Scoil Nioclais Naofa, Dunlavin, Co. Wicklow

Описание: ‘Music Is My Sunshine’, performed by the 40-strong Scoil Nioclais Naofa Ensemble.

Primary Finalist in the 2019 Waltons Music for Schools Competition.

Scoil Nioclais Naofa’s response to the 2019 Competition theme, Music =, was to discuss the theme with all interested students. A 6th-class student, Chloe McGrane, said that she had composed a song called ‘Happiness Is My Sunshine’ last year with the Competition in mind. She played the piece, and while the lyrics did not quite match the theme, the melody was very catchy and the group were keen to use it. So children from 3rd class and 5th-class student, Andrea Byrne, wrote lyrics to answer what music equals that were incorporated into Chloe’s song, and the title was changed to ‘Music Is My Sunshine’. Chloe had used a two-chord progression in the song, and after the children discussed ideas to further explore the theme, one suggestion was to have different genres of music playing at the same time. So they chose Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’ and the hornpipe ‘The Boys of Bluehill’. Playing both pieces together showed that music is equal and that while styles may differ, the basic chord progression can be the same.