Here are a few project highlights from previous years of Raising the Roof.
Fireworks was an exciting collaboration between Trinity Laban, Sense of Sound, Handel House Museum and Junior Trinity, supported by Greenwich & Lewisham Music Services.A music and dance project with vocal, string and composition elements, Fireworks celebrated the work of Handel in a variety of ways, using the Music for the Royal Fireworks as a starting point and culminating in a showcase performance at Blackheath Halls on Bonfire Night, 2006.Participants included students from Deptford Green School in Lewisham, Junior Trinity’s Intermediate String Orchestra, other string players from the London Borough of Greenwich and young dancers from Laban’s Saturday groups. Parts of Handel’s original work were performed, mixed with contemporary responses, using techniques from the time but with influences from today.
Students and teachers from Crown Woods, John Roan, St. Ursula’s and Thomas Tallis Secondary Schools in Greenwich joined with students from Junior and Senior Trinity in their reinterpretation of Thomas Tallis’s Spem in Alium.The project was created to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Led by Jackie Walduck, the project involved composition of new works using Tallis’s themes of Hope and Faith which culminated in a poignant performance in the Old Royal Naval College Chapel, where Tallis was a member of the royal household.
The Bounty was a Raising the Roof partnership project with APT Gallery in Deptford, which was linked to the gallery’s exhibition around the voyages of William Bligh to Tahiti in the late eighteenth century. Bligh’s first journey on HMAT Bounty resulted in the famous mutiny in 1789, and much of the historical background of the project concerns Deptford. Raising the Roof worked with children from St. Stephen's C of E Primary, on a composition project inspired by the themes.The children visited the gallery for inspiration and then worked with musician Tim Palmer and a team of Trinity students, learning songs and creating their own musical responses to stories from the exhibition. The results were filmed at the school along with a documentary about the project. The final performance was a combination of recorded and live music, as part of the closing weekend of the exhibition.The Bounty project also formed part of Black History Month celebrations and the Bicentenary of the Abolition of Slavery. It was a great opportunity to further explore history and cultural heritage through music.
The Soldier’s Tale was a composition project for young people in local schools, delivered through Raising the Roof in partnership with Rhythmically Speaking.Using Stravinsky’s Soldier’s Tale Suite as a starting point, young composers from four Lewisham schools (Monson, St. James’ Hatcham Primary Schools and Haberdasher’s Askes Hatcham College) created new works as their response to the original piece.The performance took place on Wednesday 19th March at Blackheath Halls and featured sections of Stravinsky’s work performed by sound collective interspersed with the children’s own compositions. The project was led by Alex Jagger from Rhythmically Speaking.Along with a team of Trinity students, Alex visited the three schools over a 4 week period for weekly workshops to inspire and encourage the young musicians to create their own compositions.This project was generously supported by the Michael Tippett Foundation.
As part of the Trinity Brass Experience 2008, students visited four schools in the London borough of Greenwich (Meridian Primary School, Sherington Primary School, St. Patrick’s RC Primary School and St. Margaret’s Primary School) to give weekly workshops to young brass players.Together with Project Leader, Jason Rowland, the students inspired and coached the children helping them to devise their own compositions. The project finale was a concert on 27th February at the Blackheath Halls where the compositions from the four schools were amalgamated to create ‘Made in Greenwich’.The children were joined for their performance by guest musicians Roger Argente (Head of Brass at Trinity) and Rex Richardson (Artist in Residence for the Trinity Brass Experience 2008), Invincible Brass (Trinity Brass Routes project students), Jazz ‘Bones, and visiting brass students from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Making Waves was a whole school approach to composition taking “water” as the central theme. Gallions Mount Primary School in Plumstead wished to provide professional development opportunities for teachers in composition whilst also expanding children’s musical experiences.Each class within the school (including the Nursery) took part in their own “mini project” with a team of musicians from Trinity, and all teachers took part in an INSET programme during the course of the project. The project included informal performances within the school, so that the children could share their achievements with each other and a resource pack was created for each teacher as a record of the work achieved and to support future composition experiences. The project was funded by Creative Partnerships and delivered through Raising the Roof.
