On Friday 11th November, Year 6 pupils from St Martha’s Catholic Primary School performed to a sell-out audience at King’s Lynn Town Hall as part of a King’s Lynn Festival Coffee Concert.

The outreach project, set up by King’s Lynn Festival & Peter Barker of Classical Music Rocks, aimed to make classical music more accessible and to introduce primary school children to creative music making.

In the lead up to the concert, award-winning classical musicians Joo Yeon Sir (violin) and Laura Snowden (guitar) visited two other Primary Schools in the King’s Lynn area, Greyfriars and Snettisham, to demonstrate their instruments and perform to pupils.

As part of the project, Year 6 pupils from St Martha’s Catholic Primary School were supported by Jane Wells (a local composer) to use a piece by Joo Yeon based on the Paganini theme and variations as inspiration to create their own composition, which they then performed at the Coffee Concert and shared it within school.

King’s Lynn Festival evaluated the project and reported the following:

  • 100% of participants enjoyed taking part in the project
  • 72% of participants said they liked classical music more now because of the project

Read the article in Lynn News – Classical musicians to visit West Norfolk Primary Schools.

This education project was funded by various partners including the Arts Council and a new organisation founded by Peter Barker – Music Education West Norfolk (MEWN). The concert itself was sponsored by a couple on behalf of a family member Helen Johnson.