November 2010 - End of Term Activities

It's going to be a busy few days for Music School students in the run-up to Christmas this year.

Firstly we're delighted to be returning to Stephen Hill Methodist Church in Crosspool for our End of Term Concert on 4th December.

Saturday morning Music School on 11th December will be a World Music Workshop led by Henrik Linnemann and John Ball. This event is open to all young musicians.

Our final event before taking a well-earned Christmas break will take place on the evening of 11th December. Sheffield Music School students have been invited to play in the Crucible Foyer before a Music in the Round concert by the Carducci String Quartet. Music School students performing will receive free tickets for the concert.

More details of all these events are on our Diary Page.

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Summer term exam success for Music School students

Once again, Music School students have been very successful in the ABRSM Summer term exams:

• Harry Birch - Grade 5 Violin: Pass
• Ruby Bowler - Grade 4 Piano: Distinction
• James Bradley - Grade 5 Piano: Distinction
• James Bradley - Grade 5 Theory: Distinction
• Lucy Bradley - Grade 8 Alto Saxophone: Distinction
• Sam Castle - Grade 5 Violin: Distinction
• Mia Cokljat - Grade 8 Piano: Merit
• Martha Cooper - Grade 8 Violin: Merit
• Ashley Garfitt - Grade 8 Clarinet: Distinction
• Fran Hales - Grade 6 Pop Singing: Distinction
• Tom Hewitt - Grade 6 Flute: Pass
• Dominic Heyes - Grade 3 Theory: Merit
• Robert Jelinek - Grade 2 Theory: Distinction
• Siobhan Lister - Grade 5 Piano: Merit
• Caitlin Nichol - Grade 8 Violin: Pass
• Emily Peace - Grade 5 Piano: Merit
• Emily Peace - Grade 6 Singing: Distinction
• Lily Seaborne - Grade 7 Violin: Distinction
• Lucy Seaborne - Grade 6 Cello: Pass
• Lucy Seaborne - Grade 4 Piano: Pass

Congratulations to you all on such wonderful results.

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September 2010 - Another Music School Year Begins

The new Music School year begins on September 18th - see our diary for all of this year's rehearsal and concert dates.

This term we have a lot of new students joining Music School, and also 3 new members of staff tutoring ensembles - Kris Garfitt, Gina Walters and Shelagh Webb. Learn more about them on our staff page.

Unfortunately we've been forced to increase our fees slightly this year to make ends meet, but we've also changed the way the family discount is applied so now all families with more than one student at Music School receive a 10% discount, irrespective of which section the children attend. Full details are included in the letter from Trustees.

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19 June 2010 - Junior Music School Performance Class

Last Saturday Junior Music School held a performance class where everyone performed a piece to an audience of their fellow students and staff.

Here's what Emily Marks thought of the morning:

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Further success for Music School students in Spring term exams

Music School students have once again been very successful in the ABRSM Spring term exams:

• Charlotte Hetherington - Grade 8 Bassoon: Distinction
• Charlotte Hetherington - Grade 7 Singing: Distinction
• Katie Withers - Grade 7 Flute: Distinction
• Stephan Jelinek - Grade 7 Clarinet: Distinction
• Naomi Fearon - Grade 7 Viola: Merit
• Fran Hales - Grade 7 Cello: Merit
• George Thickett - Grade 7 Clarinet: Pass
• Pete Hall - Grade 7 Clarinet: Pass
• Fran Hales - Grade 6 Piano: Pass
• Joe Thickett - Grade 5 Clarinet: Pass

Not to be out-done, our Junior Music School students have also been very successful:

• Dominic Heyes - Grade 4 Trombone: Merit
• Dominic Heyes - Grade 3 Piano: Merit
• Max Croft - Grade 3 Viola: Merit
• Alex Bradley - Grade 1 Piano: Distinction

Congratulations to you all on such wonderful results.

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27 March 2010 - Jazz Workshop with Nicola Farnon

On the 27th of March members of Sheffield Music School were joined by jazz vocalist and double bassist Nicola Farnon. The workshop got off to a flying start with Nicola performing her rendition of 'Fever'. Not only did this set the jazzy tone for the rest of the morning but it left us in awe of the fact that she could play the double bass and sing at the same time! Nicola soon had us all involved, clicking along to a melody – a task which sounds a lot simpler than it actually turned out to be. The aim was to click on the 2nd and 4th beats of the bar however it turned out that as stereotypical 'classical' musicians we felt the urge to be regimented and click on the 1st and 3rd beats of the bar; completely going against the rules of jazz.

As a contrast, the morning then continued with some group work. This enabled the juniors and seniors to come together in mixed groups to tackle the next task. Each group was given a few notes of a melody and so it was shared out, passing round the groups in turn. Nicola accompanied us along with Phil and Music School's very own Chris Noble. After several practises the end result sounded pretty polished if not a little improvised by ourselves: however we were to find out that improvisation is the key to jazz.

The morning concluded with us all working together, looking specifically at improvisation and performance. Nicola and the rest of the double basses, accompanied by the piano and the drums provided a consistent baseline and rhythm section while the rest of us interjected with the melody. In-between the melodic sections people were given the opportunity to perform improvised solos and this covered both voice and instruments. Some of us got really into it and decided that stepping and clicking on the 2nd and 4th beats (of course) was absolutely necessary at all times throughout the performance.

After the big finale of the piece, which involved everyone making as much noise as possible and the occasional appearance of jazz hands, we all said a big thank you to Nicola for what had been a truly fabulous morning. It has to be said that great fun was had by all and we all went away having had our eyes opened to the world of jazz.

Charlotte Hetherington

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Congratulations to the Castles!

Sheffield Music School students Sam and James Castle were joined by older brother Harry (a past student of Music School) in winning at this year’s Worksop Music Festival.

• Sam, who is 9, won the under 12 violin class with a fine mark of 88 (distinction).
• James, who is 11, won the under 16 cello class with an excellent mark of 86 (commended).
• Harry, who is 12, won the under 14 and under 16 violin classes, with 86 (commended) and 90 (outstanding), and also went on to win the under 16 piano repertoire class, with 88 (distinction).
• The boys also came together to form a Piano trio and performed No.4 and No.6 of the Frank Bridge Miniatures. They once more triumphed and earned another fantastic mark of 88 (distinction).

Well done boys!!

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23 March 2010 - A Full Weekend of Music

It's been a very busy musical weekend for the students of Sheffield Music School, with many of them playing 3 concerts in 3 days.

The first event was the Music School End of Term concert on Saturday night. This included many fine performances from chamber and jazz ensembles and soloists, but perhaps the most amazing item of the evening was the Junior Music School performance of Dvořák's Symphony No.8, it’s great, mate! The skill and confidence of their playing was wonderful, and their progress since the last concert speaks volumes for both the sudents' hard work and the dedication of their tutors Gemma, Tim and Tom. A recording of their performance will be appearing on our Gallery page soon.

Many of the students were also involved in the Sheffield Music Service Gala Concert held in the City Hall on Sunday night. This included performances by the Senior Orchestra, flute choirs, and clarinet ensembles.

The final performance of the weekend was at the "Tune in - Year of Music" event at The City Hall on March 22nd where students from Sheffield Music School played in the foyer and VIP lounge. Zoe and the rest of the staff would like to congratulate everyone on their wonderful playing. Many people commented on the skills and musical flair that the musicians from the Music School demonstrated, and thought that their presence helped lift the festivities. Well done to you all!

All in all a very successful but tiring weekend, and Music School is taking a well-earned rest until 24th April after this weekend's jazz workshop with Nicola Farnon.

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Scholarships for Music School Students

Congratulations to James Castle and Georgina Boot on being awarded music scholarships to attend Mount St Mary’s College in September 2010. The following is a quote from Lucy Kitchener, Director of Music at Mount St. Mary’s:

"We are delighted to welcome James and Georgina as music scholars to Mount St Mary's College from September 2010. They both show exceptional promise, and have already achieved a good standard as a result of their hard work and commitment. We look forward to seeing their involvement in the wide range of musical activities on offer here at The Mount."

Mount St Mary's College is a Jesuit boarding and day school for pupils aged 11-18. It is not academically selective, and its ethos is to nurture and develop all aspects of young people. Music has a very high profile within the college and local community, and each year the college awards a number of music scholarships for pupils of exceptional talent and promise. The music department has a strong choral tradition, and 25% of pupils at the school sing in one of the five choirs. In addition, there are numerous instrumental ensembles run by specialist teaching staff. Choirs and ensembles are heavily involved in the extensive concert programme in school, as well as participating in various local and national festivals. It has taken part in large scale cooperative ventures with other schools, and encourages pupils to perform regularly.

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Winter term exam success for Music School students

• Rachel Ward - Grade 8 Flute: Distinction
• Rachel Carlile - Grade 8 Viola: Distinction
• Charlotte Hetherington - Grade 7 Bassoon: Distinction
• Ben Grant - Grade 7 Cello: Distinction
• Siobhan Lister - Grade 7 Cello: Distinction
• Lucy Bradley - Grade 7 Flute: Distinction
• Jenny Grant - Grade 7 Violin: Merit

Congratulations to you all! What amazing results.

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February 2010 - Sheffield Music School and CSYO

Music School have been offered discounted tickets to attend the next CSYO concert on the 10th April 2010. The concert will be at Ecclesall Parish Church and the programme will include Symphony no.10 by Shostakovich. The tickets are for side pew seats which are very close to the orchestra, so you will feel part of the experience! Tickets are for Music School students only and are priced at £2. If you would like to reserve a ticket please contact Zoe for further information.

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January 2010 - New Head of Junior Music School

It was with great sadness that we said goodbye at the end of last term to Selina Slater. As Head of Junior Music School, Selina was a wonderful inspiration to our younger students, and also provided great support to Zoe in taking over as Director.

On a positive note, Gemma Hankins has agreed to take over as Head of Junior Music School. Gemma has been working alongside Selina with the juniors for some time now, and her leadership skills and enthusiasm will continue to inspire. Tim Page will also join Gemma and Tom Spencer as a member of staff in Junior Music School, and we look forward to watching his creative flair rub off on the youngsters.

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17 December 2009 - Sheffield Oratorio Concert

Two ensembles and a soloist from Sheffield Music School performed in Sheffield Oratorio's Christmas Concert at St Mark's church in Broomhill. The pieces included Kummer's Rondo from Duet No.2 by our cello duet of Lucy Seabourne and James Castle, the 1st movement from Telemann's Sonata in F minor by bassoon soloist Charlotte Hetherington, and Felix Arndt's Nola played by the clarinet quartet of Stephanie Peacock, Clare Carlile, George Thickett and Pete Hall.

There were many good comments made about the performers' abilities, and after the concert Music School received a generous donation from the Sheffield Oratorio president and his wife for which we are very grateful.

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5 December 2009 - Successful Workshop

A report from Rachel Ward, one of our students, on the workshop held on the last day of the Music School term:

The Dalcroze method is improvising with your whole body as well as singing and playing. We had a workshop in Dalcroze with Helen Wenham, an ex member of Music School. We started with a warm up to get us all to loosen up. This was pretty hilarious as some of us had terrible balance! We then split into pairs and had to copy each others movements to the beat of a drum, making sure we did our movements forwards, backwards, left and right.

We then got into a circle and had to think of movements for either 2:4, 3:4, or 4:4 time. Some people thought of crazy movements which were kind of impossible to do gracefully. Whilst Helen went to work with the juniors, we had to get into groups of 4 and come up with a canon either in 2:4, 3:4, or 4:4. This was quite hard, as none of us in our group were very good at thinking of movements to do, and putting it into a canon was sometimes quite challenging as some of us ended up at the same time.

Seeing what everyone had come up with was very funny, as some of the guys just decided to do a weird version of Y.M.C.A.

It was a very fun morning, and would definitely like to do it again, although I was in pain for the next 4 days! Helen was lovely to work with and it would be great to have her back at music school.

"The morning was a very good, and very fun experience, and taught me that music is more than playing an instrument or singing."  Tom Bradley

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28 November 2009 - End of Term Concert

An audience of over 100 enjoyed our End of Term Concert held at the Salvation Army Citadel on Psalter Lane. All of the students enjoyed performing as part of their ensembles and choir in this great venue.

For the first time in several years, we also recorded the concert and produced a CD. Go to our Audio Gallery to listen to some of the tracks.