Swashbuckling treat

Feb 18 2008 By Gary Marks

MORE than four thousand Midland primary school children are in line for a free musical treat at Birmingham's Symphony Hall tomorrow.

The Primary Proms will offer the young audience, aged four to 11, the opportunity to hear live music and are designed to inspire them to make music themselves.

The concerts, at 11am and 1.30pm, will open with some familiar selections from the movies performed by the John Cleveland College Orchestra from Hinckley.

The audience will be swashbuckling their way through music from Pirates of the Caribbean before dancing to the distinctive Can Can.

Solihull's Songsquad will perform a selection of songs, then Birmingham Schools Azaad Dhol Group will raise the energy level with their lively traditional Bhangra rhythms performed on Dhol drums, and dance.

It's then off to the hills of Switzerland for a performance of Swiss Cheese by Derby's Landau Forte College Youth Theatre.

The energetic young group not only use instruments and movement in their performance, but also form all of the scenery with their bodies.

The final group on stage is Burton Borough School Big Band from Newport, Shropshire.

The concerts will be introduced by Sam Dunkley, a Birmingham-born composer, singer and musician.