Mid Wales Opera’s music education work – well worth making a song and dance about
Mid Wales Opera have been busy this Autumn on tour across Wales and the borders, and they’ll be back on the road again from February with a new version of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro.
But life for Mid Wales’ home-grown opera company isn’t all about their formal stage performance. Last year they worked with more than 1200 children in schools across rural Wales, providing everything from school assemblies to vocal masterclasses for GCSE music students.
Earlier in 2019 they also worked with 102 junior age children during the two, week long residencies, with each school creating its own unique performance to share with infant children and parents, each with their own original stories and songs.
MWO’s Artistic Directors Richard Studer and Jonathan Lyness led the residencies, with the children writing their own songs and dialogue, creating plots and making costumes based on bin bags and the contents of schools’ cupboards, ranging from sari samples to a toy crossbow!
The residencies were funded by Creative Collaborations through Arts Council Wales – and as well as being brilliant fun they’re closely tied to the schools’ Estyn reports and school development plans.
Colin Jenkins, Headteacher in Buttington, told us:
“We all agreed that this project was a great enrichment opportunity which works very well alongside the new curriculum as it satisfies the majority of core purposes and Areas of Learning and Experience.
“These strengths were prominent throughout the week as MWO’s staff enthused all pupils’ imaginations through the expressive arts including some wonderful extended writing. This activity catered well for the complete range of abilities and talents.”
One Class 3 pupil in Arddleen put it far more succinctly: “I loved it so so so so so so so so so much…it was really really fantastic.”
The weeks started with the cartoon story of a little fox who got lost which originally formed the background to Czech composer Janacek’s opera The Cunning Little Vixen. The children then worked in teams to explore where the fox might go next – in the case of Arddleen’s pupils to a land of fire and ice ruled by a dragon called ‘She’ and into space, in Buttington to the arctic and to Monte Carlo for the Grand Prix.
Lydia Bassett, MWO’s Executive Director, told us:
“We’ve had narwhals and polar bears, space butterflies and space otters, foxes and wolves who drive F1 cars and chickens who eat lava….we’ve been completely bowled over by the infinitely imaginative, if slightly surreal, creative energy of Powys’ junior age children and it was great to see such wonderful team work!
We need to thank the very patient teachers at both schools – who found innovative ways to attach narwhal horns to policeman’s helmets and to put up with all the glue and fabric liberally distributed around classrooms. We want to say a huge thanks as well to all the pupils at both schools who worked so hard – da iawn pawb! You’re all superstars.”
MWO will be back in schools in March 2020, delivering music sessions in 15 schools in Powys as well as in Newport and around Milford Haven. The visits are free to the schools and supported in part through collections at MWO’s performances. If you’ve put money in a bucket at one of their touring shows then you’ve helped them support their work in schools and we thanks that’s definitely worth making a song and dance about.
Year 5, Buttington and Trewern School: “every song we wrote sounded as if it could be on the radio.”
Year 5 Buttington : “It felt amazing to write stories and have them featured in the storyline – and I felt proud to sing the ‘hunters’ song’ because I know I helped write it.”
Class 4, Arddleen “I enjoyed the singing and dancing because I like to sing…it was great because we got to use our imagination.”
Class 3, Arddleen “Absolutely amazing, the most best feeling. Everything was fun and I really enjoyed working with you.”
Visit: www.midwalesopera.co.uk
