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Shaldon Festival Outreach 2020
Sadly, following the guidance from the Government and Public Health England, the Shaldon Festival Committee had to cancel the concert season and all Festival outreach planned for June 2020.
Shaldon Festival 2019: Review
From the off on day one, Jason and the team soon had the students engaged, relaxed and having fun. Each day began with warm-up games, often crazy, but involving some rhythmic or other musical element. Then the real hard work began. The TCS students brought their own instruments and were encouraged to devise melodies and rhythms over chord sequences selected from the Elgar concerto. The results were fascinating and increasingly adventurous as the students became more confident. These were gradually linked and structured to make up to two outer movements.
The Orchard Manor students also worked over a chord sequence to devise a nocturne movement, suggesting features of a night sky and improvising with voices and a variety of instruments. The workshop sessions and their final piece were amazing, as was their focus and engagement.
A fast and playful movement was improvised by TCS using some parameters of the fast movement of the Elgar but using very different instruments – boomwhackers, triangles, vibraslaps and others. A fizzing and fun piece resulted from this.
The final performance, in a lunchtime concert, delighted audiences and thrilled the performers. They were augmented by Shaldon School choir who sang three lovely songs, and OLSP Year 5 violinists who performed 2 songs, swapping deftly between playing their violins and singing.
The whole experience was an extraordinarily exciting and moving one for all involved. We all learnt so much and got to know each other ‘like a family’ as one student put it.
Special thanks to the multi-talented Creative Learning Team, Jason, Katy, Dylan, Cam and Tom, as well as the totally committed and supportive school staff Patrick Saturley, Nina Jarram, Kip Pratt and Lisa Price.
Many thanks also to our sponsors who made this possible by their generosity; The Helen Foundation, The Arts Society South West *through Teignbridge and District Decorative and Fine Arts Society, Dawlish Town Council and Teignbridge District Council.
Kate Hill-Art June 23rd 2019
Over the course of five days the Bath Philharmonia’s Creative Learning Team, including Musical Director Jason Thornton and Principal Cellist Miriam Lowbury*, will work with pupils from Teignmouth Community School (a mainstream, state funded senior school for boys and girls) and Orchard Manor School (a residential school for students aged 3 – 19 with a variety of specific learning needs) to create a ‘concerto’ from scratch. Bath Phil will be bringing additional specialist instruments and equipment for the students from Orchard Manor to enable their participation in the workshops.
The finished work will be performed at a free lunchtime concert in St Peter’s Church, Shaldon at 1pm on Thursday 20 June 2019. The concert will also include items from pupils of Shaldon Primary School and Our Lady & St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Primary School, and there will be a bucket collection at the end.
*Miriam Lowbury, the principal cellist of the Bath Philharmonia, is playing the Elgar Cello Concerto with the orchestra on Thursday evening. She is also going to be working with the Outreach Team earlier in the week, with young people from local schools. However, on medical advice she is having to restrict herself to playing in the Thursday evening concert only. We are delighted that Katy Rowe, also a member of the orchestra, will be working with the students in her place. This means that the resulting concerto being evolved during the workshops, will be a violin concerto instead of a cello one. We are very grateful to the Bath Phil Team have been able to make this adjustment so quickly.
We are enormously grateful to The Helen Foundation, The Arts Society S.W. Area, Dawlish Town and Teignbridge District Councils for supporting this outreach programme.
Shaldon Festival 2018
There were two outreach projects at this year's Festival, both taking place on Thursday 21 June 2018:
1 VOCES8
VOCES8 conducted a short Vocal workshop based around the ‘VOCES8 Method’ involving students from Teignmouth Community School, Exeter Road. This included rehearsing the song Price Tag by Jessie J which the students then performed on stage with VOCES8 at the start of the second half of their concert that evening.
2 CHETHAM'S
Four pupils from Chetham's School of Music conducted two workshops at Shaldon Primary School and Teignmouth Community School, Mill Lane.
They also gave a lunchtime concert at the Alice Cross Centre.
This year we were very fortunate to have outreach activities associated with two of our concerts.
The first was the VOCES8 who ran an afternoon workshop for students from Teignmouth Community College. The students had prepared the group’s arrangement of ‘Price Tag’ (Jessie J) and after some lively and enjoyable vocal warm-up exercises, the session moved into rehearsal of ‘Price Tag’. The students had clearly been so well rehearsed, that VOCES8 let them take the main part, both in rehearsal and in the evening performance, much to the delight of both performers and audience. The young people performed with great confidence and enjoyment, and were greatly appreciative of the training they received and the performance opportunity.
The second was a series of three workshops run by Stephen Threlfall and his amazingly talented students from Chetham’s Music School Manchester. They began at Shaldon School where students were treated to demonstrations by the Chetham’s students of their instruments and capabilities. The students were encouraged to ask and answer questions and were engaged in an animated way throughout. Here are some comments from their music teacher Lisa Price: “ Wow, what an amazing opportunity for both our school children and the young musicians who visited. The Chetham’s musicians exuded skill and dynamic technique which our children were able to watch and listen to. As a class of many musicians, they were able to watch the young talented musicians and see the level of ability they could all aspire to. The passion the musicians had for their own instrument and the encouragement they gave each other was beautiful to watch. It was certainly an inspiring workshop. Thank you for organising it. We definitely look forward to many more visits in the future.
The students also visited Teignmouth Community School Mill Lane Primary School who were equally delighted: “It was very well received and the children very much enjoyed having this opportunity. The teacher said it was very interesting and that it caught the attention of all of her pupils”.
Finally, they visited the Alice Cross Centre, where the response was equally glowing from the manager Julia Street: “Thank you very much to you and the festival committee for organising another Chetham’s School of Music outreach with us. It was much appreciated. We hold our weekly memory café for people with dementia on Thursdays, so some of those people with memory issues stayed for the concert and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was lovely to see them so animated and enjoying the musical performances. The standard of music this year was exceptional and we felt privileged to spend a few hours with Stephen, Brenda and their students. We do hope the Shaldon Music Festival will consider us again for an outreach project next year, as this is a really special event we all look forward to.”
We were very fortunate to have the opportunity to reach so widely with our Outreach this year and delighted that it was received so favourably. We trust we are building our future audiences and encouraging the enjoyment of music in the area in this way.
Shaldon Festival 2017 Friday 23rd June
JULIAN BLISS SEPTET: JAZZ WORKSHOP
Following
their outstandingly successful concert of Latin American music on the
opening night of the 2017 Festival, five players from the Julian Bliss
Septet led a workshop session with the Teignmouth Community School jazz
group the following morning.
It was a great success and
everyone involved was delighted. They started with some simple rhythm
clapping, warm-up exercises and introduced some other rhythmic circle
work. After the break the 35 students involved played their own
instruments, learning some Latin rhythms, playing harmonies using these
rhythms, and then improvising over the top. The quintet led the way,
but quite a few students were brave enough 
to
try improvising on their own, and even duetted with Julian or one of
the other band members. The workshop ended with a really interesting
Q&A session.
The children really loved it, and the jazz
musicians said they had had a brilliant time; lovely Festival, great
venue, enjoyable workshop and impeccable organisation. They would like
to come back.
We are most grateful to the Helen Foundation for supporting this workshop.
Shaldon Festival 2016 Monday 13th
PROKOFIEV PETER AND THE WOLF STORY: MASK MAKING PROJECT
With
the support of the Helen Foundation, pupils from Shaldon Primary School
and Teignmouth Community School Mill Lane took part in a workshop on
Monday 13th June led by the artist Cara Roxanne working in partnership
with DAISI, arts inspired learning, to create masks relating to the
Peter and the Wolf story. Ten pupils from each school took part in two
performances of the work given by Chetham's School of Music Ensemble on
Friday 17th June, animating the story with the help of the masks they
created.
Local school children attended the afternoon performance. In the
words of a teacher from Shaldon Pre-School: "our children were
completely mesmerised and spellbound at such a fantastic story so
perfectly told through the music. I don't think I have ever seen our
children so engrossed in an event."
The review of the evening concert can be found in the archive section of this website under the Programme Heading.
Photos taken at the concert are shown below.
Pupils participating from Shaldon Primary School
Song Bartlett, Ashleigh Brook-Buchanan, Esther Cook, Louis Cook, Joe Heathcote, Paige Leigh Laing, Mei Lin Porter, Jeannie Scollick, Beth Stephens, Grace Stephens.
Pupils participating from Teignmouth Community School Mill Lane
McKenzie Blackmore, Katelyn Dickenson, Kayleigh Grant, Kelsey Hicken, Finley Lawson-Nelder, Alfie Moffitt, Ellie Noel, Grace Scott, Harvey Smith, Maya Stroud.
Shaldon Festival 2015 Thursday 18th June
VOCES8: SCHOOLS WORKSHOP
VOCES8
are very keen to promote music education, and have opened their Gresham
Centre in London as an international centre for vocal excellence and
outreach, believing in the power of music to change lives. The group has
developed a set of vocal exercises to enhance children’s musical and
overall academic performance. This method, which is currently being used
in several schools in Britain, is based on a 2010 study conducted by
Professor Sue Hallam, a researcher at the Institute of Education in
London.As part of their visit to Shaldon to give the first of
our 4 concerts, VOCES8 ran a workshop for 50 children from Shaldon
Primary School and Teignmouth Community College. The children were
hooked from the start! As were their teachers and several members of the
committee who were in the church at the time!
The
session was based around three aspects of warming up, for the body, the
brain and the voice, though all these were intertwined in the exercises
the children were asked to do. Paul Smith, baritone and one of the
founders of the group, led most of it, but other members were also
involved. We all had to make weird sounds, copy what the leader did
quickly, whatever it was, stretch, play air guitar, pretend to be
robots, and finally sing the chorus of ‘Skyfall’ which the children
performed with the group in the evening concert.
It
was all fun, and very effective. The children sang with great
confidence both in the afternoon and in the evening. They loved the
whole experience. One said “It was mega! Everyone should have the chance
like I did to learn all those great things.” They all described their
learning as fun, and although some of it was challenging (singing high)
they enjoyed that too. They found it nerve-wracking singing on the stage
in the concert but also loved it, and how VOCES8 included and welcomed
them.
All in all it was a great success, and we hope it has produced some enthusiastic singers for the future!
Kate Hill-Art 22/6/15
Pupils participating from Teignmouth Community School:
Kitten Baxter, Ellie Bessell, Mollie Bond, Tilly Brady, Lucy Brooks, Mollie Chapman, Ellice Cole, Paige Connelly, Keeley Cousins, Jessica Edworthy, Harriet Endall, Mary Ford, Emily Gardener, Holly Gartman, Mike Gill, Maisy Harbert, Daisy Mulford, Kelly Rainbow, Aleisha Ray, Charley Roberts, Amy Webber, Lucy Wellsford, Max Woolnough, Daisy Wright.Pupls participating from Shaldon Primary School:
Yasmin Barnes, Ryan Bouzayen, Ashlie Buchanan, Louis Cook, JD Cook, Rowan Davies-Cox, Bea Endell, Isabella Harman, Albin Irving, Arthur Kerry, Mei-Lin Porter, Josh Powles, Will Powles, Izzy Price, Gracie Quartly, Sam Ridgway, Lauren Rowbury, Imogen Smith, Sophie Stockham, Tess Walsh, Daisy Yeandle.
Shaldon Festival 2014 Thursday 19th June
MUSIC OF THE BIRDS: LUNCH TIME INFORMAL CONCERT
What an event. What an occasion. The Shaldon Festival was
instrumental in bringing together young people from Shaldon, Teignmouth
and Dawlish schools in what turned out to be a very special performance
of known and highly original music.
The
opening evening concert of this the 25th Festival included the
extremely popular ‘The Lark Ascending’ by Vaughan Williams. That being
so the theme of birds provided lift off for the voices and sounds of a
variety of captivating musical performances at a lunch-time informal
concert.
The programme began with ExMastra, the children’s
orchestra of Teignmouth Local Learning Community conducted by Kip
Pratt. Displaying a high level of concentration and dedication the
pupils gave their all beginning with Spring from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.
This was followed by a Handel minuet and a Russian folk melody. The
freshness of the playing provided an excellent concert opening.
Shaldon
School Choir followed with three bird songs. This choir of some forty
voices, conducted by Lisa Price, are becoming well known in the
community and they captured the mood and different sound qualities of
each of their songs.
Next we were treated to the very first performance of Music of The Birds.
This was an amazing project involving workshops held over four days
with Dawlish Community College, Oaklands Park School and Ratcliffe
School. Led by Jason Thornton, Music Director of Bath Philharmonia, it
resulted in some incredibably evocative music and sounds of three very
different bird environments. The first part was English pastoral, the
second captured the cold of the Arctic and finally we were whisked to
the dazzling sounds of a Brazilian Rain Forest. Again the total
concentration and abilities of the players was mesmerising to watch.
Percussion, voices, strings and brass created very
clearly these very different habitats. At times it felt like the
background score to an epic film which didn’t need much imagination to
fill out the movement of the very different birds and animals. Fronting
this unique composition was the international violinist Tasmin
Waley-Cohen. She had played an active role in the preparation with the
children, and it was not difficult to see how both orchestra and soloist
had built up a genuine musical respect for each other.
Overall
this was a concert to remember and I am sure both audience and
performers will take away a very vivid memory of sheer musical delight.
Review by Leon Winston
MUSIC OF THE BIRDS, CREATING A CONCERTO: FEEDBACK FROM STUDENTS
The children were extremely positive about the whole experience. Here follows a summary of their comments:
ENJOYMENT
Those working on and composing the Bird Concerto loved having an
active role and working with professional musicians. All enjoyed
working with children from other schools, meeting them and hearing their
musical work. They enjoyed seeing all the different instruments. They
loved playing to a large audience, although it was a little
nerve-wracking.
LEARNING
Many said they loved learning how to be part of a much bigger
ensemble, and interacting with other musicians. They loved the different
instruments involved in their pieces, and then seeing and hearing a
professional orchestra.
CHALLENGE
This was very intensive work and a great deal was achieved in a short
time. The students said that it was sometimes difficult to maintain
their concentration and commitment. Some said it was hard performing
and having to stay still all the time. Being on stage and in long
rehearsals was challenging.
MEMORIES
The students said they would remember being treated as part of an
orchestra, and being part of the final performance. They felt inspired
by the professional musicians and want to be able to play well when
older. They will remember being part of that concert, performing
something that they had made up together.
Many of the children I spoke to just responded with single words when
I asked how they had found the whole experience – ‘wow’ ‘amazing’
‘magical’ and ‘inspirational’ are just a few.
The audience feedback was just as positive. Many said how moving the
‘Bird Concerto’ had been. They also loved seeing and hearing the
orchestra and choir performing, and were encouraged to see so many young
people making music together in such a memorable way.
Kate Hill-Art July 2014
We would like to thank the following trusts and organisations
for generously supporting the children's workshop
Music of the Birds: Creating a Concerto
Dawlish Town Council
Devon County Council Councillor's Fund
The Elmgrant Trust
The Helen Foundation
Teignbridge District Council Councillor’s Fund
Veronica Awdry Charitable Trust
Photos courtesy of Ian Birdsey
Shaldon Festival 2013
NOYES' FLUDDE
What
an amazing production! Months of hard work by teachers and professional
artists working with over 80 young people from 6 Teignbridge schools
resulted in a major community production promoted by The Shaldon
Festival and supported by The Helen Foundation. 2013 is the centenary of
one of Britain's foremost 20th century composers, Benjamin Britten. To
mark the occasion, Chetham's School of Music are touring the country
performing this opera specially written by Britten for community
performance involving lots of young people, many of whom will never have
performed publicly before. It is based on the story of Noah's Flood
with words from the 15th century Chester Mystery Plays.
Led by Director Tony Lidington and Musical Director Stephen Threlfall, the performance was truly memorable. Young people rose magnificently to the musical and dramatic challenges of the opera and many regular Shaldon Festival goers rated it one of the best young people's performances in the 25 year history of the Festival. Well done everyone - simply brilliant! Memories of this event will last a lifetime.
Photos courtesy of Ian Birdsey
Shaldon Festival 2012
CHETHAM’S SCHOOL OF MUSIC
In
the Friday evening concert of the 2012 Festival the accent was on youth
with five very talented young musicians from Chetham’s School of
Music. Together with Stephen Threlfall, Director of Music at Chetham’s,
they took part in a workshop in the morning with pupils from Shaldon
and Inverteign Primary Schools, working with the children in a friendly
way that involved everyone and sharing their experiences of making
music.
Shaldon Festival 2011
ENGLISH TOURING OPERA: BEYOND THE DOOR OF THE DEN
Supported
by funding from D’Oyly Carte, The Shaldon Singers, Teignmouth Town
Council, The Helen Foundation and the Shaldon Festival itself, English
Touring Opera were engaged to run a workshop. ETO had in their touring
repertoire Fantastic Mr Fox, a modern opera based on the story of that
name by Roald Dahl. Using this as a source of inspiration, the team of
three animateurs from ETO, tenor Nick Merryweather, composer Russell
Hepplewhite and choreographer Bernadette Iglich worked over two days
with approximately 15 Year 6 children from each of two schools – Shaldon
and Inverteign – turning their ideas into their own 20 minute
mini-opera called Beyond the Door of the Den.
The ETO team worked with the children in the newly built Shaldon School
Hall and the workshop and performance was the first major event to take
place in the new hall. The children clearly enjoyed the whole
experience and both Headteachers commented on how much they think the
children gained from it. The performance itself was a delight. The
children created a fox den and features of the forest simply by
imaginative use of chairs and gym equipment and used the spaces in and
around the set – and entrances and exits through the fire doors in a
very active way.
It was abundantly clear just how much they had achieved in the two days of creating and rehearsing
the work, starting with a few simple ideas on the Wednesday morning to a
finished work on Thursday afternoon. The focus of the children on their
task was truly remarkable. Their working together showed enthusiasm,
creativity, discipline, attention to detail and an awareness of need to
tell a strong story. The story itself involved a den of foxes under
attack from farmers and poachers eventually triumphing and outwitting
their enemies. The opera was full of invention, strong choral singing
and engaging and catchy melodies that delighted its audience. The
children from the two schools worked very closely together as one group,
with no sense of division between them. It was clear from the
children’s own reactions and that of the very appreciative audience how
much they had gained from working with the professionals from the ETO.
We are sure they will carry the experience as one of the true highlights
of their time at primary school and look with new eyes at the idea of
opera that before the project started might have seemed remote from
their world.
The afternoon performance concluded with three songs
by Shaldon School Choir, a large group of young people who brought
their own enthusiasm and freshness to their singing and they insisted on
an encore item called Dynamite that had everyone clapping and stamping
their feet in appreciation.
Roger Kirk
Shaldon Festival 2010
PROJECT FOR DAWLISH CHILDREN: A TALE OF TWO BRIDGES
Directed by JASON THORNTON
As
well as conducting Bath Philharmonia, Jason Thornton is also a renowned
animateur who has considerable expertise in working on musical projects
combining children with special needs with mainstream children. During
the 2010 Festival week, Jason directed an exciting and innovative
schools music project entitled A Tale of Two Bridges working with pupils
from two local Special Needs schools – Oaklands Park School and
Ratcliffe School – and Dawlish Community College. The Festival had
worked in partnership with the Helen Foundation and Bath Philharmonia to
successfully bid for additional funding from the Big Lottery Fund.
A
Tale of Two Bridges produced a unique musical work inspired by the
local Shaldon and Teign estuary environment, taking its inspiration from
the fascinating links between the Shaldon Bridge and the quarrying of
granite from nearby Dartmoor and the building of London Bridge, which
was bought by an American and ended up in Havasu, Arizona where it is
now positioned between a residential retirement home and a theme park!
A
Tale of Two Bridges is a work in five movements. The instruments used
include: electric and acoustic guitars, keyboard, percussion, violins,
woodwind and “Sound Beam” equipment and the human voice. Students from
the three schools composed this piece in 5 days in conjunction with
Jason Thornton, two representatives from Bath Phil - Charlie Groves and
Julie Payne – and music staff from the three schools. The Dawlish
students composed the basic music score on an all day workshop on Sunday
13th June and then built on this throughout the week with Jason and his
team adding the work from Ratcliffe and Oaklands School.
Movement
1 introduces the work combining sounds from the local environment
with electric and acoustic guitars, keyboard, percussion and Sound Beam
equipment
Movement 2 is a lament as Shaldon Bridge expresses its sense of loss that its London sibling is leaving for America
Movement 3 traces the journey of London Bridge over the sea to America
Movement 4 follows London Bridge as it arrives in the USA and travels across to Arizona
Movement 5 is a celebration of London Bridge’s new home and how at last it 'sings' like its sister.
The
completed work was performed in a lunch time concert in St Peter’s
Church on Friday 18th June. The concert began with two songs from
Shaldon School Choir followed by, A Tale of Two Bridges, which lasted
approximately 25 minutes. The work was executed with great power and
verve. Typical American themes and sounds – like the hooting of a steam
train – punctuated the piece and it drew widely on musical traditions
like folk music, the big band sound, jazz and rock. The students
clearly believed in the value of what they were doing and produced a
compelling performance that enthralled the audience and had those
fortunate to have heard it talking long afterwards.
Roger Kirk
Shaldon Festival 2009
WELLS CATHEDRAL SCHOOL
This
year Jan Faulkner, the Wells Cathedral School Outreach Officer,
together with four of the young musicians who played in the evening
Shaldon Festival Concert, travelled down in advance of the main group to
give two workshops to local primary school children in Teignmouth.
Expertly pitched to the different age groups, the morning workshop was
with a class of 8 year olds at Inverteign Primary School and in the
afternoon a science class of pupils aged 11 at Hazeldown Primary School,
during which the mechanics of sound production in the four main
woodwind instruments were described and demonstrated, i.e. flute, oboe,
clarinet and bassoon.
Shaldon Festival 2008
GUY JOHNSTON
On
the Friday, the Festival was pleased to welcome the cellist Guy
Johnston, BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2000. In the afternoon he
conducted a workshop with 11 aspiring young cellists, their ages ranging
from 5-18. It was clear they were enjoying this rare opportunity;
playing alongside them Guy gave them useful tips and encouragement. As a
bonus they were able to come along in the evening to hear his Recital
with the international concert pianist Kathryn Stott.
Shaldon Festival 2007
CHETHAM’S SCHOOL OF MUSIC
Stephen Threlfall and four young musicans from Chetham’s School of Music
appearing at the Festival that year demonstrate vocal technique to a
group of local school children.
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