For the past few months I have been ringing with Presdales handchime team for about half an hour a week. I have just joined the year 11s on Fridays, which means I can play then as well as on Tuesday, so now I play for about an hour each week.

Miss teaches us a lot of different things like how to read music, damp, vibrate and many other things. I have now almost reached my second certificate. Miss even colours the notes red and blue for us so that we know which hand to use and when to play. She also counts the beats and, when we get stuck, she shows us where we are.

Just before Christmas break I had the opportunity to play at our local church. It was amazing. We got there a few hours before it began and we practised. We had to wait a long time after that because others were practising. When we got on the stage to perform I was so scared I was going to mess up, but I didn’t. Our whole team played beautifully and when we were done everybody in the church clapped. I hope to have another opportunity like that.

Miss has made playing handchimes fun and easy to learn. I am so pleased I happened to enter the right classroom at the right time.

Cynthia (Year 7)

(Note from ‘Miss’: the certificates mentioned are for the Crescendo scheme, run by the Handbell Ringers of Great Britain. 4 certificates are available as the ringers gain more skills. pp,mp,mf & ff)

Exam Success

Congratulations to the following students on their recent examinations:

Trinity Music Exam Results: Marnie Whitaker – Grade 5 Flute (Merit) Jessica Argent – Grade 1 Piano (Distinction) Sophie Pratt – Grade 8 Violin (Distinction) Charlotte Waring – Grade 5 Singing (Distinction) Isabelle Sansford – Grade 1 Singing (Merit) Katie Wells – Grade 5 Singing (Distinction) Azaria Gayle – Grade 5 Singing (Merit)

ABRSM Music Exam Results: Skye Kingston – Grade 4 Violin (Pass) Hannah Wood – Grade 2 Piano (Merit) Amelie Holmes – Grade 1 Piano (Merit) & Grade 1 Cello (Merit) Rachel Harvey – Grade 3 Piano (Merit) & Grade 2 Cello (Merit) Amy Lam – Grade 6 Violin (Pass) Adesola Jinadu-Adewale – Grade 4 Violin (Merit) Iona Scully – Grade 1 Piano (Pass)

Upcoming Event

On Friday 17th January in the afternoon, Year 8 had the pleasure of watching a performance by Anthony Glenn from “Shaking up Shakespeare”. Year 8 had been studying “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and this fast-paced one man show brought the plot and characters to life in a highly engaging way. Several girls were involved in taking parts and there was much hilarity, as Shakespeare intended.

Sarah Culley

‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ Reviews 

The ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ production was a one-man show that encouraged the audience to participate as characters. The first part of the play was where a few members of the audience volunteered to become the main characters of the play. Then, a few people volunteered to become The Mechanicals and the Fairies. It turned Shakespeare’s plays into a comedy. At points in the performance, there were songs, which everyone enjoyed and laughed at. The best part was when he kept inviting the audience to join him on stage, as many people in the audience wanted to volunteer. I enjoyed the physical theatre and costumes as it brought the play to life. It also made everyone laugh! In summary, I enjoyed the play and I laughed a lot.

By Amy Adams (Year 8)

On Friday the 17th of January, we had Mr Anthony Glenn in school to do his one man show ‘Shaking up Shakespeare’ for all of year 8. Mr Glenn started the performance with a short humorous introduction, telling us about himself and starting with some audience interaction. He then selected an audience member to come up and do a warm up; it got everyone excited and buzzing for his performance. He then picked the main characters to begin with, and began his witty interpretation of the play. It was very accurate and, though it was humorous, a lot of detail and information was portrayed in his performance. He managed to use as many of the audience members as possible, given the characters available, and those who weren’t chosen still felt involved, thanks to the large amount of audience participation. Even when small hiccups in the play occurred, he just laughed and made a clever joke about it, adding to the humour of the show. Not only was the show hilarious and highly enjoyable, but it was also very educational as he recited several passages from the play and had a discussion with us about the play afterwards. He let us discuss not only the play but him, Shakespeare and acting in general. We asked lots of questions and we received great answers back! Overall, I found the performance fast-paced, witty, very funny, educational and interesting. I do hope we will get to see another performance of his.

By Esme Sabin (Year 8)

It was a hilariously funny performance which my friends and I enjoyed all the way through. I enjoyed the audience participation and the costumes. The volunteers were made to wear a costume used to portray Thisbe which was a messy blonde wig, a long dress and a fake beard. The girl who portrayed Puck (Robin Good-fellow) wore some funny glasses and made a funny noise when pretending to fly. The man performing kept the audience excited at all times and everyone clapped along when he started to sing. One of the things my friends and I probably found funniest was when he wore a wig pretending to be Helena. The reason we found it so funny was because the wig kept falling off his head. It was good how he remembered all the Shakespearian lines and that he could say them so quickly. Although he did rush around a lot trying to find the props he needed but it slightly added to the humour of it because when it came to his next line he was out of breath. We also enjoyed how he got the volunteers to say their lines despite how quiet or nervous they were. It was a hilarious one man show of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream and we all very much enjoyed it.

By Evie Mordecai (Year 8)