Live & Inspired 2021/22
Our ‘Live and Inspired’ Tours relaunched with a bang (or, rather, Ole!) in October 2021! We have been excited to be bringing live music back into BCP Primary, First and Junior schools this year!
As part of the 21/22 Music Education Hub Membership offer, member schools have selected one half-day in-school live music experience from the options below. This series of events is exclusive to SoundStorm and has been continued to be commissioned in response to our member schools’ feedback and in line with our Arts Council England objectives. The aim of the input is to widen participation with a simple ambition of offering as many students as possible access to a live music experience but with no additional travel costs for the school.
We have commissioned four distinct offers that extend across different genres, cultures, and instruments, three of which tie in perfectly with our 20th Birthday Celebrations, specifically our commission of Around the World in 8 Days at the BIC in July 2022. We try to provide variety and broaden pupil’s exposure to as many genres as possible and bring back favourites when we can!
The Tours
Mi Flamenco! (Autumn 2021)
First introduced to our member schools in our series of Live and Virtually Inspired sessions because of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic in Spring Term 2021, Mi Flamenco kicked off the year in spectacular fashion, with special guest Flamenco guitarist and singer Luis Vargas Monge. The children listened, watched and learnt about the spectacular traditional music of Spain as Ester, Uri and Luis brought an authentic flamenco experience of exciting virtuoso guitar, explosive dance and guttural gypsy song.
As well as witnessing a dynamic performance, the children were able to interact with the artists, exploring various flamenco elements: the “palmas” (hand-clapping), movement, rhythms, culture and language. Check out the feature video below – it gives a fantastic taste of a truly memorable Live & Inspired.
Raga and Tal’ – A journey into the poetic world of Indian Classical Music (Autumn 2021)
Virtuosic musicians, Ricky (sitar) and Udit (tabla), follow the traditional approach of the slow meditative and melodic unfolding of Ragas, to the dynamic interplay between sitar and tabla, taking audiences to the exhilarating crescendo between the two instruments. Students sang and spoke within the scale and rhythm of a raga through melodic and rhythmic games, creating their own simple compositions.
Ricky Romain (Sitar) has been playing the sitar since 1972. Since moving to the South West of England Ricky has performed at Concert Halls, Art Centres in the UK and in Europe, and has taught widely in the area. He is an associate lecturer at the University of Plymouth – delivering an Indian Classical module for first year undergraduate students
Udit Pankhania (Tabla) started his tabla journey at a very young age. He has learned from Pandit Ramakant Mhapsekar of Jaipur Gharana (family of musicians), who encouraged him with a lot of love to study tabla with more dedication. He is recognised for his musical approach when accompanying and authentic renditions of traditional compositions.
This tour was a truly special opportunity for our member schools and the musicians were completely blown away by some of the feedback received – showing that the experience can be full circle in nature.
Joe’s Limburn presents his Klezmer Trio (Spring 2022)
Local professional multi-instrumentalist Joe Limburn brought us an exciting trio of exceptional expertise in Jewish Klezmer folk music. Combining Double Bass (Joe’s speciality), Clarinet and Accordion, featuring experienced educator Richard Wirdnham, this performance was unlike any other set up your students have experienced before. Literally meaning vessel (“kley”) and melody (“zemer”), this genre of music is typically celebratory and will be sure to leave a lasting impression on the schools lucky enough to host this tour. Check out the video when we went to see them perform at St Katharine’s CE Primary!
Poole Society of Young Musicians presents Live and Inspired (Spring 1)
BSO violist and SoundStorm partner, Alison Kaye, is proud to present undergrad music students from world leading music institutions The Royal College of Music and Oxford University to provide a fun and truly inspirational concert to our member schools. Featuring a diverse range of styles and genres on their violins and violas, this performance will give pupils an idea of what it is like to study music to the top level and make it a profession in the real world. With plenty of tunes they know and love, there will be plenty of interaction with the musicians and will surely inspire pupils to pick up and instrument!
PLUS – due to all four tours booking up in record time, we added a FIFTH tour! (Summer term)
Local musician, internationally acclaimed cellist and YouTube sensation of ‘Bach in the rain’ (see below) Nick Squires is bringing an exciting performance of ‘A Brief History of Music’, seamlessly blending every period of musical history possible into a lively set of music showcasing the cello’s melodic capabilities.
