Thousands of children tune up for a massive festive singalong
Almost 10,000 children from Sunderland primary schools are set to take part in a festive sing along in collaboration with Sunderland Empire and Sunderland Music Hub.
The Big Festive Sing will see over 9,700 primary school children across the city join musicians from Sunderland Music Hub form the Big Sing Band,fromthecomfortoftheir classrooms.
Filmed within Sunderland Empire’s auditorium, the Big Festive Sing will be live streamed via YouTube for the children and feature muchloved Christmas classics such as Merry Christmas Everyone, along with feature songs from family festive films, including The Polar Express.
The event aims to encourage the musical development of local children, with a pack of informative digital resources made available to schools including digital workshops, backing tracks and sheet music.
Alongside the resources is a digital Makaton workshop to enablechildrenwhouseMakaton signing to join in the event and get in the Christmas spirit too.
Lizzie Nixon, Music Hub Manager said: “After working with Sunderland Empire on a numberofsuccessfulBigSings each summer, we felt this year was the perfect time to deliver a festive version of the event.
“Singing is a great way to develop relationships with peers, build confidence, supportcommunicationskillsand
todevelopmusically.Theseare allimportantaspectsfordevelopment
in our children, especially after a trying 18 months due to Covid.”
Anthony Hope, Senior Creative Learning Manager at Sunderland Empire, said: “We're thrilled to be working with Sunderland Music Hub this December for our very first Big Festive Sing. Following the roaring success of our Digital Sunderland Big Sing last summer, we are delighted to be back and streaming into classroomsacrossSunderland once again. This time, we’re encouraging our local schools to join together for a good old sing along with some jolly festive classics.
“Althoughourvenueisopen and welcoming schools across the region for panto season, we wanted to ensure that as many children and young people could get involved with the festivities as possible.”
The Big Festive Sing event is free for schools to take part. Contact Lizzie Nixon at Lizzie. Nixon@togetherforchildren. org.uk