In partnership with Hull History Centre, as part of the English Heritage Open Days...
'The Magnificent Seven'
Seven Songs from Seven Centuries of Hull's History
Workshop: A day of history and music
Saturday, 5th September 2009
Working with Esther and Vicky from Hull’s brand new History Centre and Phil Haskins, the organiser of Hull’s Heritage Open Days, we spent the morning doing some fascinating activities learning about 700 years of Hull’s history. The first was to get the ‘big picture’ by putting a set of images in order and adding some dates –easier said than done!
In the second activity, we split into groups and studied two centuries each in detail. Esther had prepared some resource packs for us full of photographs, letters, maps and even some original documents from the 18th century for us to handle. We fed back what we had learnt and wrote some poetry based on our findings.
In the afternoon we had the mammoth task of learning a song from each of the centuries from the 14th to the 20th. A bit of panic set in when the first song, ‘Sumer is icumen’ in took 40 minutes to learn but we battled on and helped by bags of sweets and plenty of water we did it and were able to sing all seven songs for parents at the end! Each song was chosen to represent a property in Hull’s Heritage Open Days. James brought along two of his friends, James and Eilish, to accompany us with trombone, cor anglais and flute, which added an extra special something to the sound.
Thanks to everyone who helped out on this day –we had a great time and the Junior Chorus demonstrated that they are a tremendous bunch of youngsters who showed a real interest in their city’s history and were willing to work very hard to achieve a final goal.
Download the rehearsal tracks below:
- 14th Century.mp3
- 15th Century.mp3
- 16th Century.mp3
- 17th Century.mp3
- 18th Century.mp3
- 19th Century.mp3
- 20th Century.mp3
Performance
Saturday, 12th September 2009
12.00-1.00, Live Arts Space, Ferens Art Gallery
As a follow up to our workshop, we took part in a day of performances in the Live Arts Space in the Ferens Art Gallery. We sang the songs we learnt in the workshop, and talked briefly about what we had learnt. Our performance was enhanced with a projection of images of the properties and our workshop.
Many thanks to everyone who came along to support us.
‘.....giving voice to the future’
Here's what some of our younger members think about the Junior Chorus
‘...I think HCUJC is really enjoyable and very beneficial to help children improve their confidence..’ Lucy (Y8)
‘...it is good because it doesn’t matter how well you can sing because everybody helps each other. It is a great way to go to a choir.’ Sara(Y4)
‘...It’s very fun and interesting. You learn songs and have fun at the same time. You make new friends.’ Rebecca (Y4)
‘...Junior Chorus is so fun. An absolute must for anyone who loves singing (including boys).’ Emma (Y6)
Click here to download our Junior Chorus poster (jpg format)
