Education ViVA

Animal Magic
Creswell Social Centre, Bolsover
14 February 2011

"I loved doing Animal Magic. I hope we can do it again soon." - Participant

On Monday 14 February 2011 young people from Creswell Junior School took to the stage at Creswell Social Centre to give a performance of animal themed songs alongside five players from sinfonia ViVA conducted by David Lawrence. This performance was the culmination of a singing project led by ViVA's Choral Advisor David Lawrence with assistant choral animateur Lynn Kawalec.

"It was a total success from start to finish." - Teacher, Creswell Junior School

A series of choral workshops were held at Creswell Junior School and they were led by David and Lynn with accompanist Rob Challinor. The participants were made up of a year 3 and a year 5 class and the ViVA team worked with each group separately to learn three songs: My Dog is a Good Dog, Cat and Mouse Games and Twist in the Tail. The participants also learnt the children's choral work Boris the Baboon which was written by Adam Saunders during a previous ViVA education project. Boris the Baboon tells the story of Boris, the Court Jester and his awful jokes and how these displease the Lion, King of the Jungle, so much that he banishes Boris telling him only to return when he has learnt a new trick. After Boris leaves the King also banishes music from his kingdom. The story ends with Boris returning to the Kingdom to show off his new trick, singing, and the King is so glad that Boris broke the law that he decrees that Boris should give a concert every day!

"I enjoyed doing Boris the Baboon with David, Lynn and Rob." - Participant, Creswell Junior School

During the workshops David and Lynn led the participants through different warm ups to prepare the young singers' voices for the session. The participants quickly learnt the songs and Boris the Baboon and enjoyed singing them at school during the workshops. During the final choral workshop at school both the groups came together to sing through Cat and Mouse Games and Boris the Baboon.

"I learnt to sing properly." - Participant, Creswell Junior School

On the morning of Monday 14 February 2011 all the participants gathered at Creswell Social Centre for a joint rehearsal led by David and Lynn with Rob. In this rehearsal they sang through all the songs from the project that would be performed in that evening's concert. After school the participants came back for a second rehearsal at which they were joined by an additional four ViVA musicians: Chris Swann (clarinet), Anthony Thompson (trumpet), Deirdre Bencsik (cello) and David Ayre (double bass). The massed ensemble rehearsed together for the first time and the participants enjoyed seeing and hearing the players close up.

"I felt very excited when I sang in the concert." - Participant, Creswell Junior School

The evening's performance was attended by a capacity audience of family and friends of the performers and the general public. The programme consisted of the songs the participants had learnt during the workshops at school and the ViVA musicians played a selection of pieces including solos and duets to showcase their instruments. The participants gave a brilliant performance that was greatly enjoyed by all those in attendance.

Animal Magic was generously supported by Bolsover District Council, Sing Up, Orchestras Live and Arts Council England.

Images from the project...