Music News and Headlines

Spring Concert Wednesday 28th March 2012 at the HG Wells Centre

London College of Music Exams

London College of Music
Music Theatre Singing Exams

Congratulations to the following pupils who achieved brilliant results in their recent singing exams:

Natalie Mackenzie-Shannon Grade 3 Merit

Phoebe Rourke Grade 3 Merit

Eleanor Forster-Knight Grade 3 Distinction

Victoria Howard Grade 5 Distinction

Abigail Lee Grade 6 Merit

Pippa Boorman Grade 6 Distinction

Zoe Taylor Grade 6 Distinction

Mary Crew Grade 6 Distinction

Katy Russell Grade 6 Distinction

Oliver Joseph Grade 6 Distinction

Helen Thomas Grade 6 Distinction

Particular mention must go to the following two pupils who achieved distinctions at Grade 8 – a phenomenal achievement.

Rosie Aldridge Grade 8 87 Distinction

Polly Morgan Grade 8 90 Distinction

Our thanks go to Mrs Weber and Mrs Lee who prepared the pupils for their exams and Mr Perkins who played all the piano accompaniments.

Surrey Show Choir Competition

Surrey Show Choir Finals – Friday 9th March

An intrepid group of 22 singers set off for Dorking Halls on Friday to take part in the finals of the Surrey Show Choir Competition. Audition had been by DVD so we had not had a chance to size up the competition.

We arrived in time for our rehearsal and took straight to the stage with our version of ‘Rhythm of Life’ from Sweet Charity, with a very demanding piano part played by Mrs Walker. After sorting out a few technical issues and getting used to the size of the stage, we moved onto our second number; ‘Blame it on the Boogie’. The pupils all performed with great energy and verve and didn’t let the sense of occasion distract them at all.

We were then fortunate enough to be able to watch some of the other schools rehearse and spent some time critiquing their choice of song! We had also prepared some harmony parts for the joint item ‘Seasons of Love’ from the musical Rent and it was lovely to be able to join together with all the other schools to create a massed choir of almost a hundred singers.

The final performance was a great success and Gordon’s pupils came off the stage buzzing with adrenaline. The camaraderie between the different schools was really lovely, with shouts of good luck ringing down the corridors from other schools. At the end of the first half, all the choirs were treated to an amazing performance by the ACM Gospel Choir (who reached the semi-finals of the BBC programme Last Choir Standing). After the intervals, two choirs were put forward to the final audience vote. Unfortunately Gordon’s didn’t make it through to the final two, but we enjoyed being able to vote for the overall winner – The Beacon School.

We returned to school shattered, but full of ideas for next year and having had a great day of music-making.

Photographs of Friday’s competition at Dorking Halls can be seen on:  Click Here

DVDs are available @ £ 8.00 per disc (incl. p.&p) or £ 5.00 per DVD for multiple orders from the photographer.

Brass Subsidies

We are delighted to announce a new subsidy for those pupils wishing to begin playing a musical instrument.  For pupils starting brass or string lessons, the first half a term of tuition will be provided free of charge, a saving of around £50.  If you wish to find out more about instrumental lessons at Gordon’s, and how they work, please follow the link on this page.

Surrey Schools’ Show Choir

We are very pleased to announce that Gordon’s Show Choir has made it to the finals of the Surrey Show Choir Competition, which will be held on the evening of Friday 9th March in Dorking Halls. Our audition DVD of ‘Rhythm of Life’ from Sweet Charity clearly grasped the judges attention, along with the choreography of Olivia Sharma (yr 8).  We are now busy preparing a second piece for the live final – our very own version of the Jackson 5 classic ‘Blame it on the Boogie.’

Samba Drumming

A small but enthusiastic group met on Saturday afternoon to take part in the Samba drumming workshop.

We learnt about the key instruments of the samba school, having a go at playing the surdo, the tambourim and the ganza. We also found out how to interpret the hand symbols of the leader so that we could perform as a group. By the end of the session we were sambaing round the Rec, led by a trumpeter, sounding pretty professional.

Our thanks go to Raul from Inspireworks who led the session and the pupils from Holy Trinity School who came to share the session with us

 

Gamelan Workshop

On Tuesday 5th October 2011 , 26 intrepid musicians from year 10 and year 12, set off to Chobham St Lawrence School for a very different afternoon of music-making. The pupils had been invited to take part in an Indonesian music workshop.

   

Indonesian music is called Gamelan and comes in two forms: Balinese and Javanese. We had the opportunity to try the Balinese style and the pupils were immediately impressed by the variety of instruments and their beautiful designs. During the course of the workshop, pupils tried their hand at several different instruments and learnt a piece. The process of playing gamelan is quite hypnotic and several of our chattier pupils managed to stay totally absorbed for the whole hour! In addition pupils learnt several key points about the cultural aspects of playing gamelan such as taking your shoes off as a mark of respect to the instrument and never stepping over the instruments.

They also experienced first hand the amazing sound effects created by the micro-tuning of instruments, where two instruments side by side are tuned slightly differently. When they are struck at the same time, it creates and amazing ‘shimmering’ sound called ‘ombak’.

Our thanks go to Mike from Inspireworks who led the workshop and the organizers of Chobham Schools Prom who made the whole event possible.