Thursday 13th July 2006
Charnwood Primary School

Singing children from Charnwood Primary School raised the roof not once, but twice on Thursday 13 July! Around 50 students from the school took part in a singing project led by Choral animateur and conductor David Lawrence and sinfonia ViVA which took place from May to July 2006.

The school originally volunteered to participate in a performance of Adam Saunders' Boris the Baboon with sinfonia ViVA in the stunning grounds of Catton Hall. Unfortunately the promoter had to cancel the performance, but the show was to go on for the students of Charnwood Primary School.

ViVA and David Lawrence worked closely with the music teacher at Charnwood Primary School to develop a programme for the performance which would now take place at the school. An animal themed programme was put together including additional songs My Dog is a Good Dog, Cat and Mouse Games and Twist in the Tail from Animal Antics and the students learned them with the same enthusiasm that had greeted Boris!

The final day came and the students and David were joined by five musicians from sinfonia ViVA for the final rehearsal and performances.  As well as the songs each of the ViVA musicians performed an animal themed piece including The Elephant and The Swan from Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals, Rimsky Korsakov's Flight of the Bumble Bee and The Pink Panther by Mancini.

Following this the participants had a quick break before performing it all again to an audience of friends and family who similarly enjoyed the performance. Many of the children were beaming with pride having received such warm applause from two audiences in one day! Following the performance each participant was presented with a certificate during an achievement assembly at the school.

The first performance was to the rest of the school who listened attentively to the songs and instrumental pieces. Many of the children seemed particularly amazed at the speed at which Chris moved his fingers during the Flight of the Bumble Bee! The performance culminated in a tremendous performance of Boris the Baboon which was enjoyed by everyone! At the end of the performance, the rest of the school were given the opportunity to join sinfonia ViVA in a final rendition of My Dog is a Good Dog, a particular favourite of the students.

The project was generously supported by Rolls-Royce plc, ACE and ViVA

Images from the project...