Following on from the success of last September’s Proms in the Playground scheme, another fabulous week was had in South Yorkshire schools in July 2024.
Proms in the Playground is national project run by our partner organisation Brass Bands England in collaboration with Music Hubs and local schools that encourages community bands to get in touch with their local schools and perform in their playground or school hall.
As well as getting young people excited about brass banding, this initiative helps bands forge and strengthen relationships with organisations around them. Brass Bands England also encourages bands to use this opportunity to engage with their local Music Education Hub and go a step further by offering taster sessions.
This summers Proms in the Playground took place in 7 schools: Reignhead Primary, Birley Primary Academy, St Theresa’s Catholic Primary, Stradbroke Primary, Monteney Primary, Windmill Hill Primary and Meynell Primary.
Hundreds of children performed, and all children involved had had a year of either whole class brass lessons or been taking part in pathways lessons (specialist groups for 10 children at a time). The young brass players performed their own pieces and performed alongside Oughtibridge Brass Band (local brass band) to play songs such as “Shotgun”, “African Funk”, “Walking on Sunshine” and “Sweet Caroline” to a mixed audience of other children, families and school staff. Oughtibridge Brass Band kindly gave their time for free to promote Brass Banding to the young people of Sheffield. The idea of the project is to inspire the children to continue playing brass and show them what is possible (by them listening to a proper brass band).
Gillian Hume, Music Hub Manager (this summer): “It was wonderful to see the smiles, engagement and awe on the faces of so many children in all areas of our city as they see what is possible and where music can take them”.
