YOUNGSTERS at a Davyhulme primary school have teamed up with an international jazz cellist to try and capture the sounds of Manchester.

Year four pupils at St Mary’s CE Primary School have been working with Norwegian musician Maja Bugge to capture the city’s soundscape for a commission at this year’s Manchester Jazz Festival.

Youngsters helped Maja to identify the sounds of the city, including the tram, bees, football, skateboards, the canal basin and construction work.

The sounds were then captured in a field recording, which will be incorporated into Maja’s final piece titled NORTHERN ­— described as “a sonic mix of spacious and percussive cello lines, found sounds and striking images all fused into an immersive experience for the eyes and ears”.

The “one-off audio and visual interpretation” aims to reflects how people see, hear and relate to our surroundings, and will be performed at the Royal Exchange Studio on Saturday, May 25 as part of the festival.

Maja Bugge said: “Manchester has an amazing sonic quality and the children’s ability to hear unusual details in their sonic surroundings, has led us to record a surprisingly varied mix of sounds.

“The final piece will hold traces of both Manchester’s busyness and noise but also have sections of stillness echoing a city with a complex and rich sonic life.”

Alison Daniel, headteacher at the school, in Cornhill Road, added: “It was a real privilege for our children to be involved in this project.

“Listening to Maja play the cello so beautifully was a magical experience for them and they were mesmerised.

“It was a revelation to the children to see how the sounds around them could be incorporated into a musical composition.”

Tickets for NORTHERN are available for £8 from www.manchesterjazz.com or £10 on the door.