Form One and Primary recently went on a school trip to the Helix in DCU to attend the Irish Times' Music in the Classroom Concert. After the concert each pupils was asked to write a review and rather than me prattle on about my opinion, here is a very small sample of the brilliant reviews written by the pupils.
At the Helix
by Mark Russell
We went to the Helix on the 14th of October to see a performance. During the performance there were loads of songs and two short stories; ‘Peter and the Wolf’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast’. There was also a section where the orchestra played Nursery Rhymes including: ‘She’ll be coming ‘round the mountain’, ‘Yankee Doodle came to town’ and ‘Twinkle, Twinkle’. The nursery rhyme part was my favourite part and I think my least favourite part was when the orchestra played ‘Hairspray’ because I didn’t know any of the songs so I couldn’t sing along. My favourite play was ‘Peter and the Wolf’. It was my favourite because I really felt that the music and instruments played for each character really symbolised them and described them really well. I also thought that the ballet dancers were really entertaining. I thought that the Conductor was great. He was really enthusiastic and funny. I think he was great at making the concert very interactive for the audience. I loved seeing a proper orchestra playing live, first hand.
My Story on the Helix
by Nicola Dalrymple
We entered the Helix and were handed a sheet with all the songs and the main routine. When the concert first started a man came out wearing a conductor’s suit and I recognised him by his voice which I heard on the CD we used to learn the music for the concert. So he came out and told us the story of ‘Peter and the Wolf’ which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was very good. In fact it was excellent! It was played just like it was on the CD but it was that much more beautiful because it was live. We had a very good view of the stage and we could see all of the instruments and some of them were very unusual and I thought it was a great opportunity to see and hear them. I also liked all the nursery rhymes because I had not heard some of them for a very long time and they brought back funny childhood memories. I was sitting beside Archie and Rishi and behind me sat Antonia and Muqtadir. My favourite part had to have been the catchy song ‘You gotta be’ by Des’ree. It was very fun practising it and even more fun when we sang it ‘live’! It was great to hear it altogether with the first years and the pupils from other schools. I also quite liked the tune. The ballerinas were very elegant and beautiful. Watching them was like seeing poetry in motion. Their beautiful costumes really added to the whole thing. I thought the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ was ok but I saw a different version lots of times. I thought it was very funny when we did the ‘Phantom Regiment’ because of the actions. I thought that they were really funny and that we actually looked like soldiers marching when I looked at the pupils downstairs. I loved everything and when it was over we were talking to a lady and her daughter was a past pupil of St. Columba’s College. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I liked everything except for the long journey. I would go back any time. I thought it was a brilliant day.
The Helix Theatre
by Rishi Manuel
On Tuesday the 14th of October all Primary and First Form went to the Helix theatre to watch a concert. There were also alot more other schools there and the theatre was huge. When we first came into the theatre we were the only ones there, but more people soon came.
There were musicians on the stage with lots of funny and interesting instruments. Then a mad conductor came on stage with another man and told us the story of ‘Peter and the Wolf’. During the play, ballerinas acted by dancing and making movements with their arms. After the play we sang nursery rhymes like: ‘Yankee Doodle’, ‘Twinkle, Twinkle’, ‘Old MacDonald’, ‘This Old Man’ and ‘She’ll be comin’ ‘round the Mountain’.
My favourite was ‘She’ll be comin’ ‘round the Mountain’ because hardly any of the pupils knew it.
Then we sang our song ‘You gotta be’ by Des’ree and after that we watched the ballerinas perform a version of ‘Beauty and the Beast’. All in all it was a great show and I really enjoyed it. Thank you Mr. Clarke, Mrs. Malone-Brady and Mrs. Heffernan.
Music in the Classroom
by Sally Kemp
On the 14th of October we (form I and form Primary) went to the Helix to see Music in the Classroom. It was really good and I had lots of fun! The show started off with a fantastic portrayal of ‘Peter and the Wolf’. Each different character ad a different instrument which represented their voice and it was performed by ballet dancers. This was really funny and quite entertaining, on of my favourite bits! Next we sang loads of different nursery rhymes such as ‘Yankee Doodle’, ‘Twinkle, Twinkle’ and ‘This Old Man’. Then there was a performance of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ with the same ballet dancers. I thought this was told in a very sweet and cute way which I really liked. After this we sang ‘You gotta be’ by Des’ree. That would have to be my least favourite part of the show! Although the song was catchy and upbeat it was really, really long! After a while the song got very repetitive but it was still nice. What really scared me was that the guy singing lead vocal was just a little too enthusiastic! After a ‘number the tune’ game, we finished off with a series of songs from ‘Hairspray’ the musical. We sang ‘Welcome to the 60s’, ‘Good morning Baltimore’, ‘ Mame, I’m a big girl now!’, ‘Nicest kids in town’ and finally ‘You can’t stop the beat!’ It was really lively and great fun singing those songs. On a whole I think the show was really very entertaining and loads of fun. Also we learned a lot about different musical instruments! I recommend it to all students who want to learn about music while having a great time!
The Helix School Trip
by Tara McCormick
I enjoyed this trip. It was a lot of fun singing along to some of the songs. I didn’t like the nursery rhymes though as I thought they were very childish, although it was fun remembering all the words from when I was younger.
‘Peter and the Wolf’ was good. I liked all of the ballet dancers and some of the actions were quite funny!
My favourite bit was definitely when we sang the ‘Hairspray’ songs at the end because I have seen the movie and the RTÉ Orchestra were really good. The violinist played by plucking and bowing to get totally different effects. There were so many different instruments that you wouldn’t believe it if you heard it on the radio!
Going back to ‘Peter and the Wolf’ I thought it was really clever the way they used different instruments to sound like different characters. For example, they used big Timpani Drums for the hunters because it sounded like the guns shooting! I liked the way the conductor made it a bit of fun and stopped it being boring.
The ballet dancers were great because they were dancing and acting. The costumes were really good as well.
I liked the song ‘You gotta be’ and I thought that the singer was really good.
Music in the Classroom
by Bronagh McHugh
On the 14th of October 2008 all First Form and Primary went to Music in the Classroom. I thought it was extremely enjoyable and exciting. Our seats were beside the stage. I sat beside Lauren. We sang fourteen songs. It began with Peter and the Wolf and they showed us a little play. Then we sang eight nursery rhymes. Then we sang ‘You gotta be’ which I enjoyed immensely. Then the orchestra and ballet dancers did another play which was Beauty and the Beast. Then we sang five ‘Hairspray’ songs which was great fun. The conductor was really funny and the orchestra was amazing. They had every instrument you could think of, it was fantastic. The conductor asked a lady in the Orchestra her opinion of our singing and she said it was great. The lady’s name was Bronagh. I enjoyed dancing and singing along to all the songs.
I would have to say my favourite part of Music in the Classroom was ‘Peter and the Wolf’ because it’s an amazing story and the performance was really spectacular and the costumes were very pretty and the ballet was unreal! The music the Orchestra played was amazing and I loved the way every character had its own sound. It was just fantastic and I truly recommend it!
