After just six weeks of term, we have already held a hugely successful Festival Week with performances morning, day and night at the end of September and, by popular demand, a mini-festival this week, prior to half term. In addition we had our Scholars’ Concert swiftly followed by the Staff Concert – both fantastic events which really showcased the department at its very best. The Al Khubairat Singers, made up of parents, staff and friends of BSAK sang the Hallelujah Chorus with great gusto at the recent 50 Anniversary Celebrations for St Andrew’s Church, accompanied by a String Quartet. Mrs Day oversaw a Wonderful Winds Recital which featured most, if not all, Wind Players, culminating in a mass-performance of a Fanfare which featured absolute beginners alongside older players preparing for diploma exams! th
IN THIS ISSUE From the Director of Music……..1 Around the Sections Community Wind Band day……..4 Brass…………………………………….5 Guitar …………………………………..5 Piano …………………………………...6 Singing………………………………….6 Strings…………………………………..7 Woodwind……………………………..8 Follow Us!
Last Friday we held a Community Concert Band Day with over 100 wind and brass players of all abilities from across the city getting together to make music. It really was a remarkable day and one that we hope will become a regular feature in the calendar. The instrumental teachers have also been busy showcasing their instruments in academic music lessons and the uptake of new students has been hugely impressive with over 175 trial lessons organised in the first half of term. We hope that many of the new starters will go on to achieve great things in the future. Rehearsals are in full flow for our major concerts which will take place later in the term featuring the larger ensembles, whilst there are also more instrument-specific recitals taking place shortly after the half term break. November will also see the return of our Interhouse Instrumental Competition for its second year and we encourage even more performers to represent their houses in this showcase event.
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It goes without saying that December will be dominated by the festive celebrations with our musicians uniting to perform Carols in the Science Garden as well as at The Club. The ever-popular Carols by Candlelight will again take place at St Andrew’s in the final week of term. The Al Khubairat Singers Concert will also take place with music to mark the centenary of the Armistice as well as some more festive pieces.
BSAK Parent Community Group
Billy Elliott will also be staged in December and this collaboration with the Drama Department is shaping up to be really spectacular.
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@BSAKAbuDhabi
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As ever, we welcome your support and look forward to seeing you at our forthcoming events.
New Staff We have welcomed two new staff to the department this term; Jo Cathrine, who has joined our Woodwind Department and Tanja Stefanovic who has joined us as Head of Singing. Jo is our Reed Specialist and is teaching a range of instruments: Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon and Sax to name but a few. She is a graduate of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire in the UK and has over 20 years’ teaching experience. She plays Bassoon in the National Symphony Orchestra here in the UAE and lists amongst her hobbies Skydiving (for which she holds a number of UK records), Triathlons and Cats (of the furry variety, not the musical!) Jo Cathrine
Tanja originally hails from Belgrade in Serbia. She graduated from the city’s Music Academy with a Masters Degree in 2004. Tanja has been teaching children and adults for over ten years and is equally adept at teaching both classical and pop music. When not teaching or singing, Tanja enjoys a wide variety of sports including tennis, volleyball and swimming. Tanja Stefanovic
The benefits of learning a musical instrument Across the globe the benefits of Music are increasingly well understood and recognised. It enhances cognitive processes which are shared between music and language, thus supporting language development and literacy – both of which are crucial for all round achievement and, in due course, attainment for young people. Rhythmic training has been shown to help those who have difficulties learning to read. There is evidence of enhanced intellectual development through engaging with music, and of a strong relationship between engagement with music and general attainment. The benefits beyond attainment and academic success are also increasingly evident. Music has been shown to support fine motor co-ordination and to support a healthy immune system. It also promotes well-being by providing rich opportunities for social engagements and friendships, as well as being a useful tool in dealing with fluctuating moods. As such, music helps individuals develop not only enjoyment and a range of practical music skills, but also form habits which support connections to others and resilience in dealing with life’s ups and downs. Motivation, self-esteem, confidence, independent-learning, team-work skills, emotional sensitivity – these are all aspects of a person which develop through active engagement with music-making. Learning a musical instrument gives children and young people opportunities to take greater responsibility for planning and managing their own learning. It also contributes to developing their creativity in different ways. This can take place where students and teachers work together to establish open-ended approaches to learning, for example, to explore a theme using the student’s ideas and interests. Opportunities for creativity can also be presented where instrumental teachers and others work together to broaden and enhance the learning experience. Instrumental teachers play a significant role in helping children and young people prepare for the world of work and success in life by developing their employability skills and personal qualities, including literacy, and numeracy; communication, team working, problem solving, planning and organising; and being resilient, enterprising and flexible. Instrumental teachers often enhance teaching by drawing on their expertise as professional musicians. Young people, therefore, can have first-hand access to a professional musician for help and career advice. The teachers often have direct links to local and national further education establishments, national orchestras and the wider music industry. These links are potential sources of inspiration, information and guidance for students who may be considering developing their interest in music into a post-school destination, including a possible career in music.
Music Ordering A reminder that parents wishing to purchase printed music should visit Magrudy’s in Al Wahda Mall as they now stock exam syllabus pieces for all instruments for both Trinity and ABRSM boards as well as any music suggested by our team of instrumental teachers. They have also agreed to give a 15% discount on printed music purchased from them if you show a BSAK ID badge. Any music that they do not have in stock will be ordered for delivery within 2-3 weeks. Leavers/Stopping instrumental lessons If you are leaving BSAK at the end of this term or no longer wish to continue with instrumental lessons from January, please contact Mrs Harper-Jones to inform her as soon as possible. Her email address is: Instrumental@britishschool.sch.ae Community Choir and Orchestra The Al Khubairat Singers have made an impressive start to this academic year and new members are joining us each week. If you enjoy singing a wide variety of genres, please come along to our rehearsals which take place in the Secondary Auditorium at 7-9pm on Mondays. No previous singing experience is required! We are still hoping to re-launch the Community Orchestra which briefly ran two years ago. If you are interested in taking part, please let us know. For more details, please contact RNorkie@britishschool.sch.ae
Dates for your Diary The rest of Term One is looking very exciting and a number of key dates are outlined below. As ever, we look forward to seeing you at these events so please come along to support our young musicians. Sunday 28 Oct
Brass Bonanza at 3pm
Monday 29 Oct
Unplugged at 6pm
Tuesday 30 Oct
Beginners’ Concert at 4pm
Wednesday 31 Oct
Guitar Concert at 4pm
Wednesday 14 Nov
Instrumental Competition Final at 7pm
Wednesday 21 Nov
Senior Concert at 7pm
Monday 26 Nov
Primary Concert at 3.30pm
Monday 3 Dec
Al Khubairat Singers Concert at 7pm
Thursday 6 Dec
Carols in the Science Garden at 6pm
Friday 7 Dec
Carols at The Club (time tbc)
Saturday 8 Dec
Billy Elliot
Sunday 9 Dec
Billy Elliot
Monday 10 Dec
Billy Eliot
Tuesday 11 Dec
Carols by Candlelight at 6pm
Community Wind Band Day Friday 12th October Last Friday BSAK hosted a Community Wind Band Day which brought together students from BSAK, the American Community School, Canadian International School, Cranleigh Abu Dhabi and Al Yasmina. We had over 100 students and 10 members of staff who shared their expertise in a day of wind band playing. Such large numbers enabled us to rehearse separately as Junior and Senior Bands and then both came together as a massed band to perform Mission Impossible.
It really was a fantastic day and the enthusiasm of the students was wonderful to see. They made a fabulous sound together and lots of new friendships were formed along the way! It was inspirational to see our American and Canadian colleagues doing what they do best, working with large bands, and our staff team learned a lot from them too! Here’s to the next one!
Brass: Ali Bryce-Shorland - Head of Brass We have certainly hit the ground running this term in the Brass Department! Our Brass Scholars Emma, Katie and Inayah all performed in the Scholars Concert at the start of term, and this was quickly followed by performances for the British Ambassador at the inauguration ceremony for BSAK’s 50th year, and a Brass Festival before school on 27th September. Well done to all of you - soloists and ensembles; you were fantastic! Junior Brass are still in demand and this week alone have a performance at an Infant Open-morning for new parents and another mini Brass Festival on Thursday, along with soloists and Junior Funky Brass. We have 7 ensembles for our brass players to take part in, so there is never a dull moment! Another date for your diary is the Brass Bonanza on Sunday 8 November at 3pm in the Primary Hall. Please do come along and support our fabulous, committed BSAK Brass Department.
Ali Bryce-Shorland Head of Brass
Guitar: Kalana De Silva - Head of Guitar We would like to take this opportunity to welcome all the parents and the students to this vibrant music society at school. The Guitar has proven that it is one of the most popular instruments around the globe and in BSAK we have a very strong uptake for this instrument. We are thrilled that almost all the trial lessons were successful and we hope that these students will achieve their best and enjoy learning the Guitar at school. Furthermore the sign up rate for our popular beginner guitar club has been very high with around 30 new students signing up to the club. We hope this club will help to build the students’ passion for the instrument. We are Kalana De Silva- Head of Guitar delighted that this year that there have been a significant number of guitarists progressing to advanced level - most of them started guitar here at BSAK. We look forward to hearing most of our young guitarists perform at the 31 October Guitar Concert at 4pm in the Senior Auditorium and in the forthcoming music competition. At school we offer wide variety of ensemble opportunities for all the guitarists in certain levels. We have made a few changes to make these effective and interesting to fit in to year groups and this was extremely successful so far. Finally we hope that all the students who have signed up for the music exams are working diligently towards achieving this goal!
Dennis Lopez Guitar teacher
Piano: Alex Tchobanov - Head of Piano It is another exciting year for piano teachers and students here at BSAK. There have already been some memorable moments at the start of Term 1. We have witnessed an outstanding Scholar’s Concert which showcased the very best of the Music Department. Jonathan Selvaraj, Sara-Ajala Williams, and Zoya Khan among others, gave remarkable performances of wellknown piano repertoire . Teachers have also been very active performing in both the Staff Concert and the Music Festival Week. Mr Tchobanov and Mr Hakim did both solo and duet performances showing a very high-level of musicianship as part of those events. There has also been very positive feedback from parents and students who witnessed the teachers in action and felt inspired and motivated by their talent.
Alex Tchobanov Head of Piano
Hanneke Wilson Piano teacher
Ramzi Hakim Piano Teacher
Singing: Tanja Stefanovic - Head of Singing I am delighted to introduce myself as the new Head of Singing here at BSAK. I have been teaching for over ten years and am really excited to be working in such a vibrant and successful music department. Four of our students have been invited to the Trinity Toppers Educational Summit in Dubai because they were awarded top marks in the UAE for their recent Trinity Singing Exams. Congratulations go to Frankie Harper, Anique Kuiper and Lily-Rose Mayall and of course their very talented teacher Sacha Kilgour – I feel very lucky to be working with both Sacha and Briana Corrigan, and know that Tanja Stefanovic the singing department is going to go from strength to strength. Head of Singing Congratulations also to Alexander Barr who was top in the UAE for Grade 7 Rock ‘n’ Pop – I am really excited about teaching him at Grade 8 level – the talent in BSAK makes my working day a total pleasure. It was lovely for some of our younger students to sing during the Year 1 – 3 Assembly recently; they certainly gave some inspiring performances. Our choirs are up and running and we are always looking for new members so please encourage your singing superstar to come and join in!
Sacha Kilgour Singing teacher
Strings : Molly Carter -Head Of Strings What a busy half-term it has been! Preparation is now under way for the several competitions our students are entering: Young Musician of the Gulf (soloists and ensembles), Which School Advisor Young Musician of the Year, and our very own BSAK Instrumental competition open to Secondary Students. Our Junior String Orchestra are also busy preparing repertoire for their upcoming concert at the end of November. We would like to welcome our new members, Alice Miller (Violin), Tigerlily Harper (Cello) and Omar Marvin (Cello). We were thrilled with our string musicians who performed in the Open Morning for new parents on 15th October, and those who performed in the Strings As- Molly Carter Head Of Strings th sembly on 16 October.
Thank you to: Our Junior Advanced Violin Ensemble; Breah D’Arcy, Clement Her- Roger Norkie ran, Eliza Lovell, Savanna Stewart and Katie Popplewell who performed the UAE String teacher National Anthem, and Breah, Eliza and Clement who performed the Kerry Polka. A Thank You also to Kenodh De Silva and Munachi Obiora for their lovely cello playing, and Cello Time ensemble Sura Al Samarrae, Kenodh DeSilva, Hector Faulkner, Tigerlily Harper, Munachi Obiora, Cristina Papadopoulo and Amelie Popplewell, for their lovely performances. At the Unplugged concert on 29th October you have the opportunity to listen to one of our secondary string students singing and playing simultaneously – not to be missed! We also look forward to the Beginners’ Concert on Tuesday 30th October at 4pm, where we will hear some of our beginners perform for the very first time! We have also had the pleasure of celebrating the success of our string students who auditioned and were accepted into the Emirates Orchestra: Jaden Marvin, Gigi Pengilley and Yasmin Taylor. Congratulations! String students are also preparing for their upcoming ABRSM Examinations; the level ranges from Grade 1 to Grade 8 this time – Good luck to all involved!
Hanneke Wilson Upper Strings teacher
With the arrival of some new resources earlier in the term, we would like to thank Stringers London who supplied several new bows, strings and cases to us. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with them. More information about them can be found on their website https://www.stringersmusic.com/ Violin, Viola, Cello and Double Bass Trials have been taking place over the last few weeks for children in Years 2, 3 and 4, and we are thrilled with the response from children and parents, particularly with regard to taking up the violin! It has proven extremely popular, with over 40 trial lessons taking place over the coming weeks. Given this high number, lessons will be allocated on a first, come first served basis, as was the case with signing up for trial lessons. When spaces run out, for both trial lessons and continuing lessons, we will have a waiting list. Trials are likely to come around again next September, if not before. If some children who tried violin would also like to try the cello or double bass, I would love to hear from you! Please email mcarter@britishschool.sch.ae We will always do our best to accommodate your requests!
Woodwind News: Claire Day - Head of Woodwind The Woodwind Department is delighted to welcome our new woodwind specialist Mrs Jo Cathrine; Her specialism is the Bassoon but she teaches all woodwind instruments with passion and flair! Mrs Catherine is happy for parents to come and see her and is looking forward to meeting you during our Open Weeks. We hope your children have enjoyed the various performance opportunities offered this half term including our Festival Week, Scholars Concert and Wonderful Winds extravaganza. It was fabulous to see students ranging from beginner to Diploma level playing together in complete harmony. Claire Day
Big congratulations must go to one of our scholars, Monty Walsh who had a wonder- Head of Woodwind ful summer playing with The National Youth Orchestra of Ireland; an experience that took him to Amsterdam and Dublin playing music of the highest calibre. Hoping to hear him and other Grade 4 and above students in our second Inter-House Music Competition. The Wind Heat takes place on Wednesday 7 November A big thank you must go to Howarth of London and All Flutes Plus who provide excellent support for the purchase of new instruments and music throughout the year.
Jo Cathrine Woodwind Teacher