Blasting off on a musical adventure last Wednesday were almost 1500 pupils from Nottingham primary schools. But this was no NASA mission – it was Nottingham Music Hub’s Great Orchestra Experiment at Nottingham’s Albert Hall. A 100 piece orchestra made up of Music Service staff, local professional and semi-professional musicians and members of the Robin Hood Youth Orchestra played all the pieces from the stage with support from the young players from St Mary’s Hyson Green, Bulwell St Mary’s, Greenfields, Dovecote, Hempshill Hall, St Margaret Clitherow, Portland Spencer, Claremont, Heathfield, St Augustine’s, Radford, Warren, Forest Fields, Bluebell Hill, Rise Park, Southwold, Seely, Middleton, Mellers, Stansted, Scotholme, Glade Hill, Bentinck, Melbury, Haydn, Robin Hood, Dunkirk, William Booth and Southwark schools! (Sorry if we missed anyone off!)
Over two concerts we were transported to Jupiter (by Holst of course!) and then across the globe with musical wizardry from South America’s samba swinging rhythms in the number Micaela and powerful, pounding percussion from India, West Africa and Japan in form of tablas, djembes and taikos in the world music fusion piece Fire Track. There were exciting challenges from our shipmate narrators and we were wowed by brilliant soloists: singers in Van Morrison’s Moondance, although very much in the style of Michael Bublé, and on the trumpet in Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto in Eb.
The best moments though were when all the young players were singing and playing – particularly when singing along to Jupiter, plus the counting and swaying along challenges during the piece – and the orchestra playing John Williams’ Star Wars Overture, complete with all the orchestra’s strings players having LED lights on their bows to make them look like lightsabers! There was also the amazing response of the young players when the smoke machine went off!
This was the third annual Great Orchestra Experiment from the Music Service and there were schools clamouring to sign up for next year! With so many of Nottingham’s schools taking part we’re hoping every single one of them will be signing off their “be involved in a play, concert or exhibition” challenge. It was a fantastic event and we’ll be looking forward to next year’s too.
Last week pupils from Our Lady St Edward’s, Rufford, Cantrell, Westglade and Brocklewood primaries stormed Nottingham Castle’s gates and spent the night sleeping over in one of the city’s most famous landmarks. Although no longer the fortress from the time of Robin, the sheriff and King John, the 17th century ducal mansion offered up a whole heap of activities for our intrepid explorers.
There was orienteering in the grounds and a visit to the caves beneath the building, deep in the sandstone of Castle Rock, taking in King David’s Dungeon and Mortimer’s Hole! There was also time to play in the Hood in the Wood, learning all about life at Nottingham Castle in the Middle Ages and our most famous outlaw (with added dressing up!), and practice our art skills looking at one of the museum’s most popular paintings: Arthur Spooner’s Goose Fair. After this, it was time to bed down and get some sleep in the castle’s splendid Long Gallery.
This was an amazing experience and a great collaboration between SOLAR and the City’s Heritage and Museums team. For more on how you and your school or group can get on one of SOLAR’s super residentials check out their new website here and for more on Nottingham’s museums and heritage, including free trips to Nottingham Castle and art sessions like Take One Picture, click here.
We’ve had quite some week at OppNotts! We officially launched the site on Wednesday with representatives from the city’s primary schools and civic dignitaries: The Lord Mayor of Nottingham, Cllr Jackie Morris, and Cllr Sam Webster, the city’s portfolio holder for schools. The children were attending the meeting of Primary Parliament and we got to see and hear the brilliant ideas that they had around making their neighbourhood safer, and Opportunity Notts, through drama, poster designs and using positive words which reinforce positive ideas! We also had a visit from NottsTV who filmed some great sound bites from both children and councillors, which you can see here.
On Friday, we had another Primary Parliament and got more schools and young people signed up to OppNotts. The Lord Mayor, Cllr Morris, joined us again along with Cllr David Mellen, city portfolio holder for early intervention and early years. Between the two sessions, plus the schools who helped us pilot the scheme – with an especially big thank you to Forest Fields, Rosslyn Park, William Booth and Greenfields schools! – we now have 38 schools signed up, without even (officially) being a week old! The Evening Post also popped in on Friday and did some great interviews with people at the event, including pupils from Sneinton St Stephen’s and Henry Whipple – who did an amazing anti-bullying rap. Look out for the article in Monday’s Post. We’ll also post it on Twitter and Facebook – give us a follow or a like if you use either of them!
We’ll keep blogging on here and bringing you news, offers and new activities to try. Plus young people who are participating in OppNotts will hopefully soon start blogging on here too – so you don’t have to listen to boring old me all the time! If you have any questions, queries or suggestions, don’t hesitate to get in touch via the Contact button!
