THE Electric Variety Show, at The Anvil on Tuesday, March 15, from 7pm, is a variety show with a difference.

It is the culmination of a term-long project showcasing the talents of five primary and secondary schools from the Basingstoke borough and part of The Anvil's all-year-round community and education programme.

Children from John Hunt of Everest Community School, Marnel Junior School, Sherborne St John CE Primary School, Bramley CE Primary School and Limington House School will play alongside some of the best professional musicians around, including Herbie Flowers, David Jackson and Andy Baker.

They will perform existing and original compositions, including cutting-edge music on a hand saw!

The wide-ranging mix will include rock numbers, dance, classical and samba through to the downright silly - such as Herbie's My Mum's A Yoghurt.

It is a great opportunity for the children to learn from professional musicians and perform on The Anvil stage.

Andy Baker, music animateur for the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, who is also leading the project for The Anvil, talked about its progress.

He said: "The Electric Variety Show promises to be one of the most innovative, original and exciting musical shows ever to happen at The Anvil.

"To work alongside such musicians is a great honour for anyone and an experience these young people will never forget.

"The programme is varied. For example, as well as playing his famous Fender Jazz bass, Herbie is also playing his tuba while Marnel pupils dance to Tuba Smarties, which was a hit for Sky."

David, who will be playing with Van der Graf Generator to a sold-out Royal Festival Hall in May, is working with pupils from Limington House School with his nationally-recognised and innovative Tonewall - ultrasonic beams which trigger synthesised sounds through movement and dance.

Pupils from Sherborne St John will perform music using exotically-titled boomwhackers and hand chimes, while John Hunt pupils will perform samba music on converted oil drums.

"And if that is not enough, we've commissioned musical instrument inventor Henry Dagg to design and build a brand-new musical instrument for us," added Andy.

"Called the 'Whirl It Sir', it's a mixture of a xylophone and a mountain bike, and requires one player to cycle a static bike while 29 others, all under the age of 10, play piping tuned to various notes."

Henry is also a musical saw virtuoso and promises to play something during the evening!

"We've had great fun planning this concert over the last six months or so, and everybody is really entering into the spirit of the project," said Andy.

"It really does look like being an incredible musical experience."

Tickets for The Electric Variety Show cost £4 and are available from the box office on 01256 844244, the website www.theanvil.org.uk or the ticket fax on 01256 366900.