Drama and music memories

I attended Bandley Hill Infants and Junior school from 1961 to 1966, I think.

I particularly remember Mr. Coram and the assemblies which started with pieces of classical music: they have had a profound effect on me over the years as I remember the music passages and put together their titles and composers.

I was especially drawn to the BBC ‘Music & Movement’ sessions/classes we would have in the assembly hall. They were focused around music, song, movement and mime creating dance work individually and in groups. I found this stimulating and expressive. I believe it came from a Scandinavian educational theory.

I was always involved in the various drama/theatre performances that were arranged/directed by some forward-thinking, creative teachers. I remember performing with my class at Stevenage College in a movement piece on Noah’s Ark to ‘Mars: the bringer of War” from the Planet Suite by Holst, another assembly favourite. I played an elephant. We also did another movement piece about ‘Hary Janos’, a Hungarian teller of tall tales, by Bela Bartok. My final memory of drama/theatre was playing Peter Pan in ‘Peter Pan’ in my last year.

In later years I eventually became a theatre teacher and taught in London and the USA for 45 years. I have much to thank Bandley Hill, those important, formative years and those inspired teachers for.