Last month saw an exciting event involving several Woodham College students. As part of a three day programme arranged by Durham Music Service, Woodham hosted concerts and performance workshops led by international artists The Stooges Brass Band.
Based in New Orleans, Louisiana, The Stooges are renowned across the USA for their blend of traditional New Orleans brass and contemporary urban beats. The day started with a performance from the band, to an audience of Woodham students and staff, young players from across the whole region and several visiting local primary schools.
The audience were treated to a variety of songs, ranging from Stevie Wonder to some of the band’s original compositions. A particular highlight came when some of the region’s most talented students were invited on stage to perform ‘Wind It Up’ with The Stooges; a number which had the audience out of their seats and dancing along with the band.
Following this fantastic performance, the band then went on to spend the rest of the day leading performance workshops. GCSE students from Woodham and other invited students from the regional ensembles had the opportunity to work with the experts and learn more about their instruments, exploring a musical genre that was new to many of those involved.
Everyone who participated in the day thoroughly enjoyed it and took away valuable experiences, from having the opportunity to perform with leading artists in the field, or learning more about improvising, to simply experiencing performing without relying on sheet music.
Ultimately the workshops led to a joint concert involving The Stooges and approximately 40 students playing together to show the success and achievements from throughout the day.
Assistant Head Teacher, Jon Tait, spoke of his impressions of the event: “It’s one of those days at school that I think we’ll all remember. I can’t remember many better experiences over the past 10 years!”
Two Woodham students, Abbie Finn (Y11) and Liam Brown (Y9), as well as some ex-Woodham students, went on to take part in another concert with The Stooges at Durham Gala Theatre on Friday 12th July.
They appeared as part of Durham County Youth Big Band and Little Big Band, and once again were lucky enough to perform on stage with The Stooges, although this time to a much larger audience.
Liam Brown found the experience particularly valuable: “I really enjoyed having the opportunity to learn from the musicians; they showed me some really helpful techniques for performing on the trombone and had a lot of good advice for us”.
