The Opening of the Kanneh-Mason Music Room.

Date: 20th Nov 2023 @ 5:42pm

The children and staff at Redcastle Family School, were honoured to have our new music room opened by the Kanneh-Mason Family.

Year 6 began learning about the family last year, in Year 5. I and the rest of Year 6 never thought we'd actually see a member of the family playing for us in person in our school.

It is the opinion of many children when asked, life without music would be, ‘just rubbish!’ We're very happy that there are many different musical groups and bands that make such a wide variety of music that we can enjoy listening to.  

Reid, from Year 6 said, "Music helps us to express our feelings when we might not be able to use words."

George added, "I don't have any instruments at home so being given the opportunity to play some like the ukulele and glockenspiel is inspiring."

I asked Mrs Carruthers, (our music teacher) for her thoughts and feelings of the day…

I thought Friday 3rd November was a very special day in the history of Redcastle Family School as we welcomed two of the world-famous Kanneh-Mason family - Mariatu and her mum Kadiatu - to open our newly refurbished and renamed Kanneh-Mason Music Room. Mariatu played a Bach Suite for Cello and then answered the children's questions.  She told us that she used to play the violin but wasn't keen on it. When her older brother Sheku won a really important competition playing the cello, she decided to switch! She said she started playing the piano at age 4 and the cello at about age 6. Her hobbies are writing stories and exercise - she particularly likes running.  Reporters from ITV Anglia news interviewed members of our School Arts Council, the music teacher, Mrs Carruthers, and Kadiatu and Mariatu about the importance of having musical instruments and music opportunities in school.

Thetford Music Project think that music is so important that they came into school on the following Friday to make music with children from years 3,4,5 and 6. No cellos. but there were violins, clarinets, French horns, trumpets and trombones, guitars, and loads of other instruments. Mr Hobson got to play a Saxophone.

We all had a wonderful time. TMP are amazing!

Thetford Music Project, offer musical instrument lessons at Thetford Academy on Mondays from 4-8pm from as little as £3 a lesson! You can even borrow the instrument for FREE to play at home! That's a fantastic musical opportunity for all our budding musicians!

So, as you can see from this report, we at Redcastle Family School have shown we have a passion for music and look forward to having many more musical opportunities that will encourage and enable us to develop our skills in all areas of music.

This Report was written by the School Council Secretary, Robyn, (Year 6) with an extract from Mrs Carruthers