MORE than 1,600 primary schoolchildren and 3,000 of their parents, families and friends packed the Albert Hall in London last Monday for the latest of Buckinghamshire Music Services school concerts.

The T-shirt-clad singers, from almost every town and village with a primary school in the county, created a rainbow of colour on stage for the concert entitled Echoes, a musical journey in time and space.

With them were members of the Buckinghamshire County Youth Orchestra, the Youth Percussion Ensemble and Aylesbury Music Centre Dance Band.

The choirs performed two major pieces. The Time Machine, about children's lives in England through the centuries, involved not just singing, but clapping and dancing.

It was originally written for the children of Seer Green Church of England Combined School as a full-length musical by the school's music teacher Jane Smith who adapted it and conducted the massed choirs for Monday's performance.

After the interval, the choirs moved to Africa for Echoes, a story based around African folk music, composed by Janet Davey who teaches piano and music at Prestwood Infant School.

Introducing the performance, county council chairman Peter Lawrence praised children and teachers, with extra thanks to parents for their tremendous support.

Education chief Sue Imbriano said: "Tonight is a manifestation of something I believe is important in the development of our young people creativity. Each of us has a creative streak and education must allow it to thrive."

Primary school choirs will be back at the Albert Hall in May, 2007, for a musical extravaganza, while in July this year the music centre dance band is taking part in one of the largest jazz festivals in the world, The North Sea Jazz Festival in the Hague. Only one other student band has been invited to take part in the festival.

Performers from all over the world will entertain a combined audience of 75,000 over the festival weekend.