MusicQuest is a three-year project that will introduce a new generation to the power of live classical music.
Funded by Classic FM Music Makers and supported by Yamaha Music UK and the Philharmonia Orchestra, this year MusicQuest will take place between November 2009 - March 2010 at Hull City Hall, Derby Assembly Rooms, Brangwyn Hall Swansea, Fairfield Halls Croydon and White Rock Theatre Hastings.
Pupils involved in MusicQuest will have the chance to meet musicians from the Philharmonia Orchestra in a ‘hands on’ workshop before attending the MusicQuest Concert at their local concert hall. The workshops give pupils a chance to try an Yamaha instrument and learn different percussion rhythms with a professional musician – who will be the same musician they see performing on stage later that afternoon!
Each of the teachers involved in the project have the opportunity to attend a teacher training day and receive a copy of the MusicQuest Book for Teachers written by Cathryn Dew. The MusicQuest Book for Teachers contains ideas and tips for teachers to encourage them to use music in their classrooms and also help them to meet Key Stage 2 curriculum targets.
Each child who takes part in MusicQuest also receives a ‘where to from here’ leaflet identifying where they could listen, learn and play in their local area.
“This afternoon’s concert was AMAZING. It was great to see all the musicians ‘looking out’ for their school, coming to speak to us all and playing their instruments whilst wandering amongst the children – a great build up! The selection of music and the way Kevin introduced the orchestra kept us all riveted.”
Mary-Rose Roberts - St. John Vianney R.C. Primary School
MusicQuest on YouTube
You can watch exerpts from one of the MusicQuest concert on the Children & the Arts YouTube page
Downloads
Download your copy of the MusicQuest Book for Teachers
(Note: the book is 4.5M to download, so it may take a minute or two, depending on the speed of your internet connection)
To download the music explored in the MusicQuest Book for Teachers go to MusicQuest Book for Teachers 2009/10 Playlist
Download the MusicQuest “Where to from here?” leaflets for Hull, Derby, Swansea, Croydon and Hastings
MusicQuest 2007/08 & 2008/09
Over the past two years 10,000 pupils and their teachers have taken part in MusicQuest. MusicQuest has visited the Palace Theatre & Grand Hall Complex in Kilmarnock, Middlesbrough Town Hall, Victoria Hall in Stoke on Trent, St George’s Hall in Bradford, the Hippodrome Circus in Great Yarmouth, the Orchard Theatre in Dartford, Warwick Arts Centre in Coventry, the Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Venue Cymru in Llandudno and the Perth Concert Hall.
Thank you for doing the workshop in the morning. I really liked it went you played together and when you let the class have a go at the double bass and to feel it when it was vibrating. Amy, Stanley Primary School
Download the MusicQuest ‘Where to from here?’ leaflets for Kilmarnock, Middlesbrough, Stoke-on-Trent, Bradford and Great Yarmouth Download the MusicQuest “Where to from here?” leaflets for Blackpool, Dartford, Coventry, LLandudno and Perth
See photos from the 2009 MusicQuest Concerts
See photos from the 2008 MusicQuest Concerts
Students from Claremont Primary School in Blackpool recorded their MusicQuest online which you can visit - http://claremont.childrenandarts.net/
“Thank you for a wonderful day last Friday. The children were not enthusiastic before the event, but were definitely enthusiastic during and after. This was by far the best children’s concert I have attended with a class.”
Lynne Carpenter-Jacobs, Cleish Primary School
“I really enjoyed the concert - excellent playing and a wonderfully informal atmosphere that helped to capture and retain the children’s attention and increase their enjoyment of the music”
Brian Bishop, Education Director, Warwick Arts Centre