We have an exciting and inspiring Hub Menu for schools and education settings.
Get in touch to hear about music opportunities for the children and young people you teach via our mailing list or use the buttons below to download a pdf of activities for your region.
SIOW Music will be collaborating with Sound Pop Academy to produce a digital songbook transcribing their brilliant 3 part harmony flexible arrangements of pop songs to share with secondary schools and sixth forms. The music hub and Sound Pop Academy will run a CPD session to introduce the songs and arrangements and support singing across the Key Stages including a limited number of live workshops in schools.
As part of this programme, you will be offered a free log in to the Vocal Kit online platform to continue using the resources following your workshop with backing tracks and a progression framework for vocal learning.
This project will run from Autumn 2 and through the Spring term.
Schools choirs and music groups are invited to Osborne House on Monday 25th November for a carousel of Christmas activities! You will have the opportunity to perform in the Durbar Room, have a tour of the ground floor of the house and take part in some Victorian Christmas craft activities. If take up is high we will also offer the opportunity for schools to take part the following week on 2nd December.
Your performances could include the new music hub Christmas songs from our songbook which we will learn in the workshop, something you have prepared for Christmas concerts or anything you have been working on this term - all are welcome! We will not have a full band or sound set up sadly due to the delicate nature of the Durbar Room but we will be able to play backing tracks. You are welcome to bring your own equipment too.
Our proposed timings would be as follows:
9.15am - 9.30am Arrive / parents drop off gather school groups in the car park
9.30am - 9.45am Move to first workshop space
9.45am - 10.30am Workshop 1 / tour
10.30am - 10.45am change over/break
10.45am - 11.30am Workshop 2 / tour
11.30am - 11.45am change over/break
11.45am - 12.30pm Workshop 3 / tour
12.30pm - 1.15pm Lunch break (bring packed lunch)
1.15pm - 1.30pm schools to Durbar Room
1.30pm - 2.15pm Performance in the Durbar Room
2.15pm Finish and schools leave and/or children are collected from the car park by parents
We are excited to be partnering with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra this academic year as part of their “On Your Doorstep” programme.
A group of instrumental players from the orchestra along with a workshop leader will visit schools to deliver some live performances and also work with instrumentalists in your setting - this could be adapted to be suitable for beginners or any types of players/instruments or could perhaps be a starting point for a new ensemble in your school or a chance for an established group to receive some specific coaching.
We would be keen to work with you to understand what would support you in the best way. Please complete the form linked below to book a space for this, although slots are limited. The players will follow this up with a wider island-wide community performance on Saturday 30th November.
Saturday 30th November 1pm - 2pm approx venue tbc ALL AGES
Join players from the BSO and presenter Neil Valentine for a family friendly and accessible performance of some classic works alongside some young players from the island
Please register your interest to take part in our Christmas Celebration and Southampton Guildhall on Thursday 5th December 2024! This is suitable for KS1 & KS2 pupils either your choir or a class from your setting. This event is now fully booked but if you would like to be put on a reserve list, please email lynn.beckwith@southampton.gov.uk
Details:
Jo Downs is writing a new Christmas songbook and narrative script for this event loosely based on the nativity story with three original songs for KS1 and three original songs for KS2 spanning a variety of styles and genres! Schools will also be offered the opportunity to perform as a solo group outside of the massed singing or participate in the narrative sections but this is very much voluntary. On the day we will also be joined by Southampton Youth Wind Band for the concert.
Schools will be offered workshops to introduce the songbook and digital resources to support you with learning them in advance of the concert. Resources will be ready by the end of September/beginning of October. Timings on the day are still tbc but we will be in touch with everyone to finalise this with your input.
Spaces will be limited to up to 150 KS1 and up to 150 KS2 students for the event in total, which will be allocated on a first come first served basis with an initial limit of around 30 pupils from your school for each half of the concert but we may be able to offer more spaces depending on sign up though so this is not set in stone.
Please indicate on the form how many you would like to bring or use the form to explain this and we will contact you to confirm what's possible. Any questions please email nia@siowmusic.org but if in doubt fill in the form and we will get back to you with questions if anything doesn't make sense.
We are looking for a KS2 and/or KS3/4 school choir of upper voices to take part in a concert at the Turner Sims Concert Hall with the University of Southampton voices on Friday 6th December.
This programme is called The Bells of Paradise and features arrangements of some well known traditional (and some less traditional!) carols along with an adult choir and professional musicians. The hub would work intensively with your choir to learn the 6 songs in the programme which would feature your choir or class.
This concert would be a chance to perform with professional musicians led by Harvey Brough and we have run this lovely project with the University before with great success. Please email me directly nia@siowmusic.org if this is of interest to you.
After the success of our recorder extravaganza at St Catherine’s Church in Ventnor last year as part of Fairest Isle Festival we will be continuing the tradition this year! Although the festival is not taking place again until 2026 the festival organisers were keen to continue the legacy of this year’s project via the commissioning of a new recorder songbook written by island-native Miriam Monaghan from recorder super-group Palisander. The music hub will host these digital resources, provide CPD for schools and workshops to introduce the materials and during next term select a venue and date for performance in the spring term. If your school would like to host this event please do get in touch. Please register your interest below.
The student members of Southampton University Chamber Choir are offering the opportunity for schools to hear them perform in a short assembly and then work with a class or a choir group for a workshop leading to a small performance on the day. The timings would be roughly as follows but we would be happy to work with you to refine this. Register your interest HERE
60 minute workshop with a class of up to 30 or your choir
15-20 minute assembly including performances from SUCC and children’s performance of material from the workshop
"An Audience With..." is Southampton & IOW Music's flagship vehicle to help schools connect the areas of the National Plan for Music Education focused on Music Industry roles with children and young people. This hands on session will outline some of the roles available (both technical and performance based) through practical activities and digital video content which will inspire young people to work in the music industry and develop aspirations for the future. Bookings will be taken via IWCEP manager Claire Paul claire@creativeisland.org and information about the whole programme will come to you via our mailing prior to this going live.
REGISTER Here
We are continuing our collaboration with The New Carnival Company to create and write with young people a new anthem to perform at Mardi Gras linked to their theme for this year.
Schools signed up will receive a free songwriting and singing workshop from the hub in the summer term to help write the song and learn to sing it before the parade heads off on the day in July 2025!
REGISTER Here
Join students and teachers from Platform one College of music to hear performances from bands, young people and learn lots about events, sound, music technology and jobs in the music industry. Details of spaces available will come directly from Platform One to your settings so one to look out for!
Join us again for our junior prom event on the bowling green at Carisbrooke Castle! Bring your students along for an opportunity to perform on the green with fantastic visibility for parents, friends and families to come along and watch on the raised areas around the green and bring a picnic. This year this event will be solely focused on singing and our theme in 2025 will focus on local stories, myths & legends and the environment.
Schools and young people will be consulted to suggest a song to include in an our official ‘songbook’ for the concert. This songbook will be produced by the music hub and workshops will also be available to support this. As always we will run a site visit and meeting prior to the event to discuss logistics with teachers which will take place on Thursday 1st May 2025 from 4pm - 5pm at the castle. In the case of inclement weather our reserve date is Tuesday 17th June 2025.
4pm - 4.30pm School ensembles/groups arrive
4.30pm - 5pm Sound checks
5.30pm - 7pm Concert
Schools are invited to either the Classic Boat Museum in Cowes or the Shipwreck Centre and Maritime Museum in Arreton to take part in workshops and a performance to mark the RNLI Bicentenary celebrations in 2024. A group or class of 30 students will take part in a half day set of workshops (singing sea shanties, dancing a hornpipe and dramatic storytelling) along with touring the museums and learning about water safety. Children are then invited back after school with their parents to perform. Following on from attendance parents will be given vouchers to attend the heritage site in the future. We only have one space left for this project on Tuesday 1st October at the Classic Boat Museum in the morning. Please contact nia@siowmusic.org if you would like to take this opportunity. A sample schedule of the day is below.
Morning workshops & visit
9.20 - Arrive and welcome
9.30 - 10.15 - Session One
10.15 - 11.00 - Session Two
11.00 - 11.15 - Break
11.15 - 12.00 - Session Three
Evening Performance
5.30 - Intro and Welcome (TBC)
5.35 - Parents tour the relevant venue with a provided map - Programme will look like this;
Shanty school 1
Dramatic Story school 1
Hornpipe school 1
Shanty school 2
Dramatic Story school 2
Hornpipe school 2
6.15 - END - It is hoped that each evening will end with an optional Sea Shanty Sing-a-long for 30 minutes or so either at Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club on the Tuesday and or the White Lion pub on the Wednesday
