Pupils at Allenbourn Middle School recently had the chance to experience the joy of singing when they spent a day having special workshops with Helen Coombs of Voice Works. Using money from the Arts Council, which was distributed through the Dorset Music Service, the school was able to provide all the Year 7 and 8 children with an intensive class singing lesson. In addition, Helen worked with the Allenbourn Singers, one of two school choirs that boasts over 50 members, in more advanced techniques and part singing.
Julie Coombs (no relation), one of Allenbourn’s music teachers, said it had been an inspiring day. “We wanted to improve whole school singing,” she said, “and were especially keen to find the kind of repertoire that teenagers would want to sing. We have been able to keep all the resources from the day, and will use them again in assemblies in the future.” The children were then able to showcase what they had learned at the whole-school assembly the next day, when Helen conducted the entire school, including the teachers, in singing the newly-learned numbers. Classics such as Da Doo Ron Ron by The Crystals (1963) have never sounded so good.
