Three Choirs Festival

On 20 March 2025, The Three Choirs Festival welcomed a packed Hereford Cathedral to the final showcase of the ‘This is Us’ Schools Participation Project.

The showcase marked the conclusion of a ten-week long project across four Herefordshire Primary schools: Our Lady’s, Riverside, Garway and Staunton-on-Wye. Around 240 children took part in the workshops delivered by Charlotte Baskerville, an experienced Music Educator.

Throughout the project, each class learned a song on the theme of identity, as well as a song eventually performed by all of the schools. The core of the project, though, was the creative journey the children enjoyed in composing and writing the lyrics for their own original songs. At every step of the process, the children’s ideas were honoured and faithfully translated by Charlotte into a musical score which the children then learned to sing. At the final performance, recordings were made of all of the songs which were shared back with the schools. Each school also provided unique artwork inspired by the process which was displayed at the cathedral entrance at the concert for the audience to view.

Feedback from the participants was hugely positive. Teachers wrote:

‘The children were so incredibly proud and absolutely loved the experience.’

‘Thank you so much for all the effort and enthusiasm you and your team put in to creating such a unique experience for our children. Their singing and musical understanding has also improved considerably over the past nine weeks under Charlotte’s tuition.’

The showcase was a joyful experience, with rapturous applause and cheers from the audience after every song. The children, too, were immensely proud of their achievements, especially of giving the ‘world premiere’ performances.

The Three Choirs Festival strives to support music provision in local schools, particularly where the existing curriculum offers fewer opportunities. The success of this project and the wonderful new songs written by the children under expert guidance show how music can flourish if projects such as this are offered. Future plans include a continuation of our song-based programme, sending expert practitioners into primary and secondary schools to boost their existing curriculum or offer opportunity where there is none. We will also encourage the children who take part in these projects to look at the other opportunities we have on offer, like our Youth Choir, to help them continue their musical journey and experience the transforming effect music can have on their lives.