Schoolchildren across Sunderland are rehearsing for a Massed Sing in celebration of The Tall Ships Races Sunderland 2018, a four-day ‘festival of sail’ which runs from 11-14 July 2018.
Twenty school choirs will perform on an outdoor stage against the backdrop of the Tall Ships during the event – with further schools singing at the Sunderland Empire.
A world record attempt
The stage performance will be live-streamed at connectresound.live from 9.45am to 12.30pm on 11 July 2018 to enable other schools across the region – and throughout the UK – to participate from their classrooms. Organisers are asking schools to learn three songs – Jack, He Was A Sunderland Lad, Three Little Birds and We Could Be Heroes – so that they can join an attempt to break a massed singing world record at 11am.
With forty schools already set to take part – either on the St Peter’s Campus Stage, at Sunderland Empire or from their schools/classrooms – information on how to participate is as follows:
- Sunderland schools can access the songs via their Charanga and Sing Up memberships through their music education hub SLA, sunderlandmusicdigital.org.uk and singup.org
- Schools outside Sunderland can find out how to access the backing tracks and join in with the songs via the event Education Pack which is available to download here
Rebecca Pedlow, Manager, Sunderland Music Hub, said:
‘We are thrilled that we could have 1000s of children celebrating the Tall Ships Races coming to Sunderland. The aim of broadcasting the event live is to make it as inclusive as possible so any child in Sunderland – and beyond – can join in. We hope lots of schools will also take part remotely in the massed sing – every voice counts!’
Emily Penn, Project Manager, NYMAZ, said:
‘At connectresound.live, there are free educational resources, which explain how to tune in and what to expect, plus maritime and musical activity ideas to help plan lessons around the theme of the Tall Ships Races. We hope that lots of schools will join in with the Massed Sing event and let us know they are taking part by tweeting the following: #wearesinging @tallshipssund with (insert number) of children and adults enjoying joining in @sunmusichub @NYMAZmusic @charangamusic @SingUptweets.’
The Massed Sing is organised by Sunderland Music Hub, Sunderland Council, Together for Children and digital music education project, Connect: Resound, which is led by youth music charity, NYMAZ, in partnership with music resource, Charanga.
Header photo: Sunderland schoolchildren performing © Chris J Parker Photography
