Massed Choir Performance at Trevithick Day 2016

Cymaz Music has always gone to great lengths to show the positive effect music can have on people, young and old, mentally and physically. Their resourceful nature allows them to generate countless opportunities inside of schools, colleges, institutions, or around various community spaces. This intimacy with communities twinned with such a high quality of education really helps encourage a wide demographic to get involved with Cymaz Music and music in general.

So when it came to the widely celebrated Camborne-based event Trevithick Day, (a celebration of one of the most essential and prolific Cornish innovators) Cymaz Music’s Emily Foulkes and Jane Staffieri saw an opportunity to really help the community feel unified by hosting an intergenerational choir to perform at the event. Supported by funding from the National Foundation for Youth Music and the Cornwall Music Education Hub, this was made possible. This choir is comprised of Kana! workbased choir members amalgamated with children and young people of Pool Academy and Rosemellin Primary School, as well as a few voices from Re:Choired. This unification of voice speaks volumes about the fantastic work Cymaz Music is doing as well as the raw musical talent that is available in and around Cornwall. Cymaz Music Co-Director and Vocal Leader Emily Foulkes had this to say: “It was really special to hear the combined voices of more than 60 singers with ages ranging from 6 to 60. They hadn’t  rehearsed as one full group, so  it was very exciting to hear them all together at Trevithick Day The power of music and singing is what Connecting Communities through Music is all about and we want to encourage more joining up and sharing between all groups in an area.” A wide repertoire of music was performed, both acapella and accompanied as well as a wide range of contemporary music, some of which featured Cymaz Music Programme Manager Giles Woolley on guitar and technical support by Herbie Walker, Cymaz Music YEP! Participant. This wide range of music illustrated that there was something for everyone in this performance, figurative to the Cymaz Music initiative that made this performance a reality, “Connecting Communities through Music”.

“That was really magic!” said one of the Primary School pupils. An audience member reported to have felt ‘a tear in my eye when the children joined the choir. They really made it””

Kana! singer said “it’s always fun performing, but it makes it extra special when it’s with children and people of all different ages. There’s something so magical about singing together and sharing that experience. The audience seemed to really like it and the children did so well learning all the words!”

For more information on ‘Connecting Communities through Music’, please contact AMP@cymazmusic.org.uk