Song Story 2026 – Marvellous Mozart
“Song Story 2026–Marvellous Mozart!” took place in the Spring and Summer terms in 2026. Resources were sent out in advance and then the Song Story team visited each of the 6 participating schools weekly, working with groups to create and build a performance based on the story of famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
91 young people and 34 of their schools’ staff took part in the sessions and they did the final performances to audiences of 217.
The young people developed the performance through movement, acting, playing (instruments) and singing (song writing) tasks. They explored many of Mozart’s most famous tunes, the ones we all sing along with but don’t know why we know them! They wrote and sang some fantastic lyrics for “eine kleine nachtmusik” , which became “We love Mozart, Mozart is the Best”, reported to be ‘a playground ‘banger and being sung all over school!’
They played triangles and body percussion in a rousing Rondo a la Turka and in the overture to the Marriage of Figaro adding tambourines and shakers to the mix. We created lyrics for his 40th symphony which described with great pathos and acting just how poor and cold and starving Mozart was at times of his life. The cold part required magnificant acting skills due to the heatwave experienced during much of our time in schools. Mozart’s horn concerto was our travelling music as we demonstrated how Mozart and his (less mentioned) sister were taken and shown off around Europe by their father. We walked, we made a boat and a horse and cart, and we spoke the languages of several European countries…all while hearing, making, singing and taking ownership of amazing music!
What is Song Story?
“I think Song Story is a moment in the year when the focus is purely on what the students can do, in an entirely inclusive environment. A ‘deficit model’ is often applied to people with learning disabilities, but we (Jackdaws) assume that all children are musical and that all are able to take part, with the responsibility for finding out how sitting with us.
“Students respond wholeheartedly, and often in an embodied and unfiltered way, as they listen and more importantly play the music of that year’s composer. Working with them and hearing and seeing their performances is a joy and a privilege.
“They are intrigued by the lives of the composers – the when, where and how they wrote – and will remind us of previous musicians and sing us bits of the music. While learning about Mozart this year, we would be regaled by Verdi’s Fields of Barley and the “da da da duuuum” of Beethoven’s fifth from the years before.
“All music is to be celebrated, and this is a chance to share our enthusiasm and expertise in classical music with students who are often more open minded than their adults.
–Kate Adams (MA Music in Development, Song Story team member)
“Though I’ve worked with Jackdaws often before, as a course leader and singer with operaPlus, this was only my second time involved with the Song Story project, and I was again blown away by the experience. The level of creativity and music making from the children was joyous to behold.
“As a musician I was very much kept on my toes, moving from somewhat rusty transposition skills on the keyboard, to the violin and of course singing! It was excellent to have such direct and immediate engagement and reaction – and creative input – in the activities.
“The strength of the singing, and some excellent jokes will stick with me as memories for a long time… and also I think my best ever review when one child responded to the question “What is opera?” with the answer: “Owain!”.
–Owain Browne (Opera singer, educator and Song Story team member)
Our projects are only possible because of the amazing support we receive from funders and private individuals.
If you would like to support our programme you can do so in a range of ways, we are very grateful for all of the support we receive.
We are indebted to these funders for making this project possible:
