Today (Saturday 21 October 2017) I managed to get along to this afternoon’s session of two workshops held in the WHALE Arts Centre by the Scottish chamber Orchestra, held at 10.00am to 12.00pm and 1.00pm to 3.00pm
The first part of the session was a meet and greet with the musicians who introduced themselves and explained about the types of instruments they played. After which they led the children in to a musical tale of a whale and a snail with a trail. The children and parents were also handed various instruments to interact with during the story telling of the story.
The children and parents all really got involved very enthusiastically during this and I found myself singing along at times too. The musicians certainly had the crowd involved and were constantly moving among them and encouraging them all to try out various types of instruments and to work together as small groups to create the story as it went along. Culminating in creating the shape of the whale on the stage floor using the instruments they had used.
The second part of the session involved going out in to a tented area outside which was laid out with all sorts of instruments children sized set out for them to try out with the help of the musicians.
There was also a craft workshop available in one of the rooms for the children to create designs and pictures form the story.
The wonderful team from the Scottish chamber Orchestra:
Leader/violin Aisling O’Dea
Flute Alison Mitchell
Cello Su-a Lee
Clarinet William Stafford
Percussion Matthew Hardy
The event is part of a SCO residency in Wester Hailes. They will be running a series of weekly workshops in local primary Schools, Clovenstone, Sighthill and Canal view over a 3 year period, this will include primary and preschool. The idea is to help and encourage children to explore music, dance and story. Creating their own music and storyline.
They will also be doing a workshop in WHEC following on from a previous one in June.
This was a great workshop I was glad to get up and see and also report on for the digital Sentinel.
Story and photos submitted by Community Reporter David Jacobs.
