Children and staff were amazed and appreciative of a visit by two professional musicians this week who came and performed their skills and taught us how to beatbox and play Samba.

‘My mind was blown!’    ‘How he kept in rhythm whilst beatboxing was incredible!’    ‘It was cool how you can put different sounds together!   ‘He made music with no instruments - just his voice! were just some of the reactions from children to the visit of Beatboxer, Lee.

The children were engaged and entranced by Lee’s talent as he entertained us with a range of sounds made just with his mouth such as a full drum kit, bumble bee, helicopter and passing trains. He was even able to make two different instrument sounds at the same time (drums and a didgeridoo). During the day the corridors were buzzing to the sounds of individuals trying out their newly learned skills!

The next day Carl was our excellent band leader forming us into an enthusiastic Samba band.  We learned the importance of a physical warm up to get our muscles working for drumming and the significance of the band leader’s whistle. He  introduced us to the main instruments of the Samba band we would be playing: surdos (big drums), agogo bells, tambourin (small drum) and ganzas (shakers).

‘I liked it because we got to do lots of different rhythms and drumming. ‘     ‘ You could explore with the music.’  

‘He taught in a way that seemed like he knew how much we knew.’  ‘It was really fun, loud and musical.’

‘You get to choose how you do the idea of samba - you can represent samba in the way you want to.’

Thank you to Norfolk Music Hub for their grant allowing us to host these two Musical days that have entertained, inspired and very much engaged our children and staff.

Lee Giblimg the beatboxer has been on BBC Bitesize (you can see him here:  BBC iPlayer - Bitesize Daily: 5-7 Year Olds - Music 5-6 Year Olds: 2. Making Music with Your Body at 2:56 mins)