What do you do when the only person in the school who can play the piano during assembly decides to retire?
That was the problem facing the staff and pupils at Bishopston Primary School when head teacher Gareth Widlake opted for early retirement.
But thanks to the team at University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) and Crew Wales, which offer an introduction to careers in the film and television industry, an ingenious solution was found in order to keep the children singing during their morning get-togethers.
Mr Widlake was invited to spend the day at the BBC studios on Swansea’s Alexandra Road, where the music technology students set about preserving his music for all prosperity. And not only the music – the school children were also invited along to record their accompanying singing.
And the teacher, who has never recorded before, or even played in public outside of the school grounds, admits that the whole experience came out of the blue.
“It did come as a bit of a surprise,” said Mr Widlake.
“I just play at school. I’ve never played in public before, but I can play in front of 250 children.”
The pianist recorded a selection of music which would be familiar to many of us from our school days, along with a few more recent additions to the repertoire.
“They tend to be traditional Christian songs, and traditional Welsh songs, Calon Lân is a favourite. But we try to make them as modern as we can,” he said.
One way of doing that is to include a few popular numbers from the Disney films.
“They love You’ve Got A Friend In Me’,” he said of the hit from Toy Story. “They like to make things difficult!”
The recording was taken care of by the students studying for a BA and MA in music technology.
Overseeing things was Simon Kilshaw, head of music technology at UWTSD, who said: “We do a lot of collaborate things with Crew Wales, and opportunities like this are really good for the students.”
As for Mr Widlake, he’s now looking forward to enjoying even more music during his retirement.
“One of the things I wanted to do was play viola, and to do more singing.
“I can join a choir now – and somebody else can pick the repertoire!”
