Blues and Roots Ensemble at NWT – Oct 2023
We are delighted to welcome back the wonderfully exuberant jazz group Blues and Roots Ensemble (BARE), who will present 2 concerts for schools at New Wimbledon Theatre on Wednesday 11 October 2023. The group will introduce a new set of Charles Mingus pieces, with songs for the children to perform with them on the day. Schools will be able to prepare in advance using specially made videos which will introduce them to the band, the music and the impact of jazz and blues on the Civil Rights movement. The concert is suitable for KS2.
BARE Concerts at New Wimbledon Theatre
The concerts on Wednesday 11 Oct will start at 10.30am and 2pm and last 70mins. We ask that if your schools is within walking distance, you book for an afternoon slot, if possible, please. Then schools coming from further away can arrive comfortably and get back to school for lunch, whilst afternoon attenders will only a few minutes late for the end of the school day.
Thanks to its partnership with NWT and support through an Arts Council project grant, we can offer all seats at £2.50 per ticket, making the event excellent value.
School leaders, please use the link below to book your spaces for BARE at NWT on Weds 11 October 2023. NB. The 10.30am concert is fully booked but there are still spaces for 2pm.
Pre-concert Resources
Blues And Roots Ensemble has produced a set of interactive videos to help prepare your children for their performance at New Wimbledon Theatre.
The first 2 will guide you through the songs ( lots of ‘call and response’!) and give you the background to Charles Mingus’s pieces – Prayer For Passive Resistance, Ecculusiatics and Meditations On Integration. For the second video, you will need the children to have made simple shakers ( plastic bottles filled with rice / dried beans) and have a few metal water bottles handy if possible. Videos 3-7 provide run-throughs and backing track, for you to use once you have learned the pieces. Please make the YouTube link below available to pupils so they can watch them at home too.
