On Wednesday, the Junior School Orchestra went to see the live Children’s Concert performed by Southern Pro Music Orchestra at G Live in Guildford.

The concert was fun and interactive, acting as an introduction for children to a professional orchestra. We were led through the concert by an amazingly charismatic presenter who specialised in magic tricks – the most impressive of which he conjured a conducting baton out of fire! It began with a ‘Meet the Orchestra’ segment in which each section played a mini solo within a larger piece to help the children learn the names of the instruments and the layout of an orchestra.

There were several classical pieces in the programme, famous ‘Waltz’ from ‘Sleeping Beauty’ by Tchaikovsky and ‘Slavonic Dance No.8’ by Dvorak which served excellent purpose as a child-friendly introduction to classical music. The conductor (Jonathon Willcocks) had also written an original piece called ‘How the Whale Got its Throat,’ accompanied by whale moans and a story narrated alongside the music! By far, the biggest musical hit was the Disney medley that the orchestra played which included some Disney classics like, ‘Bare Necessities,’ ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me’ and ‘Under the Sea.’

As a finale, the orchestra played a song which the audience had learnt before the concert, so the whole auditorium jumped to their feet to add the actions and sing along. We were emphatically assured that our audience were the best singers of all of the audiences the orchestra had played for – well done everyone!