Congratulations to the following students who are our Musicians of the Month!
Congratulations to Georgiana Fowler (Year 8 ), Megan Hughes (Year 8) and Ruby Morgan who have all passed their Grade 5 Theory exam. Well done girls!
On Sunday 2nd February, 40 members of Presdales Junior Choir sang with the Hertford Symphony Orchestra in Hertford Theatre to celebrate 40 years of the Robert Kiln Family Trust. In the two concerts, with a theme of “Musical Tales”, we sang a series of songs which got the audience on their feet, singing and dancing along with us. We got to hear the amazing Hertford Symphony Orchestra (who were dressed up for the occasion in a variety of fancy-dress costumes, including a whole bumble bee cello section) and sing classic songs such as “All You Need Is Love” by the Beatles. We also got to hear the orchestra play well-known pieces, such as Hedwig’s Theme, and enjoy readings from well-known books, such as Winnie The Pooh, The Nutcracker (where I played Clara) and Aladdin. Both concerts in the afternoon seemed to fly past in a flash! It was an incredible experience that Presdales Junior Choir will never forget.
By Amber Wingrove and Lola Gardner (Year 8)
• Congratulations to the following pupils on passing their recent instrumental examinations:
Deniz Isingor, ARSM Diploma, and Charlotte Waring, ABRSM Grade 8 Recorder
• The music department is excited to launch its first Inter-House Music Competition on Thursday 6th and Friday 7th February. We welcome all musicians to take part and earn those all important house points.
• 40 singers from Years 7 and 8 are taking part in the Hertford Symphony.
Orchestra: Robert Kiln Concerts for Children: Musical Tales on Sunday 2nd February @ 2:30pm and 4:15pm in the Hertford Theatre (The Wash, Hertford, SG14 1PS).
Tickets are £8 for adults and £5 for children and is suitable for all ages. The concert should last 1 hour with no interval.
It will be an enchanting concert of storytelling and music celebrating the involvement of the Robert Kiln family in the musical life of
Hertford over many years. Dress up as your favourite story character and audience participation is guaranteed! Please do come and show your support.
The Year 10 GCSE Music students held their annual tea-time recital on Thursday 5th December. It was a well-attended event, with parents and teachers enjoying some fantastic music and wonderful homemade cakes – which has always proved to be a winning combination! The students delighted us with a variety of pieces, with many of them switching between multiple instruments. The pupils’ versatility and professionalism shone through – well done to all those involved.
Congratulations to the following students on their recent instrumental examinations:
Esme Sabin – LCM Pop Vocals Grade 4 – Distinction
Olivia Hankin – LCM Pop Vocals Grade 5 – Pass
Juliette McKenna – LCM Musical Theatre Singing Grade 6 – Distinction
Ruby Morgan – Voice Grade 5 – Merit
Presdales Music department hope that you can join us for our annual Carol Service at St Mary’s Church, Ware on Wednesday 18th December at 6pm. As well as joining in with the traditional hymns, you can hear some festive favourites from the Orchestra, Recorder Group, Hand Chimes, Bella Voce Choir, Junior Choir and the Presdales Staff Choir.
There will be refreshments and mince pies available after the event (which should last roughly an hour). No tickets necessary, just turn up with your best singing voices and Christmas cheer.
The music department wishes to say a huge thank you to all of the 100+ students that took part in the concert on Thursday 21st of November. We performed to a sold out audience and were so grateful to have so many family, staff members and friends supporting us by attending the concert. The senior choir kicked off the evening with a medley from ‘Waitress’, and then Queen’s ’Somebody to Love’ with an awesome solo from Talitha Hookway in year 12. A group of year 7s from Music Makers then performed a beautiful rendition of ‘If I Die Young’ from ‘Glee’ with a beautiful solo from Olive Palestanga. Thank you to our 6th form leaders Safia Sipi and Saidhriti Siddantham for running Music Makers. The Recorder Group then wowed the audience with their versatility and comic vibe in Rogers’ ‘A Flippancy’. Ukulele Group gave a beautiful performance of ‘Shallow’ from ‘A Star is Born’ and the Cello group lulled the audience with the beautiful and relaxing Schubert’s ‘Ständchen’, and then showed their versatility with the latin vibes ‘El Choclo’. The flute choir performed the impressive Bach piece, ‘Konzert’, and the Junior Choir finished off the first half with an epic rendition of a Lion King medley with soloists Maddison Scully (Year 7) and Esmé Sabin (Year 8). The Concert Band started off the second half with ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ followed by some Christmassy numbers from The String Group. The Clarinet Group then played a smooth and relaxing piece called ‘Indian Summer’, then the orchestra gave us a swift and joyful waltz with ‘Les Patineurs’ and then performed ‘The Dambusters March’. Bella Voce finished the evening with two Christmas numbers, the first, ‘Where Riches is Everlastingly’, had a percussion trio accompanying and finally Bella Voce performed a complex and technical arrangement of the traditional carol ‘Gaudete’ with soloists Alaina Nwosa and Grace Farrell. Thank you so much to all of the peripatetic teachers involved in this concert, in particular Mrs Slade, Mrs Kirkwood and Mr Woodin. Thank you also to Mr Daniels for his technical help and the PTA for arranging the interval refreshments.
On Friday 22nd of November we were delighted to welcome Kato Ooko to the music department to deliver African Drumming Workshops to some of our classes. Kato has come from working in Grensteds School, near Nairobi, Kenya, and is a proud member of the Luo tribe. Kato spoke of his life growing up in his tribal village and also spoke of city life in Nairobi. Kato taught us that music is strongly linked to the people of Kenya’s identity and demonstrated various rhythms that belong to some of the 43 tribes of Kenya. The students thoroughly enjoyed hearing from Kato about his life but also enjoyed playing the rhythms of the djembes. We would like to thank Kato for visiting our school and hope to welcome him again in the future.
Six of our most talented pianists from our GCSE and A Level classes were selected to play at a piano masterclass with concert pianist Richard Meyrick on Monday 25th November.
It was a wonderful occasion to hear some challenging and varied pieces in the piano repertoire. Richard’s knowledge and expertise was invaluable; where the different editions, technical skill, tone, pedalling and all manner of musicality were discussed and explored.
We hope to host similar events in the future and look forward to inviting Richard to return next year.
Year 7 classes have had a visit from Mrs Dixon in the maths department this term. Mrs Dixon is an expert Hand Bell and Hand Chime player and has been working with a year 11 Hand Chime team for the last couple of years. All Year 7s were introduced to the beautiful instruments that were generously donated to the school by the Presdales PTA. Mrs Dixon is running extra sessions to start a 2nd hand chime team and we would like to encourage all girls from across the years to give it a go. The sessions are on Tuesday at 12.45 in room 17 and Friday at 12.45 in room 17. Just pop along to have a go! Playing the hand chimes gives a great sense of satisfaction from playing in a team and also can be very relaxing and educational as you learn to read the music as you play.
On Tuesday 8th October the music department took 7 A Level students to a conference on “Wit, Style & Unity: Haydn’s Symphony no.104” presented by David Coggins MMus, generously hosted by Queen Anne’s School in Reading. The day was thoroughly enlightening and a real challenge for our A Level students who came away with a greater depth of understanding of our set work.
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Presdales School
Hoe Lane
Ware
Hertfordshire
SG12 9NX
Tel: 01920 462210
admin@presdales.herts.sch.uk
Headteacher:
Mr Warren
