The Red Rooster Project

The red Rooster Project is a multi-faceted venture funded initially by a generous donation from Sir Mick Jagger. Its aims are to enhance and extend the musical opportunities for students in schools in the Dartford area and is now co-ordinated by Kent Music School. Funding has enabled large numbers of students to be involved in a wide range of activities outlined below.

Outreach work in local primary schools

The project has sent musicians into local primary schools to work for extended sessions for a half term block from the September 2002. These have included African drumming and Indian music and dance projects for large numbers of students in each school. The response to these projects has been tremendous with impressive display work and other spin-off activities.

Rock and Pop workshops at the Mick Jagger Centre

Students from many local schools have taken part and gained considerable experience in Mick Jagger’s own territory!

The Red Rooster String Project

The Red Rooster String Project has been running since September 2002 and has been training students from local primary schools to play stringed instruments free of charge. Instruments are provided by Kent Music School, and are a mixture of violins, violas and cellos. The string project runs on Tuesdays and the Brass project from 3.50pm until 5.45pm during term time at The Mick Jagger Centre.

General musicianship classes are also part of the programme, including established methods such as Kodaly and Dalcroze Eurhythmics: techniques for improving pitch and rhythm, co-ordination and posture. These take the form of singing games and movement exercises. Students are encouraged to have a broad approach to their musicianship as well as learning their instrument and sing songs in a range of styles as part of their training.

Specialist String and Brass teachers work with large groups of students on technique and ensemble playing and are assisted by senior music students from Dartford Grammar School – some of whom benefit from scholarships to the Junior Department of Trinity College of Music.

Each term finishes with a lively concert of music learned including large groups, staff performances and choir work.

Red Rooster sessions are tremendous fun, and as you can imagine, with beginner students under 11 all playing together, quite noisy! As with the string project students are playing simple tunes and learning some technique alongside the lively rhythm and pitch games that characterise the project.