Songs from the Stands!
The Pied Piper of Oldham
Balle Balle Hallé
The Silly Little Mouse
The Eighth Door

Song from the Stands!
Supported by Excellence in Cities Manchester
In association with City in the Community (MCFC)

Following the award-winning success of The Write Pitch and Fit for Life, two Hallé music and sport projects in association with CITC, Manchester City Football Club's community programme, Songs from the Stands! afforded young people from one high school and five primary schools in Manchester the opportunity of taking part in a creative writing and music project addressing transition.

The schools involved were St. Peter's RC High School, St. Joseph's RC Primary School, Sacred Heart RC Junior School, St. Willibrord's RC Primary School, St. Edward's RC Primary School and St. Brigid's RC Primary School. The young people created poetry on the theme of transition and then set it to music using tunes that are sung week-in and week-out by Manchester City's football supporters including The Great Escape, The Grand March from Aida and of course, Blue Moon. Following the creative process in which the children worked with Terry Caffrey, poet in residence at The Bridgewater Hall, ex-City player, Earl Barrett and musicians from the Hallé, the new songs were performed at St. Peter's RC High School and at Manchester City's Eastlands stadium on Saturday 20 January before the Blackburn v Manchester City match.

The high school performance gave the Year 6 primary pupils the opportunity to visit the new school to which they will be moving in the new academic year. They were also able to hear music that a class of Year 7 pupils from the high school had created.

back to top

The Pied Piper of Oldham
In association with the Oldham Schools Linking Project.
Part of  'Raising the Standard!' supported by The Foundation for Sport and the Arts.

Based on the story of the Pied Piper of Hamlyn, The Pied Piper of Oldham Project provided the ideal opportunity for Hallé Education to work with the Oldham Schools Linking Project in a scheme addressing cultural diversity.  The Pied Piper Project involved primary pupils from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds in Oldham. The schools involved in the project were St. Hilda's and St. Hugh's CE Primary Schools and Richmond and Alt Primary Schools.  Pupils came together to create and perform their own music with the assistance of musicians from the Hallé and four world music practitioners.

The Pied Piper Project considered issues to do with Global Citizenship and cultural diversity (as specified in the National Curriculum).  Pupils participated in every aspect of creating their own production, taking part in composing, performing, singing and art and design workshops throughout the duration of the project.

The project mirrored the Pied Piper of Hamlyn story but in this case, instead of rats, the subject matter was global disharmony, prejudice and cultural misunderstanding and how communities can solve these problems by working together.  The project told the story of how the Piper, Hallé horn player Julian Plummer, gathered his magical melody by journeying through a range of musical cultures.  His hypnotic melody provided the means of unifying the different musical strands of the project.  Each world music practitioner selected a melody from their country on which to base their school's composition.  This also provided the basis of the Piper's link to the next school.  Once the Piper had gathered elements from all of the four musical genres all of the schools joined together in one voice for a final procession.

back to top

Balle Balle Hallé
Part of 'Raising the Standard!' supported by The Foundation for Sport and the Arts

'It was exciting plus we played some games as well!'
Project participant
'It was fantastic and I enjoyed it'
Project participant

This project was an exciting element of Hallé Education's series of music and sport projects, which also linked with the department's world music programme. It offered a unique opportunity for pupils from St. Mary's CE Primary School in Bolton to investigate the musical cultures of Pakistan and England, the two participating teams in the 2006 test series.  The project saw a fusion of traditional Pakistani folksongs with well-known sound bites from the Western Classical tradition, including Shostakovich and Mozart in honour of their respective anniversaries.

Pupils from St Mary's had the opportunity to work with both Hallé and Pakistani musicians, including dhol and tabla drummers, in a series of singing, instrumental and percussion workshops.  The project culminated with a final performance during the lunch interval on the first day of the test at Lancashire County Cricket Club on Thursday 27 July.

back to top

The Silly Little Mouse - Hallé and Bolton Music Service
Supported by the Peter Moores Foundation and the D'Oyly Carte CharitableTrust.
Conductor: André de Ridder; Narrator: Gerard McBurney; Director: Caroline
Clegg; Designer: Allison Clarke

Shostakovich's rarity, The Silly Little Mouse, was given its first staged UK performance in Bolton's Victoria Hall to an audience of young school children from Greater Manchester on Wednesday 18 January 2006. The work was originally composed in 1939 as a soundtrack to a cartoon film, which was specifically aimed at nursery aged children. Based on a Russian children's story by Samuil Marshak, Shostakovich always intended that The Silly Little Mouse could also be performed separately from the film as a short opera for children.

The idea behind this premiere came from the composer, writer and Russian music expert, Gerard McBurney who is a good friend of the Hallé. Gerard took the role of the narrator in the opera and peripatetic staff from Bolton Music Service performed the singing roles. The two performances played to approximately 2,400 children and teachers, and the programme also included Prokofiev's evergreen Peter and the Wolf, which Gerard also narrated.

back to top

The Eighth Door
Supported by The Foundation for Sport and the Arts and The Paul Hamlyn Foundation
Director: Caroline Clegg; Music Director and Composer: Bea Schirmer; ALÉAtronic: Ken Brown, Dave Hext, Dale Culliford and Bea Schirmer; Designer: Heena Patel; Trainee Composer: Iain Masson; Trainee Director: Anna Jewitt

Starring Fiona MacDonald as Judith and Richard Strivens as Duke Bluebeard

The Eighth Door was a partnership project between the education departments of the Hallé and Opera North, centred around the latter's semi-staged performance of Bartók's Duke Bluebeard's Castle in The Bridgewater Hall.

Thirty Year 9 pupils from Plant Hill High School in Blackley were involved in the two-month project that was designed to motivate, inspire and encourage the pupils who had already shown an aptitude for music to continue studying through to GCSE level.

The young people were able to experience every aspect of 'putting on an opera' including composition, design, singing and performing. They also had the opportunity to attend Opera North's production of Duke Bluebeard's Castle at The Bridgewater Hall. Pupils worked with a team comprising composer, director, designer, singers and four Hallé musicians to write a scene for the 'eighth door' of Bluebeard's castle. The group explored Duke Bluebeard's psychology and the music that Bartók used to portray this character, and wrote their own music and words in response to it.

The Head of Music at Plant Hill High School, Emma Nosworthy, was delighted that her students had the experience of working with professionals from the world of opera and musicians from the Hallé. The scheme also provided a unique opportunity for a trainee composer and director to work with the professional team on all aspects of the project.

back to top