Proms at ±«Óătv
Hannah Kendall’s The Spark Catchers
Welcome to Proms at ±«Óătv!
Open your ears, unlock your imagination and enjoy the musical ride!
For this week’s Proms at ±«Óătv we’re going to explore an exciting piece of music by Hannah Kendall called The Spark Catchers.
The Spark Catchers
Hannah Kendall is a young composer who lives in London.
She got the idea for her piece of music from a wonderful poem, also called Spark Catchers, by Lemn Sissay.
Both the poem and Kendall’s music are about women who work very hard in a factory in East London making matches. Sometimes, as they work, a spark flies up into the air. The women know they must stop the spark becoming a huge fire. So – just in time! – one of the match-makers leaps very high into the air and catches the spark in their hands.
Watch this clip of conductor Kevin John Edusei and Chineke! performing The Spark Catchers:
Hannah Kendall brings the world of the factory to life using the instruments of the orchestra. Towards the end of the clip the cellos and double basses play long, grinding notes to help us feel how tough the match-makers’ work is.
You’ll also see the harpist play lots of very high notes on the shortest strings of the harp.
How do these very high notes make you feel? What part of The Spark Catchers’ story do they make you think of?
Everybody can play in an orchestra. In the video clip above you’ll have seen lots of brilliant young Black, Asian and ethnically diverse musicians playing in the Chineke! orchestra.
Chineke! knows that everyone can enjoy classical music, no matter who you are. A man who also believed this was Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, who lived in France around 250 years ago. Bologne had to fight racism because of the colour of his skin – but he didn’t let that stop him. He became a violinist, composer, conductor – and a great sword-fighter!
(Images: Kiran Ridley, Taylor Wrigh, Yaoqi Lai)
Listen Out ...
The factory in The Spark Catchers really existed. In the year 1888 the women and girls who worked there went on strike. This means they stopped working so they could try to get their bosses to improve the horrible conditions in their factory.
That’s not the only way the word ‘strike’ is connected to The Spark Catchers. You can also strike a match to light it.
And you can strike musical instruments to produce a sound …
There are lots of moments in The Spark Catchers where musicians strike (or hit, tap or pluck) an instrument to create different effects. How many can you spot?
Where Next?
- Why not discover more about Joseph Bologne’s incredible music? In this clip, the soprano Jeanine De Bique joins Chineke! for Bologne’s song Au penchant qui nous entrâine ('To the inclination that leads us' in English).
You can discover more about Joseph Bologne’s incredible life and hear some of his other music in this film from Ten Pieces.
- Or how about meeting Lemn Sissay, the amazing poet who wrote the words that made Hannah Kendall want to create her piece of music? In the short film below you can watch Lemn as he uncovers the story of Russian composer Dmitry Shostakovich. Just like the match-makers, Shostakovich had to be very, very brave, as the Russian government wanted to tell composers what kind of music to write.
Your Turn
- Do you want to come up with your own creative response to the match-makers’ story? In this video Tommy, a reading and writing expert from the charity Literacy Pirates, will show you how to draw a picture and write your own poem based on The Spark Catchers.
All you’ll need is some coloured paper and colouring pencils or chalks to create your drawing – plus a pen and paper to write your poem.
Happy creating – and we hope you’ll have lots more orchestral adventures with Proms at ±«Óătv.
Proms at ±«Óătv notes by Andrew McCaldon
For more activities throughout the summer, visit the Proms at ±«Óătv website.
