Welcome to the Bedford Music Hub Community Newsletter
The spring term has seen music making really coming back to life. It has been wonderful to see young performers and audiences back together sharing a love of music. In this newsletter we will be reporting on a few of the events that took place in the latter end of spring term, looking at some of the great opportunities offered by our Out-Of-School music groups and the excellent work being done by one of our local schools.
Please feel free to share this newsletter with your colleagues and across teaching networks.
Sing On and Play On
We were thrilled to be able to put on two celebration events at the Corn Exchange at the end of last term. Sing On and Play On are designed to offer young children at the very start of their musical journeys an opportunity to perform in front of friends and family in a professional venue.
Some of our older students were invited as Guest Inspiring Young Musicians – to encourage the younger children to continue their journey and to show them what they may achieve at a later stage. We also had some amazing musicians from the Philharmonia orchestra supporting the Play On performance and demonstrating their instruments and were delighted to work in partnership with Cool4School and their fantastic band for Sing On.
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Bedford Breakthrough at Esquires
This was a new venture for us in partnership with The Sound Garage and Musical Seeds and we were delighted by its success. Bedford Breakthrough at Esquires gives a platform to our bands from Rock School and our DJs from Digital Beats as well as bands, acoustic acts and DJs from our local schools.
This really is a fantastic opportunity for students to perform to a friendly crowd at a great venue in a professional environment. We are very much looking forward to the next one on Thursday, July 14th. Check the Bedford Breakthrough page of our website for details.
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Orchestral Jamboree
The Bedfordshire Music Trust’s Orchestral Jamboree, on March 20th, was a jam-packed day of music making for beginner musicians. The majority of these youngsters had not had the chance to play in groups or ensembles previously and so it was amazing to see over 100 of them come together to learn, practice and perform a range of pieces over the course of the day. The schedule was split between intensive musical learning and fun creative activities aimed at building friendships and opening eyes to the joys of social music making.
Parents enjoyed a concert at the end of the afternoon, featuring a rousing full orchestral finale that received a standing ovation and will surely have further inspired many of these young musicians to more in the future.
For similar events keep an eye on these newsletters and the Bedfordshire Music Trust website.
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Get Playing
Get Playing is a new online resource offered by Music Mark, aimed at helping young people navigate their journeys into the wide world of music.
Whether singing, playing an instrument, creating or simply enjoying listening to music, evidence shows that engaging with music from a young age has many benefits. Plus, it’s great fun! All the information is on the Music Mark website.
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Out-of-School Groups
Friday Flyers is organised and tutored by members of the Bedford Music Coop. It caters for young orchestral musicians from Grade 1 and up, across a range of performing groups: Junior String and Wind ensembles for Grades 1 to 3; Intermediate groups for Grades 4+; and for more experienced players, the North Bedfordshire Youth Chamber Orchestra. Each term features concerts for all ensembles.
Our full range of weekly term time groups is here…
Bedford Kids Chorus : Tuesdays, 4.30-5.30pm @ Castle Newnham
Digital Beats : Wednesdays, 6-7.30pm @ Castle Newnham
Bedford Rock School : Thursdays, 6-7.30pm @ Castle Newnham
Friday Flyers (various groups) : Fridays, 4.30-9pm @ Castle Newnham
Saturday Morning Music Centre (various groups) : 9am-12pm @ Castle Newnham
School Spotlight : Castle Newnham School
Castle Newnham School, an all-through federation, prides itself on its performing arts provision which is delivered across both primary and secondary phases. Music, alongside drama and dance, is taught by specialists within a coherent and well-sequenced curriculum from Reception to Yr 11. All children in Year 1 through to Year 9 have a weekly one-hour music lesson.
Uptake for GCSE courses is strong and growing year-on-year. The senior leadership team values the provision highly: allowing the performing arts team full responsibility for creative direction and sufficiently funding and embracing new ideas and projects to further enrich the school’s provision.
Extensive music extra-curricular activities across the federation include: band rehearsals, choirs, music technology sessions and individual & group practice. Pupils also have the opportunity to book practice room spaces to rehearse before and after school, and during lunchtimes. The school’s in-house 4SIXTEEN Theatre Company has a really strong reputation throughout the community and has won regional awards multiple times.
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The school have recently seen a huge increase in the number of children learning a musical instrument. Since September, uptake for peripatetic music lessons has risen by 60% across the federation. As the proud home of Bedford Music Hub, the school have worked closely with hub partners to support this drive through clear signposting, assemblies, in-class targeting and strong communication with parents.
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