Young musicians from Ossett Music Centre enjoyed a rare opportunity to take part in a workshop with a professional musician last week. As part of a video conferencing pilot project at Southdale School, pupils were able to meet and work with Rod Franks, the Principle Trumpet player with the London Symphony Orchestra.
Organised with the help of Margaret Jackson, IT teacher at Southdale School, the video conference theme was Film Music and Rod Franks was able to give a fascinating insight into how music is recorded for the movies. He also performed themes from some of the LSO's recent soundtrack recordings such as Star Wars and Harry Potter.
Then it was the band's turn to play. The children from the Music Centre's Brass Ensemble played 'Mini March', 'Pop Rock' and 'The Grasscroft Ghoul' and Mr Franks was able to pass on some useful comments and advice on how to improve the band's performance.
The video conference lasted 40 minutes and once the initial connection had been made, it went without a hitch. Instrumental Music Teacher Lee Muncaster commented, "This new technology has enabled us to work with one of the top brass players in this country and it has been a very interesting and exciting experience for us all." It is hoped that there will be further opportunities for more workshops with Rod Franks later in the year.
