MAKING WAVES

Southsea beach had a surprise spruce up on Friday (14 September) when the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth joined hundreds of local children for a very special beach clean.

The event marked the launch of Portsmouth Music Hub's 'One World' campaign.

'One World' brings together musicians, composers, performers, dancers, teachers and thousands of children in a year-long festival focussing on the environment and how we can make our planet a cleaner, safer and more sustainable home for future generations and the animals who share our world.

During the year the Music Hub will take music and drama into schools, hold art and poetry competitions and launch a special social media campaign. The year of events will finish on World Environment Day, with a major concert at the Guildhall in Portsmouth on 5 June 2019.

Sue Beckett, Chief Executive of Portsmouth Music Hub said: "Our aims for the One World campaign are two-fold; first of all we want to highlight some of the environmental issues that have an impact on our city, secondly by harnessing the power and impact of music and the arts we're encouraging the next generation of adults to fully embrace life-long environmental principles. Our 'One World' songbook has been composed to inspire children and young people to get involved and take practical action to save the world around them."

At the official launch on Friday at Southsea beach children from nearby schools sang three original songs from the Music Hub's newly composed songbook 'One World'. Fittingly the children sang 'Pollution Revolution', 'Tidy Up the Beach' and 'Nurdles' (the infamous small pellet of plastic that infests our seas). With 17 original songs the songbook, available to schools across the country, aims to change the world one song at a time with music about a whole host of issues including blue whales, plastics, bees and chlorofluorocarbons!

Sarina, aged 8, from Cottage Grove Primary School said: "I really enjoyed the singing and I'm very excited about picking up litter!"

Portsmouth Music Hub have received enthusiastic support for the One World campaign from the teaching community, Portsmouth City Council, Environmental groups and on 28 September the BBC will be filming 1500 young singers from Portsmouth performing the 'One World Song' as part of BBC Music Day.

The Lord Mayor of Portsmouth, Councillor Lee Mason, who helped with the beach clean said: "We all have a responsibility to preserve and protect our environment, and as Portsmouth is a coastal city the safeguarding of our environment has real resonance. Small changes to the way we live our daily lives can have a positive effect on our planet, whether that's by recycling, taking our rubbish home or by simply switching off a light when it's not in use. This is why I'm delighted to be supporting Portsmouth Music Hub's 'One World' campaign, which will stimulate and encourage us all to protect our city and our planet."

1 NIGHT AND 2 CONCERTS

Two concerts were held on Tuesday 17 July to celebrate another year of music-making with Portsmouth Music Hub, providing an opportunity for young musicians to show off their progress to family and friends.

At Mayfield School the audience was treated to vocal performances by the Hub's choirs, Little Voices and Starstruck, with songs such as 'We Will Rock You' and a selection of repertoire from the Greatest Showman. Also performing were the Hub's beginner and junior rock bands, Action Stations and Victory, who played a variety of hits from bands such as Snow Patrol, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Metallica.

At Castle Primary, the audience enjoyed performances from the Hub's instrumental ensembles - Portsmouth Plays, Portsmouth Plays On, and the Channel, Coastal and Ocean Wind Bands.

This concert provided an opportunity to present Lucy Williams, a flautist from the Ocean Wind Band, with a special award for the significant contribution she has made to the wind bands over the years. Lucy has recently passed her Grade 8 Flute examination and is leaving the band to go to university.

Portsmouth Music Hub's Ensembles will return in September 2018.

CELEBRATING MUSICAL TALENT IN PORTSMOUTH SCHOOLS

On 5 July the Wedgewood Rooms were filled with the sounds of aspiring young rock bands from Portsmouth schools and colleges.

'Rock the Rooms' is an annual gig which gives pupils an opportunity to showcase their performing skills in a professional venue. Bands from King Richard School, Portsmouth College and Portsmouth Grammar School took to the stage, as well as Portsmouth Music Hub's senior rock band, The Warriors.

There was a fantastic range of music, from 'Hotel California' by The Eagles to 'The Sky is A Neighbourhood' by the Foo Fighters. Some bands displayed their versatility by performing medleys combining multiple songs in creative ways, and others performed original songs written by the band members themselves.

Portsmouth Music Hub runs three rock bands from beginner to advanced which rehearse weekly during term time. To find out more visit www.portsmouthmusichub.org/ensembles

PORTSMOUTH MUSIC HUB CELEBRATES NHS 70

On Thursday 5 July 2018 the NHS turned 70, and Portsmouth Music Hub celebrated the occasion by training a further 500 pupils in the lifesaving skill of CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) using their award winning publication, 'It's CPR'.

With five original songs that explain step by step how to perform CPR, written at the speed that is necessary for giving chest compressions - 100-120 beats per minute - 'It's CPR' has been used to train thousands of pupils in Portsmouth and beyond. Songs such as 'Keep That Heartbeat' and 'CPR Rap' are fun, catchy and memorable, reinforcing the facts about what to do in an emergency and providing pupils with a simple way of ensuring that chest compressions are performed at the appropriate rate.

Under the guidance of the CPR Team, pupils at Copnor Primary and Cottage Grove Primary enjoyed singing the songs, practising their CPR skills on dummies and performing chest compressions in time with the music.

Sue Beckett, CEO of Portsmouth Music Hub, said “We are delighted that thousands of young people have been trained this term using the nationally acclaimed award-winning songs from 'Its CPR'. Huge thanks to our fantastic training team but most of all, congratulations to the young people for their determination, concentration and enthusiasm in learning life-saving skills.”

Those Summer Nights....

SUMMER TERM PERFORMANCE EVENING

On Thursday 14 June pupils from schools across Portsmouth came together to perform in the Portsmouth Music Hub Summer Performance Evening.

From trumpet to ukulele, piano to singing, a huge variety of solo and group performances delighted the assembled audience of family and friends.

The Performance Evenings are held every term and provide an excellent forum for young musicians to celebrate their progress and develop their performance skills.

FREEDOM TRAIN

International Make Music Day was celebrated on 21 June when over one hundred children from local schools joined together to form a massed choir, performing spirituals and gospel songs in a special concert at St. Mary's Church in Portsmouth.

Involving pupils from Milton Park Primary School, Wimborne Junior School and Weyford Nursery and Primary School, the event was presented in partnership with Portsmouth Festivities, which this year celebrated the theme of freedom to mark the centenary of women's suffrage and the hundredth birthday of Nelson Mandela.

As well as the massed choir performing songs such as 'The Gospel Train' and 'Wade in the Water' with a live band, the concert included solo songs from each school as well as readings and poems on the theme of freedom.

Kate Barrett from Portsmouth Music Hub, who conducted the choir, said "It is so important for children to understand and respect the freedoms they enjoy - freedom of choice, freedom of belief, freedom to be themselves - but also to know that with freedom comes responsibility. Learning the words to these songs, and a little about the history behind them, has enabled us all to understand more about our freedoms and how hard people have fought for them throughout history."

All About The Song

Our Hub Partner, the Urban Vocal Group, in partnership with the Wedgewood Rooms and Portsmouth Festivities, are co-hosting this years 'All About the Song'; a competition for local songwriters aged 13 - 25 with the winner receiving £600 worth of prizes. 

For further information please visit: https://theuvg.co.uk/all-about-the-song/

Out of this World

On Monday 29 March Primary-aged children from schools across Portsmouth went on a galactic journey at Portsmouth's Guildhall for a very special concert of interstellar music and entertainment.

The children were there to take part in Space-scape, a musical all about the planets, comets, shooting stars and the universe beyond.

The stage was packed with hundreds of young singers dressed in every conceivable costume, which included astronauts and aliens, rockets and stars, there was even a young performer ambitiously dressed as the International Space Station!

Space-scape is one in a series of songbooks which has been composed to support the teaching curriculum in schools. Like all Portsmouth Music Hub publications Space-scape has been created with children in mind; inspiring their imaginations and nurturing their passion for music.

The Portsmouth Music Hub Band was there to support the show and hundreds of parents and family members joined the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Portsmouth for two hours of live music that was 'out of this world'. The concert included the children's favourite songs Big Bang Planet, Through the Black Hole and Moon Rock Boogie, which had members of the audience dancing in the aisles.

Sue Beckett, CEO of Portsmouth Music Hub, who conducted the show said afterwards: "The children have been rehearsing for weeks and tonight was the culmination of all their hard work. Space-scape really has inspired the children, not only have they all come dressed in the most amazing costumes, but the performances have been excellent. The teachers and parents should be very proud of all the young performers who took to the stage to give us all such a wonderful night of music and entertainment. If anyone was in any doubt about Portsmouth's cultural future then Space-scape has shown us all that an enthusiastic new generation of young performers are more than ready to take to the stage."

Infant Voices Festival

On Tuesday 20 March thousands of proud parents and family members filled the Kings Theatre in Southsea to see the culmination of the week-long Infant Voices Festival.

The festival brings together primary schools from across the city for a week of musical education and rehearsals, and more than 500 infant children took to the Kings Theatre stage to perform the culmination of their weeks work, with a concert packed with songs taken from Portsmouth Music Hub's recently composed songbook 'My Dream Job'.

The songbook, created by the award-winning team of composers from the Music Hub, is all about the jobs that we all imagined we would do when we grew up.

The young children sang about becoming firefighters, vets and footballers, but it wasn't just the traditional careers, the evening included songs about becoming website developers, paramedics and band members.

The children came dressed in their favourite costumes, and the stage was full of firefighters, doctors and nurses, even Harry Potter made an appearance!

Sue Beckett, CEO of Portsmouth Music Hub was one of the conductors on the night, she said: "It's been a heart-melting night of wonderful music performed by our very young performers. The Infant Voices Festival is a wonderful occasion, and I congratulate all the primary schools, the teachers and the hundreds of children for all their hard work, and for making it such an amazing concert. I defy anyone not to be both impressed and moved by the children's enthusiasm and excitement. They represent the future of our city, and seeing so much creativity on stage, we can rest assured that Portsmouth's cultural future is in safe hands."