It was a great day in St Mary’s NS on Tuesday the 15th of November when St Mary’s NS and St John the Baptist Senior Boys School got together for a ‘Meet the Musician’ event facilitated by Sing Out With Strings (UL). The children from both schools were treated to awonderful performance by Estonian folk singers. The folk pair sang a song of love in the face of adversity and taught children from both schools the chorus. There was singing and dancing. Boys from St John the Baptist school earned a night off homework because of their excellent dancing!

Róisín Ní Ghallóglaigh (Rosie) who is the singing tutor with ‘Sing Out With Strings’ met with staff from St John The Baptist Senior Boys NS:- Margaret Grace (SET and TEAL Lead) and David Nicholas (Principal) . The meeting was held in St Mary’s N.S. with Marian Kennedy (Class teacher and TEAL Lead) and Eoghan O’ Byrne (Principal) in attendance, also.

The collaborative ‘Welcome’ singing project is set to begin on Tuesday the 22nd of November with 10 children, 5 from each school, learning songs from around the world, songs which will act as a springboard for further learning and project work. Songs to be taught will include:- ‘ Fatou Yo’ (Senegal), ‘Shoe the Donkey’ (Ireland), ‘Bog braon don tseanduine’ (Ireland), ‘Caracol’ (Spain), ‘Jane and Louisa Waltz’ (Jamaica). Other songs will be added to the list as time passes.

One on one singing sessions will beinterspersed with ‘Meet the Musician’events during which musicians from the Chamber Orchestra will play for all the children from both schools helping to broaden musical experiences and develop their knowledge and understanding of music. In addition, there will be performances by singers and rappers from the local and international music scene. It will be an exciting year ahead for both schools and although we are starting small, we intend to grow tall!