The Big Play

The initial idea began in 2018 when we wondered how exciting it could be to have one day dedicated to music making county-wide. Not just concerts in school and concert halls, but music making anywhere and everywhere: A celebration of everyday music making.

Target

Our target was to reach a mighty 5000 participants and from that our 1 DAY-5000 participants tagline was born. Move forward to June 2019 and we were overwhelmed that nearly 18,000 young people from across Durham and Darlington made music during what became BIG PLAY week. Orchestras, choirs, school groups, rock bands, solos, ensembles, nursery classes, ceilidh bands, teachers’ choirs, jazz bands, wind bands, string groups were all proudly represented on our BIG PLAY map covering the length and breadth of Durham and Darlington.

Currently life feels very different for all of us so Durham Music would like to say thank you once more to our amazing sponsors for supporting this project and to our musicians, parents, teachers, friends and Durham Music staff who went above and beyond to make this a truly special musical week. Music brought us together for the Big Play and Durham Music will continue to support music making in schools and homes until we can come together once more. We hope you enjoy just a few of the highlights.