A Song in a Day

I’ve just spent the afternoon with students from Maidenbower Junior School and Oriel High School and experienced something very special.

In just a day year 6 and year 10 students (45 in total) worked together to write a song which they called Change. I joined the students mid way through the project day.

Already the age barrier between these groups had been broken and when I entered the room older students were demonstrating their instruments to their younger peers and there was a real sense of collective creativity.

This didn’t stop as Emily Barden led the group to complete the song accompanied by Reza musicians Anna Cooper (violin) and Steve Dummer (clarinet) and opened the session with a discussion about metaphors and their relevance in the lyric writing … quickly hands went up and within 30 minutes a verse had been written.

One student then asked for more instruments and the band of Oriel students were given an opportunity to shine during their instrumental. Within the hour the piece was finished, rehearsed and a final performance given to an enthusiastic audience of approximately 60 Year 3 students.

With music cuts in schools, colleges and even universities we need to create change to ensure creativity is recharged in our schools and young people have the opportunity to experience valuable music making opportunities like today, creating a sense of musical ambition for the next generation.