Rainow County Primary School... 'Many thanks for giving up your time in providing us with two fantastic days of composing. Both the children & Staff alike learnt a great deal which can be developed in the future & all the staff feel that you have a great career ahead of you with your special combination of enthusiasm & professionalism. We hope to work with you again.'
St Luke's School, Swindon (Community school for young people with emotional & behavioural difficulties)...'Hi Laura, hope all is well with you. Just wanted to say again how impressed the staff were with the workshops you ran for our last enrichment day, and how much the pupils enjoyed it. Many thanks, Sally Whitehead'
St Bede's Catholic College, Bristol...'What an incredible day we've had at St. Bede's today with Julie Payne and Laura Tanner. The orchestral workshop they ran with my year 10 GCSE group was truly inspirational. The children thoroughly enjoyed themselves and say they have a much more firm grasp of the Orchestral Landmarks Area of Study for our GCSE exam board. One child's comment was 'Classical music is much more interesting than I thought'! It was wonderful to see them all (no matter what instrument or ability) fully engaged in something that was outside of their comfort zone.'
Kelly-Ann Jervis - Head of Music St Bede's Catholic College
Sefton Park School, Bristol...'Thank you Thank you Thank you! The concert was amazing - you were at all times incredibly professional, organised and motivational with the children and I am so glad that we have had the opportunity to do this'
Pippa Revelly - class teacher, Sefton Park School, Bristol
Yate Music Centre Senior Wind Band...'I want to say a huge thank you for a wonderful concert on saturday night. My daughter is in the senior band and although we came to listen to her it was a pleasure to hear the junior ensembles and how wonderful it was they all joined in at the end! I can only imagine the time and effort that you all put into YMC but I want to say how much you are appreciated'
Composition Project @ St Pius X, Hartcliffe, for the High Sherrif's Gala Concert 2011...'I want to thank you for producing a wonderful result for my Gala Concert. I found the performance of the work very moving and many people have remarked to me that they felt similarly. When I mentioned the children in my little speech after they had performed, there was spontaneous applause. I think that said it all. I was very, very proud of them and, happily they seemed to be proud of themselves. I was so glad I was able to go in last Wednesday to see you at work. I have a wonderful photograph of all the children smiling - every single one of them. I have since popped back into the school and there is no doubt that what you have done has created a tremendous boost to the morale there. So, thank you for a terrific outcome. It will remain as one of my great memories.' John Cottrell - High Sheriff of Bristol, June 21st 2011
'Autumn Winds' Family Concert @ St Mary's Church, Churchill, October 2011...'Dear Laura, Thank you so much for organising and leading such a fantastic children's concert. You and your team were really brilliant.The qualities that we thought were inspiring and outstanding and which made the whole performance such a success were as follows (easier to bullet them so forgive the formality) were:
- You personally have a real gift to relating to children through music and were so wonderfully smiley!! Your enthusiasm as sparkle stood out, as indeed it did at that first concert when I was able to bring my grandchild (she still remembers you! and sadly she was not able to come up from Plymouth for this one)
- There were loads of smiles from your 'team' - hugely important
- The children heard really lovely music - just the right length too.
- You involved the older child/parents - brilliant and Oh so very important.
- You explained how a quintet is made up of the various parts, some of which play quite boring backing sounds in order to build up a picture. According to our feedback this really gripped the adults.
- You got the children dancing - another great point - they really do love physical movement.
- You got the children involved - you are a real pro at that.
- You brought in great humour - got the children laughing - fantabulous!!
- Lovely bit of science in there too.
'Autumn Winds' Family Concert @ St George's, Bristol, November 2011...'Laura, congratulations again on such a brilliant show yesterday! I didn't get to see much of the second version, but the first one was just fab, and comments were so positive, about you and about the players ('so much better for children to hear real professionals'). The music choice was great too. Big thanks to the players. It all worked so very well, can't wait for the next one.' Catherine Freda - Head of Education, St George's Bristol, November 7th 2011