UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 24 FEBRUARY 2017
On 20 March two million children in 12,000 primary schools across the UK will break into song in celebration of all things Shakespeare.
Shakespeare Week 2017 kicks off with the Big Shakespeare Assembly, featuring a brand new song – ‘Shakespeare Rocks!’ – especially composed for the occasion. The music theme continues throughout the week with a Composition Competition in partnership with Birmingham Conservatoire, and new music resources created by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) along with free access to the Classical 100 online platform.
Shakespeare Week was launched by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in 2014 as a way to share and celebrate Shakespeare’s work, life and times with every primary school child in the country. Now in its fourth year, Shakespeare Week 2017 provides teachers, home educators and families with free resources and ideas to teach Shakespeare across all subjects in the national curriculum including numeracy, geography, and computing.
Professor Julian Lloyd Webber, Principal of Birmingham Conservatoire, is a patron of Shakespeare Week.
This year Shakespeare Week is also going digital with ‘Mission Shakespeare’, free online interactive challenges for children to take their Shakespeare learning beyond the classroom.
Jacqueline Green, Head of Learning and Participation at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, said,
“This year’s theme of music has given us the chance to work with new partners and will give primary school teachers the opportunity to take Shakespeare into their classrooms and, with their children, discover Shakespeare in new, intriguing and fun ways.”
One of the highlights of Shakespeare Week 2017 will be the Shakespeare-inspired Composition Competition. Pupils can create a soundscape for the Forest of Arden, a lullaby inspired by the fairies from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ or a magical melody for the witches of ‘Macbeth’ – in any musical style or genre. Birmingham Conservatoire, part of Birmingham City University, has developed resources to help schools with their musical masterpieces.
Five winning entries will be chosen to work with vocal leader Lucy Griffiths and will have the opportunity to perform a specially arranged version of their composition alongside musicians from Birmingham Conservatoire at a Celebration Concert in June.
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is the independent charity that cares for the world’s greatest Shakespeare heritage sites in Stratford-upon-Avon, and promotes the enjoyment and understanding of Shakespeare’s works, life and times all over the world.
Established by Act of Parliament in 1891, the charity runs formal and informal educational programmes for people of all ages. It holds the world’s largest Shakespeare-related museum and archives open free to the public, a collection which is designated as being of international importance.