January 30 marked the official launch of the Carnival of the Animals, a ground breaking collaborative project devised by Lancashire and Cumbria music services in partnership with the Lancashire Sinfonietta.
The launch was attended by primary schools from Lancashire and Cumbria, the South Lakes Wild Animal Park, the Aquarium of the Lakes, representatives from music services, arts organisations and children’s services.
The previous day, teachers from 21 participating Lancashire schools.attended a highly successful introduction to the Carnival project at Woodlands, Chorley. During the morning session, Kevin Hamel introduced the CD Rom and DVD materials, including Carnival Online! a detailed and invaluable resource for planning for carnival throughout the primary curriculum. In the afternoon, members of the Lancashire Sinfonietta introduced the highly imaginative and inspired music workshops on offer to Lancashire schools.
The Carnival of the Animals seems to have really caught the imagination of schools in Lancashire and Cumbria, with many planning the curriculum around the Carnival resources, workshops and concerts on offer. Saint Saens was adept at solving problems in often unexpected and invariably creative ways. His approach seems the perfect model for a creative curriculum fitting for primary children of the 21st century.
Saint Saens’ Carnaval des Animaux is interpreted by musicians from the Lanashire Sinfonietta, an Indian dancer, West African musicians and a performance poet. Crucially, the animals Saint Saens saw in a nineteenth century Paris zoo are revisited by experts from the South Lakes Wild Animal Park and the Aquarium of the Lakes.
Schools in Lancashire can take part in the Carnival of the Animals project by contacting Lancashire music service.