Holland- Jam Club and Relentless on tour

On the 21-24th of March I accompanied Knights Academy from South London on a trip to Holland, where two separate creative groups from the school took part in a Dutch school talent show. One of the groups, Relentless, are a dance collective, and the other are a music group called Jam Club. Both groups comprised of ten kids, representing year groups 7-12, and I was fortunate enough to teach and lead the African drumming section of Jam Club.

We got the coach all the way to our destination, using the Dover-Calais crossing. Our residence for the three nights was a 13th century castle converted into a hostel in the town of Heemskerk, about half an hours drive outside Amsterdam. We spent the first day relaxing, getting settled in, and then in the evening we walked into town and bought pizza. We also managed to get some rehearsal time in, which was important because we woke up early on the second day to go into the Schoter School in Haarlem and prepare for the evenings concert.

Jamming on the ferry!

 The quality of performance in the school talent show was incredible, as was the logistics of the whole event over the two nights. The entire thing was filmed, with a live projection showing downstairs in the performers room. The winner, on both nights, was a duo made up of a couple who played Mercy by Duffy, with him on guitar and her on vocals. Although they were not mind blowing, they had an endearing quality and their chemistry was impressive.  

Jam Club, the group in which I lead a 5-person djembe section, performed as ‘special guests’ on both nights. We played a medley of Feeling Good, Hit the road Jack and I Gotta Feeling, which went down well with the 200 or so Dutch crowd.  On the second evening we opened our set with a full scale djembe jam, featuring some improvised dancing from the Knights students in the Relentless crew. It was a great success!

Jamming on stage!

The difference in culture between Holland and the UK was apparent to the kids and myself, perhaps most blatantly on our visit to Amsterdam as we walked through the Red-light district.  As well as their notoriously lenient and forward thinking approach to marijuana and prostitution, the Dutch also have some interesting contrasts to the UK in terms of education- for example all pupils in the school we visited paid €300 per year, and then €150 on top if they wanted to specialise in particular subjects. This system has strengths; however one major downside is that less than half the students in the school have the opportunity to partake in regular art lessons.

Arguably the best thing about the trip was the opportunity for international relationships (and romances!) as the kids from the Haberdasher Askes Knights Acedemy met their Dutch counterparts. The informal learning process undergone by all involved in inspirational school trips like this one is invaluable, and should not be underestimated or taken for granted. It was a pleasure to be a part of such the experience, and particularly interesting going on a school trip as a teacher rather than a pupil!

Whole crew in Amsterdam!