As part of the 2011 Aylesbury Festival, the Band put on a Children’s Concert at Aylesbury Methodist Church on 16th July. The programme contained a mix of music to appeal to children, with a few pieces for their Mums and Dads. The concert opened with A Children’s Overture by Roger Quilter, cleverly based on a number of nursery rhymes, and included such favourites as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, as well as several pieces to illustrate different styles of music, such as an excerpt from Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks as an example of classical music.
Of course, such a concert has to include audience participation, so the children were given a variety of drums and rattles to accompany A Grand Day Out (the Wallace and Gromit Theme), while conductor Claire Lawrence lead them in a conga around the church. And for pure entertainment, Claire’s husband Geoff, who is a skilled trumpet player, played the Posthorn Galop by Koenig.
The children certainly seemed to enjoy the concert, one four year old said excitedly afterwards “I got to play a drum!”