King's Worcester Music Scholarships

Music Scholarships

Discover Your Passion #DiscoverYourPassion | ksw.org.uk

An independent co-educational day school | 11-18 ksw.org.uk

Music at King’s King’s offers excellent opportunities for pupils wishing to make music central to their education, perhaps with a view to making a career in the musical world. The music school consists of three academic teachers and over twenty peripatetic music teachers.

The main teaching classroom was recently redesigned and now comprises of workstations with a five octave keyboard, a laptop computer running industry-standard music composition and recording software. Every workstation is linked to a high-quality classroom audio system.

More than 150 candidates achieve awards in music examinations in a wide range of instruments each year, many at high grades including diplomas. A number of our musicians are members of county ensembles and take part in local and national holiday music courses such as the RSCM Millennium Choir. For many years there has been a series of successes in gaining Organ and Choral Awards at Oxford and Cambridge universities and Music Conservatoires. An overseas tour takes place every two years; The Choir and Chamber Orchestra have performed in Paris and Venice in recent years. The most recent tour to Malta included a live television broadcast.

The school has two orchestras as well as small ensembles such as flute and guitar groups, three choirs, a Wind Band and Jazz Band. Many concerts are held throughout the year, most of which take place in the magnificent College Hall. Open Mic Nights have been a very successful introduction to the concert series and take place in the Boathouse.

The choirs perform regularly in the Cathedral at school services, as well as singing Choral Evensong occasionally.

Music has always been at the heart of King’s and today the department remains a vibrant place both in and out of the classroom. We offer diverse opportunities for all musicians within an unparalleled environment of ambition and inclusion.

The best way to get a real feeling for music at King’s is to come in and see us in action - come along to a concert, attend an Open Morning, or arrange a visit to King’s on a normal working day. You can even listen to King’s concerts and music performances on the schools sound cloud (/kings-music).

I look forward to meeting you.

Simon Taranczuk, Director of Music

https://soundcloud.com/ksw-music

@kswmusicschool

ksw.org.uk

Music Scholarship Award Those students who have a musical flair and passion could be eligible for music scholarships. There is a wide range of styles and genres of music on offer at King’s, including orchestras, wind and Jazz bands and solo concerts, allowing students to demonstrate and enhance their musical talents.

•

Music scholarships are awarded to pupils on entry to the school at 11+, 13+ and 16+.

•

A music scholarship may be up to one-third of tuition fees and is accompanied by free tuition on the main instrument or voice.

•

Those awarded a music scholarship will be expected to play a full part in the musical life at the school. The award will be retained as long as the pupil’s academic and musical progress are of a high standard.

•

Music scholarship assessment takes the form of an instrument or vocal performance of two contrasting pieces of music. If a second instrument is offered, which is by no means mandatory, one piece of music is required for each instrument. It is expected that the candidate will reach as least the AB/TCL standard below on his or her chosen instrument.

•

11+

Grade 4

•

13+

Grade 5

•

16+ Grade 7 (Grade 5 for second instrument)

•

An aural test will also be given, along with sight-reading exercise on the main instrument.

Next Steps

For further information on our music scholarships or to download an application form visit www.ksw.org.uk/musicscholarships or contact: Mr Simon Taranczuk, Director of Music staranczuk@ksw.org.uk

01905 721774

Mrs Deborah Paddock, Music Administrator dpaddock@ksw.org.uk 01905 721772 For general admissions enquiries, please contact: Vickie Peckston, Registrar registrar@ksw.org.uk

01905 721742

Key Dates

Music scholarship auditions will be held in January (please visit ksw.org.uk/musicscholarship for audition dates). The closing date for applications is the 26th January 2021.

Music Exhibition Awards

Awards for music are offered in the form of free music lessons on one instrument. As with Music Scholars they are expected to play a full part in the musical life of the school.

Gaining a music scholarship at King’s opened up plenty of opportunities for me. I was able to really build my skills in performing and composing through learning from and participating in workshops, arranging and collaborating with other pupils in concerts and Open Mic Nights, and getting the chance to perform in high-profile events and venues.

Playing the Worcester Cathedral organ on King’s Day, meeting famous faces like Bob Chilcott, and composing for the school choir are just a few of the many highlights made possible through the scholarship.

My music scholarship at King’s has encouraged me to develop in both confidence and ability as a musician. With such an array of performance opportunities on offer, the scholarship has encouraged me to seize many which I previously did not think were available. In doing so, music at King’s has created some truly extraordinary memories from singing in Notre Dame in Paris and St Mark’s Basilica in Venice, to featuring on an episode of The Archers on BBC Radio 4, as well as composing music that was performed by the school’s Wind Band.

Matthew Kelley (left in 2017 - currently Organ Scholar at St. Chad’s Durham)

Archie Jury Former Music Scholar

ksw.org.uk

Frequently Asked Questions What level of experience is expected of a potential scholar? Is it essential to have reached a certain certificated level of grade exams?

Candidates for music scholarships are expected to show a good level of proficiency on one instrument. At 11+ level an entry standard of Associated Board or Trinity Grade 4 is expected, at 13+ an entry level of Grade 5 and, at 16+ an entry level of Grade 7.

In each case we would expect a good merit or distinction to show full scholarship potential. In practice, we would often expect to find successful candidates at each level who surpass these entry requirements.

Is a combination of two instruments stronger than one instrument and voice? Can you offer two instruments and voice?

A second or third instrument or voice can all be assessed on the examination day and may be of additional help in the awarding process if it is not possible to distinguish between two very good musicians in any other way. The Director of Music is very happy to meet and hear prospective candidates in advance. Those candidates whom we do not meet until the day of the audition will, however, be in no way disadvantaged.

Is any weighting given to particular instruments either because they are in greater demand (because of a shortage of players at the school) or because they are considered harder to play?

No special weighting will be given. The decision of the music staff at King’s will be based entirely upon their judgements about the musicianship of each candidate, regardless of instrument. They will, of course, use their knowledge of different instruments in making decisions about the quality of a performance.

Under what circumstances would an applicant not be called for audition?

We would not call an applicant who, compared to the others, looks most unlikely to qualify for a scholarship on the grounds of limited experience or achievement so far. This is no judgement at all on their likely progress as musicians at King’s but a practical outcome of the usual strength of the field.

What is the nature of the assessment on the day?

The principal element of each scholarship exam is performance. At all levels there will be aural tests and appropriately chosen sightreading tests on the main instrument.

What is the weighting of the different elements of the assessment (audition, discussion, theory)?

Excellence on a main instrument remains the prime criterion for awarding a music scholarship. A music scholar is expected, above all, to be a good contributor to music-making in the school.

Conversation with the candidates about their current musical activities will help to give some idea of their likely commitment to taking part and performing at King’s.

Is any reference required from my child’s current music teacher?

Yes, we will require evidence from the candidate’s music teacher that a prospective scholar will be a willing, active and pro-active participant in a wide variety of school musical activities. Candidates can expect to be asked questions about their current musical activity, and about musical aspects of the pieces they have played as part of the audition.

When will we be told the arrangements for the assessment day?

Shortly after the deadline for receipt of entries the Music Administrator will contact parents with details of timings for the scholarship exams. On the day of the exam parents and candidates will be met at the main school reception by a member of the school’s administrative staff. Candidates will then be taken to the ‘warm-up’ room in the Music School to prepare for their auditions.

Is there any chance to warm-up or practise on the day?

The King’s School can provide accompanists and a limited amount of rehearsal time on the day of the exam. Candidates are welcome to bring their own accompanists. On the day of the exam a ‘warm-up’ room is provided where each successive candidate can practise in the fifteen minutes before their exam with the help of their accompanist.

What can parents do while their children are being assessed?

Parents are very welcome to wait at the school during their child’s assessment.

How soon do we hear about whether a scholarship has been awarded?

Academic and Music awards are communicated at the same time.

At 11+ and 13+, this will normally mean that such notification will be given by the end of the Thursday following the entrance tests, with the offer paperwork.

How many music scholarships are awarded each year?

We usually award several scholarships worth up to one third of fees at 11+ and 16+, and one scholarship at 13+ if there are candidates of suitable calibre at each of these levels. Candidates who are not deemed to meet the criteria for a scholarship but are nevertheless clearly able musicians and good participators may well be offered a Music Exhibition which provides free tuition on one or more instrument or voice.

Is it possible to win an academic and a music scholarship?

Yes, but the financial value of an award, whether single or combined, will not exceed one third of fees.

What is the value of an award?

Awards can be worth up to one third of fees but occasionally we may decide to split an award between two candidates if they are considered equally impressive.

Is it possible to win an award or free tuition on an instrument at a later stage after you have joined the school?

Awards made to pupils once they have joined the school are in the nature of free tuition on one or more instruments. These will usually be made at 13+ and 17+.

What expectations are there of music scholars when they join the school?

Music scholars will be expected to play a full part in music-making at the school. This will usually mean membership of at least two main ensembles.

What success have music scholars at King’s had in the past both while at school and after they have left?

King’s has helped to develop a remarkable number of very talented musicians over recent decades, many of whom have won organ or choral scholarships at Oxford and Cambridge or places at specialist music colleges. Many have gone on to be professional musicians.

An honours board in the Music Department records many of these successes.

The Music Department

At the beginning of the school year we welcomed Isabelle Palmer back to King’s as this year’s music gap student. Izzy was a student at King’s in the Sixth Form and went on to become a Choral Scholar at Royal Holloway University where she graduated with a first-class honours degree in music. Izzy spent the year assisting with the ensembles at the senior school and St Alban’s. We also welcomed Samuel Hudson as the new Director of Music at the Cathedral, having moved from a similar post at Blackburn.

The first concert of the term took place in the Cathedral a few weeks into September as part of their regular lunchtime recital series. Six U6th Music Scholars (Hattie W, Andrew G, Philippa W, Keeley S, Jess C and Charlie M) performed a varied programme on flute, piano, trumpet and saxophone to a large and appreciative audience. All six pupils have made major contributions to the school ensembles and solo concerts throughout their time at King’s and they have all achieved many distinctions at Grade 8, in some cases on more than one instrument, and five of them

have had success with performance diplomas. In March 2020 we were invited to participate in a similar lunchtime concert in the Cathedral for the Friends of Cathedral Music who were having their annual conference in Worcester. At the end of the concert we were presented with a fine set of tuning forks!

Last year’s House Music Competition had a number of new venues due to the ongoing work in College Hall. The solo round took place in the music department with nearly 50 pupils taking part in the middle years and sixth form competitions. A wide range of instrumentalists and singing styles were presented throughout an entertaining day of music-making. The hotlycontested house song competition took place for the very first time in the Cathedral. Each house gave a (mostly) good account of themselves. Wulstan came third with an excellent performance of Halo. Castle were runners up with a fun version of It’s the final countdown, including a chorus of kazoos, and Chappel retained their title as overall winners with I’m still standing.

ksw.org.uk

The Lower Years music competition returned to its former venue in the Theatre. 50 pupils from those two year groups performed in the solo section before all 12 forms competed in the song competition. The winning songs were L4D with Wonderwall and U4C with Riptide.

The most ambitious music project in recent years took place in November which saw the official launch of our music outreach programme. We were delighted to bring together more than 300 children from schools across Worcestershire at Worcester Cathedral. The children performed a fabulous choral concert to celebrate the launch of a year-long series of events leading up to the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower voyage in 1620. Here at King’s we have a special interest in the celebrations due to the fact that one of the leaders of the Pilgrims, Edward Winslow, was a scholar at the school and lived near Kempsey. The music for the concert was written by former King’s Music Assistant, Piers Connor Kennedy. Music staff visited all the schools throughout the term teaching the songs. Alongside our own choirs, the children involved were from St George’s C of E Primary, St Clement’s Primary, Cutnall Green Primary, St Barnabas Primary, The Elms, Colwall, King’s St Alban’s and King’s Hawford.

At the end of the Autumn term the biennial senior production was Made in Dagenham. The cast were led superbly by Skye W and Will B. Will’s dramatic performance of the song, The Letter, was a particular highlight enhanced by the exceptional band comprised entirely of pupils and led by Mr T. In January the Chamber Orchestra played at the Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration at the Guildhall in Worcester,

organised by the Worcestershire Interfaith Forum.

The event was focused around addresses from the Mayor of Worcester, Cllr Allah Ditta and the keynote speech given by Mindu Hornick MBE, an Auschwitz survivor, and included readings by pupils of local schools, including King’s. During a period of reflection, the Chamber Orchestra played Summa by Arvo Pärt.

This gentle piece was much appreciated by the audience.

At the end of January, members of the Chamber Choir were invited to take part in a concert at Malvern Theatres with the worldrenowned The King’s Singers. This was part of a school outreach programme run by the Armonico Consort involving 200 local children. Our own King’s singers were centre stage and performed three pieces exclusively with them. It gave the pupils a once-ina-lifetime opportunity to perform separately with them and have some expert coaching in the afternoon. The concert concluded with an extraordinary vocal symphony called A suitcase of songs exploring the experiences of refugees and migrants around the world, and was composed by Toby Young.

King’s musicians from across the Foundation united in February to produce a powerful day of music-making and memories at the orchestral workshop. In total 65 pupils were involved from King’s Senior, King’s Hawford and King’s St Alban’s. Pupils from Year 4 to Year 9 spent 5 hours playing new pieces of music and improving their ensemble skills. They spent the day working on a varied programme of music which included Caribbean Carnival, Bouree, When I was a lad and St Anthony’s Chorale. The day culminated in a concert in the Theatre showcasing their hard work to an enthusiastic audience.

The biennial Music Tour took place in Malta over February half term. We were treated to some fabulous weather and had plenty of sight-seeing opportunities including a visit to the smaller island of Gozo where we performed our first concert. Other visits included the medieval capital of Mdina and a brief exploration down into the ancient Roman catacombs in Rabat. We spent an enjoyable afternoon in the current capital, Valetta, soaking up the atmosphere of this charming city and, on the final day, we visited St Julian for a shopping trip and exploration of the marinas and coastal views.

Our first concert was well-received in St Lawrence, Gozo and the local congregation provided us with a hearty meal of pasta, pasta and pasta! The second concert in Sliema received a standing ovation and a presentation from the local priest thanking us for our performance. On Sunday morning we were invited to participate in Mass at St Publius, Floriana, and this was broadcast live on Maltese television.

Two Open Mic Nights took place in the boathouse during the year, the second of which was organised and hosted by Gold Arts Award pupils Jamie and Liv. The gig began with the Jazz Band, Geepers Creepers and was followed by a mix of solo singers, duets and bands and a variety of styles ranging from Jess C singing her version of Celeste’s Strange to Alex H strutting his stuff on stage playing the guitar part to Wake Me Up by Avicii.

In February The King’s Swingers performed at The Elms School Jazz and Swing Evening. This is an invitational event where four schools are invited to entertain the guests at a black-tie dinner and the Jazz Band finished the evening having listened to performances from Shrewsbury School, Sedbergh and Malvern College. The band began with a set of swing numbers – Pennsylvania 6-5000, American Patrol and Birth of the Blues. This was followed by a mix of styles including Night Train and Bridge Over Troubled Water. The audience was extremely appreciative of their performance and we were invited by the Headmaster of The Elms to finish the evening with an encore of our performance of Kool and the Gang’s Jungle Boogie.

The final ‘live’ concert of the school year involved all the main school ensembles in the School Concert in the Theatre. The main highlight was an exceptional performance of the 1st movement of Haydn’s Trumpet Concerto performed by Andrew G and accompanied by the First Orchestra. Andrew played with great panache and the orchestra accompanied sensitively under the

direction of Mr Gunter. The dry acoustic of the theatre makes it a challenging performing space but all of the performances by the ensembles were well-presented and filled the theatre.

March. Lockdown. Silence. Live music-making came to a complete halt. Music plays a major role in the life of King’s. Many pupils have commented about how much they missed the fun of a weekly rehearsal or the chance to perform in a concert, open mic night or sing in a service in the Cathedral. Colleagues in the department all felt strongly that it was important that we continue to find opportunities to make music throughout the summer term. We devised a plan of thrice-weekly lunchtime recitals and by the end of term over thirty performances were recorded, mostly by pupils as well as a few of the peripatetic teaching staff. Friday recitals featured OVs and it was excellent to showcase the talent of some recent and not-so-recent leavers. More ambitious projects involved some virtual recordings where each pupil recorded their part separately at home and all were edited together. The Chamber Choir led the way with a virtual recording of Fly singing bird, fly by Elgar at the start of term. As the music staff’s video and audio editing skills developed substantially over the course of the term, the projects become more complex. The King’s Swingers recorded Jungle Boogie as a virtual video and this was released towards the end of term. In the last few days of term our most ambitious ideas came to fruition; a fully virtual open mic night including some bands performing in home gardens was released as a Facebook live event with the ‘audience’ commenting live throughout the evening. The newly-named Cleobury Concert featuring many of our leaving U6th performing from home was broadcast in the same way. On King’s Day, following the end of final assembly, a recording of a virtual choir of 80 pupils, staff, parents and OVs was released on social media and has since been played over 8000 times. Philip Stopford’s Irish Blessing has been sung at the end of the King’s Day service in the Cathedral for over 10 years. It is clear from the comments made on social media that this performance was an emotional moment for many at the end of a very challenging time. Music has the power to heal and to soothe and as a department we are proud that we were able to offer an outlet for so many performers and listeners.

Our soundcloud page has over 600 recordings from school concerts and Open Mic Nights. These can be found at www.soundcloud.com/ksw-music.

ksw.org.uk

The Music Department Please complete and return this Application Form to: Mrs Vickie Peckston, Registrar, The King’s School, 5 College Green, Worcester WR1 2LL. Please ensure the form will be received before the closing date and that the candidate will be available to attend the Music Scholarship Assessment on the date advertised.

Candidate Details Forename(s):

Surname:

Known as:

Date of birth:

Age at entry:

Proposed date of entry (e.g. 09 / 2020): Address (including postcode):

Name and address of current school: Name and address of current music teacher: We will contact the music teacher for a reference - please advise the teacher to expect this.

If your child has more than one teacher, please continue overleaf.

Instrument Details First instrument:

Grade achieved:

Pieces to be played: 1 2 Is an accompanist required? YES / NO The candidate is welcome to audition with a second instrument; if doing so, only one piece of music will be needed.

Second instrument:

Grade achieved:

Piece to be played:

The Assistant Director of Music will accompany all candidates if an accompaniment is required.

Parent/Guardian Details PARENT/GUARDIAN 1

PARENT/GUARDIAN 2 (if applicable)

Full name:

Full name:

Relationship to child:

Relationship to child:

Address (if different to above):

Address (if different to above):

Contact telephone number:

E-mail:

E-mail:

Please consider my child for a Music Scholarship.

Contact telephone number:

Please consider my child for a Music Scholarship.

Signed:

Signed:

Date:

Date:

Offers of Music Scholarships are limited and subject to availability. Any candidate offered a Music Scholarship shall be subject to the admission requirements of the School at the time the offer is made. A copy of the current Terms and Conditions for admission to the school will be supplied on request.

ksw.org.uk

ksw.org.uk The King’s School 5 College Green Worcester WR1 2LL t: 01905 721 700 e: info@ksw.org.uk

The King’s School, Worcester: A company limited by guarantee, registered in England.

Registered office: 5 College Green, Worcester WR1 2LL. Company No: 4776324. Registered charity No: 1098236.

The information, terms and conditions set out in this prospectus and all occasional papers may be amended from time to time, and their provisions, subject to any such amendments, shall continue to apply for the whole period during which a boy or girl continues to attend the School, irrespective of his or her age.

v2