Over the last six months, members of Horizon Voices have been delivering our hybrid music education and wellbeing project, Byrd: Reasons to Sing. In Autumn 2023 we began delivering our project with two schools in Birmingham; initially a series of online Zoom workshops in which students explored William Byrd’s ‘reasons to sing’, through a variety of performing, listening, composing and analysis activities.
There were big questions to consider in each session, such as ‘why do we choose to listen to/make music?’, ‘how can music be used to express emotions?’ and ‘how can music be accessed and shared?’, all of which were explored through a contemporary lens in Byrd’s context, whilst also linking to the students’ current interests, thoughts and opinions. It was great to see young people in the 21st century discovering similarities and making connections with early music and composers from 400 years ago!
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We continue our Zoom sessions and workshops in Newcastle this term before heading to Leeds for the final leg of our project - we are thrilled that so many students have experienced and participated with enthusiasm in our education programme, and we thank the Arts Council for supporting our project delivery which has increased the appreciation, accessibility of and engagement with choral music for students in a wide range of locations across the UK. Through the continued provision to schools of our digital resources even after the completion of the education project, we hope to have a long-lasting impact on bringing the musical world of William Byrd to students for years to come.
Sophie Timms, Horizon Voices
