News

LMS Summer Plan
From the 26th July to the 18th August the LMS office will be closed, over this time if you have an urgent request please email enquiries@lambethmusic.co.uk or call 07890369378

Musitrax festival at Wind Rush Square

Take 350 primary school young musicians...  add a dash of Reggae Reggae sauce (courtesy of Dragon’s Den winner Levi Roots)...  simmer it up with a little Brixton sunshine and what do you get?  Last week’s hot, hot, hot Lambeth School’s Musitrax Festival!  This free open-air musical ‘happening’ took place on 1st and 2nd July in Brixton’s newly opened Windrush Square at the heart of this bustling corner of South London.  It was put together by Lambeth Music Service (LMS) as a way to celebrate the achievements of Lambeth children (all have been playing for less than a year) and to encourage people of all ages to have a go for themselves.  Free daily performances featured massed bands of 8 and 9 year olds from Lambeth primary schools, daily family djembe drumming workshops and a star performance by Brixton’s very own Levi Roots. 

With a repertoire ranging from Beethoven to reggae, 1st July saw the MX Band take to the stage, featuring 150 Year 4 children from Lambeth schools playing trumpet, trombone, clarinet, flute, sax and percussion; on 2nd July it was the turn of the MX String Band & Levi Roots in concert.  This band featured 200 Year 4 children from Lambeth schools playing violin and cello, plus Levi Roots performing his new single.  Gerry Stirling of LMS tells us:
“It was a fantastic event for everyone – the children, the tutors and the community.  Levi really inspired the children with his singing and performances and everyone got involved in the workshops and enjoyed themselves.  As well as musical inspiration, the children were also able to go to workshops in the Tate Library next to the square and sign up for the Lambeth Summer Reading Challenge, while our friends at the charity Water Aid, created awareness of the importance of clean water and sanitation for children in Africa.  To top it off, our LMS Information Tent received hundreds of new enquiries from families interested in learning an instrument which was really heartwarming.  But I think my best quote of the event was from one of the old guys lounging round watching who said “I know us lot are idiots and drunk, but we have really enjoyed you guys being here on the square and you have made a real difference.””
Quotes from the young musicians: “I’ve never met a famous person before!”…   “That was sick!”….  “Can we do it again next week?”

About Musitrax
Musitrax is the Lambeth Music Service’s Wider Opportunities scheme which aims to offer all Lambeth school children the opportunity to learn a musical instrument in Years 3 and 4. It starts in Years 1 and 2 with ‘MX Sing’, a singing curriculum to teach fundamental musical skills, delivered by class teachers supported by the Lambeth Music Service. In Year 3 classes move on to ‘MX Play’ in which they learn recorder, djembe and glockenspieI; and in Year 4 they can progress to ‘MX Band’ (wind or strings) to learn more technically demanding instruments such as violin or sax.  This programme has been devised by the Lambeth Music Service over the last five years and is now bearing fruit in the children graduating from the scheme and joining ensembles at their schools and at the Michael Tippet Saturday School.

Year of Music – call for KS3 pupils to take part in the national launch
As you may be aware following Secretary of State Ed Balls’ letter to schools in July, The Department for Children, Schools and Families are announcing the academic year 09/10 as a national year of celebrating music and the developmental benefits it can provide.
The year is called Tune In, and several exciting launch events are happening across England between 10th-15th September to capture the imagination of a broad spectrum of children and young people.
The first part of the launch, taking place 12.30pm-1.00pm on Thursday, 10th September, is a live music lesson tailored for a Year 7 to Year 9 audience, featuring a host of well-known expert faces from the music industry.
Encourage the schools you work with to involve their KS3 pupils by gathering to watch the lesson via their interactive whiteboards. First Class: The Ultimate Music Lesson will feature a mix of live and pre-recorded appearances by N-Dubz, guitarist Slash, The English National Ballet, The Hoosiers, Katherine Jenkins, Jamie Cullum, DJ Yoda, Vanessa Mae, Girls Can’t Catch, VV Brown, Amanda Holden, Killa Kela and the casts of West End shows Wicked and Billy Elliot. These figures will share advice to inspire and educate pupils about the power of music, whether a young person chooses to perform, produce, create or write music, or help behind the scenes.
The 30-minute live broadcast will be streamed live from a London school at which Secretary of State Ed Balls will be present. Lesson content will be available for download afterwards at www.dcsf.gov.uk/tunein. The broadcast is scheduled over the lunch break to minimise disruption of lessons, but it would be excellent if pupils have had chance to eat and take a short break before First Class: The Ultimate Music Lesson begins.
If you or the schools you work with are able to take part, please contact Elizabeth.Bentley@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk or Hannah.Pawlby@freud.com for more information, including how to access the lesson via the interactive whiteboard.

City Hall Instrument Amnesty Ceremony
Children from Lambeth Schools performed as part of the Mayor's Music Education Summit at City Hall on the 14th January 2009. They performed as part of the 'No Strings Attached' Musical Instrument Amnesty Awards Celebration in conjunction with Time Out Magazine and the Mayor of London.

42 children from Bonneville Primary, Richard Atkins, Corpus Christi RC Primary, Wyvil Primary, Paxton Primary, Loughborough Primary and St. Luke's CE Primary School performed with Julian Lloyd Webber to the Mayor of London, leading music educators and the BBC.

You can see the video from the BBC here for a limited time (12.44 mins into the programme) and also read more about the event by clicking the following links:

www.julianlloydwebber.com

www.sting.com/

www.inharmonyengland.com

If you would like to donate an isntrument please use this link to Time Out

Lambeth Music Service was invited to perform at this prestigious event following the announcement of their success gaining £1million funding to launch the In Harmony - Lambeth project.

more

LMS secures £1million funding for a pilot scheme in Lambeth.
Inspired by the “El Sistema” orchestral project in Venezuela, “In Harmony” will help raise the aspirations and life chances for a generation of children in Stockwell through an intense engagement with music. The project will be delivered by LMS with support from the Southbank Centre, AmicusHorizon and the Lambeth Children’s and Young Peoples Service.

more

A Musical Boom in Lambeth
The ‘Musitrax’ System has been taken on by 27 Primary schools with over 60 classes of children benefiting from instrumental tuition – almost 3000 additional children have had at least one years experience in playing, singing and performing together since 2006.

In addition, Lambeth Music Service provides over 300 hours every week of small group and individual instrumental tuition in Lambeth schools. This represents a 100% growth in three years.

Seven schools are developing afterschool music clubs to cater for growing demand for instrumental lessons

With the opening of three new music centres, more than 4000 Lambeth pupils have instrumental music lessons every week!

Schools who have signed up to the Musitrax programme are receiving specialist vocal support for school-based staff.

more

Donated Instruments come to Lambeth
The Mayor of London and TimeOut’s “No Strings Attached” Instrument Amnesty scheme adopts Lambeth as its beneficiary. Over 100 instruments have already been pledged, and there will be a symbolic hand-over in the City Hall on January 14th.

more

Lambeth Schools Music Festival moves back to the Royal Festival Hall.
Following the successful Singing Festival last year, the Southbank Centre is generously supporting the entire 2009 festival which runs from March 25th -31st with an additional morning performance with the Children’s entertainer, Dan Zanes on April 3.

more