On Tuesday 6th March 2018, Years 5 and 6 all visited The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Hall for the annual concert for schools with the theme 'Come To Your Senses'.
The concert was hosted by Alasdair Malloy and the orchestra were conducted by Michael Seal.
Each piece was related to one of the senses, but also senses of other things.
The first piece was 'Finlandia by Sibelius, summoning up his sense of pride in his country and the sights, sounds, smells, touch and tastes of Finland
Next came the Overture to 'The Marriage of Figaro' by Mozart, setting the mood of the story and a sense of occasion.
The first of two pieces from Mussorsky's Pictures At An Exhibition followed. 'The Gnome' was inspired by an painting of a gnome-shaped nutcracker by Victor Hartman. This piece gave us a sense of fear. The picture no longer exists.
We were encouraged to close our eyes during Ravel's ''Empress of the Pagodas' to waken our other senses to its subtle moods. In the story, during the piece, the empress walks on jasmine petals. We also heard the tam-tam gong being rung at the entrance to the pagoda and children running.
Next was 'Boom Box' a vibrant and loud piece of music by Matthew Hindson to give a physical feeling of walking through a city centre.
We were encouraged to copy conductor Michael Seal's silent and sometimes amusing actions during Benjamin Britten's 'Playful Pizzicato'.
The children really enjoyed joining in with singing and signing to 'The Witch' a poem by Prelutsky with music by the RLPO's own Tim Jacson.
Returning to Mussorsky's 'Pictures At An Exhibition' a sense of scale and grandeur were found in 'The Great Gate of Kiev' with lots of brass and percussion including a church bell. The Great Gate was never built.
As well as the five traditional senses, it is thought that we have other internal senses including pain, balance, thirst and hunger. Michael Giaccamo's 'Full Mayhem' from Disney-Pixar's The Incredibles was used to illustrate them.
Finally Alasdair showed us one his favourite instruments, the chica - a Brazilian drum. He got everyone up and dancing with a sense of rhythm as a finale.