Over 70 young people from a number of Barking and Dagenham schools came together this week as part of an orchestra and choir.

Primary Music Day took place at Barking Abbey School for the first time and with six primary schools participating.

The orchestra consisted of a large number of instruments including the flute, clarinet, violin, viola, trumpet, piano plus many more. 

The students were split into three groups – a wind and brass section, a string section for the violinists, and a ukulele group. The orchestra learnt ‘The Flower Duet’ from the opera Lakme and ‘Ode to Joy’, while the ukulele group were taught ‘The lion sleeps tonight’ and ‘Riptide’. 

However, before picking up their instruments, they all learned a song called ‘This is Me’ from the film ‘The Greatest Showman’ that they would later sing at the mini concert for parents.

Councillor Evelyn Carpenter, Cabinet Member for Educational Attainment and School Improvement said: “Music is such a wonderful art and I am thrilled to see that so many of our younger children are learning to play one instrument or another.  “I encourage them all to continue learning and never to give up as having the skills to play an instrument could play a huge part in their future. It is good that they sang “This is me” which is the 2019 anthem in Barking and Dagenham, celebrating our individuality and diversity.”

After lots of practice, the schools all came together for one final run through in the afternoon before showing off their new songs to parents who were all extremely proud and impressed.

On the day’s event Monica Georgiadou, Head of Music at Barking Abbey School, said: “Hopefully, it will inspire the students to carry on with their instruments because many stop in Year 7 and that is a huge shame.’’ 

“Personally, I think it would be amazing if this was a yearly event.”

Holly from Hunters Primary School had a great day and said: “I’ve met loads of other people, I’ve been playing my instrument and it’s been really fun.”