Friday 26 June

This Monday, more than 1400 Manchester pupils from schools across the city had a chance to blow their own trumpet..and trombone..and clarinet..and tenor horn..and violin...and ukelele - in fact a whole orchestra full of different instruments - when they performed at the Bridgewater Hall with the city's famous Halle orchestra.

The pupils from 24 of the city's primary schools have all been taking part in music lessons in school, learning a wide range of different instruments as part of the national 'Wider Opportunities' scheme, which is designed to give all primary school pupils the chance to learn a musical instrument.

The hour long concert on Monday marked the culmination of their hard work and saw pupils play two pieces with the world renowned orchestra - a massed performance of the Cuckoo Polka by Johann Strauss II, and the sizzling, finger-clicking, Latin dance classic Tequila, specially arranged for the occasion.  The Halle went on to play some orchestral favourites before joining with the children and audience for a magnificent rendition of Believe, Lin Marsh's song from the national Sing Up! songbank.

Councillor Sheila Newman, Manchester City Council's Executive Member for Children's Services, said before the event 'Manchester is and always has been a very musical city, and this is a fantastic opportunity for primary school pupils to play with an orchestra that is both known and highly regarded across the world.   An experience like this is sure to give at least some of these pupils the music bug and I hope they will go on making music for many years to come."

Judging by the enthusaistic performance on Monday - this looks set to be the case!

The schools who took part were: Haveley Hey Community School, St Augustine's CE, Birchfields, Heald Place,Cavendish Community, Holy Trinity CE, St John's CE, Crumpsall Lane, Victoria Avenue Community, Medlock, All Saints CE, Ladybarn, Lily Lane Junior, St Dunstan's RC, St Chad's RC, Stanley Grove Community, Ravensbury Community, St Wilfrid's RC Hulme, St John Fisher and Thomas More, Mount Carmel RC, Green End, Old Hall Drive, Benchill Primary, and Temple Primary.

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