The Dunedin Symphony Orchestra made its second-to-last stop on its Dunedin school tour at Andersons Bay School yesterday, delighting the pupils with renditions of some of their favourite movie theme tracks — such as from the Harry Potter films and Star Wars.
Dunedin Symphony Orchestra education liaison and flute player Feby Idrus said the 45-minute educational and interactive concert was designed to introduce classical and orchestral music to pupils.
"A lot of the time, unfortunately, primary schools don't always necessarily have the resources available to provide something like a French horn for the kids to hear and play.
"The show is to excite them, inspire them and get them thinking about music."
Pupils learnt about the four different families of instruments in an orchestra and the musicians demonstrated a variety of percussion, woodwind, brass and string instruments.
Part of the show was getting the pupils on their feet and stomping along to a classic military marching song.
"We tried to trick the children ... they kept up with us well," Ms Idrus said.
The best part of the day was seeing how much the children loved it, she said.
"It has been really good to see the kids interacting and engaging with us and getting excited. That's always really cool.
"It’s such a treat for most of us to get out and be amongst the kids and play — just share what we know and what we enjoy. This is what we really want to be doing," Ms Idrus said.
The group go to every Dunedin and Clutha primary school on a five-yearly basis, giving almost all children the chance to see their performance.
This week they went to 15 schools, and at the end of November they will be visiting another 15 schools in Southland.
