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Trouvere
in Schools - combining music and history for Tudors at Key Stage Two
Trouvère's
workshops for schools bring Tudor studies to life for Key Stage Two children.
Our special focus is on music in the past, but we also offer a great range
of additional Tudor-themed workshops. Based in Yorkshire, we do most of
our visits in this area, but also travel all over the country . We come
- of course - in full Tudor costume, and the emphasis is on fun as much
as on learning.
Here's
an idea of what we can offer...
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Hands-on
experience of Tudor instruments
We'll bring along lute, crumhorn, psaltery, harp, trumpet,
bagpipes, recorders, drums and more and the children will be able to handle
all the instruments - and have a go on most of them. We can make the most
of existing musical skills and also give children with little or no musical
experience a sense of achievement - from getting their first note out
of a flute, getting both hands active on the strings of a harp. making
a good parp! on a trumpet, or working together to bring the bagpipe
to life. Depending on the time available and your requirements, we can
assemble a small Tudor consort of instruments. Our workshop also has a
strong focus on science, reinforcing the study of sound through examining
the different materials and techniques used to produce music.
Dressing
up in authentic Tudor costumes
Specially made for KS2-aged children, our costumes include splendid court
dress - as modelled by the Tudor princess shown here - and everyday working
clothes. In this way, the workshop is designed to back up study of
the rich and poor in Tudor times. It really shows up the huge gulf
between the very wealthy court circles and the lives of everyday people
in a way that the children can appreciate. However, there's also a strong
element of comparing Tudor clothes and the clothes we are used to today.
This allows for discussion of different materials and technologies (no
zips or Velcro!) and the impact of mechanisation in modern times compared
to hand crafts in earlier times. In any single session, we'll dress up
four children in full outfits - depending on time, other children can
then try on other pieces of clothing and shoes. Children really enjoy
this dressing-up session and you'll get some great images to use in the
classroom!
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Tudor Toys and
Games
We'll bring along a great range of period toys and games, including quoits,
bowling, cup-and-ball, dressing-up dolls, carved wooden animals and pull-along
toys, playing cards, and more. The workshop contrasts toys and games from
Tudor times with those of today but is also a lot of noisy fun! We usually
end the workshop with a mini 'Tudor Sports Day' for which the children
will get into teams and compete in a number of games.
Tudor
Dancing
This give children the opportunity to learn and to perform a selection
of Tudor dances. We cover both posh stately dancing and riotous country
dancing - as demonstrated by these young ladies performing the Pease
Branle - and after learning the steps, the children perform the dances
to live Tudor music. This workshop also fits well with the study of rich
and poor and works really well following the sessions on Music and Clothes.
If you want to end the visit with a bit of a performance (see below),
then this is a good chance for the children to show off the dances they've
learnt. NB - you could also get hold of our introduction to Tudor dancing
- 'Medieval and Tudor Dance - A Guide for
Schools'.
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Storytelling and
musical performance
We often finish off our visit to a school with a short show, which might
be just to the children we have seen during the day or alternatively to
a larger group such as the whole Key Stage or even the whole school. This
show is an opportunity for the children to hear us perform some Tudor
music on the authentic instruments, and we can also include a story from
Tudor times - our stories are lively retellings which often involve the
children in various ways. This is also an opportunity for the children
to show off some of the activities they've been involved in during the
day. A great idea is to get a couple of children dressed up as a Tudor
lord and lady - using our authentic costumes - and they can then process
in to the accompaniment of drums and trumpets - again provided by some
of the children. The lord and lady then preside over the show as if it
was a performance at a Tudor court.
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Trouvère usually
come to a school for a full day. There's usually two of us and so we can
see two different classes at a time for most sessions - we only need to
work together for Dancing and for a Show. A typical visit would include
three different workshops and a show, and would run something like this:
Before
morning break
- Class A doing Music while Class B does Clothes
After morning break - Class B doing Music while Class A does Clothes
After lunch - All together to learn a few Tudor dances
Last 45 - 60 minutes of the day - Show
In this case, all
the children are involved for the whole day. However, that's only one
possible format - in the past, we have seen as many as 125 children over
the course of a day. In this case, there were five class-groups of around
25 children and each class did Music and Clothes. In this format, each
group of children is only involved for two hours during the day.
Another option can
easily work around three class-sized groups - we see two groups at a time
with the third group getting on with classroom activities as normal at
any one time. This format allows up to 90 or so children each to do (say)
Clothes and Music with everyone together at the end for Dancing or a Show.
Altenatively, we can bring an additional member of the group so that three
workshops can be going on at any one time.
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Costs
A full day visit
from two minstrels costs £275.00.
Travel expenses are
additional to this. We are based in North Yorkshire so, as a guideline,
schools in Newark or Northumberland would be charged £345.00 for
a day visit including travel costs, while schools in Suffolk, Sussex or
Somerset would be charged £425.00 for a day visit, which would include
travel and one overnight stay. There are no additional expenses for
schools in North Yorkshire or County Durham. We also offer half-day
visits to schools in North Yorkshire and County Durham only and these
are a fully inclusive £175.00. An additional minstrel for
a day visit is an extra £100.00.
These prices are valid
until the end of the school year 2007-8.
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Don't
Just Take Our Word For It!
Children really do enjoy our Tudor workshops,
and teachers are pretty keen too. Here's some comments:
Teachers:
This is what education is
all about - thank-you
Wonderful - educational and fun
Children:
Thank-you for coming, it was one of the best days at school so far
I dressed up as Henry VIII, I looked really good
It was better than what I expected so thanks again, YOU'RE THE BEST
EVER!
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If
you would like to contact Trouvère Medieval Minstrels then email
us
Tel
no. 0772 0118406
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