On Wednesday 10th February 2010 the Dryden Centre was the venue for our Music Celebration Day. Thanks to generous sponsorship from our partners the Avison Ensemble.  Many primary school students experienced a lively day of music making and ‘sing-a-long’ sessions.

The focus of the day was music by Charles Avison (1709 – 1770), the outstanding Tyneside musician of the mid 18th Century, and his contemporaries. Children were taught a wide range of songs, including some popular in the time of Charles Avison, such as ‘Bobby Shaftoe’ in the  ‘sing-a-long’ sessions led by Anne Porter.

Anne Porter leading the sing-a-long sessions

There were also a selection of workshops in various parts of the building, including:
18th Century specialist musicians ‘Concert Royal, complete with harpsichord, one keyed flute and baroque cello.

Concert Royal

Teams of music teachers from the outstanding Gateshead Music Service and 20 members of the Gateshead Youth Orchestra held workshops which gave children the opportunity to try out a wide range of musical instruments ranging from violin to double bass and trumpet to tuba.

The Woodwind and Brass workshop

Sue Finn brought an amazing percussion experience Gamelan to the event. (Gamelan is a generic term used to describe the tuned percussion instruments of Indonesia. A ‘gamel’ is a blacksmith’s hammer. Adding the letters ‘an’ to a word indicates an action. Hence gamelan quite literally means the action of a hammer!  The gamelan instruments consisted of gongs, metallophones, xylophones and drums.)  These percussion instruments filled up the entire William Shield Room and introduced several hundred people to a very different form of music making.    Further information about gamelan can be obtained from www.gamelanatwork.com

Children enjoying the Gamelan workshop

An Art Workshop was led by artist in residence Adrian Nellis, who created a Music Tree in honour of Charles Avison and every participant was asked to add a leaf they had designed to the tree.

The Music Tree in honour of Charles Avison

The finale of activities was a concert by the Gateshead Youth Orchestra Strings and Senior Wind Band, and a recital by children from St Anne’s R.C. Primary School who are learning the violin under the Wider opportunities Programme.

Further photographs may be found on

and a video by the Avison Ensemble of some of the activities can be found on