It has been a busy and exciting time in the Music department!
Juilliard Artist Visits:
Last week we had an awe-inspiring visit from Juilliard Alumni and world-class flautist, Jasmine Choi. Jasmine led a masterclass with our flute group, giving them top tips to improve their technique. She also performed for students, playing a wide variety of pieces that demonstrated many unique and interesting ways to play the flute, even recreating the sound of a train! In the afternoon, Jasmine spent time in an intimate family ‘House Concert’ where she openly answered personal questions from the audience about her journey into music and gave stunning performances. Thank you to all parents who attended and enjoyed this magical evening. If you were unable to attend, we hope you enjoyed the short video on Facebook, showing highlights of the day.
“It was inspiring to see the joy and skill that Jasmine has for the flute and it was great for the children to learn more about her approach to life and the determination she needed to achieve her dream. Aside from the incredible music, we thought it was very special to hear a musician of such quality talking about her life in an honest and humble way. It meant the children could relate to her as a real person and engage with her story at a deeper level – this was evident in the car on the way home where we had many interesting conversations about whether you are born with determination, what is success, the importance of finding things you love doing… and a slightly scary discussion of whether you would leave home soon to do something you loved. Anyway – we all enjoyed it and she is a fabulous role model.”
Kerry Merrill (Parent)
These Juilliard Artist visits are an amazing opportunity for our young people and I am delighted to announce that our next Artist, trumpeter Liam Day will be in school on Monday 20th March for another fun-filled and inspirational day. If you would like to find out more about Liam, please take a look at his website www.williamblakeday.com!
Juilliard Curriculum Specialist Visits:
Next week, we have our second visit from Juilliard Curriculum Specialist and Juilliard Alumni, Erin Wight. Erin is a Teaching Artist for both Carnegie Hall and the New York Philharmonic, and also works with the Juilliard team on the development of resources and activities used in our classrooms. Whilst here, Erin will teach and observe lessons, lead professional development sessions, and lead a masterclass with our string group. We are delighted to be welcoming Erin back and know that the students are also excited to see her again! If you are interested to see what the Juilliard Programme means for your child on a daily basis in the classroom, please do follow our music twitter feed @MusicNAISHK for regular updates!
Global Virtual Choir:
KS2 Choir and Advanced Choir have been working extremely hard over the past weeks, learning a piece of music commissioned for an exciting challenge! Over 2000 students from all 43 schools across the Nord Anglia Family have been recording and making music videos for ‘Wondrous Garden’, a piece specially commissioned by NAE, written by film and vocal composer Jack Blume (www.jackblume.co.uk). The piece has complex vocal harmonies, however, each of the 43 schools has a different part! Once recorded, each school will submit their part and these will be pieced together to form a truly international and spectacular performance, breaking the world record for the World’s largest ever children’s virtual choir. The ‘big reveal’ will take place in May, and we will perform this for you at our Summer Concert on Tuesday 13th June.
Finally, a date for the diary! As always, we are learning new music in our ECA’s ready for our next concert which will take place on Friday 7th April. Please save the date and come to see our own musicians taking joy in performance!
