Skip to main content

The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra


Birmingham’s Symphony Hall is an impressive venue. What better place, therefore, to see and hear the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) perform a special family concert: The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.

When Catherine Arlidge walked onto the stage to present the show, I just knew that we were going to enjoy it. I have been to family concerts hosted by her before and she has a relaxed, fun style that puts everyone at ease. The concert was split into bite sized chunks with children waiting for the pause button visual at the end of musical pieces to shout out “PAUSE" before finding out more about the orchestra and enjoying games with Catherine. The show lasted about an hour and passed quickly- even for my eight month old who was being bounced on my lap.

Catherine explained that the orchestra was colour coded for the performance. For instance, all the strings were wearing red. This visual image made it very straightforward for the children in the audience to understand how the orchestra was made up. The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra uses an arrangement by Benjamin Britten to show off each of the sections. We heard each section of the orchestra play so that we could really hear the different sounds of the instruments.



The games need a special mention. Adults were pitched against children in games of hangman where you had to guess musical instrument names. What the children found particularly funny was that the adults’ clues were too hard and they kept losing. We learned about obscure musical instruments like the loophonium and Picasso guitar. This provoked plenty of laughter from the children.

Our favourite part of the show was undoubtedly hearing the orchestra perform. Children all around us were enjoying the music. Some were sitting silently, absorbed and watching but others were dancing along or pointing things out. My wriggly baby was ‘shouting’ along at times. No one minded- most people there were parents, grandparent, aunts or uncles. The children were enjoying the show and part of it. CBSO family concerts don’t just pretend to be relaxed, they actually are.

My family definitely want to go along to another CBSO family concert. As we drove home, we talked about our favourite instruments in the orchestra and the funny parts of the show that we had enjoyed. We had heard pieces by Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Brahms among others. We had learned what the conductor does, which is the biggest section in the orchestra and found out which instruments played the music as Harry Potter’s Nimbus 2000 zipped around in the film. Most importantly though, we’d enjoyed the music and had lots of fun along the way.

The next CBSO family concert is in Birmingham’s Town Hall on Sunday 2nd February at 2.30pm. It’s called ‘We Got Rhythm’ and it all about the orchestra’s percussion instruments. It is bound to be noisy and fun plus this concert also offers a chance to get hands on. 

https://cbso.co.uk/event/we-got-rhythm.  Tickets are £12 each or £38 for 4.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MiniBrum

What is it? MiniBrum is a play space for under eights based on the theme of a mini Birmingham. There are different areas for children to explore including a canal barge, a construction zone and a shop. The whole of MiniBrum is designed to support children’s role play and exploration of real life spaces. The unique interactive gallery has been created with the input of over 800 children and families from across Birmingham. Where is it? Mini Brum is part of ThinkTank which is Birmingham’s science museum. MiniBrum is on the third floor next to the recently revamped planetarium. Entry to ThinkTank is £14 per adult and £10.25 per child. Under 3’s are free and during Birmingham term time there is a special adult and toddler (aged 3-5) ticket for £15. Another great offer is the £3 per person entry fee after 3pm on term time weekdays. When does it open? It opens to the public on 25 th May in time for half term. I would expect it to be very busy. My advice woul...
1 comment
Read more

Ocean Odyssey in Times Square

Hitting New York as a family, we were full of excitement and anticipation. We were waiting outside a store for it to open at 9am! We took selfies and videos of the famous sites in Times Square. But soon after that legs were tired. Temperatures were rising and humidity was close to 50%. It was with a sigh of relief that we entered the cool of National Geographic Encounter. Little people will only walk so far and look at so many famous buildings. Ocean Odyssey is an immersive experience that uses the latest technology to take you under the ocean. Our expectations were high as we ‘took the dive’ to our first location- the shallows of the South Pacific. Fish swam under our feet and adults and children jumped around as the creatures interacted with us. Jellyfish responded as we moved our arms and got up close. We loved the fact that Ocean Odyssey isn’t a show that you sit back and watch but an experience that you can interact with. Those tired little legs suddenly weren’t tired anymore...
Post a Comment
Read more

There is no such thing as bad weather just the wrong clothes.

My youngest daughter is not deterred by rain, wind or cold. She is happy out side in all weathers and I just have to wrap her and myself up warm. Even then, she often tries to discard gloves, hats and scarves.  If you have a free range child who loves being outdoors, here are my Top 5 suggestions for outdoor family activities this February half term. 1. Wild Families Nature Wonder Hunt and Crafts at The Wolsley Centre on 13th February between 10am and 12 noon. £7.50 for the first child, then others are £4.50. https://www.staffs-wildlife.org.uk/events/2024-02-13-wildfamilies-survival-skills-wolseley-centre 2. Crafts, story telling and Stick Man screenings are on from 12th to 16th February to complement their excellent Stick Man trail at The National Memorial Arboretum. This means that you can warm up before heading outside again. All activities are free. https://www.thenma.org.uk/what's-on/events/february-half-term 3. Campfire fun and Hot Chocolate at The Parkrid...
Post a Comment
Read more