Music
T
Chapel and Taylor Hall provided the space and ventilation required and so both Senior and Kirby Choirs were able to start singing, albeit in slightly reduced numbers. The main focus was on having fun singing together again after a silence of six months. There were a few opportunities to perform in online services and mention here should be made of Wolfgang Robinson, who confidently sang the hymn, ‘ O God our help in ages past’ for the Remembrance service. For the online Carol Service, the Senior Choir and Kirby Choir joined forces (virtually) in the singing of a selection of carols with Vince Collett providing a lovely solo in ‘ O little town of Bethlehem ’. The Senior Choir also sang the ever-popular carol, ‘ O Holy Night ’ and the whole service was expertly filmed and edited by Reverend Goodwin-Hudson.
Instrumental groups were gradually able to start rehearsing again as the term progressed. A short video was released at the end of term, highlighting the Orchestra, Jazz Band and Rock Band. Upper Sixth pupil Tom Choi played the solo violin part beautifully in ‘ Méditation ’ by Massenet and the whole orchestra gave an impressive account of the Waltz No.2 by Shostakovich, with Mrs Owen doing a stalwart job on percussion. The Rock Band gave us ‘ Crazy ’ by Gnarls Barkley with excellent vocals from Emily Burne, Albie Sibson-Harris and Phoebe Smith and strong instrumental support from Ben Cox, Poppy Monckton, Molly Kemp- Jones and Toyosi Oshodi. Finally, Jazz Band, under the direction of Mrs Owen, performed Ellington’s classic number, ‘ C Jam Blues ’. As the festive season grew ever closer, Kirby
here was a feeling of optimism in the air as the Michaelmas Term began. After the previous summer of online learning, it was good to be back in school with the promise of some live music-making being possible once again. It was a particular pleasure to see our visiting music teachers return and they all rose splendidly to the challenge of delivering Covid-19-friendly lessons. Face masks were worn, screens were erected, distance was kept and instruments were cleaned fastidiously. Unfortunately, public performances were not allowed and this restriction was to remain for the rest of the academic year. Nevertheless, we were not to be deterred by this obstacle and preparations were quickly underway for the annual Cabaret event which this time was recorded for viewing on the school’s YouTube channel. There were some excellent performances, too many to name them all here, but a few stood out in particular. Emilia Möbius, new to the school this year, gave a stylish performance of Hotel California , both singing and playing the piano; Music Scholar, Marianne Robinson’s violin playing of Survivor was rhythmically assured and provided welcome contrast to some of the other pieces on offer; First Form pupil, Ashwin Muralitharan, enchanted us with a heartfelt rendition of ‘ Where is Love? ’ from the musical, Oliver . Initially all singing activities had to be limited to small groups with adequate distance between pupils. Fortunately the
LAWRENTIAN 2021 48
Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog