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The school music scheme building confidence and creativity

Julie McCullough
BBC News NI
BBC A boy with short brown hair smiling at the camera. He is wearing a blue hoodie with a yellow t-shirt underneath.BBC
Kobi, 11, says learning the trumpet has been "a rollercoaster"

Primary school children from socially disadvantaged areas in north and west Belfast have been showing off their musical skills at a concert in the Ulster Hall.

And they have learned from the best - straight from Ulster Orchestra musicians.

One tutor said the Crescendo programme, which is in its 10th year, helped children feel "valued" and stops musicians from existing in an "ivory tower".

The musicians run professional lessons in schools for children who might not otherwise get the opportunity.

Eleven-year-old Kobi, from Malvern Primary in north Belfast, said he felt his lip was "busted" after scrunching it up to play the trumpet all evening but he enjoyed the experience.

He has been learning the trumpet for the past year and has not always found it easy.

"Its like a roller-coaster.," he said.

"It has its ups and downs. It is kind of hard but once you get used to it, it's the ticket."

A group of children are playing a mixture brass instruments while sitting in front of music lecterns. The instruments are different colours - some purple, one green, one orange and one black.
Kobi was playing with other children in the brass section of the orchestra

Each year, P7 pupils get the chance to play alongside the Ulster Orchestra in an end of term concert.

Children from P3 take part by singing in a choir.

While Kobi has decided not to keep learning the trumpet, 11-year-old Katie-Rose from Good Shepherd Primary School in west Belfast said she was considering carrying on with the double bass.

"It's a big instrument and it's very hard since it is big," she added.

The experience of playing at the Ulster Hall was "amazing" according to Katie-Rose.

"It was amazing to hear all the other instruments playing with me."

A girl with long brown hair pulled away from her face is looking at the camera smiling. She is wearing a navy v necked jumper over a pale blue shirt with a navy and pale blue tie.
Katie-Rose, who has been learning the double bass, says the instrument is bigger than her

Éimhear, who is 11, has been learning the viola through the Crescendo project for the last three years.

"It seems very hard to play but once you get the hang of it and start being able to read all the notes and stuff on the paper it's not that hard," she said.

She said she was a "wee bit" nervous about the concert in case she got the "wrong notes or something".

A girl with light brown hair tied back from her face is looking at the camera. She is wearing a navy v-necked jumper over a pale blue shirt with a navy and pale blue striped tie
11 year old Éimhear has been learning the viola since P5

Jonathan Simmance from the Ulster Orchestra works at bringing music to different communities like the schools involved in this project.

He said it is hard to quantify just what the programme does for the children who take part.

For some "they realise they will excel at this thing if they work hard" while others are not so enthused about the music, but have the opportunity to "have a bit of the spotlight, to do something different."

Jonathan Simmance smiles at the camera. He has short white hair and a beard. He is standing in the middle of the Ulster Hall but the background is blurred. He is wearing a royal purple polo shirt.
Jonathan Simmance from the Ulster Orchestra says it's hard to quantify what the children get from the experience

Mr Simmance said it it helps the children with their "confidence, their creativity".

"It helps them feel valued," he said.

He also believes that it's important for the musicians in the orchestra.

"That we don't exist in our wee ivory tower of classical musicians and they don't think that ivory tower is unattainable."

A woman, wearing glasses, and a baseball cap, and a cream coloured denim jacket is standing with two young girls. Both girls have light brown hair tied away from their faces. The taller one at the back is wearing a grey v necked jumper over a pale blue shirt. The smaller one at the front of the picture is wearing a grey cardigan over a blue gingham dress. They are all smiling.
Fiona went to the Ulster Hall to watch her two daughters take part in the end of term concert

For Fiona, a mum of two girls taking part in the concert, it was an emotional day.

"I found that Crescendo has been amazing for both girls, for their confidence," she told BBC News NI.

She said she was so proud of both her girls and that without the project they would not have had the opportunity to get the musical experience.

An image of children with a variety of instruments are sitting in different groups on the lower floor of a large building. On the stage in the background sits an orchestra made up of adults.
The Ulster Hall was full of proud parents as pupils performed

The Ulster Orchestra project is run in partnership with Colin Neighbourhood Partnership, Shankill Children's Zone and the Queen's University Innovation Zones.

It delivers lessons to more than 1,000 children in four primary schools: Malvern Primary School, Wheatfield Primary School, Holy Evangelists' Primary School and The Good Shepherd Primary School.

The musicians will return to the four schools in September and the pupils moving on to secondary school will have to decide how best to use what they have learned so far.