Brass Bands at Harting
At Harting we place significant value on the importance of both music and the arts on children's development and positive wellbeing. Through are meticulously planned curriculum, children begin to explore sounds and music from the very earliest age with opportunity to perform at different points in the year.
Following a very generous donation from both the Harting Parish News and Friends of Harting School in 2022, we were able to purchase 32 trumpets and trombones. Since this time we have been running a brass band in both year 5 and 6 for which we use as a vehicle for teaching the upper KS2 primary music curriculum.
Through weekly brass band rehearsals, both whole class and small groups, and weekly practise at home, children develop their confidence, skills in composition and performance, knowledge of the history of music as well as their technical ability on their instrument.
Embedded in the curriculum is a wide array of performance opportunities for all. Each year the band performs in front of hundreds of parents at events including the Midhurst Rotary Youth Music Festival and the Rother Valley Arts festival. Last year we launched the first ever annual West Sussex Proms in the Playground event which saw over 170 children coming from across our rural community of schools to celebrate the wonderful music happening across the locality.
Since embarking on our journey of brass banding, we have formed a very close working relationship with Brass Band England's Brass Foundations team. This sees a member of the team visiting the school once a term to deliver a whole day's musical workshop culminating in a wonderful concert to the community.
At Harting we understand that the impact brass is having on us all goes way beyond just music. We are all incredibly proud to be part of such a wonderful team and thrive on coming together in weekly lessons to learn, communicate and collaborate in ways we never thought were possible. We have a passion for performance and cannot wait for our next event! .