Pupils stomp along to primary proms! (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Bradford district youngsters take part in show at St George's Hall

6:41pm Wednesday 8th February 2012 in Bradford By Emma Clayton

The 160-year-old walls of St George’s Hall shook with the sound of 2,000 children stomping their feet and singing along to everything from Bizet’s Carmen to indie rockers the White Stripes at a rousing school proms concert yesterday.

The Primary Proms event, organised by music education charity Music for Youth, was attended by 35 schools from across the region.

Bradford’s Victorian concert hall was filled with youngsters clapping, cheering and leaping to their feet during the 90-minute concert, which featured classical music, soul, pop, rock, a steel band and singing groups.

All the musicians and singers on stage were young people, who performed a morning and afternoon concert for coachloads of schoolchildren. Their spectacular performance ended with a rousing finale, during which the performers made their way through the auditorium, allowing the young audience to see an array of musical instruments, from violins to tubas, close up.

Music for Youth provides free access to performances, and gives young musicians chance to play live to an audience. The charity works with 50,000 youngsters annually; holding workshops and masterclasses and putting on 74 music festivals around the UK each year, culminating in a national Schools Prom at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Yesterday’s concert – the first of its kind in Bradford – marked the start of a project aimed at getting 800 schoolchildren from the district to perform at the national event.

“This isn’t us just parachuting in. We will continue to work closely with the music service and schools in Bradford,” said Lincoln Abbotts, chief executive of Music for Youth. “We have professional mentors who work with children, becoming role models and giving them feedback.

“Today’s event is about inspiring and motivating children to get involved in music. It’s performed by young people for young people. Everyone on that stage is under 21 – we found them all at festivals we’ve held. Anyone aged 18 to 21 can go for it, whether they’re a band practising in a garage or a school choir.

“This concert is a great opportunity for them to play in public, in a major concert hall.

“When children see performers who aren’t much older than them it makes music-making more accessible. If they see a 14-year-old playing the guitar or singing on stage they’re more likely to think ‘I can do that’. We want them to leave with a spring in their step and hopefully be inspired to learn a musical instrument. And it’s not about sitting there passively – the audience is very much part of the performance.”

The Primary Proms, presented by children’s TV star Barney Harwood, opened with soul band About Time, comprised three young singers and other teenagers on guitar, drums and keyboards. Next came steel band the Leeds Silver Doves, who began by talking about their steel drums and how they got into performing. One band member walked around the audience, playing his steel pan, as delighted youngsters clapped along.

Vocal harmony group Fitzwilliam Street sang acapella-style, with songs including Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black and Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy.

As the members of Kirklees Youth Symphony Orchestra took their places, Barney talked the audience through the different sections of the orchestra, and explained excerpts from the opera Carmen that the musicians played. The orchestra ended with a rendition of Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes, which the children were encouraged to stomp their feet to.

All the performers returned to the stage for the rousing finale, and the young audience joined in by crouching down, jumping up and cheering.

Afterwards, Tony Johnson, head of Bradford Council’s music and arts service, said: “You can feel the energy from the audience, they are inspired by what they’ve seen on stage. The idea is to keep the motivation going. After today I hope to get phonecalls from schools enquiring about getting in more musical instruments.

“We’re working with Music for Youth, Bradford’s youth service and community groups to produce a new composition for Bradford children aged 11 to 21, to perform at the Royal Albert Hall.”

Last year more than 6,000 Bradford schoolchildren played musical instruments at Bradford City Football Club, sharing a stage with some of the country’s top professional musicians. The show was part of a project organised by Bradford’s music and arts service and the London-based Southbank Sinfonia, giving thousands of schoolchildren access to orchestral music.

Pupils in 82 per cent of Bradford primary schools now have access to a musical instrument, as part of the Government’s Wider Opportunities scheme. Since it was piloted in 2010, 62 per cent of children have continued to play, exceding Government expectations.

e-mail: emma.clayton @telegraphandargus.co.uk