It’s the season of goodwill and great musical performances in schools
The Magic of Christmas School Concerts That Inspire Community and Confidence
As the festive season draws near, like many other schools we look forward to showcasing and celebrating our young talent through the joy of the performing arts. As someone who grew up with the choral tradition, Christmas has always been one of my favourite times of the year for musical performance. Whether that is a formal festival of nine lessons and carols, or community carol-singing that unites people from all walks of life, it is a wonderful time of year to bring people together and to harness that all-important sense of community spirit.
Because music has the power to bring people together, from a school perspective, performances usually involve students across different year groups who collaborate musically across a range of different musical ensembles, from choirs to orchestras and bands. Performing in musical events at school provides students with a fantastic opportunity to showcase what they have been working on during rehearsals each term. That being said, students sometimes find this a daunting experience at first, particularly if they are performing in front of their peers. Yet the more opportunities students have at school both for solo and musical ensemble performances, the greater confidence they will build over time.
This year, our school is hosting its Michaelmas Concert, a large-scale music event involving more than 150 of our student musicians. The event will showcase the tremendous work of each of our instrumental and vocal ensembles. What is wonderful about this event is that all ensembles have an opportunity to perform in this concert, regardless of how long they have been learning their instrument or the level to which they play or sing. For instance, our junior orchestra, Sinfonia, will be performing in the concert as will our most advanced instrumental ensemble the Chamber Orchestra.
Walking in the air: Key Concert Highlights
It is vital that as schools, we provide a range of musical opportunities for all students whilst also providing a platform for our most advanced musicians to perform. Two particular highlights of this concert will be a performance of Bob Chilcott’s A Little Jazz Mass sung by the Polyphonix Choir. We are fortunate to have Bob Chilcott as the school’s Resident Composer and our students will have the opportunity to work on this piece with him prior to the Michaelmas concert. Likewise, our Symphony Orchestra will be performing the music for The Snowman with the film itself playing alongside them, which we are sure will be a truly magical performance.
The Carol Service
Having recently joined as Director of Music this academic year, this will be my first carol service with the school and this year it promises to be an incredible musical event. The service itself takes place at a church in Kensington and all four of the music department’s choirs will perform. These choirs include: ‘Once Removed’ (a choir for students in Year 7), ‘In harmony’ (a choir for students in Year’s 8-9), ‘Polyphonix’ (a non-auditioned choir for any students who enjoy singing in year’s 10-13) and the auditioned Sixth form choir ‘Prima Voce’. The choirs will each perform a wonderful selection of choral pieces including Tavener’s The Lamb, Rutter’s Shepherd’s Pipe Carol and a movement from Britten’s Ceremony of Carols. In addition to the choir pieces, there will be ample opportunity for congregational carol singing as part of the service.
A seasonal highlight
What has perhaps struck me the most during my first half term at the school is how passionate our students are about their music. They show such incredible enthusiasm for performing music with other musicians across the school community and one student even told me that the carol service is one of the highlights of her year. The students across all of the music ensembles at school have been collaborating brilliantly in rehearsals in preparation for these two large-scale events.
Although Christmas is a wonderful time of year to bring our community together through the joy of music, it’s also important to recognise the unwavering commitment, resilience and focus our students show throughout their performances and in the lead up to them. Such performances take a great amount of planning, practice and perseverance. By participating in these kinds of musical events, our students also learn a number of transferable skills that can be applied across a range of contexts and subjects. Whether that is nurturing their general musicianship or learning about good time management while developing their listening and organisational skills, there is much to be gained. Yet perhaps most important of all is the spirit of teamwork and camaraderie that comes from participating in musical performance.
Alex Leadbeater is the Director of Music at Downe House School. See more at downehouse.net
