Arts - The King's School in Macclesfield

written for the occasion by formerSchool Captain, Thom Petty, now acomposer of some repute in additionto being a medical student. The wholeFoundation joined in the first performanceof the school song, composedfor the Quincentenary by the Directorof Music to words by former King’sClassics teacher, Roger Newton.Other spring events were a delightfulMusical Soirée in February, withoutstanding performances of solo andchamber music by senior pupils andstaff, and the popular return of IanTracey, Organist of Liverpool Cathedral,for an exciting Quincentennial CelebrityOrgan Recital. The major concert ofthe term was the first of two choralconcerts, King’s Sings, bringing togetherchoirs from all the Senior Divisions.The Foundation Orchestra, BigBands, Wind Band, Percussion Ensemble,Brass Ensemble and StringOrchestra gave an outstanding SpringInstrumental Concert in May. Thisevent is always great fun but tingedwith sadness, as a few star performersgive their final concert at King’s afteryears of involvement in school music.The end of the school year brought acelebration of the wonderful musicianshipof our younger pupils, in a Years7-9 Music Festival of over thirty solosand ensembles: a truly memorable occasion.Before reporting the final musicalevent of the year, thanks must go to theKing’s pupils and staff who use theirmusic talents to help in the community.This year one remembers especiallythe carol services which, for the thirdyear running, raised over £600 for AgeConcern, and the Big Band with trumpetand trombone teachers Ron Darlingtonand Gareth Brown, who raised over£1,500 for projects in Uganda.King’s Sings Again was one of themost exciting school concerts of recentyears. Like the earlier choral concert,this was to raise final funds for theFoundation Choir Quincentenary Tourto Barcelona in the first week of thesummer holiday. The end-of-year concert,however, brought together choralgroups from all Divisions, including theKing’s Chorale and King’s Choristersfrom the Junior Division. Performanceswere superb and the atmosphereelectric, as each choir was cheered byother performers listening with theaudience. The concert was recordedand some items will be included ona CD to celebrate King’s Music in theQuincentenary. As the school yearended, all were looking forward notonly to a choir holiday in Barcelona,but also to our biggest concert ever,the Quincentenary Gala Concert in TheBridgewater Hall, Manchester, on 29thNovember, a concert to involve King’smusicians from Junior and Senior Divisions:a showcase for the quality ofschool King’s has striven to be for 500years.AKGJunior SchoolThe children led the Harvest Serviceand it was a happy occasion. Each yeargroup sang a song: Year 3s sang of thedifferent goods that can be found onharvest tables; Year 4 encouraged all toShare with one another; Year 5 gave amusical rendition of the parable of thesower and Year 6 sang about rain beingLike manna from heaven. The busyArtsYear 6 children read poems, presenteda modern version of the feeding of thefive thousand and added a percussionaccompaniment to a hymn. Rev SimonGales, Vicar of Lindow, shared a messageof good news with the children.The beautiful display of harvest gifts,donated by the parents and carefullyarranged by Mrs Aspinwall, was laterdismantled and the produce given tothe local Macclesfield Accommodation,Care & Concern.In November it was time once againfor the annual Year 3 and 4 pantomime.This year it was the cautionary taleof Little Red Riding Hood. Cautionarythat is for the burglars, Fingers andKnuckles, who tried to break intoGranny’s house and then discoveredthat she was not a sweet, old lady,but in fact a witch! Red Riding Hood,a feisty girl, refused to be scared bythe wolf and, as happens in all goodpantos, everyone lived happily everafter. All the Year 3 and 4 childrendanced, performed actions, playedpercussion and sang with gusto. Thetalented Miss Duff and Mrs Aspinwall,assisted by Mrs Turner and Mrs Wells,decorated the colourful stage. Somesplendid animal heads and costumes9

entered in the Small Ensemble class.Twelve of the Junior boys competedagainst the same number of girls andthey were called the King’s Choristersand the King’s Chorale respectively.They competed against seven other ensembles.Both King’s ensembles sang areflective song and a more up-temponumber complete with dance routine.They received a warm reception fromthe audience and the final result sawKing’s Chorale in second place andKing’s Choristers third.At the beginning of July Mr and MrsRadford visited, laden with a variety ofTudor period instruments. They gavea lecture demonstration and showedbrass, wind, string and percussioninstruments, many of which are theancestors of our modern-day instruments.An unusual instrument was thehurdy gurdy, a mixture of a stringedand keyboard instrument. The shawmand the bagpipes were very loud andthe small harp, lute and viol weregentler in sound. The children askedmany questions and learnt a lot fromseeing and hearing such fascinatinginstruments.The summer music festival tookplace over three days and had 150entries from individuals and ensembles.A first for the competition wasKaran Deepak’s entry in the percussionclass. He had recently begun takinglessons on the tabla and he demonstratedhis newly acquired skill. Theadjudicators, Mrs Bevan, Mrs Beesleyand Mr Green, were assisted by MrsPyatt who spent three mornings franticallywriting names on certificates andcomment sheets. Mrs Barratt was onhand to help the instrumentalists. Allare grateful to them, for their encouragementof the Junior musicians, andto all the peripatetic staff who workso hard with the children. When allthe points were added up, Gawsworthwon the House Music Cup.At the end of term the King’s Choristersand King’s Chorale were invitedto sing at the Senior Concert - King’sSings Again. It was a nerve-wrackingoccasion for the youngsters as, beforethey sang, they had heard the highstandard of the Foundation and SeniorBoys’ and Girls’ choirs. However, asexpected, they rose to the occasion andthe ecstatic reception they received,especially from the Senior pupils, gavetheir confidence a real boost.The Junior Summer Concert was inthe last week of term and was a wonderfulway to showcase all the Junior instrumentalistsand vocalists. It was also anopportunity to say farewell to the verymusically able Year 6. Class winnersfrom the Music Festival performed andthe Junior Wind, Brass and Percussionand String ensembles played. The Year3/4 Choir was impressive with a fourpartversion of This old man. The Year5/6 Choir sang a beautiful Israeli roundentitled Hashivenu followed by a comicnumber called Mary had a little blues.It was again, as always, a busy year,but a very successful and rewardingone for all musicians involved.AJLInfantsThe Infant Harvest Festival was heldon 11th October. It was supported bymany proud Mums, Dads, Grannies andGrandads who were keen to hear thechildren sing and to join the celebrationfor this special occasion. The childrenperformed a musical version of TheLittle Red Hen reminding them that allmust share, not only the fruits of theharvest, but also the work needed toproduce it. The Year 2 children hadthe task of narrating the story as wellas leading the prayers and they readvery clearly and confidently. Rev TaffyDavies, the Vicar of Sutton, remindedthe children to say thank you to Godfor all the good things we have. Thegifts, generously donated by parents,were distributed to Macclesfield Careand Concern and to the RossendaleTrust.At Christmas all heard A Donkey’sTale. It tells of a very lazy and bad-tempereddonkey who is keen to do as littlework as possible. An angel leads Maryand Joseph to the donkey and grudginglyhe carries Mary to Bethlehem.Offended at having to stay in a stablewith a newborn baby, he runs away.He then leads the Shepherds and WiseMen to the stable to see the child. AllArtsthe classes performed a dance on stage.Reception S were Tired shepherds, andReception K were Children round themanger. Y1S were Star dancers and Y1Kwere Courtiers in Herod’s palace. Thepart of the donkey was performed byWilliam Strutt, Mary and Joseph by RoseannaRodman and Jonathan Emery.The other Year 2 children appeared ascharacters from the nativity story. Thechildren’s performance really broughthome the true message of Christmas.At the end of the Summer Term theconcert was started with some delightfulpiano solos by some of our buddinginfant musicians - Ben Ramsden,Roseanna Rodman, Clare Mackinnonand Megan Bailey. Then the childrenpresented The Wild Bunch which hasan environmental theme. This time theNursery also joined in the fun and someof the youngest children knew everyword of every song! Each class was adifferent type of weed and wore colourfulheaddresses cleverly designedby the Infant staff. The Dandelions,Toadflax, Creeping Thistles and Bindweedare concerned when their habitatis threatened by the new owner of theneighbouring hedge. This gardener isready to tear down the hedge andfirmly concrete a fence into placewhen his children spot some rare beeorchids amongst the ‘weeds’. Keento impress his pals at the GardeningClub, the gardener leaves the hedge inplace and encourages the children tostart another wild flower garden. Thelyrics were sometimes quite involvedand containing scientific facts (whocould forget Photosynthesis?), but thechildren demonstrated again what capableand wonderful singers they areand they delighted the audience withtheir enthusiasm.AJL11