Take One Song – the inside story (part one)

In preparation for the upcoming Abbey concert in November, The St Andrew’s Symphony Orchestra had their first full rehearsal last week: And what an event it was. My first inkling if how big this project actually has got was when Mrs Foster lined up all of the instruments in the sanctuary: Row upon row of violins, cellos and recorders, all neatly lined up and ready to be collected and put to good use.

As an innocent bystander, I’ll admit that watching Will instruct fifteen children how to hold a recorder properly (let alone play it) almost had me reaching for the earplugs. And then entered the violins and the cellos: one long stream of children carrying their instruments, each with a big grin on their face.

Then we began. And did I need the earplugs? No, of course not. Okay, so Last Night of the Proms it may not have been, but it sounded good, especially for a first attempt. What really struck me, though, was the sense of the school coming together and the thought of how fantastic it is that these children – many of whom have never played anything before – are getting the chance to dip their musical toes straight into something big. Something really big. And remember; this wasn’t even the whole school.

To watch the guys play in such a grand ensemble simply served to underline what an impressive undertaking this is, and I personally cannot wait to see where we go from here. I fully intend to get back to another rehearsal soon and will keep you posted on how it all goes; along with any other developments or interesting news I happen to hear.

If you’re not up to date with this project, then don’t panic. I shall follow this post with a reminder of exactly what is going on and why we are doing it. I shall even try to get some exclusive interviews with Mrs East, Will Gregory, Mrs Foster and Mr Bowers to get to full inside story.

And don’t forget: the concert is on Friday 22nd November in Bath Abbey. It’s gonna be huge!

Gareth Eynon (reception & year4 dad)

 Photos by Isobel Eynon (reception & year4 mum!)