Inspiring Music and Ampthill Town Band spread festive cheer with virtual Christmas carols
Monday, 21 December 2020
Inspiring Music and Ampthill Town Band have teamed up to bring some festive cheer to Bedfordshire, by recording a virtual Christmas carol video.
The 20-minute video is available to watch on Inspiring Music’s YouTube channel, and sees members of Ampthill Town Band playing carols like Away in a Manger and O Come, All Ye Faithful, Silent Night and Jingle Bells.
Mark Lowe, Schools Project Manager for Inspiring Music, gives a short introduction and an interesting fact before each carol. Words to each song are on the screen so people can sing along.
Members of the Ampthill Town Band recorded their instrumental sections separately, and submitted their video clips to be edited into one video by Traybake Studios, based in St. Neots.
Mark said:
We wanted to make sure people can still enjoy Christmas traditions, one of which might be going to a carol concert or seeing a town band perform. With so much uncertainty this year, we hope that our virtual carol concert brings some joy to people across the county. It means people can still sing carols and enjoy the music of Ampthill Town Band while staying safe and adhering to government guidelines.
Ampthill Town Band’s chairman, Louis Sherry, said:
When Mark suggested the idea to the Band almost every player immediately wanted to be involved, even the most tech-phobic! 2020 has been a difficult year for everyone and we all appreciated this unique opportunity to help spread some festive cheer. It was a mammoth task getting all the videos recorded, with contributions from 27 different players including two of our junior players, then around 200 hours work to end up with the six different videos for Inspiring Music – exhausting, but if we can make someone’s Christmas then thoroughly worthwhile.
Inspiring Music is Central Bedfordshire’s music service, offering music lessons in schools, music centres and support for schools and teachers.
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Ampthill Town Band provides music for lots of local occasions, and rehearses every Tuesday evening between 7:30pm and 9:30pm at the Baptist Church in Ampthill. The band also has a junior band that meets earlier on Tuesday between 6pm and 7:15pm.