Education ViVA

Beanbag Proms: Quack! Growl! Moo!
Saturday 11th June 2011
Royal Concert Hall Foyer, Nottingham

The latest Beanbag Prom entitled Quack! Growl! Moo! was themed around animals and took place in the foyer of the Royal Centre and was led by maestro Alasdair Malloy. Alasdair opened the concert and was gradually joined by the 12 musicians from sinfonia ViVA who each played their own animal related theme as they entered during Alasdair's Animal Antics. Alasdair then needed help to find his assistant Beanie Bear who had gone missing but the children soon found her hiding in the audience and then everyone joined in singing Beanie Bear's Song.

"Conductor/Maestro Alasdair was brilliant! Interactive bits for kids were great." - Audience member

In the first piece The Waltzing Cat the audience gave their best impression of a cat by meowing along to the music when shown by Alasdair. During Walking the Dog the audience sat back and listened to the musicians playing. During the Cuckoo Polka members of the audience had the chance to play alongside the musicians with bird call whistles. The orchestra were joined by a couple of cuckoos, some doves and there was also a surprise appearance from some ducks – which also took the whistle players by surprise!

"The best part was the relaxed, informal, child friendly introduction to orchestral music." - Audience member

Alasdair told the story of how a mouse fell in love with an elephant in The Tale of a Mouse and the audience enjoyed the opportunity to sit back and listen to the story and the musicians playing. There was more audience participation during The Grasshopper's Dance. Alasdair needed two volunteers from the audience to help play the piece using percussion instruments and in keeping with the animal theme this included some blue bottles... bluebottles... do you see the joke?!

"The hands on at the end really inspired my children." - Audience member

During Tarantella for Tarantulas the audience were able to sit back in their beanbags and listen to the musicians play before the final piece Spanish Flea during which Beanie Bear boogied with the audience who enjoyed this opportunity to dance along to the music. After the concert the audience got to meet the musicians with their instruments, some of which they were allowed to play with help from the performers.

"Yet another fabulous concert - looking forward to the next one!" - Audience member

The Beanbag Proms are generously supported by Royal Centre Nottingham and Arts Council England.