MUSIC REPORT 2017-2018
Michaelmas term Mini-Concert
The Mini-Concert set the musical year off to an
excellent start. Some performers had only just started
learning their instruments, including Holly Briggs who
played “Au Clair de la Lune” on her flute after just 5
lessons. Other more seasoned performers
demonstrated just what could be achieved after learning
their instruments for a year or two; Clara Stewart
playing “Asian Tiger Prowl” on the piano with a strong
sense of rhythm being just one example. Several pupils
showed their musical ability across a range of
instruments; Charlotte Stone played a piano solo, a
lovely flute solo and as part of the recorder group.
Isabella Darvell also played a piano solo, in the recorder
group and a violin solo. The concert was brought to a
close with Hattie Cobb’s beautiful singing of Handel’s
“Dove Sei”.
Pre-Prep Nativity
This year’s nativity play was written by Mrs. Cobb,
entirely in rhyme. It included several traditional carols.
The Reception class’s rendition of “Away in a Manger”
was the sweetest singing in the whole play. The Year 2
cohort are excellent singers, many of whom were eager
to sing solo or in small groups; Thea Hibbs sang a solo
as the first innkeeper , the second innkeepers a duet
and the kings and their helpers sang trios. All the
children did extremely well to learn so many songs; new
ones this year including “Here we come a-wassailing”
and “Girls and Boys”.
Carol Service
Despite many flu-like bugs going around, this year’s
carol, service was one of the best of recent years. The
Brass Group (several of whom only started learning
their instrument in September) established a festive feel
before the service began with “Jingle Bells”, which
involved wonderful slides from the trombones. Hattie
Cobb set the standard for the service with a perfect,
tuneful and very musical solo verse of “Once in Royal
David’s City”. All the musical and dramatic items that
followed were excellent. Everyone watched the
conductor and sang beautifully, the choir really rising to
the occasion and giving their best performance of
several carols. The 2 items that parents liked best were
the 2-part Italian Lullaby “Ninnananna” and the staff
choir ( of course) with their resonating “Ding Dongs”
from the men and altos. As well as singing in the staff
choir, Mr Bull also deserves mention for his
commanding voice of God in the Year 4 drama! The
collection raised a total of £361.57 for the charity
Shelter.
Lent term Mini-Concert
This Mini-Concert show -cased a wonderful variety of
performances. Several pupils made their debut; Eliza
Elvidge (Y2) played Perpetual Motion on her tiny violin
and got the biggest round of applause and Oliver
McCollum played Tirando Tornado by our guitar teacher,
Mr Currey. As last term, several pupils showed their
skill by performing on two instruments; Isabella Darvell
(violin and piano), Jack Dicconson (trombone and voice),
Katy Brown (voice and piano) and Lydia Bousfield (voice
and trombone). When I announced that this was the
final Mini-Concert of the year there was such dismay
and demand to perform that I quickly vowed to
somehow fit one into the Summer Term.
HomeStart Concert in York Minster
The Prep School Choir performed at York Minster in a
special choral concert in aid of voluntary organisation
Home-Start. They joined choirs from five junior schools
across York in the magnificent venue to sing “Jonah-Man
Jazz”, the pop-cantata about Jonah and the Whale by
Michael Hurd. BBC Look North presenter Harry
Gration MBE took on the role of narrator. I also got the
chance to sing, joining the combined senior school
choirs as they performed Gabriel Faure’s Requiem. To
finish the concert all the junior and senior choirs (over
400 singers) joined together to perform the hymn “The
Spacious Firmament on High”, composed by Richard
Shephard MBE for Home-Start York ... a wonderful finale
which was a treat for the eyes and ears. One of our
Choir Leaders, Hattie Cobb, was selected to present a
bouquet to Harry Gration, the concert’s host, at the end
of the evening. An estimated £8,500 was raised for
HomeStart.
Easter Celebration
This year’s Easter celebration was filled with drama and
music. Each year group enacted some of the events of
Holy Week, interspersed with appropriate music. The
dramas were very thought-provoking, as well as being
visually interesting; Mrs Hughes again choosing to end
the Year 5 and 6 dramas with a tableau recreating the
scene from famous works of art; The Entry into
Jerusalem by Pietro Lorenzetti and The Arrest of Christ
by Giotto. The choir sang a Taize anthem, “Eat this
Bread”( after only 2 rehearsals), with solo verses from
five Year 6 pupils and then a complicated unaccompanied
2-part song with an additional descant line and recorder
interludes played by Hattie Cobb, Islay Cunliffe-Lister,
Charlotte Stone and Carys Haeney, “Easter Story” by
Jan Holdstock. It also had solo parts for Oliver Foster
and Niamh Clements in the roles of Jesus and Mary. The
orchestra gave an excellent performance of “Lord of the
Dance”. However, the most moving musical moment
was one that I hadn’t known about beforehand; when
Jack Dicconson sang “Amazing Grace” powerfully and
with great conviction as part of the Year 4 drama.
Pontefract Music Festival
The Prep School Choir got off to an excellent start in
the Pontefract Music Festival. The first class was the
Hymn and Sacred Song class in which they reprised
“The Easter Story” and “Ninevah City” from “Jonah-Man
Jazz”. Their performance was given the top grade,
Honours, “outstanding artistically and technically” and
awarded 1st place. Unison Singing was the next class,
gaining another Honours grading. Unfortunately this
time we were beaten into second place by a choir
whose performance contained some harmony! Well
done to many of our pupils for their perceptive listening
skills…and for graciously accepting defeat. We were
awarded Distinctions in both our other 2 classes,
coming 2nd in both. Our thanks go to Mr Cooper for
his reliable and supportive accompaniments.
HMC Singing Day
The choir had worked very hard learning, preparing and
then giving some of their best performances at
Pontefract, so this year were rewarded with a new
venture; the HMC Junior Singing Day at Yarm School.
This provided the perfect antidote to the pressures of
competitive singing - a fun day learning 4 new part songs
with over 200 choristers from 7 other Prep Schools
under 2 excellent choir masters. What a wonderful
sound they made!
The Piper
The story of the Pied Piper of Hamlyn was Years 3 & 4’s
musical play this year. They had 12 songs to learn off-by-
heart. They sang them all wonderfully, never shouting,
even managing to sing in 3 parts; an excellent
achievement for such young singers. There were
beautiful solos from Katy Brown, Jack Dicconson and
Thomas Haeney and a superb duet from Katy and Jack.
One audience member commented that it was like
being at a West End Musical!
Summer Term Mini-Concert
There isn’t normally a Mini-Concert in the Summer
term, but due to the eagerness of Year 6 pupils (and
their parents) an extra one was squeezed into the
schedule. Parents commented on the very high standard
of performance, especially from the Year 6 pupils;
Imogen Spear, Charlotte Stone, Isabella Darvel, Ella
Smith, Islay Cunliffe-Lister, Carys Haeney and Hattie
Cobb. Of course the younger pupils played well too;
Lydia Bousfield on her saxophone, the 4th or 5th
different instrument she’s played in our Mini-Concerts.
The event was a fitting swan-song for our talented Year
6 pupils.
Revolting Rhymes
When Roald Dahl wrote his Revolting Rhymes he
couldn’t have envisaged that Mrs. Hughes would turn
them into plays with the addition of some carefully
chosen songs. “Into the Woods” from Stephen
Sondheim’s musical of the same name opened the
evening with the whole cast singing. Hattie Cobb and
Oliver Foster were a wonderful Red Riding Hood and
the Wolf, singing “Hello Little Girl” (from the same
musical and one of the most challenging songs ever
attempted at the Prep School) really well. Lucy Coles
was a cross Goldilocks who sang her verse in the
‘Teddy Bears’ Picnic’ beautifully, as did the trio of
Daddy, Mummy and Baby Bear (Luca Maude, Carys
Haeney and Charles Roberts).
House Music
Each House presented their own version of “Don’t
Build Your House on the Sandy Land”, supposedly to
make it easier for the judges to compare Houses,
although the variety of interpretations was so
inventive that Mr Burke (one of our Governors) and
his daughter Emma (Prep School Choir Leader 8 years
ago) had a difficult task. Year 6 pupils also had their
work cut out to choose and organise a song for their
whole house to sing, most of which incorporated solo
sections from several pupils. Byland’s Hattie Cobb
cleverly changed the lyrics of “Oh My Gosh!” to
reflect the challenges of House Music. There were also
solo items from a Y3/4 pupil and a Y5/6 pupil from
each House. That every House chose to present a
solo singer is a credit to our wonderful singing
teacher, Mr Thornton-Holmes, who is retiring this
term. I wish he could have been there to hear them;
Hattie Cobb sang “My Ship”, Fountains had Katy
Brown singing “Bella Bimba”, Jack Dicconson sang
“Never Enough” for Jervaulx and Emily O’Gram
represented Rievaulx with “A Million Dreams”.
Charlotte Stone playing “Take Five” on her flute and
the whole house dressed up in Hawaiin garlands and
grass skirts to sing “How Far I’ll Go” helped their
house, Fountains, to victory. Thanks to Mr and Emma
Burke for their knowledgeable judgements and
positive comments.
Summer Concert
Three days later many pupils were making music again
at the Summer Concert. The best in 12 years in my
opinion. Apart from the fact that all the Prep
ensembles gave their best performances, what really
made the evening special was the presence of our
pupils in the auditorium the whole time. Not only did
they feel much more a part of proceedings, they could
(and did) listen in awe to the Senior School
performances. Our choir sang 3 songs reprised from
Pontefract Music Festival, but this time benefitting
from being more polished and feeling more relaxed.
The orchestra were well-balanced and played 3
contrasting pieces very well. The brass group, currently
made-up of Y4 & 5 pupils, showed a great deal of
promise in their pieces, which came together well
after very few rehearsals. The recorder group got a
great reaction from the audience with their rendition
of “Rock-a-Bye-Baby” and “Old MacDonald” with
their amusing raspberries and farmyard noises! The
success of the evening can be judged by the large
number of Year 6 performers who eagerly told me
which ensemble they want to join when they get to
the Senior School.
Prize-Giving
The year ended with some musical highlights at Prize-
Giving. The staff choir set a high standard with a lively
performance of “Rock ‘n’ Roll Around”, a 3-part song
with actions. This was one of their best performances
to date, mainly because they smiled rather than
looking terrified! PrePrep performed their now
traditional song “One Little Voice”, with solos from
Lucinda O’Gram and Daisy Groves. Isabella Darvel
was awarded the Music prize and played “Over the
Rainbow” on her violin and Hattie Cobb sang “Dove
Sei” by Handel and was awarded the T.C. Music
Trophy. And of course Year 6 rounded things off with
their song “Goodbye Old School”.
As always I must end my report with a big “thank-you”
to all the visiting instrumental music teachers and to
Mr Cooper whose help is vital to supporting the
budding musicians at the Prep School.
Mrs Dance
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