Transforming Communities

Musical Mondays Norfolk and Suffolk – Highlights so far

In partnership with Norfolk and Suffolk Music Hubs, Live Music Now’s Musical Mondays series has been streaming monthly interactive concerts to schools in Norfolk and Suffolk throughout the 2023-24 academic year.

Aiming to bring a wide range of musical genres to pupils, the series so far has featured singer songwriters, folk music from around the UK, West-African kora and ngoni and Western classical music. Each date includes two specially tailored performances on Zoom webinar, one accessible for children with additional learning needs and one for mainstream primary schools. Sessions reach as many as 2000 children at a time, with more pupils viewing the recording made available after each live event.

In these fun, interactive sessions, pupils are encouraged to actively participate as well as listen to the music. Participatory activities have included movement, percussion, singing and vocalising. The chat feature offers the opportunity for schools interact with the musicians, get a ‘shout out’ from them and express their own ideas and reactions to the concert. Students also enjoy asking questions about the musicians’ instruments and the music they hear.

Highlights so far have included a pirate themed concert, singalongs to famous movie songs, and a recomposed version of ‘Drunken Sailor’ using pupils’ own ideas.

Quotes and feedback from chat records:

That made everyone smile!
We are enjoying it so much, we don’t want to finish
We enjoyed that one. We were dancing!
We liked joining in with the singing.
Today was our first time attending, we really enjoyed it. Thank you very much 🙂

Teachers tell us that Live Music Now sessions benefit their pupils in the following ways:

  • Pupils have access to live music performed by professional musicians that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to see due to barriers such as cost and transport
  • High levels of pupil engagement during the sessions themselves
  • Allows children to see how music impacts others, including their peers and staff members
  • Inspires pupils to express themselves through music and possibly take up an instrument themselves
  • Offers alternative ways to listen to music and appreciate different genres, musical cultures and musical instruments
  • Raises the profile of music and highlights the possibilities of playing music
  • Positive impact on students’ wellbeing following concerts
‘Musical Mondays has been an incredible programme to be involved with and has supported our sustained engagement with schools and settings by offering accessible, high quality opportunity which complements our existing offer. Uptake has been great and the sheer breadth and skill of programming has ensured variety and diversity across the board. Feedback from our young people about the concert series has been outstanding and by making the sessions engaging and fun, this has sparked increased enjoyment and interest in music making. Mondays just got a whole lot more exciting!’

Alison Brain, Head of Service – Music Service and Music Hub, Norfolk Music Education Hub

Click here to see the full concert schedule for 2023-2024 in Norfolk and Suffolk.

Feedback from schools

‘This makes me want to DANCE’– pupil, about Conor Lamb & Deirdre Galway
‘A really thoughtful and poignant performance which entertained a range of abilities and increased pupils positive wellbeing for the rest of the day’ – Teacher, about Zoë Wren’s Complex Needs performance
‘Absolutely fantastic. Pitched perfectly at the class – they were brilliant’ – Teacher, about the Primary Schools concert with Filkin’s Drift
‘We always look forward to it because it gives the opportunity for children to access different styles of music in a more informal way. It gets them talking about becoming musicians themselves… Please keep these sessions coming. We are excited that the next one will explore music from some African nations! World music exposure is so important in our culturally diverse country. We love hearing stories through music. Thank you’ – Teacher
‘These monthly concerts have been a huge BOON – as trying to get live musicians to play at small rural schools is almost impossible – the more you can do = the better.’ – Teacher

Thanks to Norfolk and Suffolk Music Hubs for making these concerts possible. To find out more about Musical Mondays and our work in schools please click here.