our projects – Making Music

November 6, 2019December 6, 2019

Music Appreciation Assembly

Music Appreciation Assembly

Three of the YMI team recently performed songs at an assembly in Earlston Primary schools. The school was running a series of afternoon assemblies bringing in musicians , asking some of the pupils to play their own instruments or listening to music to increase the appreciation and enjoyment of music . the Depute head teacher, Kevin, asked if we could help and Kaela, Jon and Jenni went along in December to play sing and get the pupils up dancing.

It went down well and we hope to help the school invite some other musicians along to inspire the children.

November 1, 2019September 8, 2020

Kakatsitsi Drummers

In October we had a series of workshops led by a Ghanaian group of traditional drummers, dancers and singers from the Ga tribe of Southern Ghana . The came to the UK for a 2 months tour with the arts education charity Indigenous People , who specialise in tour and project management for traditional world music and dance groups, particularly from Africa.

The group visited seven of our schools across the region, delivering a whole school performance followed by class dance and drumming sessions. It was such a fun and high energy experience for the pupils, with an opportunity to experience music and dance from Ghana.

October 1, 2019November 1, 2019

Scottish Opera Tour

The Scottish Opera Primary School tour has been happening for 50 years . Each year, once we get our funding, we apply for 3 or 4 schools to take part across the region and there is always a high demand for spaces . This year’s workshop and performance, Warriors! The Emperor’s Incredible Army, is based upon the true story of Emperor Qin’s incredible 2,000 year old terracotta army.

This year we have managed to combine a number of smaller schools to work together on one show, that will be performed in the bigger school. The project will be delivered to 5 or 6 schools and will take place between April and May 2020.

The pupils learning the songs with their teacher in class, using the resources provided by Scottish Opera. There is a practice morning, led by a SO singing coach, two weeks before the workshop day. Then the performance day it is all pulled together by a team of SO staff, with a morning of practice, a dress rehearsal to the rest of the school, followed by a final performance to the parents. it is amazing what the pupils achieve in such a short space of time.

The story line for this years workhop is below.

ll hail Qin Shi Huang – the first Emperor of China, destined to rule his Empire forever. After all, didn’t he drink the Elixir of Life, a potion that promises immortality? Not such a great promise when that elixir turns out to be a deadly poison. Now the afterlife awaits, but even a dead Emperor needs an army. So, over many years, he’s gathered a vast hoard to watch over him after death – 8,000 soldiers, horses and chariots, all armoured and armed to the teeth. And every one of them moulded from clay…

Music: Alan Penman
Lyrics: Ross Stenhouse
Commissioned with the five Scottish Confucius Institutes