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The Arts Circus Projects page |
Past Projects
Flamenco Project
One of The Arts Circus's first projects was a ten week flamenco workshop run
in conjunction with Jackdaws Educational Trust.
The project was created to
give approximately 80 children from primary schools in rural Somerset an
opportunity to work with some of the UK's leading guitarists in a series of
workshops exploring flamenco, the music of Andalucia.
Each primary school received five workshops over the ten week period and the
aim was to inspire young guitarists with either very limited playing
experience and ability, or total newcomers to the instrument, with expert
guidance and encouragement. In order to involve as many children as
possible, participation was opened up to children who would play tuned and
un-tuned percussion.
The children had very little or no experience of live music and the project
guided the children in creating their own composition based on one of three
poems by the Andalucian poet Federico Garciá Lorca.
To compliment the
children's musical contribution, Gerald Garcia was commissioned to write
three episodes for two guitars based on the same poems.
All the children
learnt the different skills required to work both in small groups and then
in much larger ones, experiencing what it felt like to perform with others
and discovering the importance of rehearsal. The final concert where each
school performed their own composition not only provided the children with
an invaluable public performance platform, but also gave them a goal to work
towards.
Many of the children worked from simple scores, some with
conventional notation, others with chord symbols or rhythmic symbol
notation.
The youngest children involved with the chanting were able to
clap with varying accented beats whilst chanting their song from memory.
All of these skills are elements of the National Curriculum Key Stages 1 and
2.
Future Projects
Artists
Artists involved in The Arts Circus' projects have included: