In advance of my role as guest director of the Cheltenham Music Festival, I was fortunate to be able to visit 6 different schools across Gloucestershire, from big town school to tiny country ones. There, I introduced the concept of painting to music by telling the children stories and then demonsrtating myself how to time your art to the music. This was partly to promote the concerts I’m participating in this year, of course, but mainly to encourage children of all abilities to try something new.
I used a variety of pieces: Baba Yaga, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Tintagel, Sadko, The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship… and the one that never fails: The Swan of Tuonela by Sibelius. Here is some of astonishing art produced in just 8 minutes by 8-11 year old children, based on The Swan, and Baba Yaga. They used pastels on black paper. No rubbers! Their creativity never fails to astound me… And hopefully they now all love Sibelius and Mussorgsky as much as I do!
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