Three day music festival for Leeds pupils

Pupils from across the city are heading to Leeds Town Hall from today, for the start of a three day music festival to celebrate the legacy of the Tour de France Grand Départ.

The Leeds Schools Music Association (LSMA) working with Leeds City Council’s ArtForms and supported by The Leeds Music Education Partnership are holding the annual Primary Festival concert at Leeds Town Hall from today until Wednesday 17 June.

Over 1500 children have been practicing music around the city ready to play at three festival events at Leeds Town Hall which are :

Monday: The Big Play Leeds - a morning workshop for pupils who have been learning music instruments together in their schools as a whole class, including groups playing trumpets, violins, Bamboo Tamboo, drums, recorders and ukuleles.

Tuesday: The Big Sing Leeds at 1pm. 900 primary pupils will come together to sing works related to the BBC 10 pieces (an initiative to encourage children to be creative with classical music) as well as a special work from local composer Alan Simons commissioned by Leeds City Council’s children’s services called “Thumbs Up” to celebrate Leeds being a child friendly city.

Wednesday 17 June: Festival Finale Concert, tickets £7.00, available on the door

The performers are: the LSMA festival choir, the LSMA wind band and the LSMA string Orchestra - conducted and led by members of the Artforms team.

The concert will open with the Child Friendly City piece - “Thumbs Up” by Alan Simmons and then the groups will play music related to the BBC 10 pieces.

About the Leeds Schools Music Association

The LSMA was founded in the 1930s to encourage children to take part in music making. They created the annual Festival Concerts for the children of Leeds at Christmas and in the summer. This was part of a national movement The Schools Music Association which aimed to give opportunities to children from all backgrounds to take part in prestigious events in City centre venues such as Leeds Town Hall.

This all stopped during WW2, but after the war the SMA was encouraged to expand around the whole country to help lift morale, almost every City had its own group devoted to creating these concerts. The Leeds Schools Music Association is one of the few left and is going from strength to strength each year. This is due to the dedication of the LSMA committee supported by the music teachers at Artforms and by the staff in the schools around the city.

ENDS