Durban schoolchildren were entertained by the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra on Tuesday during a concert aimed at entertaining and educating children about classical music.
KZN Philharmonic Orchestra’s resident conductor Lyk Temmingh provided the pupils with a brief of the different families that form an orchestra.
He said that the orchestra has four “families, namely string, woodwind, brass and percussion. The string family consists of the violin, viola, cello and double bass, and they sit in the front of the orchestra. The woodwind family consists of the flute, oboe, clarinet and the bassoon. They stand/sit behind the string family. The brass family consists of the French horn, trumpet, and trombone. The percussion family consists of the drum kit.”
Temmingh said the orchestra has been performing at schools for more than 30 years and he praised West Ridge High School for their reception.
“Sometimes you go to a school and they just look at you with a blank expression, but these pupils didn’t do that and enjoyed the performance a lot. This is work that we have to do, that is to educate and give enjoyment back to the children with classical music.”
KZN Philharmonic Orchestra’s principal bassoon Charl van der Merwe said he enjoyed performing for the children and said that they were well-disciplined. He shared his music journey and how he got involved in performing with the orchestra.
“Classical music has always been in my family as I attended church. I started with a recorder, followed by piano, then the flute and then finally, the bassoon. It has always been a part of my life and I am glad I could bring some classical music to the school,” Van der Merwe said.
He added: “Classical music is not something most children know. If you tune into the radio, you will hear pop music or hip hop. There’s nothing wrong with that because all the genres stem from classical music. It was nice to do this so that the children could learn about the different instruments and notify them that there’s classical music, which can touch them really deeply.”
West Ridge High School principal Dr Suren Seetal said he initially got in contact with the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra a few weeks ago and the goal was to educate pupils about classical music.
“These are special learners with special needs. They are not academically inclined. Such performances are to show them that there are alternative ways of learning and to provide a stimulus. We don’t want to be confined to a classroom,” said Seetal.
Seetal said that most of the pupils are musically talented and it was an opportunity to expose their talent by inviting the orchestra to the school. He also said that the school wanted to create a partnership with them and for them to use their expertise to tutor some pupils in the different forms of music.
“The learners enjoyed the performance and many of them wouldn’t have had this opportunity to attend a live performance, so their response is indicative of their level of enjoyment.”
WhatsApp your views on this story to 071 485 7995
Daily News