MORE than 300 primary school children from across York and North Yorkshire will be taking part in giant musical jamboree in York on Friday.
They will be spending the whole day singing, playing instruments - and meeting professional musicians to hear about what makes them tick.
The Make Music Day event is organised each year by York-based charity the Richard Shephard Music Foundation, set up in memory of composer and former Minster School headmaster Dr Richard Shephard, who died in 2021.
Since then, the charity has been bringing free weekly music classes to hundreds of primary school children in schools across York, Ryedale and North Yorkshire.
The Make Music Day event is organised as a kind of end-of-term celebration each year, and a chance for hundreds of children to get together to sing and perform.
Music Foundation chief executive Cathy Grant said there would be a whole range of musical styles and genres on offer throughout the day at York St John University’s Creative Centre on Friday.
The children will be able to experiment with Javanese gamelan percussion instruments; try their hands at using bamboo tamboo drums from Trinidad - and even take part in rap-writing sessions.
There will be a Celtic harp workshop courtesy of folk musician Olivia Graham – and a chance for the children to meet Al Doyle from synthpop band Hot Chip.
“He’ll be talking about his musical journey,” Cathy said.
But it is the young people themselves who will be taking centre stage.
The day is all about ‘celebrating children’s natural musical talent, supporting their wellbeing, and raising aspirations’, Cathy said.
The Richard Shephard Music Foundation was set up following Dr Shephard’s death in 2021 as a way of carrying on his legacy.
It’s aim was to bring music back into the lives of schoolchildren who might otherwise miss out.
The charity says that over the last forty years, music education has declined dramatically in primary schools across the country.
A 2019 survey found that that one in five primary school teachers reported that there was 'no regular music lesson for their class'.
Starting in disadvantaged or isolated communities in York, Ryedale and North Yorkshire, the Music Foundation has been subsidising curriculum-based music lessons in a growing number of primary schools, working with education partner Sing Education.
Through its programme, all children participate in both a music lesson and singing assembly at least once a week, and also have the opportunity to take part in a choir or music club.
To find out more about the Richard Shephard Music Foundation, visit www.rsmf.org.uk/
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