Musical experiences delivered across NI special schools

Pupils in special schools across Northern Ireland are having ‘out of this world’ musical experiences with Live Music Now musicians as part of Our Place in Space, one of ten Unboxed projects across the UK.

Live Music Now has been commissioned to deliver a special schools strand, bringing stellar performances to over 3000 pupils in 19 schools between April and October 2022.

Since the launch of Our Place in Space in April, eleven Live Music Now musicians have taken part in schools projects ranging from three days to eight weeks, as well as one-off concerts, all taking musical inspiration from themes of space, perspective and inclusion. Schools in Belfast, Coleraine, Hillsborough, Limavady and Strabane have all taken part, engaging over 600 pupils to date.

NI Director Alice Lewis said,

"This is a very special project to be involved in — Oliver Jeffers' creative concept is an inspirational starting point for our musicians, pupils, and teachers. It gives our musicians the freedom and flexibility to try out new ideas while working within our Inspire Training framework. So far we've had various iterations of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star as well as plenty of space-themed songs"

One of the projects was in Belfast's St Gerard's where pupils worked with Live Music Now musicians Hannah Murray and Will Brown from early April 2022 to create a performance Sam Ryder’s Spaceman in sign language, Makaton and a range of instruments.

Yolande Powell, music teacher at St Gerard's said,

"The kids absolutely loved it I think because of the way Hannah and Will approached it — everyone's involved, nobody's excluded. If a child wants to dance or suddenly explode into freeform improvising, they're allowed to do that and it really gave them the scope to be creative".

Check out the video below to see their awesome performance of Spaceman!