SHENSTON IAN 88 - Old Silhillians Association

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music drama MUSIC 1987/8 The work of the Music Department of the School falls into three main areas: 'class' music and work for A level and GCSE; music-making by large and small groups in out-of-school time, instruction instrumental in playing and solo singing. Each of these areas has thrived during the year 1987/8. The first GCSE set has taken the History and Appreciation of Music examination, and the syllabus seems to have real potential for those with a general knowledge of music of many different kinds. The Lower Fifth set has completed the first year of the GCSE Music examination, and there has been a set of eight girls and boys working for A level in Music. Much of the work now going on in 'class' time is very different from what has happened in previous years, and we are grateful to the governing body for providing much new equipment. Every boy in the Lower School can now learn music with the aid of a full set of electronic keyboards, and get intensive extra tuition by means of computer programmes. Those whose taste for the 'church' organ can get practice now not only on the Chapel organ but also on the new twomanual electronic organ with full pedal-board installed in the Music School; mercifully (in some cases at least) the early stages of learning can be private to the player, through headphones. A new television has been bought for M1 so that .greater advantage can be taken of the excellent videotapes now available for music instruction — how lucky the A level set has been, for example, to be able to study their set work by means of a Glyndebourne tape of the Marriage of Figaro. All large teaching rooms are now equipped with CD players. In addition, a generous gift from the Parents' <strong>Association</strong>, made at the instigation of Mr Tomlin, has enabled us to replace our old speakers with some high-quality modern ones. All this, with the doubling of the amount of time for classwork in the SheM next year, means that a much better structured musical education can be given to all our pupils by the twenty full-time and part-time music staff. In addition, many boys and girls have been able to extend their musical horizons by attending concerts in Birmingham given by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, now indubitably one of the world's great orchestras, thanks to the continued work of Mr Ayers. Recorder playing is thriving in the Junior School under the guidance of Mrs Aldis. Mr Harding continues to share his immense knowledge of jazz with the sixth form. At all hours of the day, and sometimes it seems it seems a good many of the night, music is being played and sung in the Music School Inevitably, however, it is concert work performed by singers and instrumentalists from the department which is most in the ear of the community as a whole. Once again, the availability of excellent solo players within the School has allowed us to mount a home-made concerto concert. On October 22nd, Judith Carey played Tschaikowsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme for Cello and Orchestra, and showed us how good a cellist she is. It was no surprise that later in the year she won a place at the Royal College of Music. Madeleine Mattar was the soloist in Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K.467: she and the orchestra gave a marvellous performance of this great work. Madeleine is a splendid pianist whose gifts were admired by a national audience when she appeared in the piano semi-finals of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition in the Easter Term. Both soloists would agree that they owed much to the admirable orchestral accompaniment provided by members of the school, ably conducted as ever by John Geddes. Also included in this concert was a powerful account by Stephen Penton of Khachaturian's Toccata for piano, and motets by Mozart and Bruckner sung by our fine Chapel Choir under the direction of Peter Irving. All the concerts during the year have been very well attended. In addition, on the Friday morning after the Concerto Concert the Mozart concerto was repeated in Assembly to the Upper School. We hope in future to perform more frequently to large groups of pupils in school time; this development has been made possible by the move of concert days from Fridays to days earlier in the week, which greatly facilitates the organisational aspects of such concerts. At the St Cecilia Concert, the musical fare was the traditional mix of music performed by the first and second orchestras and the various school ensembles; it is referred to below under the appropriate headings. Solo offerings were a group of Roumanian Folk Dances transcribed by Bartok, played by Nicholas Ahmod, and the Wieniawski Scherzo Tarantella for violin played by Matthew Pay —Jill Godsall accompanied both violinists. The final item, Nicolai's Overture to the Merry Wives of Windsor, was repeated to the Lower School on the following day.
The Choral Society has performed two works this year. On Sunday, 6th December 1987 there was a concert of Haydn's music. The first work was his Sinfonia Concertante in B flat, conducted by Jill Spurrell. Solo parts played by Matthew Pay (violin), Iaian Moppett (cello), Simon Bushell (oboe) and Timothy Fowler (bassoon). The orchestra was led by Nicholas Ahmon. This was followed by a performance of The Creation, Part 1. As usual soloists were provided from within the society. Rachel Shannon, Clare Turnbull and Rachel Smith shared the soprano arias, David Brown and Giles Richardson sang the tenor solos and Alan James and John Errington the bass items. It was good to see the increased size of the Choral Society, particularly at a time when choral singing is at a very low ebb in British schools in general. This concert ended with Haydn's great hymn "Austria", written in emulation of our own national anthem which Haydn had heard on one of his visits to London. The second major work performed by the Choral Society was Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas", which formed the second half of the Commemoration Concert on 19th May. "Dido and Aeneas" is an admirable work for a society like ours, because there are a larger number of short choruses well integrated into the opera. The chorus is both participant and commentator and is required to show infinitely varying moods. Rachel Shannon gave a beautiful performance in the part of Dido. Clare Turnbull sang Belinda and Rachel Smith the "First Woman". The Forces of Evil were represented by Rachael Jones, (the sorceress), Penny-Anne O'Donnell and Jo Ditchfield (Witches) and James Vaughan (Mercury). Giles Richardson sang the Sailor's song, deputising at short notice; John Errington was a polished and affecting Aeneas — a most difficult part to perform because the music is all in recitative. Particular credit goes to Iain Moppett, Stephen Penton and Joel Price for their continuo playing on which the opera so largely depends. We have enjoyed a number of musical recitals after Sunday Chapel. Stephen Penton has played two piano recitals during the year. After the last Sunday service of term, Rachael Jones played Faure's Pavane, Madeleine Mattar played the Schubert G flat major impromptu, Rachel Shannon and Clare Turnbull sang arias by Handel and Bach, and David Brown gave us a memorable account of a song by Vaughan Williams. The preceding service included the magnificent Monteverdi setting of the psalm Beatus Vir performed by singers and instrumentalists from the sixth form, and the Lower School was represented by Julian Smith's beautiful treble voice singing Geoffrey Burgon's setting of the Nunc Dimittis. This last work first became popular after being used as the theme music for the television series 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy',and Julian sang it as his test piece which won him a place in the finals of the Chorister-of-the-Year competition — the last round - will take place in October, and we will be keenly interested in the result. We are happy to be allowed to share the services of Julian Smith with the cathedral choir of St Chad's in Birmingham, in the same way that we are also able to use John Cotterill as our assistant organist to accompany the Chapel Choir. At the end of another year of music making we part with our Upper Sixth pupils with mixed feelings. We are sorry to see them go, but grateful to them for all they have achieved. But schools exist to send people out into the world, so our sadness is only a temporary one. But there are also others leaving for whom we also have much gratitude. Mr Tomlin has been the devoted friend of music in the School for thirty-six years; he has attended almost every musical event with his inimitable • enthusiasm — who will now laugh at all the jokes and call for encores in our annual operatic gambols? Mr. Bailey and Mr.Archer have, in their respective tenures of the Lower and Middle School Headships, both done music here proud. Perhaps only those who know how music still has to struggle in other schools can fully 4F - appreciate how much these great teachers and generous men have contributed to our musical life. Which of us who witnessed them will ever forget the guest appearances of Mr Arculus, in the chorus line of Orpheus's pupils or in the great party on stage in Die Fledermaus ? Hopefully they will all now have time to extend their love of music still further,and we hope they they will often be with us at our musical events as guests for many years to come. String Music D.M.T. This year, particular thanks must go to Iain Moppett and Matthew Pay for the superb contributions they have made to music in the school during their time here. Without their skills on the cello and violin, a large amount of our repertoire would have been impossible to perform. We wish them well in the future. Chamber Music has really been highlighted this year with the Trio of Madeleine Mattar, Judith Carey and Matthew Pay winning the Alfred de Regir Memorial Trophy for the most outstanding performance in the Midland and North of England semi-final of the Chamber Music for Schools Competition. For the second year in succession they appeared in the Finalists' Concert in St. John's, Smith Square, and the trio also gave a breath-taking performance in Chapel after the Governors' Service. Mention must be made of the quartet of Stephen Pollock, Rhydian Peters,
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SHENSTON IAN 88 - Old Silhillians Association

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