Jazz and Joy at Festival of Christmas Music for Primary Schools in Adamstown and Splott
Cardiff primary schools and jazz students from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama perform in Festival of Christmas Music directed by Llandaff Cathedral.
For her first project in post as Music Animateur at Llandaff Cathedral, Rachel Kilby has been teaching and rehearsing with children in the schools in Adamsdown and Splott.
The five schools Tredegarville CinW Primary, Baden Powell Primary, Stacey Primary, Moorland Primary and Welsh Language School Ysgol Glan Morfa performed in two services in St German’s Church, Splott, singing classic Christmas carols and festive music with a twist for a Festival of Christmas Music on Wednesday 6th December.
With over 30 years’ experience, Rachel added the challenge of singing in the three languages of English, Welsh and German, and teachers were involved in the children’s practice in class.
For the performances, Director of Music at Llandaff Cathedral Stephen Moore and Assistant Director Aaron Shilson accompanied them on piano.
Rachel said, “It has been really nice to come into this area to bring the children to St German’s and we have been overwhelmed by the response. Originally the plan was just to run for the morning, but we had too many wanting to participate for one service so across the two events we had 380 children singing.
“Christmas is a great time of year to inspire children to engage with music because they are songs that they know already. It’s a good starting point to introduce them to other things as well, so we’ve done a mixture today of some traditional songs that they knew and then some that they perhaps weren’t familiar with. The children did amazingly and it’s been really great to see the church full of parents.”
The children's songs were interspersed with performances from a jazz ensemble made up from students from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Singer Safiya Joscelyne, pianist Nils Kavanagh, trumpeter Ethan Murray, bassist Josh Sharp and drummer Noah Fletcher gave a brief history of jazz and demonstrations of their instruments to the children and audience between pieces showing their obvious passion for their craft.
Their pieces included Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and a jazz improvisation of O Little Town of Bethlehem.
With spirits high, the jazz students and schools came together at the end to sing We Wish You A Merry Christmas.
Fr Stuart Lisk, Ministry Area Lead of Roath and Cathays, said, “St German’s were delighted to host the Festival of Christmas Music for Primary Schools and to see over a thousand people come through the church doors is wonderful.
“We find that music is such an excellent way of engaging with the community and bringing people hope and happiness at what can be a very sad time for some. It’s so good to see so many people involved.”