Some great festive music, bringing back some very fond memories

(Post made at 1950 UK time on 29 Dec 2017 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests). 

Over the last few days I have really enjoyed listening to some wonderful festive music, some of which also brought back very fond memories! 

I remember really enjoying playing flute in a performance of Vivaldi's Gloria (featured in the first video below), and also Bach's Brandenberg No 1 (featured as one of the pieces in the 2nd video below) aged 11 with my school orchestra! (See note * below) 

I and another first former (year 7 in modern parlance), both about grade 3 or 4 standard, played what we could of these works, and the two sixth formers (year 12 or 13) played it all. We were both in awe of their skill, and wanted to play like them, and it was a great privilege to be in the group of performers and to be able to hear all the wonderful playing and singing going on around us.  

Just a few reasons why music (and particularly group music) is so important in education

(Post made at 1220 UK time on 28 Dec 2017 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests). 

In today's world in which very many children have a very short attention span and very often call out/take a sip from a water bottle, taking part in a group musical activity (such as a choir or a wind/brass/string/percussion band, or an orchestra, or even "just" a series of call and response musical games in a class setting) offers many life skills that will stand them in very good stead in their future working and family life.  Here are just a few that come to mind: