We know that playing together is what really cements music in the children’s lives. Sometimes, this is challenging – obviously during COVID lockdowns, no in-person group playing was possible.
But in normal times, we have a number of extra-curricular music groups for the children and there are concerts each term for every child to showcase their hard work. We also take our choirs and orchestras out into the community with performances outside of school. Recent performances have including performances at The London Stadium, The Tower of London and The Copperbox Arena.
We offer senior orchestra & choir, junior orchestra and choir, Bass Attack (an ensemble for cellos and basses). In a typical year, 65 children take part in the senior orchestra and around 36 in the junior orchestra. The younger children need a fair amount of support to help them stay in the right place, but the sense of satisfaction they get when they are all playing together is incredible to watch.
We see a huge impact from group playing:
- increased confidence gained through performance opportunities
- greater empathy in team-work due to ensemble practice
- greater aspirations from the children on being exposed to a variety of musical professionals
