Around 85 pupils from schools in the Dudley borough area of Birmingham recently took part in an exciting summer school at Resonance — a brand-new, state-of-the-art music institute.

Aim

The aim was to make up for some of the schooling they had missed during the lockdown period, and to give an extra bit of support before they returned to their classrooms in the next few weeks.

Groups of primary school children spent a day at a time learning African drumming and Samba, whilst a smaller group of secondary-age students transformed themselves into rock musicians in the space of five days.

'Rock band in a week' was the theme for the older children, who spent the first day getting to grips with the different instruments from what they learn through local peripatetic services — all aimed at putting on a performance which was recorded for posterity.

The sessions were run by a team from Resonance and Dudley Council's Dudley Performing Arts team, along with teaching and safeguarding staff from the local schools.

Great experience

Rick Benton, Resonance Chief Executive told 4BR: "It's been a great experience for the kids. All the kit is waiting for the first cohort of students joining us at the start of the autumn term, and it was brilliant to see the younger ones so enthused by the experience of playing and recording their own music.

Our campus is a big place and there was plenty of recording, rehearsal and practice space for the two age groups to do their own thing safely in their own space. All the instruments were sanitised for every session."

Our campus is a big place and there was plenty of recording, rehearsal and practice space for the two age groups to do their own thing safely in their own spaceCEO, Rick Benton

Enjoyable

Local Councillor Ruth Buttery, the cabinet member for children and young people, added: "We are keen to support our children, young people and their families during these unprecedented times, and our summer schemes are an important part of this.

We want to thank Dudley Performing Arts for all of their hard work in organising the programme and ensuring that it has been such an enjoyable experience for everyone."

Find out more

The one-of-a-kind institute opens to its first cohort of students next month and applications are still being taken.

To find out more go to: https://www.resonance-edu.org/