We were delighted to welcome local folk musician, fiddle player and singer, Bryony Griffith to Wakefield Girls’ on Tuesday 14th November to lead workshops and teach students about the joys of folk music. Here is a video of Bryony in action at Shepley Folk Festival, to get a flavour of the exciting musical day students had.

Our Folk Band has been working very hard over the past year, and appreciated a visit from Prof. Keegan-Phipps, a specialist in folk music, earlier this year; so they were excited to show Bryony what they had been working on and to receive more tips and tricks.

Bryony also spoke to GCSE Music students about her experiences as a professional musician and the process of releasing albums. She has just recently released her fifth album, Wesselbobs, available for the students to listen to on Spotify. 

In the afternoon, Juniors students joined Bryony in Jubilee Hall to participate in a lively music workshop alongside their QEGS peers, discovering the joys and quick rhythm of folk music and participating with enthusiasm in ceilidh dancing.

The day culminated in wonderful live performances, helping to develop our students’ confidence playing live in front of a large enthusiastic audience of parents. Firstly, we enjoyed performances from our Junior students and then later, a Twilight Concert by our Senior students. 

The day was joyful, with Jubilee Hall emanating beautiful folk tunes, and lots of ceilidh dancing and audience participation! It was a fantastic day of practical, inclusive and accessible music making and we are sincerely grateful to Bryony for joining us in school. 

Mrs K Bentham, Director of Music