News17th February 2014
280 students from 12 different ARK academies came together at to sing with one voice at the annual Sing into Spring event.
Sing into Spring is part of One Voice, the ARK Music Programme choral strategy and brings together primary and secondary student singers from across the network for a day of workshops, masterclasses and massed singing.
The event is an opportunity for students to celebrate their musical achievements and enjoy being immersed in singing for a day. 鈥淥ne student came up to me and said 鈥榯his is the best thing I鈥檝e ever done in my whole entire life,鈥欌 said Mark De-Lisser one of the ARK Artist in Residence team who led rehearsals and a workshop. He added 鈥渕usic is really about having fun, allowing students to have a good time – I think that鈥檚 the best way to learn.鈥
The participants were challenged to learn new musical pieces in the morning, which they then performed live together at the end of the day. 鈥淭he students have been working on shared repertoire in their own schools for the last 5 months and this is the first time they get to feel what it鈥檚 like to be a part of a big choir and the power of all their voices together,鈥 said Jennifer Raven, ARK Schools Music Programme Coordinator. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e non-stop engaged in real music making from the minute they step into the building until the end of the day – opera, Indian fusion, gospel and jazz.鈥
11 year old David from Bolingbroke Academy said: 鈥淢usic helps a lot of us because it helps us to focus, as students. The best part of today was all of us singing together, practising and getting to know each other really. We all really worked together. I had a great time.鈥
Find out more about the ARK Schools music programme .
You can see a short video from the day here: