Pupils from two Aberdeen primary schools, today joined forces with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) at an interactive workshop and performance at The Lemon Tree.
With the aim of showing that music is for all, the RSNO have partnered with Aberdeen City Music Service to provide learners with access to unique musical experiences – which include performing together and learning more about music and the instruments within the orchestra.
Children from Greenbrae Primary School and St. Peter’s Roman Catholic School enjoyed a workshop that gave them an insight into the many different instruments that make up the orchestra.
Songs that the children had already been learning in school were then performed together with the RSNO.
Education and Children’s Services Committee Convener, Councillor Martin Greig said: “Opportunities like today’s RSNO workshop being made available to our school pupils are vitally important for developing a lifelong love of music and introduces children to instruments they may never have seen or heard being played before.
“I am delighted that the RSNO are working in partnership with the Aberdeen City Music Service to provide these interactive workshops and the pupils attending all seemed to be having great fun and hopefully enjoyed the unique experience of performing together with the orchestra.”
Greenbrae Primary School pupil, Ethan (Primary 3) said: “I was most looking forward to seeing a double bass and it was really cool to see one close up, but my favourite instrument today was the trumpet.
“I really enjoyed learning the songs in school and getting to perform them with the whole orchestra was a lot of fun, I couldn’t believe how loud it was – it felt like an earthquake!”
Today’s workshop was also in partnership with Charanga, a music resource programme that has been rolled out city wide to allow primary school teachers to access to more music teaching resources.
A Royal Scottish Orchestra spokesperson said: “Schools using Charanga benefit all year round from bespoke educational materials developed by the RSNO and Charanga, as well as some of the RSNO’s most popular online learning resources including Yoyo & The Little Auk and Once Upon a Tune.”
Families can complement their child’s classroom learning by accessing the RSNO’s Noisy Library from home at: www.rsno.org.uk/rsno-noisy-library/