Students swing to sounds of jazz
Their school may have been gutted by fire but the band played on for the students of Mt Lawley Primary School yesterday.
Children were treated to an in-school concert by popular Perth jazz group Adam Hall and the Velvet Players at the nearby WA Academy of Performing Arts after their own performance space was destroyed in an arson attack in 2012.
School music teacher Judith Walpole said she was grateful that WAAPA had offered its auditorium to the 170 children for the concert organised by not-for-profit producer Musica Viva.
"Because we don't have a suitable area we skipped last year with all the disruption that had been going on," Ms Walpole said.
"It is really valuable for the kids to hear that live professional music.
"It inspires them so much to take up instruments."
Most children gravitated towards the guitar but the jazz concert had exposed them to the joys of woodwind and brass, she said.
The Swinging and Scatting concert followed music theory classes and exercises in rhythm and pitch.
"We had about 40 kids put up their hands to try scatting with the band," Ms Walpole said.
Musica Viva has been promoting music in the classroom for more than 30 years.
It is expected to reach more than 40,000 students around the State over the next three years.
"They really provide such great opportunity to enhance what is taught in schools," Ms Walpole said.
Mt Lawley Primary School is being rebuilt and it is due to reopen in time for the start of next year's academic year.
