VOCES8 Foundation Education

News February 2024

Tower Hamlets Primary School Assembly Tour: 3 days, 8 singing leaders, 9 schools, 1,500 children

The Foundation works closely with Music Hubs to help support singing in schools. When primary school teachers in Tower Hamlets told their Music Hub they would like professional ensembles to visit their schools and perform for the children in a school assembly, we secured funding for a Tower Hamlets Assembly Tour. Ann and a team of singing leaders visited 9 primary schools delivering interactive concerts to 1,500 children.

Following the concerts, we sought feedback from each school in order to learn more about what they wanted to achieve through the concerts, what the children thought, what the teachers thought the impact of the concerts was and if schools felt the concerts supported the music they do in school. You can see some of their responses below.

During the first day of the tour we quickly discovered that there was rarely enough time for all the questions the children had. Ann therefore invited teachers to send her the children’s questions and she would gather response from the singers. The children in Aspen Class at Olga Primary School had some excellent questions and their class teacher, Cheyney Kent sent these through to Ann.

1. Do you ever get out of breath when you sing a long note?

2. How many times have you been on a plane?

3. What’s your favourite song?

4. Who taught you how to sing those songs?

5. Did you find the songs or did you make up the songs?

6. Do you ever get tired of going to concerts?

7. How many concerts have you sung in?

8. Do you ever want a break?

9. Do your parents come and watch you sing?

10. Do you have special clothes to wear?

Singers Ailsa, Katie, Jack and Greg all responded with their answers and the children in Aspen Class were thrilled to hear from us.

Just in case you ever wondered whether the singers get out of breath when they are singing a long note here are their answers!

‘Absolutely! But the bigger breath you take, the easier it is to sing longer notes. It’s something you can practise too.’

Ailsa Campbell

‘I often run out of breath! So I have to make sure, if I know there’s a long note coming, that my lungs are especially full with air, and then when I’m singing I have to make sure not to panic or I will run out of breath quicker.’

Jack Harberd

‘Sometimes! That’s where practice and rehearsal come in - it’s important to do a proper warm up before we sing to make sure we are really prepared.’

Greg Link

Teacher Feedback

What were you hoping the children/your school would gain by participating in the concert?

‘Inspiration from seeing live performance; endorsement of their own singing and the possibilities; realisation that music can be a job and a career.’

Laura Nash, Seven Mills Primary School

‘A live musical experience delivered by musicians with new repertoire and approach to singing.’

Rob Pinniger, Cayley Primary School

‘Experience and participate in a concert with skilled professional musicians.’

Kate Wheeler, William Davis Primary School

Have you asked the children what they thought/heard their thoughts about the event? What have you gathered from what you’ve heard?

‘Many children approached me through the day, after the performance, from across the age range. One gave me a hug and said “Thank you for bringing VOCES8”. A child in Year 6 asked how to spell VOCES8 so she could look up performances at home.’

Laura Nash, Seven Mills Primary School

‘Talking to the children I think that they really enjoyed it and this was also evident in the way it keep their attention for the whole session.’

Josh Kaye, Arnhem Wharf Primary School

What impact do you think the concert had on the children?

‘I think all external musical visits are impactful because it exposes children to aspects of music and culture that they probably haven’t seen or heard before - especially in primary schools. ‘

Rob Pinniger, Cayley Primary School

‘In terms of feedback, I thought that the assembly was great. There was a good mix of performance and interactivity with the children. I also thought that Ann was very masterful at facilitating the session, I definitely learnt a lot from her!’

Josh Kaye, Arnhem Wharf Primary School

‘Always hard to measure, but I hope that it reflected back to their own singing, e.g. in Singing Assemblies. It has taken a while since COVID for our singing to feel valued by the children themselves, and we have just reached a turning point again where they are beginning to demonstrate developing skills, pride in singing, and in many cases love for singing together.’

Laura Nash, Seven Mills Primary School

Do you feel the concert supported the music you do in school? If so, how?

‘I think it supported singing in the school as it gave a good model of what really high level singing can look like.’

Josh Kaye, Arnhem Wharf Primary School

‘Yes - Year 5 have been having a go at singing vocal harmony with me and we have weekly music assemblies plus a choir so it’s all feeding into the musical awareness and experience of the students.’

Rob Pinniger, Cayley Primary School

‘Yes I do - most broadly to open up possible musical horizons.’

Laura Nash, Seven Mills Primary School

‘Yes, we are building up our knowledge of the various skills that go into music’

Aine Nettleton, Clara Grant Primary School

News October 2023

Young Leader Programme

June 2023 saw Greg, Ann and a group of VOCES8 Scholars delivering a Young Leader Programme with year 7 students at Hatcham College. The students learned warm-ups, songs and importantly, how to teach these in a workshop. They also created their own warm-ups and shared some new tongue twisters with Greg. Once prepared, the Young Leaders then visited two primary schools, Hatcham Free School and Hatcham Primary School together with Greg, Ann and the Scholars. They performed for the children and led singing workshops.

‘The children and staff absolutely loved every moment and were even singing The Bear song in class afterwards. Feedback from staff included how well the session was structured and how much was covered, and they particularly enjoyed hearing the professional singers with the students. Mesmerised was the word they used!

— Teacher Hatcham Free School

This was the first time the Foundation has worked with schools in the Haberdashers’ Academies Trust South and it was lovely to see this group of year 7s grow in confidence and deliver engaging workshops for the primary school classes. Feedback from the students indicated that they felt the programme would have a longer term impact on their confidence and their leadership skills.

We are very grateful to The UK Voice Festival for the grant which made this project possible.

Banner photo Torbjörn Hultmark Photography

VOCES8 International Summer School:
Young Musicians' Course

Alongside our 160-strong adult Summer School participants we had 37 young musicians join us for our annual Summer School and Festival down at Milton Abbey, Dorset. Some of the young musicians opted to join the adult course to sing Handel's Israel in Egypt.

Led by Neil Valentine, those on the Young Musicians' Course worked on vocal and instrumental performances and they also composed a new song together. Their song 'Rhythm of the Seasons' was premiered during the Young Musician's Course performance on Friday afternoon and also opened the Gala concert on the final day. We're excited to announce that the sheet music for their song is now available on VOCES8 Publishing. 

Education Projects in London

Six primary schools and one secondary school began their singing projects this month. Singing leaders Sam, Laurel, Clover, Charlotte, Jack, Ailsa, Greg and Lydia have been travelling across Hackney and Tower Hamlets.

This term we are singing about animals and nature beginning with 'When the Red, Red Robin Went Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along'. Children in Albuquerque and London are both learning this song and exploring the differences between the European and North American Robin. 

Education Projects in the US

2023/4 will be our third year working in Albuquerque elementary schools with Quintessence and St John’s United Methodist Church. Ann and teaching artist Chris Short met four new classes to begin their singing journey. They were also able to work with high school choirs at Rio Rancho High School and Moriarty High School.

After Albuquerque and Plano, Ann travelled to Seattle for our first ever workshops there. She was joined by teaching artist MaryRuth Miller and they had a terrific time meeting and working with three high school choirs and one of the Seattle Girls Choir choruses, Cantamus.

Ann and MaryRuth also visited San Francisco where they were joined by teaching artist Cameron Rolling for workshops with iSing and with the San Francisco Girls’ Choir.

Working with Middle School Choirs in Texas

‘They had a great time and got to experience making music in some new ways. They also really liked hearing the pros sing.’

— Middle School Choir Director

A Saturday morning in September saw Paul, a group of US Teaching Artists and the VOCES8 US Scholars deliver a workshop for Middle School Choirs from Plano and Grapevine Texas. Students and their teachers came together at the beautiful St Andrew Church in Plano and spent the morning making music with this lovely Foundation team.

Following the workshop teachers were asked how they thought their students had benefited from the workshop and if they would apply aspects of the sessions in their classroom. Their responses were very positive and we were particularly delighted to learn some had not only begun to use the ideas but were also planning to continue doing so.

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