End of Year Music Concerts

Summer Concert

Following its cancellation in 2020 and a recorded version in 2021, it was absolutely wonderful to have the 2022 Summer Concert in front of a live audience. The beautiful setting of St Nicholas Parish Church in Ash enhanced the occasion; it was an evening to savour. Standing in front of the wonderful children in our Choir and Orchestra, listening to the amazing talent among the Year 6 soloists, enjoy the String Orchestra and Chamber Choir, and forget that these are primary school children. The standard achieved on Monday evening was nothing short of incredible, and is testament to the hard work and dedication of the children who came along to perform. The professionalism, ability and musicality on show was something which wouldn’t be out of place in a secondary school. 

There was a wide range of styles on show from our soloists, from Baroque to Jazz and a great deal in between. Our Orchestra performed ‘A Night on the Bare Mountain’, with all the drama you’d expect from a professional performance of this piece – congratulations again to Evelina and Arabella for their solos. We had a lovely rendition, in three parts, of ‘Blue Moon’ arranged for the Chamber Choir by former pupil Charley Woodhead and a combination of two well-known Welsh folk songs, performed by our String Orchestra. The vast majority of children however, were there to sing with our Choir. We opened the concert with a number from hit musical ‘School of Rock’, before concluding with a bit of ‘tar-an-tara-ing’ in Pirates of Penzance! 

Thank you so much to all the children who came along – hopefully they thought it was worthwhile turning up! Thank you also to our audience, and particularly all the parents and grandparents who pay for lessons and encourage the children in their musical exploits. Thanks to the teachers of the children who performed this evening – we have a great team of peripatetic teachers who all go above and beyond their ‘contracted hours’ for the benefit of our children.  I’m also grateful to Mr Woodhead for his help in accompanying the solos and ensembles and to Mrs Woodhead, who is a constant support and conductor of both Chamber Choir and String Orchestra. 

Year Group Concerts

We have now completed our first set of Year Group Concerts, meaning that all children in school, from Early Years to Year 6, have had the chance to perform in front of an audience in the last couple of weeks. It has been wonderful to hear the progress the children have made this year.

In the EYFS concert, Lower Nursery sang on the stage in Kerruish Hall for the first time we had several action songs (including one in two different parts for Upper Nursery), solo performances on drums and piano and a chance for the Reception Recorder Club to perform too.  

All children in Years 1 and 2 learn the recorder and they performed pieces using several different notes – Year 1 playing B, A and G with the older children in Year 2 going beyond this. 1R even had a sneaky extra practice during their assembly this week!  

In Years 3 and 4 we move onto the violin, beginning with the open strings. In Year 4 we add in notes needing left hand fingering and the children have coped very well with this difficult technique. Particularly impressive when you consider that they don’t take the instruments home and don’t practice in between their weekly Music lessons. 

The trumpet is the instrument children play in Year 5. They performed music requiring notes from C to G and also gave a trumpet demonstration, showing parents the warming up process they go through at the start of each lesson. Some children have progressed further this year and were able to play high C in the concert, resulting in pieces in three parts. 

Alongside all of this instrumental playing there was singing (again, with everybody taking part) and solo opportunities for children who had not previously performed this year. 

Thank you to all the children for their help in setting up the concerts and for their fantastic performances! Well done, everyone!