Hampshire Music Education Hub HUB Newsletter 20 Spring 2020

On 6 December 2019, pupils from special schools around the county came together at hub partner Winchester Cathedral, for a festive celebration. This featured some fun, Christmas songs and wonderful readings from pupils to help narrate the Christmas story. Throughout the story-telling, pupils displayed their school banners, and celebrated different themes within the nativity tale. Many wore fantastic costumes - shepherds, angels and wise men were in abundance! Further music was provided by Hampshire County Junior Choir and the Westgate School Brass Ensemble. The morning was made extra special by Jack the donkey, joining in with a procession along the nave.

www.hants.gov.uk

Please see our website for news and forthcoming events: www.hants.gov.uk/hms Working for the benefit of all our partner organisations. Contact us with your news, comments and suggestions: music.service@hants.gov.uk , facebook.com/hantsmusichub, @HantsMusicHub

Welcome... Jill Larner Head of Hampshire Music Service

A Special Celebration

The run-up to Christmas is always one of the busiest times of year, with countless nativities, Christmas concerts and carol services taking place across Hampshire. Last term was a particularly exciting one, as HMS launched several new initiatives including My Voice; Our Song, a project to enable schools to use group singing as a tool to support mental health and emotional wellbeing. We also saw two new initiatives, ‘Beyond the Beat’ and ‘Rock 2 the Beat’, piloted in Hampshire primary schools. These give pupils a chance to learn an instrument whilst also experiencing ensemble playing from the very first lesson. The coming term looks to be just as busy! We will be visiting hub partner The Anvil, Basingstoke, on a number of occasions, including for the Giant Sing, where Barnaby Bear will be having a new ‘fairytale’ themed adventure and the Primary Prom. More information about all our upcoming events can be found on our website: www.hants.gov.uk/hms We hope to see you at one or more of our spring term performances.

Partnership news & events across Hampshire

Winchfield Festival Education Outreach This year, Hampshire Music Service is working in partnership with the Winchfield Festival to bring exciting new music opportunities to pupils in the Hart area of Hampshire. Luke Jones and Sue Riggs, two experienced HMS teachers, have been running a number of workshops and projects in Hart schools, including world music workshops, ‘Write Your Own School Song’ and boys’ choirs. Over 15 schools have so far signed up to this exciting project, with some very positive outcomes. The two boys’ choirs have made fantastic progress in a short space of time and performed Christmas concerts where they sang a programme of festive songs. Choir leader, Sue Riggs, noted that “Both choirs were very, very enthusiastic and the boys all left buzzing with excitement.” In the new year, schools will be participating in even more sessions, including an orchestra play day in February, at Calthorpe Park School, Fleet. The project will culminate in a concert in Winchfield as part of the Winchfield Festival, celebrating the achievements of every pupil involved in a year’s worth of sessions, rehearsals and workshops and including performances from HMS ensembles as well as pupils from some of the schools involved. A huge thank you is owed to the Winchfield Festival for making this project a possibility through, their commitment and support.

Hampshire Music Youth Forum It has been a busy period for the members of HMS ensembles this half term! Needless to say everyone involved in Christmas concerts, residentials and tours has contributed massively to HMS and put in an incredible amount of effort. There have been four residential trips in the last half term. Hampshire County Youth Band travelled to Fairthorne Manor and North East Hants Area Schools’ Bands and Winchester Area Youth Orchestra went to the fabled Avon Tyrrell, which involved working on repertoire in amongst lots of fun activities like team building exercises. I know that, from personal experience, going on these trips is a great stress-reliever, especially for the older pupils who have exams coming up. Hampshire County Youth Wind Ensemble went to PGL as well – have a look at the Youth Forum Instagram to see more of this, @hmyouthforum – which looked like great fun and really brought people together. There were two exceptional evenings of jazz as the Hampshire Jazz Café was launched, which took place at Barton Peveril sixth form college. This involved jazz combos and improvisation in a Jazz Café environment. On the other end of the spectrum, the Hampshire Youth Folk Ensemble performed at the very prestigious Trade Union Conference. This was a once in a lifetime performance and all of the players thoroughly enjoyed themselves. In between playing, ensemble members were able to go out to Brighton (on a lovely sunny day) and take a walk to the beach to relax! It’s wonderful to see a wide variety of music being performed, and to have the opportunity to experience playing these different genres. There have been countless Christmas concerts that have taken place – from Hampshire County Youth Orchestra performing a piece by Bach with the Hampshire County Youth Choir to Gosport and Fareham Youth Orchestra performing ‘The 12 days of Christmas’ with some audience participation! Next term, the Hampshire Music Youth Forum will be holding a concert on 25 February at Winchester Baptist Church so stay tuned to the Instagram page to find out more and see how to get tickets!

Author: Hameem Khan, yr.13 and HCYO ensemble member

Published 10.01.2020

Partnership news & events across Hampshire

Beyond the Beat HMS staff, members of the Hampshire County Youth Jazz Centre and the Brookfield Community School Concert Band joined year 4 classes from Sarisbury Junior School at the end of November to celebrate the first part of Hampshire Music Service’s new school initiative, Beyond the Beat. Beyond the Beat provides whole classes with small group instrument tuition, instrument hire and ensemble sessions, free to the pupils for a term. Every pupil in year 4 at Sarisbury Junior School was able to learn an instrument with experienced HMS teachers and experience playing with their classmates in an ensemble after just six weeks of learning.

At the end of term concert, pupils performed to friends and family as a class, with the whole year group and ended the evening with a grand finale including every musician, from age 8 to 50+! Headteacher at Sarisbury Junior school, Andy Stockton, expressed his pride at the achievements made by his pupils, the enthusiasm of their class teachers to be involved in the project, and his hopes that pupils will continue their learning going forward in 2020.

Rock 2 the Beat The autumn term also saw the launch of a new rock and pop initiative, ‘Rock 2 the Beat’. This programme gives KS2 pupils the chance to learn guitar, bass guitar, drums or vocals in a rock and pop context, through group lessons and band practice. The pilot ran at Harestock Primary School, led by HMS rock specialists. Pupils were able to take their instruments home to practise, ready for a concert to parents in December. The audience was wowed by their performance, which included the rock and pop staples of ‘Hound Dog’ by Elvis Presley, ’Stand By Me’ by Ben E. King and ‘Happy’ by Pharrell Williams. Going forward, the pupils who participated in Rock 2 the Beat will be able to continue both their lessons and band practice, in weekly sessions during the school day.

My Voice; Our Song This year, a new project has launched in Hampshire schools to use group singing to open discussions with pupils about mental health and emotional wellbeing. Masterminded by Nicola Duncombe, HMS leading vocal practitioner, workshops began in schools around the county during the autumn term, led by HMS vocal specialists. Workshops will continue throughout the spring term, culminating in a concert for participating schools at hub partner The Anvil in Basingstoke. This performance will include group singing, solos from secondary school pupils and HMS ensemble members as well as interviews with pupils, talking about how music has been beneficial to their mental wellbeing.

Making Music Together – Participate, Enjoy, Achieve!

Tel: 023 8065 2037 Fax: 023 8061 8241 Email: music.service@hants.gov.uk

www.hants.gov.uk/hms

Partnership news & events across Hampshire

Bitesize Hub Highlights

HMYF Concert

Tuesday 25 February

Winchester Baptist Church

A student-led concert organised by the HMS

Youth Forum

Chairman’s Concert

Sunday 8 March

The Anvil, Basingstoke

HMS ensembles join to perform in this special

concert

Thank you for your interest in Hub activities. Look out for the next newsletter in the summer term

Percussion Day

Sunday 9 February

Queen Mary’s College

A day of exciting percussion workshops with leading experts

Ensemble residentials HMS ensemble members have been busy this term attending a number of residentials. These trips are valuable experiences for ensemble members, giving them a chance to focus on and improve their musical skill, enjoy a range of fun activities and team-building challenges and build long-term friendships with their fellow ensemble members. Take a look at what went on this term:

Hub Conference Another academic year, another brilliant Hampshire Music Education Hub Conference! This year saw a wide range of workshops for primary, secondary, vocal and special school music teachers. This year’s key note speech was delivered by renowned jazz musician and Head of Jazz at The Purcell School, Simon Allen, who started the day off in style, inspiring all delegates to continue making a positive impact on their pupils’ musical learning. The brand new Hampshire Teachers’ Choir, a choir for all those working in the education sector, was also launched, ready to start rehearsals on Saturday 25 January at St. Bede CE Primary School and Saturday 14 March at Castle Hill Infant School.

Brass Festival

14 and 15 March

Horndean and Perins

Two days of brass workshops and performances

New Ensembles Two brand new HMS ensembles have been launched this year and are looking for new members. The Havant Wind Ensemble has only been running since October but is already 20-members strong. Open to woodwind, brass and rhythm section players of grade/stage 1-4+, anyone up to age 18 can come along for a taster session. The Gosport and Fareham Ukulele Orchestra will be starting rehearsals in January. This is the first ukulele ensemble run by HMS and is a great opportunity to build musical skills in a fun and supportive environment. This is open to young people of all abilities and is completely free for the spring term. More information about both ensembles can be found on the HMS website: www.hants.gov.uk/hms

Jazz Café In partnership with hub partner Barton Peveril Sixth Form College, the Hampshire County Youth Jazz Centre has launched a new jazz opportunity for young people in

Hampshire - the Hampshire Jazz Café. Taking place at Barton Peveril every half term, the jazz café gives young jazz musicians the chance to perform in an informal environment and practise their improvisation skills. So far this has been a great success, and new dates for the coming term will be released soon.