Preludes Music Project, Bristol Ensemble

Preludes is an inspirational, long-term music education project which gives children from disadvantaged areas of Bristol the opportunity to learn to read music, sing and play a range of instruments such as recorders, percussion, strings, brass and woodwind in an inclusive and supportive setting. These children are rarely able to participate in this kind of music making and the experience filters through into their home lives and community lives. Preludes is having a beneficial effect not just musically and creatively but also educationally and socially. The Project is creating a vibrancy and pride which is nurturing aspirations amongst the children, their families and the community as a whole.

Preludes relies on funding from charities and voluntary organisations to run the project which has now spread to 10 schools in Bristol. Preludes has been running for 12 years in Bristol.

Preludes was recently presented with a National Lottery Award “Champion of the Arts” for work done with vulnerable children during the Covid19 lockdowns.

We chose a forest for Treefest for 2 reasons. One was because your charity is Tree Aid but the other was because children are like young trees, they need nurturing and tending to grow into valuable young people and hopefully become musicians! Our intention was to ask the children at Ilminster Avenue to create the trees from materials collected from Scrapstore. Unfortunately, Covid19 has prevented this from happening and we had to do it ourselves. Apart from the paint, all the materials were considered to be scrap – amazing what can be done by recycling.