King Arthur's Hosts a Memorable Music Day for Primary Schools

Following a series of workshops, about 15 Pupils from each school, Milborne Port Primary, Our Lady's Wincanton, Charlton Horethorne and Wincanton Primary spent a demanding and enjoyable day playing a wide range of musical instruments and being given the chance to practice together and prepare for a proper concert in the evening, when their parents arrived to hear what they had been able to accomplish during the day. Here we see Mr Graeme Wilson, Head of Wincanton Primary with some of the pupils he had brought with him.

Also performing were Bruton Primary School who already have an orchestra, and Upton Noble Primary who have lots of string players and flautists. The day was a first for King Arthur's and was initiated and led by Mrs Emma Fletcher, the Head of Music. She was backed up by a team of excellent young KA instrumentalists. Hearing them practice and play together one could see immediately that they had not only achieved a high standard, but they could play together in a happy and relaxed way. Their love of music was obvious.

I turned up around 4pm when their rehearsal was just finishing and all the children were about to have their tea. This did not stop this quartet of King Arthur's students from continuing to practice.

Expecting something pretty basic I was amazed to find that the KA Hospitality and Catering students, led by their teacher Mrs Alison Flynn, had prepared a delicious and varied platter of sandwiches, biscuits, roll and a truly impressive cup cake together with a drink for each pupil. After what had been a testing afternoon playing their instruments, the young musicians were happy to tuck in, but I was impressed to see that most of them cleared their plates before devouring the cup cake. "Must leave the best till last," many of them told me.

Wandering around the hall I found the pupils very keen to talk and tell me what instruments they were already learning and how much they loved music. They all said the day had been "great" and there was a happy and enthusiastic atmosphere. I was only sorry I could not stay for the concert. Below you see Music Specialist Mrs Jo Sykes and some of the pupils she had brought with her from Bruton Primary School.

John Baxter

The Trio Practice

In the summer term I had the idea that if I could persuade some of my school musicians to help we could go in to the Primary Schools and try to get more people playing orchestral instruments. At school we have plenty of drummers, guitarists and pianists, but less woodwind players so I wanted to raise the profile of orchestral musicians.

Lorna Blackmore (a violinist) and I visited the Head teachers to talk to them about the idea. They were very supportive and agreed to host the initial concert to inspire the students.

Following the concert primary pupils were asked to sign up for workshops on the Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone, Trumpet and Violin. There was a really positive response and the four schools of Milborne Port, Charlton Horethorne, Wincanton and Our Lady’s joined up for the workshops. There were two of these for each school delivered after school hours so they did not interrupt any lessons.

Finally on Friday all the hard work came together in the rehearsal and concert we put on for the parents. It is my greatest wish to get more young people signed up for lessons and hope that this was the inspiration they needed.

Mrs Emma Fletcher

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